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September 17, 2006:
Tour Wrap-Up
After 64 days... 4,100 miles... and 181 Priuses, Tour
de Guts rolled into Portland, Maine, on a unseasonably
warm and beautiful afternoon on Saturday, September 17.
We dipped our front wheels into the Atlantic around noon
local time, completing our cross-country cycling journey
that started on the Pacific, just north of Seattle,
nearly two months ago. We toasted the end of our journey
with local brews in the Old Port area in Portland. |
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September 16, 2006:
Located in Portland, Maine
59 miles from Center Conway to Portland, ME! If my math
is correct, that makes 4,047 miles in total. Today was
day 64 of our adventure, so we made it to the finish two
days earlier than scheduled. Foggy and low 50's start to
the day led to a confrontation with a black pickup;
surprisingly, this was one of only 2 times when we were
really buzzed by a car on the whole trip. |
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September 15, 2006:
Located in Conway, New Hampshire
44 miles from Lincoln to Center Conway. Since the
forecast for today was for early showers and then
clearing skies, we slept in only to wake to decent
weather. Breakfast at "Lincoln's Best Breakfast" yielded
only marginal pancakes and French toast, but the
pleasant weather saved the morning! |
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September 14, 2006:
Located in Lincoln, New Hampshire
77 miles from Bethel, VT to Lincoln, NH. The weather geniuses were wrong yet
again, but this time in our favor: the rain didn't begin to fall until almost
4:00 today. But I digress...first we had a nice continental breakfast at the
Greenhurst and another good conversation that included some discussion about
Vermont politics (including Howard Dean). |
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September 13, 2006:
Located in Bethel, Vermont
66 miles from Ticonderoga, NY to Bethel, VT. The
forecast for today was for possible late afternoon
showers, but we awoke at 6:00 to light rain with no real
end in sight, per the Weather Channel. |
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September 12, 2006:
Located in Ticonderoga, New York
97 miles from Inlet to Ticonderoga. Since there were no restaurants open in
town, we cooked oatmeal in our lovely room and hit the roads in fog and 40
degrees, our coldest morning yet. Boy, the hands and toes never did get warm for
the first couple hours until we found a convenience store to grab java and a
snack.
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September 11, 2006:
Located in Inlet, New York
90 miles from Pulaski to Inlet. Out the door at 7:00 to
temps in the upper 40's and slight easterly wind. Had
lots of short, steep hills in the first 25 miles and it
had us very nervous about making it to at least Old
Forge today. |
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September 10, 2006:
Located in Pulaski, New York
78 miles from Sodus Point to Pulaski. Giant pancakes from Zoots sent us on our
way today under partly sunny skies and temps in the low
50's. We had planned to ride off route today to visit
Chimney Bluffs State Park and were impressed by the
starkness of its glacially-created drumlin-lined beach. |
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September 9, 2006:
Located in Sodus Point, New York
84 miles from Albion to Sodus Point. Ate a combo breakfast of some food in our
room and the rest from Tim Horton's, which reminds me that I think T-Ho's is
coming to Mpls sometime fairly soon. |
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September 8, 2006:
Located in Albion, New York
78 miles from Buffalo to Albion. Kathy made us waffles with real maple syrup to
send us off in style, then drove us back to where she picked us up the other day
for us to cross the Peace Bridge and enter Canada.
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September 7, 2006:
Rest Day in Buffalo, New York
Rest day in Buffalo. Got the bikes some new chains and a few other minor
adjustments at the local bike shop while we visited the American side of Niagara
Falls. |
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September 6, 2006:
Located in Buffalo, New York
56 miles from Dunkirk to Buffalo. Nice weather to start the day: temps in low
60's, partly sunny and light winds again. No new info on Bucky at this point,
he's still at large. Stopped at the first Tim Horton's
that we ran across and had some very tasty donuts and
our first dose of heavy NY accents from some friendly,
curious dudes. |
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September 5, 2006:
Located in Dunkirk, New York
92 miles from Ashtabula to Dunkirk. Another great day
for riding with partly sunny skies and more light winds.
We broke camp early in order to ride to Conneaut for
breakfast where we had some of the best pancakes of the
trip. They arrived at the table pre-buttered so we
didn't even have to waste time with that arduous
process. |
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September 4, 2006:
Located in Ashtabula, Ohio
86 miles from Cleveland to beyond Ashtabula. Light winds
and mostly sunny skies sent us off this morning on a
mostly urban cycling day. Got some good photos of Lake
Erie, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Browns Stadium
before fighting our way through the crowd descending on
downtown for another day of the Cleveland air show. |
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September 3, 2006:
Located in Cleveland, Ohio
57 miles from Avery to Cleveland. Light sprinkles to start the day and end the
day, but otherwise mostly cloudy skies and light winds off Lake Erie.
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September 2, 2006:
Located in Avery, Ohio
64 miles from Bowling Green to Avery. The day started
out fantastically with a great breakfast from Waffle
House! For anyone familiar with this establishment, this
was by far the cleanest and most homogenized location
I've ever seen and also the furthest north. There's hope
that Mpls will have one some day! |
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September 1, 2006:
Located in Bowling Green, Ohio
92 miles from Monroeville, IN to Bowling Green, OH in,
you guessed it, steady showers to start and then
occasional rain throughout the day! At least last
night we slept on cots indoors at the bike hostel and
even had the chance to do laundry, so all our stuff
dried out at least temporarily. |
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August 31, 2006:
Located in Monroeville, Indiana
67 miles from Wabash to Monroeville. Weather forecast
last night was for NW winds and light showers so we woke
up excited only to see the wind was out of the NE at
10-20mph! |
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August 30, 2006:
Located in Wabash, Indiana
68 miles from Monon to Wabash. We woke this morning to a
big orange thing in the sky. Turned out to be the sun!
Literally hadn't seen it since the day before
Dyersville, over a week ago, and it's now rained on us
every day since Saturday. I guess we shouldn't have been
wishing for a day where we didn't have to wear
sunscreen, eh? |
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August 29, 2006:
Located in Monon, Indiana
86 miles from Cabery to Monon, IN. Today started with a
light mist falling on us as we left Charlie and Joyce's
house. Charlie rode with us for about 15 miles until he
had to get back to prepare for the fall harvest. We
can't thank them enough for their willingness to take in
two tired, wet cyclists and brighten our spirits! |
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August 28, 2006:
Located in Cabery, Illinois
65 miles from Wenona to Cabery. The winner of the recent
trivia question was Big Daddy, so we'll send a lovely
postcard soon. Thanks to everyone who weighed in! Of
course, the correct answers were John Brown and Robert
E. Lee. |
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August 27, 2006:
Located in Wenona, Illinois
95 miles from Orion to Wenona.
Today began with heavy fog and a nice visit with some
young kids and their grandmother who camped next to us.
We'll send them a postcard from somewhere along the
route, as they were very excited about our ride. |
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August 26, 2006:
Located in Orion, Illinois
86 miles from Lowden, IA to
Orion, IL. The day started with a nice relaxing
breakfast with Laura's parents and then they drove us
back to Lowden to pick up where we left off two days
ago. |
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August 24, 2006:
Located in Lowden, Iowa
65 miles from Dyersville to Lowden. Another scorcher (90 degrees) with high
humidity and southern winds (again). Stopped at Field of Dreams for a few photos
before they opened for business. Too bad we didn't have gloves to "have a catch"
- that phrase still befuddles me.
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August 23, 2006:
Located in Dyersville, Iowa
86 miles from Harpers Ferry to
Dyersville. Temps in the mid 80's, high humidity and
southerly winds made for a very difficult day. Oh, did I
mention the hills? This section of Iowa is relentless! |
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August 22, 2006:
Located in Harpers Ferry, Iowa
79 miles from Winona to Harpers Ferry, IA. Took John's alternate route which
saved us a couple miles and was very scenic at the expense of a 1.5 mile climb
up probably 7-10% grades. Hadn't seen that since the Cascades, so it will
probably warm us up for the hill country of Iowa. |
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August 21, 2006:
Located in Winona, Minnesota
68 miles today to Winona. Didn't quite answer the first alarm clock today
since the forecast was for clear skies and possibly a favorable wind. Plus,
there were more waffles to be had at our motel.
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August 20, 2006:
Located in Red Wing, Minnesota
Finally back on the road with a 67 mile ride from Minneapolis to Red Wing. We
had 7 takers on our request for people to ride with us for all or a portion of
the day and left from the St. Thomas parking lot.
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August 18 & 19, 2006:
Rest Days in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Two much-needed rest days in Mpls that turned out to be very busy with errands
and seeing as many friends as possible. Last night we had a wonderful time at
dinner with Steve and Mary and even got to see their Prius up close. |
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August 17, 2006:
Located in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Today dawned with really no
sense of urgency, as a 65 mile day into Mpls was cut
down to 36 thanks to the extra effort yesterday. |
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August 16, 2006:
Located in Andover, Minnesota
106 miles from Little Falls to
Andover. As we left Little Falls this morning, we
planned to ride about 75 miles to a campsite outside of
Cambridge, but as we got closer the homing instinct was
overwhelming! |
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August 15, 2006:
Located in Little Falls, Minnesota
66 miles from Parkers Prairie to Little Falls, home of Charles Lindbergh.
Another great day for riding, with clear skies, mild temps, and a slight SE
breeze. After banana pancakes (a Brazilian specialty), sausage, juice and
coffee, Mark delivered us back to where he picked us up yesterday and we said
our goodbyes.
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August 14, 2006:
Located in Parkers Prairie, Minnesota
After lunch (and fudge) in
Battle Lake, we encountered several dogs that seemed
intent on coaching us into a faster pace. All but one
gave up the chase with a few hollers of "Halt!", but one
ditch-runner continued even after Laura hit him with
some dog spray. |
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August 13, 2006:
Located in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota
Today marked our 30th day on the
road and we left Fargo for Pelican Rapids under
threatening skies with little Conrad in tow and Jeff at
the helm. Shortly after getting out of town, I took the
lead only to have Conrad begin to whimper and bark. |
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August 12, 2006:
Rest Day in Fargo, North Dakota
Rest day in Fargo to take care of errands, laundry, and catch up on what's been
going on in Sioux Falls with my parents. Jeff arrives tonight, just in time to
load up on calories for tomorrow and to plan our ride. Of course, faithful dog
Conrad promises to go along for some of the ride, too!
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August 11, 2006:
Located in Fargo, North Dakota
34 miles under overcast skies
and lighter winds today into Fargo. This is the biggest
city by far that we've been through and we're hoping the
drivers are more bike-friendly than in Minot. |
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August 10, 2006:
Located in Arthur, North Dakota
After resigning ourselves that it would be too much to keep ahead of schedule by
two days, we set our sights on Arthur today, a ride of 68 miles. We slept in
today so we could hit the library at about 8:00, as the librarian yesterday told
us we could come in before they open and use the internet, a very kind gesture.
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August 9, 2006:
Located in Cooperstown, North Dakota
Devil's Lake to Cooperstown, a ride of 81 miles with 5-15 mph variable winds and
temps in the low 90's by the end of the ride. Last night we stayed in a motel
because camping was impossible to find in town. Hated to splurge but it allowed
us to get a decent continental breakfast in and then hit the road by 7:00.
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August 8, 2006:
Located in Devils Lake, North Dakota
Day 25 of our journey and, after
consulting with about 10 locals, we decided to make a
beeline for Devil's Lake, opting for staying on Hwy 2
rather than following the more roundabout Adventure
Cycling route. |
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August 7, 2006:
Located in Rugby, North Dakota
The 70 mile ride from Minot to Rugby was supposed to be a fairly easy ride after
yesterday's biggie, but a wind switch to 15-25 mph out of the SE made for quite
the struggle.
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August 7, 2006: Dakotas/Minnesota Ride Dedication
We would like to dedicate this
portion and the entire Minnesota leg to our friend Roger
Andal, who passed away earlier this summer from surgical
complications to relieve his Crohn's Disease. |
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August 6, 2006:
Located in Minot, North Dakota
Winds were out of the NW today,
so they sort of helped us and definitely didn't hinder
us and temps were in the low 80's for most of the day.
Yesterday, I noticed my rear tire was not holding air
very well, but decided to try to milk it as long as I
could. |
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August 5, 2006:
Rest Day in Williston, North Dakota
We did manage to get up early to
watch a local 5K/10K running race, which meant fighting
30mph winds for a few miles - some rest day, huh? At
lunch, we met a young actor named David from NYC who is
riding the Northern Tier from east to west and had a
very nice chat with him. |
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Special
Blog: August
4, 2006: Dinner in Williston
Dinner last night was such a treat! We met Jackie and
her two
youngest children, Jerrica and Christian, who so kindly
made a two-hour trek to Williston for dinner at
Ginger's, along with Jerrica's "super" friend, Lillie. |
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August 4, 2006:
Located in Williston, North Dakota
Rode the 45 miles into Williston in pretty good time,
despite more slight headwinds. Today was very hilly
again, so all those dreams of reaching flat North Dakota
were slightly off. We did manage to get a photo of
Hwy 2 mileage marker #667 right before we crossed into
North Dakota. |
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August 3, 2006:
Located in Culberston, Montana
Today we cranked out another 92 miles despite facing
10-15 mph headwinds for about 87 miles, then some rather
stout hills for the last 5 miles into Culbertson. We
began the day by having coffee with Francis, whom we met
last night, and then going right for the monster cakes
at Bergie's. |
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August 2, 2006:
Located in Nashua, Montana
Higher temps but favorable winds made for another nice
day of riding. The mosquitoes weren't nearly as bad as
the locals had predicted, but they still managed to do
their fair share of damage. Hope none of them were
carrying West Nile! |
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August 1, 2006:
Located in Malta, Montana
With almost no wind and overcast skies, we set our
sights for Malta, which is 68 miles from Chinook. We did
meet Lorraine at the bakery for breakfast and had a very
nice chat until she had to go off to work and we got
ready for our version of work. |
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July 31, 2006:
Located in Chinook, Montana
With favorable tailwinds in the morning, we rode a
relatively easy 85 miles today from Chester to Chinook.
Good news: the sprinklers didn't get us last night! We
left Chester kinda late and then rode like heck to get
to Havre for our interview with the local NBC affiliate! |
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July 30, 2006:
Located in Chester, Montana
Favorable winds and moderate temps (upper 80's) made for
outstanding cycling today. New personal distance records
of 118 miles for us both, taking us from East Glacier to
Chester, MT. |
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July 29, 2006:
Located in East Glacier, Montana
57 miles over Marias Pass from West Glacier to East Glacier. This was by
far the easiest of our 5 major passes at only 2000' of climbing, with nothing
over about 5% grade.
Special Note: Laura and Sam safely
avoided the Red Eagle Fire by a few hours today.
The fire is causing evacuations and road closures in the
St. Mary, Montana area.
Read about the fire
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July 28, 2006:
Rest Day
in West Glacier, Montana
Today we rested and continued the use of our rental car
by driving over Logan Pass via Going to the Sun Highway.
On the way down the east side, we began seeing dozens of
cyclists attempting the climb over the pass. |
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July 27, 2006: Located
in West Glacier, Montana
As we finished breakfast today at the Buffalo Cafe (Dave
from Eureka's recommendation), we noticed a Frank Lloyd
Wright building and while taking a photo, a gentleman
came out and offered a personal tour. |
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July 26, 2006: Located
in Whitefish, Montana
56 miles from Eureka to Whitefish over pretty easy
terrain. As usual, the day began with the steepest,
longest climb in the first mile but it was pretty
smooth-sailing from there. Hwy 93 into Whitefish for the
last 4 miles was pretty awful riding: very narrow
shoulder and lots of fast traffic over rolling hills. |
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July 25, 2006: Located
in Eureka, Montana
Today we rode 70 miles over many short, steep hills from
Libby to Eureka. The day certainly had its ups and
downs, both physically and mentally so we were happy
make it to our destination without any meltdowns. |
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July 24, 2006: Located
in Libby, Montana
Today we rode 71 miles from Clark Fork, ID to Libby, MT
through the beautiful Cabinet Mountains on Hwy 56. Not
much time for dilly-dallying as the temps are predicted
to top out around 105 today. |
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July 23, 2006: Located
in Clark Fork, Idaho
We decided not to take the full rest day in Sandpoint
and rode the 24 miles to lovely Clark Fork, ID after
sleeping in until 8:00am at our palatial motel room. |
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July 23, 2006: Located
in Clark Fork, Idaho (Guest
Posting)
Since Laura and Sam may be without the perks of a cell
phone and Internet for a couple of days, enjoy a brief
posting from guest bloggers Jim & Katie from Sweet
Bicycles and Marbles. |
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July 22, 2006: Located
in Sandpoint, Idaho
52 mostly flat miles from Usk to Sandpoint, Idaho. We
were pleasantly surprised by a very chilly evening in
the low 50's. It doesn't seem possible, but every
morning we bundle up with all the cold-weather gear we
have and within a couple hours have shed most of it. |
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July 21, 2006: Located
in Usk, Washington
83 miles from Colville to just outside Usk. Last night's
camping was by far the worst of any we've had so far.
The cows for the rodeo rolled in sometime around
midnight and the unloading didn't go well. |
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July 20, 2006: Located
in Colville, Washington
59 miles and 3000' of climbing over Boulder Pass from
Curlew to Colville. The route was even better than
advertised, since it came in about 10 miles shorter than
anticipated. Looked back once on the descent to check
for cars and saw a black bear cross the road about 50
yards behind Laura. |
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July 19, 2006: Located
in Curlew, Washington
64 miles and 3400' of climbing over Wauconda Pass from
Tonasket to Curlew (via Republic). Met group of 3
x-country riders and one solo rider heading to Jasper in
Canada at cafe in Wauconda. |
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July 18, 2006: Located
Near Tonasket, Washington
72 miles and 2500' of climbing over Loup Loup Pass from Winthrop to Tonasket. Decided to overshoot Omak in order to set us up for an early morning climb up Wauconda Pass tomorrow. |
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July 17, 2006:
Located in Winthrop, Washington
After making it through the night without the
company of a bear, Laura and Sam jumped on their bikes
at 6:00am local time today. |
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July 16, 2006:
Located Near Nehalem, Washington
Out of camp by 6:00am with temp at 50. Breakfast was with the King today in
Sedro Wooley. Rode 79 mostly flat miles along the Skagit River to camp at
Newhalem. |
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July 15, 2006:
Prologue to the Tour
Picked up Surly bikes at Skagit Cycle Center in
Anacortes where Justin had expertly reassembled them for
us. |
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July 9, 2006:
Final Tune-Up
I55 miles on Saturday on our regular road bikes. Two
flat tires on Laura's bike kinda slowed us down, but
helped perfect our tire patching skills. |
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July 4, 2006:
Prologue Summary
It was a beautiful weekend for long rides with fully
loaded bikes. Saturday took us along the shaded Gateway
Trail to Stillwater and back for 75 miles. |
