Thursday, December 29, 2005

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday. It's the highlight of the Kramer family birthday festival, which began shortly before Thanksgiving and continues well into January.

My mom is a very healthy 73 years old. She still rides her bike most days down the lane of the family farm near Brighton, Ill., to get the mail and paper. She takes her dogs out for a walk toward the woods each day.

Our family believed in packing in the birthdays close together. My nephew's birthday is Nov. 25, a niece has a Nov. 28 birthday, my younger sister's birthday is Dec. 20, my mom's is Dec. 29, my birthday is Jan. 9, and another niece celebrates her birthday Jan. 12.

After that, we get a break until March. Whew....

Roger 1 comments 7:26 PM

Historic Berghoff to close

I read with great sadness thatThe Berghoff restaurant in Chicago will close Feb. 28.

I only visited the restaurant twice, both during visits with my sister, Teresa, who lives in the Chicago area. I enjoyed the fine German food and the tasty beer The Berghoff was noted for.

Under the Berghoff family's plan, Artistic Events by Carlyn Berghoff Catering Inc. will take over the building this winter. She will rename the bar 17 West at The Berghoff and reopen the adjoining cafe but reserve the dining room -- cloaked in rich oak and graced with pictures of old Chicago -- for private, catered events.

It is a sad thing for the city of Chicago.

Roger 1 comments 3:01 PM

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Cycling on New Year's Day

For those of you wanting to start 2006 on the right track, there's some cycling events in the St. Louis on New Year's Day!

First, there is the 5th annual Polar Bear Century. The ride starts at 8:00 a.m. in New Baden Village Park in New Baden, Ill., at the intersection of Illinois Routes 160 and 161. The ride will go on no matter how cold it gets, but the ride will be cancelled if there's ice or snow on the roads. The forecast for Sunday calls for partly cloudy skies with a high of 50 degrees and a low of 37 degrees. Contact roadijeff@aol.com for more info.

For those of you seeking something less challenging than a century ride, Trailnet is putting on its 11th annual New Year's Day Katy Trail ride. The ride begins at 11 a.m. at the Defiance, Mo., trailhead. Cyclists will travel nine miles to Augusta, eat lunch, then return.

Roger 0 comments 12:42 PM

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Merry Christmas to All!

I breathed a sigh of relief at 2:30 p.m. Friday. My Christmas shopping was finally done!

I usually don't wait this late to finish shopping, but circumstances forced me to do so. It turned out it was a good thing it did. I waited so long that I got an e-mail coupon from Borders giving $20 off for any purchase over $100. Since a good percentage of my Christmas shopping takes place at Borders' Fairview Heights, Ill., shop, procrastination paid off for me -- for once!

I still have one more present to buy in the Kramer family Christmas/birthday festival: my mom's birthday present (Dec. 29). At least I have a bit of time to do that.

Since I have to go into work today and get out the Christmas Day edition of the Belleville News-Democrat, it is time to wish you a Merry Christmas! For those of you who celebrate other holidays or celebrate no holiday at all, I wish you peace on earth and goodwill toward all!

Roger 1 comments 10:55 AM

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Sarah Harmer

I'm so looking forward to Sarah Harmer's visit to St. Louis on Tuesday, March 14. She's going to be playing Blueberry Hill in the University City loop.

For those of you who aren't aware of Sarah, she's a Canadian folk singer who happens to be an activist for environmental causes such as preserving the Niagara Encarpment in Ontario. Her new album, "I'm a Mountain." has been released in Canada and will be released in the U.S. in February. If you can't wait that long, go to her Web site and listen to some of the music.

Roger 0 comments 1:38 PM

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

New feature on the Blog Page

If you take a look on the right column, in addition to the Google search of this site and the RSS feeds to cycling news, you will see that I've added a roll of blogs that I find interesting. I hope you give them a look.

Of course, if you find your blog on the roll and think this site is of interest to the readers, I welcome a link from your site. If you're site isn't on the roll and would like it to be on there, just send me an e-mail at roger@rogerkramercycling.org or leave a comment, and I'll check it out.

Roger 1 comments 8:03 PM

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Up in Alaska: A Look Back

In her Up in Alaska blog, Jill Homer relates the story of her klutzy childhood days and how a childhood nemisis would bully her because she couldn't play baseball or kickball.

I can relate to Jill's story. Throughout junior high and school, I was always the last one picked for sports in P.E. class. While I knew a lot about sports, the knowledge didn't translate to athletic ability.

Fortunately, as I entered my 20s, I developed a love for cycling, and I found I could do quite well at the endeavor. For a while, I actually became an OK volleyball player, but I fear those days are gone.

I'm sure many of my classmates at Southwestern High School probably are surprised I do weeklong bicycle trips or that, like Jill, have backpacked the Grand Canyon. Most of them, I suspect, think riding 10 miles is a major endeavor.

So, the lesson to be learned from people like Jill and myself is that not to let the taunts of childhood keep you from pursuing your dreams. Just because you may have been klutzy on a ball diamond, it doesn't mean you're klutzy on a bike or in a pair of hiking boots.

Roger 0 comments 12:26 PM

Monday, December 19, 2005

It's amazing where you can go on a bike!

During a rare idle moment on the Belleville News-Democrat copy desk, one of my colleagues was reading a story that was to appear in today's edition about a huge Christmas light display in Woburn, Ill.

"Does anyone know where Woburn is?" he asked.

I usually know the answer to those types of question because I'm sort of the geography expert on the copy desk. Geography always has been one of my strong suits -- I knew all 50 state capitals when I was 5 years old -- and being a cyclist in the metro-east has made me familiar with some of the more obscure places of the metro-east, such as the "Twin Cities" of Floraville and Paderborn.

But, for a while, Woburn's location stumped me. So my colleague then decided to consult Mapquest to find out where it was. As soon as saw the map of Greenville, everything clicked.

It turned out I've ridden my bike in Woburn twice with cycling friend Tracy Hall. Tracy leads a group, GEARS at GFCC (First Christian Church of Greenville), and two of the three rides I've done with that group went through Woburn.

It also turned out Tracy told me about the Christmas display. You can read more about the display in this News-Democrat story by Teri Maddox.

Now that I remember where Woburn is, I'd like to go up there this week to see the display.

Roger 0 comments 2:54 PM

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Where to bike in 2006

After only doing one weeklong bicycle trip in 2005, I am itching to do at least two in 2006.

Even though I have three weeks of vacation, I think two weeklong tours are a realistic expectation. I suspect I will need the other week for a project that my relatives and I are doing, a retrospective art show of my late brother, Wes Kramer. We are hoping to have the show close to June 30, the 10th anniversary of my brother's death. In addition to the show, I also plan on doing an HTML- or Flash-based presentation of Wes' life and work. I will you fill you in on the details as they are nailed down.

But getting back to bike tours ... I want to finally make it down to the Florida Keys for one of the Bubba Fest rides or at least go one of the other rides that Bubba supports with his Bubba's Pampered Pedalers service. Bubba's one of my best cycling buddies, and I like to support him when I can.

Since I haven't done rides in a state or Canadian province in back-to-back years since my experiences with Bicycle Across the Magnificient Miles of Illinois in 1985, 1986 and 1987, the Bicycle Ride Across Nebraska won't be on my agenda in 2006. But I would encourage you to consider that ride if you're looking for a ride with interesting scenery, a bit of a distance challenge and friendly people.

I'm seriously considering New York as a destination. I've never been to New York, and I have a longtime friend who recently moved to West Point.

I also might consider doing Bicycle Across Kansas or Oklahoma FreeWheel.

And, of course, Canada would be a great destination as well, but I decided it's time to see another province besides Quebec or Ontario.

What I ultimately decide upon relies heavily on the weeks my senior colleagues on the Belleville News-Democrat copy desk pick. I'm fairly high on the seniority list, but the people ahead of me have four weeks compared with my three. Since only one person can take vacation at a time, they can knock out lots of potential weeks during the bicycle touring season.

Roger 0 comments 10:04 AM

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Cycle Across Missouri

The committee planning Cycle Across Missouri, the Gateway Council of Hostelling International's weeklong bicycle tour of the Show Me State, is hard at work and has set a date, the week of June 11-16, and milage for the ride. It's being billed as the World Tour Ride. Here's the tentative schedule:

• Day 1 Warrenton to Mexico 68.4 Miles
• Day 2 Mexico to Paris 48.5 Miles
• Day 3 Paris to Canton 79.3 Miles
• Day 4 Canton to New London 60.9 Miles
• Day 5 New London to Troy 71.7 Miles
• Day 6 Troy to Warrenton 47.1 Miles

In 2005, CAM really was an Illinois ride for the most part. The 2006 route loops through northeastern Missouri.

Missing from the CAM World Tour are such cosmopolitan destinations as Montreal, a hamlet near the Lake of the Ozarks; California, about 20 miles west of Jefferson City; Essex, about 20 miles west of Sikeston; Glasgow, about 20 miles north of Boonville; Versailles, about 50 miles west of Jefferson City; Milan, a sleepy northern Missouri town; and Manchester and Normandy, both St. Louis suburbs.

The Gateway Council has a big slate of rides this coming year. The popular Five-Star Century series will return in 2006, and other rides such as Tour de Stooges, Moonlight Ramble and the Peach Pedal will return as well. The full schedule should be posted soon at the Gateway Council's Web site.

Roger 0 comments 10:50 PM

Bah, humbug

It's not me who's saying, "Bah, humbug." It's my neighbor at my duplex.

For the five Christmases I've been at my current residence, I have had no problem with the neighbors when it came to putting up Christmas lights on the front porch of the duplex. In fact, they welcomed it.

Not this year.

To my surprise when I came home from Christmas shopping tonight, the lights that I had just put up earlier this week were turned off.

Now, I can understand my neighbor's concerns about the power bills. After all, all of the outdoor receptacles on the complex are on his meter, but I was more than willing to pay for the electricity.

"I'm not a Christmas person," he said.

Well, I am. And I'm hacked off.

But I will get over it. It is the Christmas season, and I need to show good will toward all, including the neighbor who is not a Christmas person.

Roger 3 comments 9:46 PM

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

The Year in Media Errors and Corrections

Since this is a cycling Web site, I usually don't offer much commentary about my profession, unless it happens to be related to cycling. But I want to pass this along to you because you might get a few laughs out of it.

Regret the Error, a blog that chronicles many of the errors and corrections made by journalists, presents its Crunks '05: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections.

It wasn't a good year for our profession for a lot of reasons, but the Crunks take a look at the more humorous gaffes found in newspapers worldwide.

Roger 0 comments 12:25 PM

Saturday, December 10, 2005

O Canada!

Thanks to the It's Jim blog, which I found via the STLBloggers.com site, I found this interactive quiz about our neighbour to the north. Of course, I speak of Canada.

In this quiz, you get to find out whether you can identify Canada's 10 provinces and three territories on a map. For each question, if you get it right the first time, you get three points. If you get it right on the second guess, you get two points. If you get it on the third and final guess, you get one point.

If you must know, I scored 39 of a possible 39 points on this quiz. If you take the challenge, I invite you to leave your results in the comments section of this post.

Of course, the perfect score only will reinforce the opinion of many of my co-workers at the Belleville News-Democrat that I really am a Canadian!

It doesn't help that three of the bicycle tours I've done since 1997 have included Canadian destinations.

It doesn't help that I have the Canadian maple leaf flag and the Quebec provincial flag taped to my computer monitor.

It doesn't help that I know the English and French lyrics to "O Canada" and have them posted elsewhere on this Web site.

It doesn't help that that I know that the Conservative and Bloc Quebecois parties voted together to topple the minority government of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister Paul Martin.

It doesn't help that two of my favourite female singers are Loreena McKennitt and Sarah Harmer. And, yes, Celine Dion is a guilty pleasure!

Peut-être je suis un Canadien!

Roger 2 comments 2:41 AM

Bike Riding Donut Guy

In the search for interesting blogs to include in my Bicycling Links page, I came across the Bike Riding Donut Guy.

If the Tour de Donut was made for anyone, it would be George from Pennsylvania.

George describes his site as being "just a bunch of assorted ramblings from some old guy that makes donuts and rides bikes."

If you take a look at his site, you can see George knows what he's doing when it comes to doughnuts. The attractive decorations on his doughnuts are enticing, and it's no wonder he made 150 dozen doughnuts on his Tuesday night/Wednesday morning shift. Of the 1,800 made, less than a dozen were left when he went back to work Wednesday evening. The reason: The threat of a "crippling" 4-inch snow predicted for his area.

Beside doughnuts and cycling, George also focuses on computers and other interesting topics of the day, so go check it out!

Roger 0 comments 2:11 AM

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Cyclists on a Winning Path

The Associated Press ran this story about the success of the bicyling lobby to get more money for bicycle routes throughout the country.

Columbia, Mo., has had exceptional success at getting money, partly thanks to the efforts of the city's mayor, hard-core cyclist Darwin Hindman.

But much of the credit is going to America Bikes, which combines the resources of groups like the League of American Bicyclists to effectively lobby for bicycling causes.

We in the cycling community owe a lot to these dedicated groups and individuals. Thanks!

Roger 0 comments 4:01 AM

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Point to Point Cycling News

UPDATE: I should have been paying more attention to the forums at STLBiking.com. Here's what Scott Rendall, the publisher of Point to Point Cycling News recently posted:

Hey y'all. Despite my best efforts, Point to Point is on an indefinate hiatus. As a young guy with no savings to speak of, its become impossible for me to put out another issue without reaching a level of debt that seems very unwise. I'm quite dissapointed, as I was really looking forward to pursuing and improving the magazine through a full season next year, and I am sure that more advertising avenues would have opened up during the spring and summer. Perhaps I should have squirrled away a bit of money ahead of time, but I was really eager to get started with a project that I had been considering for some time. Thanks to everyone who has advertised, bought a subscription, or offered words of encouragement the last several months. Also many thanks to the people who have contributed to Point to Point.

I hope to not abandon this project entirely. I think I will continue to use the website to cover some of the same things that the magazine covered, and I will also hopefully be contributing to some other regional print publications. Perhaps I'll be able to relaunch PTP at some point in the future, I hope so, its an idea that has worked in some other parts of the country.

FYI, if I don't start publishing again in the near future, subscribers will have part of their money refunded.

In the meantime, since I am basically unemployed at this point, I'd be open to any suggestions or offers anyone might have.

Cheers,

Scott Rendall

Thanks to fellow Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society member Glen Peterson for filling me in on the details. Below is my original post:

I've been meaning to mention one of the Midwest's newest cycling publications, Point to Point Cycling News, here for some time, but I wanted to see two or three issues of the publication before I put in my two cents worth.

Point to Point Cycling News is a free publication distributed in bike shops. It primarily focuses on the cycling scene in St. Louis, the rest of Missouri and Southern Illinois. If haven't been able to find a copy, you can download copies of Point to Point from its Web site.

From what I've seen so far, I have to give Publisher Scott Rendall and photographer Matt James a lot of credit. The November issue of Point to Point had articles about cyclocross, bicycle trails, bike commuters, mountain biking, diet and bicycle clothing as well as an interview with longtime bicycle racer John Lieswyn.

It's clear Scott and Matt care a lot about cycling and put a lot of work into the publication. Let's hope they have a lot of success.

Roger 0 comments 2:24 PM

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Do you love me? Then say it.

The centerpiece on Page One of the Belleville News-Democrat on Sunday was about FBI tapes of telephone conversations between former St. Louis Blues player Mike Danton and his agent, David Frost. Danton pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill Frost, but they continued conversations even after Danton's arrest.

Here's the link to the News-Democrat story, and you can hear the conversation, which was part of a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program. It is posted at the CBC's Web site.

One of the bizarre moments of the conversation came shortly after Danton's arrest in San Jose, Calif.:

Frost: Do you love me?
Danton: Yes.
Frost: Then say it.
Danton: I love you.

This is truly one of the most bizarre moments in NHL history, and it will become a part of News-Democrat copy desk humor for a good long time.

So, do you love me?

No, you don't have to say it.

Roger 0 comments 9:38 PM

Tour de Stogie?

Belleville News-Democrat photographer Zia Nizami knows about my role in creating the Tour de Donut and my leadership of the Tour de Stooges. He thinks I should come up with another ride:

The Tour de Stogie.

That's right, combining cycling with cigar smoking.

Several folks at the News-Democrat partake in cigar smoking from time to time, and Zia hears me and fellow photographer Derik Holtmann discuss cycling. That prompted Zia to combine the two into the the Tour de Stogie.

Zia sees the ride going something like this: The route would connect tobacco shops and other places that sell cigars in the Belleville area. The timing system would be similar to the Tour de Donut in that cyclists would receive a time bonus for each cigar smoked.

The twisted side of me that comes out of me when planning bicycle routes -- who else would create bicycle rides that combine cycling and doughnut eating, cycling and slapstick comedy or design routes for the Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society that routinely include plenty of hills -- would take that a step further.

For example, I would include portions of the hilly BABES Ravissant Winery Ride (PDF file) or the Shiloh Station Road hill in Shiloh, Ill., or the infamous Plum Hill School Road hill between Belleville and Mascoutah on the Tour de Stogie route. A special bonus would be given to anyone who made it up one of those hills alive while smoking a cigar.

Zia thinks the ride would be widely popular. He might be right. I doubt most serious cyclists would participate in the Tour de Stogie, but the Belleville area has plenty of people who would be perfect for the ride: the people who lost their licenses because of a DUI conviction who routinely ride on the wrong side of the road and ignore stop signs and traffic signals. I've seen a few them with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, so this would be a ride geared for them.

And which charities do think should reap the benefits from this ride. Well, of course, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association.

Roger 0 comments 3:24 PM

Friday, December 02, 2005

Best Bike Blogs of 2005

The Cyclelicious blog is taking nominees for the Best Bike Blogs of 2005. If I were to pick my top 10 bicycling blogs of 2005 -- and I have no plans to do so -- Cyclelicious would easly be near the top. Fritz has done a great job with the site with lots of interesting cycling items, and it has earned a spot on the RSS links on the right side of this page.

Roger 1 comments 2:41 PM

Updates on this week's items

Calling all bicycling blogs: If you take a look at the Bicycling Links page of my Web site, you will see I have considerably more blogs listed now than I had Sunday, when I first posted the page, Thanks to all of you who have contributed sites, and I hope to hear from more of you.

I do ask a favor of you. If you like what you see on this blog page or the rest of this site, please consider adding a link either to the site's home page, http://www.rogerkramercycling.org, and/or to the blog, http://www.rogerkramercycling.org/HTML/blog.php. Many of you already have, and I am most appreciative!

There are a lot of great bicycling blogs out there, and I encourage you to do some exploring!

Illinois bicycle trails get grants: During a recent search on the Historic Route 66 Bikeway project in central Illinois, I found this map from the Route 66 Association of Illinois. The Bikeway would add 27 miles of trail in McLean County to the 24 miles already existing on the Constitution Trail in Bloomington-Normal. As I've mentioned before, the Leauge of Illinois Bicyclists would love to see a Route 66 bike route from Chicago to St. Louis. You can read more about it in the Spring 2005 edition (PDF file) of the Illinois Bicyclist, the newsletter of LIB.

Roger 0 comments 1:59 PM

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Work begins on Tour de Stooges

The 2006 edition of the Tour de Stooges is more than six months away -- May 6 at McKendree College in Lebanon, Ill. -- but the work already has begun on the ride.

Yesterday, I spent the day writing the article about the ride for the January-February-March edition of the Gateway, the newsletter of the Gateway Council of Hostelling International. That also meant I had to try to nail down a few details for the ride.

One of the details we had to nail down was the price of the ride. Because of increasing costs of operating programs on the Gateway Council, we had to increase the cost of the ride.

But to encourage pre-registration for the ride, we are offering discounts. If you sign up before the day of the ride, you'll be able to save up to $5 on the cost of the ride. And if you register by April 1, you can get a $5 discount on your T-shirt and insure you'll get it the day of the ride. After April 1, the shirts will be $22.50 and there is a possibility we'll have to mail the shirt to you after the ride.

We expect to open registration for the event in January, and we hope to have more news to tell you then.

Roger 0 comments 1:20 PM