I may be older and slower, but I'm still getting out there for great adventures!
I may be older and slower, but I'm still getting out there for great adventures!
Here is the closing ceremonies for Boy Scout Troop 72 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. I have been very active in this troop since cofounding it 25 years ago, in 2001. Our charter organization asked us to close it down three…
“Day 0” of RAGBRAI is the day when 30,000 people show up in some small town in western Iowa near the Missouri River. This year, the lucky town is Onawa, population 3000. This is the 53rd iteration of RAGBRAI — Register’s…
Day, 11/01/2025; 19 miles, 560 feet of climb I did it! I have FINISHED THE SOUTHERN TIER BICYCLE ROUTE!! It was an easier day than I expected, despite the headwinds…I think it was mostly downhill into Austin. I spent some…
Fri, 10/31/2025; 60 miles, 1758 feet of climb Today was more scenic than I had anticipated! It was another beautiful day in Texas, and was my second longest day of the trip both by total miles and total time in…
Thursday, 10/30/2025; 31 miles, 1018 feet of climb Today was another great day for biking. It started at a friend’s house, ended at my son’s house, and in between was perfect weather for big city biking with all its conveniences. …
Wed, 10/29/2025; 42 miles, 1909 feet of climb What a day! I feel like I’m nearing the end of a movie, with all the characters coming together and everything building to a climax. Today I had three great meals for the…
Tues, 10/28/2025; 51 miles, 1889 feet of climb Today was a great day for biking! Peaceful country roads, perfect temperatures, and the winds shifting just at the right time. It was the same distance and almost the same amount of…
Mon, 10/27/2025; 53 miles, 2319 feet of climb Wow, today was an unexpectedly hard day. I guess I’m too trusting of Google Maps. The last part of the route was through the “Texas hill country” that suffered such a devastating…
Sun, 10/26/2025; 36 miles, 2861 feet of climb —— Another great day biking the Southern Tier — that’s two in a row! Like yesterday, today featured perfect weather with no wind. Unlike yesterday, or any day yet, today also featured…
Sat, 10/25/2025; 50 miles, 1317 feet of climb Today was a great day. It felt like a normal bike trip in good ol’ Wisconsin — gently rolling hills with no traffic and light breezes. And I am so grateful to…
Fri, 10/24/2025; 33 miles, 540 feet of climb This was a hard day. Hard day of biking, and hard day of tech issues. But at least I ended up indoors for the Big Storm coming through tonight. —— I was…
Thurs, 10/23/2025; 7 miles I AM TOTALLY RESTORED!! Everything on my bike is like new again…like I am starting from scratch! And the weather looks great from here on out. I am SO EXCITED to get back on the road…
I made it to Del Rio, which means another REST DAY! I saw a couple of magnificent bridges, and enjoyed authentic real TEXAS food for dinner. —— Charlie Gandy and I woke up around 6:00 am in the fellowship hall…
Tues, 10/21/2025; 30 miles, 712 feet of climb Today’s weather was unlike any day yet. It started out cool with high winds even before dawn (16 mph), but after noon they started calming down. (It’s usually the other way around.)…
Mon, 10/20/2025; 44 miles, 575 feet of climb Today was a very discouraging day. It was actually the easiest riding of the trip so far, but technical tragedy really got me down, not to mention the four-day forecast. —— I had…
Sun, 10/18/2025; 7 miles, 163 feet of climb I LOVE REST DAYS! I didn’t used to take them, but they are so helpful to renew mind and body. And spirit, too — I went to church this morning at Grace…
Sat, 10/17/2025; 64 miles, 1424 feet of climb Wow, what a day! It was the longest day of this trip so far, and almost the most feet of climb, but the biking part was super easy with the blasting tailwind…
Fri, 10/17/2025; 41 miles, 596 feet of climb Today was a SPECTACULAR day for riding! TAILWINDS!! It was not without its problems, but the kindness of strangers helped soften the blow. And I ended up in an old 50s trailer…
Thurs, 10/16/2025; 38 miles, 531 feet of climb Finally — I got the EASY DAY I was so looking forward to! Not only was the weather great, with the winds shifting to tailwinds as the day went on, but I…
Wed, 10/15/2025; 41 miles, 1491 feet of climb, Holy cow — talk about unmet expectations! I had envisioned an easy day of 35 miles, starting with a great pancake and egg breakfast at the café across the street and culminating in…
I am on the road again! It feels great to be pedaling across open spaces on my last segment of the Southern Tier Bicycle Route. However, it was a pretty tough day for biking. My original plan was to go…
“And at last, here I am on the hill overlooking El Paso — I can see Rosa’s Cantina below.” I thought of those words from verse 6 of Marty Robbins’s famous 1959 song as our plane came in for a landing.…
Packing for long bike trips gets easier with each one, since I can start with the packing list from the previous one. I carry all my gear in two large Ortleib waterproof panniers in the rear, two smaller Ortliebs in the…
Okay, it is time to FINISH riding the Southern Tier Bicycle Route. This coast-to-coast route from the Adventure Cycling Association winds its way from San Diego to St. Augustine, Florida. I would love to ride the entire 3300 miles at…
Mesabi Trail, Day 2Fri, Sept. 26, 2025, Hibbing to Eveleth, MN (38 miles, 1253 ft. climb) Today we biked from Bob Dylan’s birthplace to the town of the World’s Largest Hockey Stick.Friday was another beautiful day for biking the Mesabi Trail in…
Thurs, Sept. 25, 2025, Grand Rapids to Hibbing, MN (44 miles, 1576 ft. climb) We couldn’t have asked for better weather for our first day biking the Mesabi Trail — mid-70s, partly cloudy, and a TAILWIND all day! We were…
OMG — this “Gilbert Mansion” BnB (bed and breakfast) in Grand Rapids (Minnesota) might just be the best BnB we’ve ever stayed at! It’s a combination of Downton Abbey, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Wizard of Oz. But first, how did we get…
RAGBRAI LII, Day 7Sat, July 26, 2025, Olwein to Guttenburg, Iowa (64 miles, 2028 ft. climb) Today is our LAST DAY of RAGBRAI LII. This would be a relatively challenging day — usually the last day is shorter than 63 miles,…
Fri, July 25, 2025, Cedar Falls to Olwein, Iowa (42 miles, 938 ft. climb) Day 6 was another great day on RAGBRAI! Unlike yesterday, we did have a bit of a headwind, but not enough to make a big difference.…
RAGBRAI LII, Day 5 Thurs, July 24, 2025, Iowa Falls to Cedar Falls, Iowa (56 miles, 1225 ft. climb) Day 5 was MAGNIFICENT! As our host family relayed a comment from another rider, it was a “Ten out of ten”!…
RAGBRAI LII, Day 4 Wed, July 23, 2025, Forest City to Iowa Falls, Iowa (71 miles, 1124 ft. climb) I had mixed feelings about Day 4. On one hand, many veterans consider it one of the hardest days in recent…
RAGBRAI LII, Day 3 Tues, July 22, 2025, Estherville to Forest City, Iowa (74 miles, 874 ft. climb) Today was the longest day of this year’s RAGBRAI! It was another very windy day, peaking at 16 mph, but it was…
RAGBRAI LII, Day 2 Mon, July 21, 2025 (43 miles, 835 ft. climb) We got some great tailwind today! But only for the first 16 miles, as we headed north. But it sure was fun to go 18 mph after…
RAGBRAI LII, Day 1 Sun, July 20, 2025 (73.33 miles, 1185 feet of elevation gain) Day 1 was tough — maybe my toughest day of RAGBRAI ever. It was only an average length, at 73 miles. But the wind was…
(Fri-Sat, July 18-19, 2025) “Day 0” for RAGBRAI is the day everyone arrives to the Bike Expo at the starting town. This year the starting town is Orange City, Iowa, a beautifully manicured town of 6000 dutch settlers. Four of…
(Sat, 6/14/25; 0 miles) We may be done with the biking, but this might be my favorite night of the trip: Camping out in the backyard of Eric & Brittany Pedersen in Madison. We camped there on SWISBIRD in 2023,…
(Fri, 6/13/25; 60 miles, 2105 feet of climb) Today was the exciting finish of MADBIRD: Madison, our state’s capital city! The weather forecast looked awful a few days ago, but it shaped up quite nicely. We had been secretly discussing…
(Thurs, 6/12/25; 60 miles, 1588 feet of climb) Wow, what a great day! We were bracing for awful weather, but it turned out splendid. And the six of us are now biking like a well-oiled machine. It had just started…
(Wed, 6/11/25; 51 miles, 1463 feet of climb) We rode FAST today. Now that we no longer have the young boys with us, the older boys really let loose. And we made it to the famous Sparta-Elroy Trail, and got…
(Tuesday, 6/10/25; 49 miles, 697 feet of climb) What a difference a day makes! Today we enjoyed amazing weather and scenic river towns, including Winona, Trempeleau, and La Crosse. Much of our riding was on bike trails through woods. We…