Summary of biking in 2022

 Wow! Where to start on this post. It has been an interesting year that is for sure.

January and February were pretty relaxed only a few trainer rides and mostly got outside for rides. Not very long rides but great to be on the bike in the outdoors. 

March was pretty much the same but one thing happened that changed to course of my riding. The connection between the seat tube and top tube cracked. I had been wondering what that sound was and I was so glad the the seat post was long enough that it held things together. After this the Snake became the go to riding bike until I got a frame from a friend to build up.

April through May brought warmer weather and Rachel riding to work. This is always a good time since it means less driving around in the morning and afternoon. 

June was an interesting month for riding. I rode to and from the St. Mary's School picnic that is held at Klemgard Park near Pullman. Overall a 50+ mile ride on field, gravel and regular roads. The day after that I rode 32 miles from Plummer, ID to Tekoa, WA and back on the Palouse to Cascades Rail Trail. It was a very fun and sloppy mess of a ride.

July was spent exploring more of the Weiser River Trail, Bear Basin near McCall, and other roads around McCall. The Snake sure got a very good workout during a lot of these rides.

August was spent finishing up the build for the new bike. It was very fun to build it and I learned a lot about how they are put together. The new bike was then put to the test in the TT and Road Races at the Senior Games in the middle of August. I rode the Snake in the first TT since it was a shorter distance. Also purchased a smart trainer near the end of August and had to try it out. What a difference it was for riding inside.

September was spent just doing a bit of riding around home. Rachel, Wendy, and I did get to do the MS Ride this year. On the first day Wendy did the 25 mile route, Rachel did the 50 mile route, and I did the 100+ mile route. The next day Wendy and Rachel drove to Couer d'Alene to go shopping while I rode from Kellogg to Plummer to meet them.

October was spent riding around home, taking Max the Orange cat out for rides, and getting ready for the Cyclocross season. Max is a ginger kitten that we adopted and he has taken a liking to riding in a bike trailer for kids in his cat carrier. It is so fun to see how he is just watching where we are going. He also gets out of the carrier to go for short walks on the leash for a break from riding.

November is cyclocross month and there was only two races that I participated in this year. I did not race at the race we held in Potlatch but I did participate in the two other ones. Was a fun time doing both the Cat 4/5 and Masters races this year. Did some virtual riding using the Garmin and then decided to sign up for Zwift. Half my riding miles for November ended up being on the trainer. I was able to do longer rides then the outdoors would allow and the refrigerator is close by.

December was a major indoor riding fest. Decided to try out the racing that Zwift has to offer and ended up doing 13 different races. I ended up doing the Festive 500 between the 24th and 31st of December. This entails doing 500KM or 310 miles of riding in eight days. Two of the rides I did were part of the Zwift Fondo series.

Here are some stats for the year:

• 4960 miles ridden with an average of 13.6 miles ridden a day.
• 355 hours spent riding.
• 845 total rides.
• 227756 calories burnt.
• 877 miles ridden on the trainer.
• 73 miles ridden with Max the orange cat. #maxorangecat Instagram

Not as many miles as I had hoped for but all of them were enjoyable especially the ones spent with Max. Him and I are going to get out for more rides in the coming year since we got a pet trailer for Christmas.

MS Ride gone virtual again

Went to McCall, ID for my Virtual MS Ride this year. This is where I started doing my MS Rides back in 2008. Ended with 50 miles of riding on some of the roads that we used back then for both days of the ride. The weather was nice with a pretty strong wind.

North Valley Rail Trail

Corner of Nisula Rd. and Heinrich Ln.
COWS!

Payette Lake near North Beach.

Payette Lake near North Beach another view.

One of the many stumps left over in the sand
of Little Payette Lake.

Just a sign of the times.

Just a road bike on the trails of Ponderosa Park.

The second day of my virtual MS Ride took me on a nice single track trail south of McCall called the North Valley Rail Trail. The clouds were very threatening but no rain happened until after the 10 mile ride was complete.

Dark clouds but no rain.

North Valley Rail Trail again.

Deer at the end of the ride.

Thanks to all that donated. Hopefully next year we will be riding again on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes.

Bike MS Cycle the Silver Valley 2021

The Cycle the Silver Valley 2021 MS Ride has been cancelled due to a rise in cases of COVID cases in Kootenai County. Wendy, Rachel, and I will be doing our own little ride between Moscow and Pullman like we did last year. I would like to thank all that donated to this years event and hopefully next year we will be able to ride on the Trail of the Couer d'Alenes to raise money and awareness for the fight against MS.

We will still be receiving donations until sometime in October for this year. If anyone still wishes to contribute please click here.

Bill, Wendy, and Rachel

BikeMS Inside Out

This years MS Ride would not be like the rides of the past. Due to social distancing we would not be riding on the Trail of the Couer d'Alenes or staying in Kellogg like we have in the past. This time we would be staying close to home and doing our own style of ride. 

Ready to head out.

The ride took place on the 26th of September. Rachel, Wendy, Michelle (friend of Rachel's), several ducks, and I headed to the Chipman Trail to ride to Pullman and back to Moscow. The weather was nice and cool and there was quite a bit of sunshine. We all had enough water and snacks to get us there and back.

Usually at the normal MS Rides there are rest stops every 15 or so miles but we decided to stop sooner and more times along the way. 

We are really looking forward to next years ride when we can be together with all the other BikeMS riders. 

Made it to Pullman!

MS Ride 2019

Late as usual in getting this up.

First Day

It was a great ride this year. Wendy and Rachel both rode and they enjoyed it. Rachel was not feeling well but she was able to ride to Cataldo with Wendy on the first day. I rode with them for a little ways and then took off since I was riding to Harrison and back. It was a cool morning but it warmed up as the day went along. There were a few Herons and fuzzy caterpillars along the way.

Made it to Harrison just before lunchtime and found that there was a car show going on. Ate lunch in the park while listening to a band. Did not get a chance to go check out any of the cars that were there. After eating I got back on the trail to head to Kellogg. Ended up seeing a moose lying in the brush alongside the trail.

Wendy and Rachel met me when I got back to Kellogg and we put the bikes away. Rachel took a nap and Wendy and I soaked in the hot tub for a bit.

Being silly at the rest stop in Wallace

Second Day

We all had a nice leisurely ride to Wallace and back.

Summary of the ride

It was an enjoyable time and Wendy and Rachel want to do it again. Rachel is even thinking about doing the 50 mile option. We really want to thank everyone that donated to the MS Society.

Wendy along the trail heading to Wallace

Rachel along the trail heading to Wallace

Spring MS Ride Training

Wendy and Rachel getting some miles on.

It has been a pretty good Spring so far. Getting in a bit of riding with Wendy and Rachel. Went for separate rides to Pullman with them this last weekend and they did really good. They are going to crush the first day of the MS Ride in September. We have setup a team called the "Little MS's and MR" for the ride and a donation can be made to a one of us individually or to the team. Here is the link to the team page.

Wendy and Rachel are both riding for Mike and Faith. I will be riding for them along with my usual list of people.

Year in Review - 2018

January – On the first of January I rode from Locomotive Park in Lewsiton using the levee to Hells Gate Park and then back over the Southway Bridge into Clarkston. 

February through April was spent doing the usual riding back and forth to work with bits of longer rides mixed in here and there.

In March, Rachel and I went to Reno to watch the Idaho women play in the Big Sky Basketball Tournament. We got out and explored a little bit of Reno during the off days.

May started out with longer rides back and forth to work. There was also some fun kid’s clinic time at the city bike course. Two interesting rides happened during this month: The Ronde Von Palouse road race outside Spangle, WA, and a ride to Troy via Foothill road over Moscow Mountain.

Got to ride up to Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort in June. It was a little rainy but I got to see a lot of mountain bikers riding down the trails alongside the main road. I even rode to the eye doctor to get my eyes checked. Had to wear the cheap old sunglass inserts on the way back to work after getting the eyes dilated during the appointment.

July was a fun month for riding and watching others ride. Wendy and I went to Nampa the first part of the month and I rode from Council to Cambridge via the Weiser Trail. The trail is just a packed dirt and gravel rail trail with gates every so often. The reason for the trip to Nampa was to compete in the Chrono Kristin Armstrong Time Trial, my first ever sanctioned time trial. I finished the 14+ mile course in under my goal of 45 minutes. The next day was spent in downtown Boise watching the ASWB Twilight Criterium. It was awesome watching all of the different levels of racers race. The following Saturday was spent riding the Fondo on the Palouse which was a 100+ mile ride on roads and trails near Moscow and surrounding towns. It was a good way to see different areas of the Palouse with some other cyclists. July was the month that Wendy and Rachel really started riding their bikes around the area. Rachel had gotten her bike several years ago and it just stayed in the garage all the time. We got Wendy a bike at a school auction and it gave Rachel the incentive to start riding her bike again.

In August I rode the Snake with a trailer to the recycling center quite a few times over two days to get rid of yard waste. Went to Wenatchee, WA and was able to ride several times on the trails that are there, once with Wendy. We even had another four days of kid’s cycling clinics spread out over four weeks.

September was the month of cyclocross practice, the MS Ride on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, and the first cyclocross race of the season. The city bike course became the site of many a practice even when there was not any other rider around. I think it really helped me this year spending a bit of time riding the course plus putting in some miles on single track trails with the cross bike. The MS Ride went really well and I was able to go for a couple of short rides with Wendy on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. The last weekend of September was spent in Sandpoint competing at Crosstober Fest. It was a fun time and I finished mid pack both days.

Sundays in October where mostly spent racing cyclocross in different places. I did get out and ride with Wendy and Rachel. I also got in a couple of good rides in McCall with a ride in Ponderosa Park and another one around Payette Lake.

The first part of November saw the last of the cyclocross races for the season. I finished 11th in the series and will move up to Cat 4 in 2019.

December was spent mostly riding back and forth to work. I also borrowed a trainer to get more miles in for the winter.

In 2019 I am looking forward to: Ronda Von Palouse, Just for the Hill of It climb at Whitebird, Chrono Kristin Armstrong TT, Fondo on the Palouse, MS Ride, cyclocross season, and more riding with Wendy and Rachel. One thing that I am excited about in the coming year is that Wendy and Rachel will be riding in the MS Ride this September with me.

MS Ride 2018

Day before

Wendy and I arrived at Silver Mountain Resort, got checked in to our room, and hauled luggage up. I then went down and checked in for the MS Ride. After getting settled we decided to go ahead and take a short little ride on the trail. Rode four miles towards Osburn and stopped at a grocery store to pick up a bottle of orange juice on the way back. We ate dinner in the room and relaxed a bit before going to bed.

Day one – 107 miles – 5:53 ride time

Got up and had scrambled eggs and toast. Went down to get the bike out of the storage area and hit the trail at a quarter to 8. Had a little bit of a head wind on the way to Cataldo and the wind was a lot stronger when I got to the lake at Harrison. Saw quite a few ducks in different place and about 20 herons in a field between Medimont and Harrison. I had never seen that many herons in one place.

Pickle Juice in a Box

Pickle Juice in a Box is a thing and they had it at some of the rest areas for the ride.

    

Stopped in Harrison for lunch. Rode from Harrison to Cataldo with two other riders,  Chris from Spokane whose mom was diagnosed with MS 15 years ago and Scott from Silverdale who was diagnosed with MS several years ago. Both of these guys were moving pretty quickly and we averaged close to 20mph in that section of the trail. Chris decided to get to Kellogg quicker after the stop at Cataldo since he was wearing out. Scott and I rode at a slower pace and had a really good conversation.

Texted Wendy when I got back to the resort to see if she wanted to go for a short ride before dinner. She came down and we went about 2 miles towards Osburn and then back to Kellogg.

We ate dinner with the other riders and volunteers that evening and then went up to the hot tub on the roof of the building we were staying in to relax for a while before going back to the room.

Day two – 40 miles – 2:30 ride time

STRIKE!

Rained during the night and it was raining a little bit when I went to get breakfast with the other riders and volunteers. Rain stopped before setting out on the trail to Mullan. I decided to skip the Burke turnoff in Wallace since we needed to check out before noon. Rode all the way through Mullan past the Lucky Friday Mine on Friday Avenue towards Shoshone Park. Saw a lot of signs for a strike at the Lucky Friday Mine. Turned around at the first fork in the road and headed back to the rest stop. Got a few snacks and headed back down towards Wallace and Kellogg.

Thanks

I want to really thank all of the people that donated to the MS Society. Your donations will go a long way in helping those affected by MS.

Little Post - Almost There

Next Saturday is the MS Ride on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. Getting excited to get back out on that trail and ride for a great cause. Haven't been doing very many long rides since the last update. Have ridden a bit more gravel in preparation for Cyclocross season which starts the end of September in Sandpoint.

Did go for another ride up on Moscow Mountain last weekend. Stayed mostly on Foothill Road and came down Moscow Mountain Road. There were quite a bit of washboard areas heading down and it was hard to see them.

My next update will be a little write up about the MS Ride. To donate you can click this link.

July update

I guess it is time to do an update after letting this blog sit for a while. Been a busy Spring so far. Not getting a lot of miles in but having some fun on and with the bikes.

I am now in the midst of working on the Vandalbike to get it back into riding shape. The seat tube was stuck so it took some time to get that free. Now it is just a matter of cleaning up or replacing some parts. Not bad for a bike with over 10,000 miles on it.

I replaced the bottom bracket on the GT a couple of weeks ago. The old bottom bracket had over 14,000 miles on it. This bike has been my go to ride for the past 6 years and it has been a great bike for all sorts of riding.

The Snake has been pretty fun to ride since I got it. I am glad I got it so that I could do a bit more off road riding and have a good bike for Cross season. I have ridden it a couple of time up Foot Hill Road to the back side of Moscow Mountain. Even made it down to Tamarack Road to ride to Troy. Used it last Thursday to ride from Council to Cambridge on the Weiser Trail. That was a nice trail to ride and I hope to be able to ride more of it at some point.

On Friday I participated in the first ever Chrono Kristin Armstrong. This was a 14 mile time trial race from Star , ID to Firebird Raceway outside Emmett, ID. My goal for the race was to make it in 45 minutes. I ended up finishing in 45 minutes and 57 seconds. Not bad for my first ever sanctioned time trial. I am looking forward to doing it again next year. We ended up sticking around after the amateur race to watch the pro-women come in to the finish and they sure were flying. A lot of them bettered my 45 minutes by 11 to 13 minutes.

Saturday was spent near the Capital building in Boise watching the Twilight Criterium. Nothing like watching people on bikes racing around in circles.

Next ride that I have planned is the Fondo on the Palouse this Saturday. I will then start planning for the MS Ride in September. Here is the link to my donation page at the National MS Society if you would like to go ahead and donate right now.

Keep the shiny side up.

Busy year

2017 was a busy year on the bike for me. Here is a summary of what happened:

• 6,097 total miles ridden for the year. First time over 6,000 miles.
• 1,012 total miles ridden in July. First time over 1,000 miles in a month.
• 712 total rides for the year. 102 more than the previous year.
• 145 miles ridden in one day. This was the first day of the MS Ride in September.
• 231 rides to work.
• I achieved 40,000+ miles ridden since July of 2008 when I started keeping track of my mileage.

Here are some interesting places that I rode over the year:

• Morgan, UT to Echo, UT - Rode up Highway 66 to East Canyon State Park and rode down Highway 65 to Henefer, UT. Rode past Henefer on a side road that paralleled Interstate 84 to Echo, UT. Finished the day with 26 miles.
• Fort Collins, CO - Rode over 130 miles over six days on the trails around Fort Collins.
• Green River, WY to Little America, WY - Rode on Highway 374 that parallels Interstate 80. Finished with 22 miles for the day.
• Poulsbo, WA - Did the longest ride of the Viking Tour. Finished the day with 62 miles.
• Hiawatha Trail - Rode down from the top and back up. Philip rode down and rode the bus back up. Finished the day with 30 miles.
• Trail of the Coeur d' Alenes - Rode the full trail on the first day of the MS Ride. This is by far the most miles that I have ridden in one day.

My goals for 2018 are:

• Ride over 7,000 miles.
• Ride more than 1,000 miles in 2 or more months.
• Ride the Hiawatha Trail again plus other trails in that area such as the Norpac.
• Ride part or all of the Weiser Trail starting in the North and working South and then work from the South to the North.
• Race quite a few Cyclocross races.

2017 MS Ride

Day before

Walked with Wendy to the Radio Brewing Company to have dinner. Got a little lost on the way but got to see a friend that works at the brewery. The beer and dinner were good and I got a growler of a Huckleberry Ale to bring home.

Day one – 145 miles – 8:27 hours riding

Sun coming up on the way to Mullan.

My plan was to get up early enough to do the almost 40 miles from Kellogg to Mullan and back before the start 100+ mile MS Ride. Things didn’t go to plan since we got an email that said that the 100+ mile portion was not going to be held due to the amount of smoke in the air. I went ahead and got up but it was a little later than the plan and I got out on the trail to head to Mullan. The air was crisp with a very noticeable chill. I did not check the temperature before leaving but found out later that it was 30 degrees when I started out. As I got closer to Mullan the sun finally peeked over the walls of the valley. This was a welcome sight since it meant that it would actually get warmer on the way back down to Kellogg. I stopped in Mullan to consume one of the baby food in a pouch things that I had brought along for the ride. I don’t remember what it was but it did taste pretty good. Got hooked on these when the grandson was here at the end of August.

Sunny but cold ride to Mullan.

On the way back out of Mullan there was a coyote on the trail. Of course I had to bark at it instead of yelling.

Stopped back at the resort in Kellogg to get warmed up a bit in the lobby and eat a little something. Wendy came by and we went back to the room so that I could get another pair of socks on and use the hair dryer to warm up my shoes.

The pirate rest stop at Cataldo.

Went back down to the start and headed out with another group of riders on the main part of the ride. During the ride I saw the usual herons, chipmunks, and squirrels along and on the trail. I did get to see one moose that was bedded down in the brush along the trail. Wouldn’t have seen it except there were two people looking at it as I approached.

Nice view of the lake from the trail.

Chatcolet Bridge.

The nice thing about riding the long ride is that there are rest stops every 15 miles. This is a nice way to get extra food into your body without having to carry very much. I really needed the extra food for the longer ride that I was wanting to do. I also didn't know if I was going to be able to go to Plummer from Harrison until I got to Harrison. In Harrison there was a couple of the volunteers for the MS Society that had a table setup that we could turn in our bib numbers in order to ride the 30 miles to Plummer and back. After turning in the number I made my way towards Plummer and at about the 90th mile for the day I had to stop and eat since I was starting to bonk a little. After that little rest I made it to Plummer and turned around and headed back to Harrison to get lunch and pick up my bib number.

The ride back to Kellogg was very nice and I was glad when I got there after being on the bike for that long of a time.

After dinner and the evening MS rally we soaked in one of the hot tubs. That sure felt nice after all of the miles on the bike.

The view on the way to Burke.

Day two – 51 miles – 3:07 hours riding

I like the second day of the ride since we have the option to ride up Burke Canyon to the old mining town of Burke. After the long day the day before the tops of my thighs were just a little sore but I figured that 50 miles wouldn’t be too bad to ride with them hurting. I did not rest very much on this ride since I wanted to just keep the legs moving as much as possible.

Almost everything you need to know about Burke.

Thanks

I want to really thank all of the people that donated to the MS Society. Your donations will go a long way in helping those affected by MS.

Finally

Well, I guess I had better update this blog again before the MS Ride happens for 2017. Here we are in July and I have covered over 3,000 miles so far. My longest ride so far has been about 70 miles in one day. The winter really knocked down my riding time since I pretty much just rode back and forth to work with not very much extra miles put in.

Philip and I took a trip to see Monica in April and I was able to bike from Morgan, UT to Echo, UT. It was interesting to find out that the route I rode had been used in the Tour of Utah several years ago. I rode quite a bit in Fort Collins over the week that we were there and then I got to ride from Green River, WY to Little America, WY on the way home. It was a pretty straight stretch of road with a pretty neat history to it.

Philip and I got to ride the Route of the Hiawatha Trail in June with a group of other people. I rode down and back up and it was especially fun to ride through the tunnels. The trestles were pretty neat but I did not like the heights.

I did a little bit of riding in McCall near the end of June and most of the rest of my riding has been on roads and trails around home. I can say that a lot of gravel has been ridden the past few weeks around here.

The ride that I am most looking forward to other than the MS Ride is the first ride pulling the bike trailer with grandson Erik in it. He and Monica will be in town in August and this will be such a cool experience. I remember pulling her and Rachel in a bike trailer when they were wee little ones.

I will go ahead and post the link for my page at the MS Society to round out this post. http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/WASBikeEvents?px=4939697&pg=personal&fr_id=28274

Thanks so much for checking in to my blog.

MS Ride - Better late than never

I need to really start these things earlier. You would think being around college students would help me get one simple blog out right after a ride.

MS Ride - Day 1
After waking up in the Walmart parking lot and getting dressed for a day of riding I drove to the start area in Kellogg. The rain came down and it was not going to let up. I almost didn't want to ride but I just thought about all the people that I would be riding for.

I started out about 10 minutes early just to have a clear trail. There were several others that took off before me and I did catch up with some of them. It was a pretty uneventful ride until I went past the third rest area. I came up on a momma moose with two little ones standing right in the middle of the trail. I figured the best way to get her to move was by making small clicking sounds and to move towards her very slowly as not to bother her to much. She and the little ones decided to move down the trail and wander off into the brush. I hurried up past her just in case she decided that she did not like the situation. The only other wildlife I saw was a couple of herons later on. It was pretty darn wet and I think all of the animals were trying to stay dry.

I made it to Plummer and turned around for the trip back to Harrison for lunch. Stopped in Harrison for a quick lunch and got back on the bike. I started to feel pretty miserable so I ended up getting a ride from Cataldo. I did 96 miles for the day in a pretty good downpour.

MS Ride - Day 2
Since my shoes and some of the other clothing that I was going to use were still pretty wet I decided to bag riding the second day in Kellogg. I ended up having breakfast with everyone else and waited around for the start of the second day. After everyone started the ride I ended up getting in the car and driving home. I did ride about twelve miles in Moscow to kind of have a second day of riding for the MS Ride.

I would really like to thank everyone that donated money to help fight MS this year. I feel bad that I was unable to finish out the whole ride this year but next I will be better prepared for next year.

MSing the bike

I had my first ride after 24 days of rehabbing a sprained knee sustained during basketball. This has been a very hard time for me since I use my bike to commute to work on a daily basis. I have been getting rides to work, from work, and walking most everywhere else. The hard part about today was getting my right foot out of the pedal without to much twisting. I am still going to do the MS Ride on the 17th and 18th of September and I hope to do all of the mileage on each day. If not I will appreciate being able to be on my bike riding for a great cause. Donations can still be made on my National MS Society page.

STP and beyond

I must say that the Seattle to Portland (STP) ride is a very well put together group ride. There was over 10,000 people on the roads between Seattle and Portland over two days. It was amazing looking at all of the bicyclists when there was a straight stretch of road. I am going to do this ride again next year.

Wendy and I left Moscow on Friday morning to drive to Poulsbo to stay the night with my sister Deb and brother-in-law Steve. It was a nice night of checking out their new place, eating dinner, drinking some homemade beer, catching up on old times, and getting ready for the first day of the ride on Saturday.

First day recap:

On Saturday morning we gathered all of our things and got them into the rig so that Deb could take us to the ferry terminal. We were catching the early ferry in order to make it to Seattle to join in with the other riders who started at the University of Washington campus. We rode our bikes onto the ferry and parked them at the designated bike parking areas and went up into the passenger area to rest up before the long day ahead. When we got to Seattle we followed a group of riders off of the ferry up and over to where we were going to join the other riders. The ride up the city streets was okay but riding down some of the streets was pretty interesting. I am just glad that there was no moisture on the roads otherwise it would have been a slippery mess.

I rode with Steve most of the ride but went out on my own after a bit after every rest stop. He had not ridden his bike very much over the past few years so he was not moving as quickly as he had in the past. He just told me to go on. I am so used to riding by myself that it was weird having so many other people riding at the same time. After a couple of hours riding Wendy and Deb let us know that they had taken off from the house and were going to meet us in Centralia to setup the tents and just hangout until we got there. Centralia is the midpoint of the ride and it is where most of the two day riders stay at. The rest stops were spread out every 20 miles or so. Every one of them that we stopped at had tons of riders there getting water and food. Steve was really starting to hurt at the last rest stop but he pressed on. I made it to Centralia and was wandering around with Wendy when Steve came in. We found the showers to get all clean and then found food to get all fueled up. Wendy and Deb had setup the tents before we got there and that was nice to have done for us. We played quite a few games of Crazy Eights before settling down to bed.

Statisitics for first day: 97.2 miles, 6 hours 22 minutes riding time, 9 hours 29 minutes elapsed time, 2167 calories.

Got up Sunday morning had a nice pancake breakfast and got ready to ride. Steve said that he was not going to be able to ride that day. This day was spent riding and stopping at most of the rest areas. I really had no reason to stop very long other than getting more water and food.

Statistics for second day: 104.6 miles, 5 hours 47 minutes riding time, 6 hours 45 minutes elapsed time, 2171 calories.

Next big ride that I have is the MS Ride on the 17th and 18th of September on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. Donations to the MS Society can be made on my MS Society page. Every donation helps those suffering from the effects of MS.

Overdue, STP, and Bike MS

Just a little slow getting an update going for the year. Biking has been going good. Don't feel like I have been getting in the miles I want but I am farther along than past years. I have been off the bike more days this year than in the past. The longest stretch was a weird hip/pelvic injury that meant eight days of not riding since the bike seat pressed right on the spot that hurt. It sure feels much better now and it sure felt great to get back on the bike.

I did the Just for the Hill of It climb in Whitebird this year. The weather was very nice and warm with a slight breeze. I felt that I did a very good job by coming in 15th out of about sixty other people that joined in on the fun. Nothing like a 2200 foot climb to make your heart and lungs have a great workout.

The STP (Seattle to Portland) Ride is a little over a month away and I am truly getting excited about doing it. I am doing it with my brother-in-law Steve and we are doing the two day event which means doing 100 miles on the first day and then doing 100 miles on the second day.

The only other ride so far on the docket is the MS Ride on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in September . This will be my ninth year riding and I want to really thank my sister Deb and brother-in-law Steve for getting me going in riding for this great cause. I rode off and on before my first MS Ride but when they asked me to ride in 2008 I really started getting more into riding. I am now up to over 30,000 miles since July of 2008 and have no intention of stopping.

To donate to the MS Society you can visit my personal donation page.

Long overdue MS Ride report

I really need to get this up before the New Year. When I was riding in the snow during Thanksgiving in McCall I was reminded of a couple of rides I took in September on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes. This was the eighth year doing a Ride MS event and the third one done on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.

I drove up to Kellogg on the Friday before the ride and got checked in. I put my bike in the bike corral at the Silver Mountain Resort and then drove to the Wal Mart in Smelterville to park and sleep. I found that the rear seat of the pickup is designed for someone that is about 5’3” tall to sleep in. I had to get up in the middle of the night to use the facilities in Wal Mart and purchase some chocolate milk for breakfast in the morning. It cooled down quite a bit during the night and the windows fogged up. I slept pretty good considering that I was unable to straighten my legs out.

I got up the next morning, cleared the windows and drove to the resort. Once there I got my bike and got into my biking gear. The 100 mile ride to Plummer and back was set to start at 8:00 so I went ahead and took off 10 minutes early. As I rode out of Kellogg towards Smelterville my glasses started misting up from the fog that was still hanging over the Silver Valley. By the time I got to Cataldo the fog had lifted and I had made it to the first rest stop of the day. This rest stop was a welcome sight since I wanted to get a banana and some more food to snack on while riding. After getting supplies it was back on the bike and heading down the trail to the next rest stop at Medimont. I saw some geese and ducks during this portion of the trail and that was all that was seen all the way to Plummer. I did notice that the water levels were pretty low all along the trail. I made it to the rest stop at Medimont with no issues and headed on to Harrison. After Harrison it was on to Plummer and then back down to Harrison for lunch. Lunch consisted of a nice turkey sandwich, bag of chips, brownie, and water. After lunch it was back on the trail towards Kellogg. Saw some Woolly Bear caterpillars between Medimont and Cataldo. I noticed that I had 107 miles on the GPS when I got to Kellogg so I decided to ride another 1.5 miles past the finish to try and make it an even 110 miles. I ended up getting 109.7 miles for the day. I took all of my stuff over to the middle school to take a shower and get my bed set up for the evening. Went back to the resort for dinner and the evening program. Got back to the middle school and found a basketball to shoot around for a while before going to bed.

Got up Sunday morning after a better sleep on an air mattress and headed over to the resort to have breakfast. This was going to be a good day since I would get to ride the full route of Kellogg – Wallace – Burke – Wallace – Mullen – Wallace – Kellogg for a total of 50 miles. The ride from Kellogg to Wallace went pretty quick and I took a little bit of a detour before getting to the road that led to Burke. The road up to Burke was amazing with all of the history of mining that went on in this area. It was a nice climb and there was not much traffic. The wind was in my face going back down to Wallace so I was not able to get going very fast. Once I got back to Wallace I headed on towards Mullen. It was pretty smooth going and I ended up going past the Mullen rest stop to go to the actual end of the trail. I then went back to the rest stop to get something to eat and drink. After getting refueled I headed back towards Wallace/Kellogg to finish out the ride.

About 3 miles out of Kellogg I heard a pretty load thunk, thunk, thunk sound coming from the freeway to my right. I looked over and noticed a car carrier with several cars on it. The hood on the first car had come unlatched and was smacking into the windshield. Not going to be a good day for the driver of that semi that day.

Once I got back to the resort I had a couple slices of pizza and loaded everything in the pickup to head home.

I would really like to thank all of the people that donated to the MS Society this year for me and I would like to thank Matt Morra for the rear wheel that he loaned me.

Long overdue update

Been a while since an update has happened on this blog.

Mostly commuting to work with a mix of gravel, road, and Moscow Mountain thrown in.

Finally got new wheels for the road bike to replace the ones that had the spokes breaking on them. It sure felt good to be back on that bike and getting some much needed miles on it. Looking forward to having the bike for the MS Ride in September on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes.

Had a great 4th of July weekend up in Warren. Did some cleaning on a trail that had a bunch of trees down on it. Was able to get some good riding on the cleaned up trail and in the dredge ponds. Missed having Pam, Deb, and Steve up there this year. Would have been some good riding for Steve and I.

Now it is time to make a plea for donations to the MS Society. I know that I do this every year and this year is no exception. If you would like to donate please go to my page at the MS Society's website.

MS Ride 2014 – The Bike Spoke of a Moose

Friday, September 12th

Rode up to Wallace on Friday afternoon with Jill (a neighbor who was doing the MS Ride) and Shawn (her husband). We set up camp and then went to Kellogg to pick up the registration materials for the ride. In each envelope was a bandana that had a message and was signed by a person with MS. We went back to Wallace, walked around downtown for a bit, had dinner, and then got ready for bed. I slept in a tent alongside the creek that runs right by the Wallace RV Park. Part way through the night I woke up and thought it was raining due to the sound. I went back to sleep after realizing that the sound was only the creek.

Saturday, September 13th

I woke up feeling pretty good. Ate a peanut butter and pear butter sandwich for breakfast. I got dressed and wrote the names of all the people that I would be riding for on my calf (Tammy, Brandt, Mike, Michelle, Chris, Susie, Samantha). I was able to finish eating and warmed up in Jill and Shawn’s trailer before heading to Kellogg for the start of the MS Ride.

I got on the bike and rode down to Kellogg, arriving just in time to gather with the other riders that were waiting at the start. At 9:00 we started out on the trail towards Cataldo, where the first rest stop would be. I stopped after we got out of Kellogg to give assistance to one of the riders who was having problems with her cycling cleats. I got back on the bike and it ended up being a pretty nice little ride to Cataldo where I stopped to get some food and water.

Riding along the Trail of the Coeur d’Alene’s got me thinking about the wildlife that I would be seeing. Up ahead a small group of riders had stopped on the trail. As I got closer to them I noticed a bull moose alongside the trail tugging on the branches of an Aspen tree. We stood and waited for him to finish his meal. As I was going to try and get a picture with my IPod a guy on mountain bike caught up with us and he charged right toward the moose. The moose got spooked and headed on down the trail with the mountain biker following. We all decided to follow the moose and biker down the trail. We must have gone ¼ to ½ miles before the moose found a spot to get off of the trail. In another mile I spooked a whitetail deer that was down among the brush. Arrived at the Medimont Trailhead rest stop and got more water and food.

I saw only one Woolly Bear caterpillar as I made my way from the Medimont Trailhead to Harrison. I stopped in Harrison at the MS Ride rest stop and topped the water bottles off and headed towards Plummer. About 4 miles out of Harrison, I stopped to loan my pump to a guy who needed to pump up his tire. He got his tire pumped up and I was off again. 6 miles later I heard a ping from the rear wheel and started to feel the rim rub against the brake pads. I stopped to assess the damage and decided that it was best to turn around and ride back to Harrison. I opened up the brakes so the rim wouldn’t be constantly rubbing. Once I made it to Harrison I stopped at the little trailer that one of the volunteer bike shops had setup. The mechanic took out the broken spoke and straightened it out the best that he could so that I could ride it some more for the weekend. I wandered over to the rest stop to get lunch and then headed towards the Medimont Trailhead rest stop.

I was planning on riding all the way to Cataldo to get a ride with the Sag Wagon, but by the time I got to the Medimont Trailhead I was pretty tired. I think I got worn out fighting the brakes rubbing the rim. I waited at the Medimont Trailhead for the Sag Wagon to take me to Kellogg.
I did finish the day with 83 miles and about 4.75 hours of riding time.

I decided that sleeping in the school gym would be better than by the creek, so I went with Shawn to the RV Park to get my stuff before the dinner and program. After all of the festivities we took my stuff over to the school and I got ready for a good night of sleep. I got the tent put back in the little pack that it came in and arranged all of my stuff so that it would be easy getting ready in the morning.

Sunday, September 14th

One of the volunteers that was staying at the school let me put my stuff in her car so that I did not have to carry it to the starting line. I went up to have breakfast and then waited around for the start of the ride. I would not be riding very far or very long since the bike was having issues.

I ended up riding to Wallace and going to mass. After mass was done I headed back down the trail to Kellogg, stopping only to get lunch at the park in Osburn. It was a short day on the bike but I was glad that I was still able to do some miles.