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Just catching up

I know it's been about a week and a half since my last post. I no longer have BubbaFest as an excuse for not posting, so here's some random notes:

Happy Birthdays: My sister Teresa's son, Julius, and my late brother Wes' daughter, Ani, are celebrating their 16th birthdays this weekend. Julius turned 16 on Thanksgiving, while Ani turns 16 today.

After the Thanksgiving meal Thursday, my family got to watch "Tour de Donut: Gluttons for Punishment" for the first time. The film inspired Julius and Teresa to want to come down to Staunton, Ill., next July to give Tour de Donut a try. Julius is convinced he can eat 20 doughnuts, while I think my sister can do well in her age division next year. If Julius would ride and eat well enough to win, it would be the second Tour de Donut on "Old Blue," the blue Cannondale I rode to victory in the 1995 Tour de Donut.

Ani, meanwhile, played for the Belleville West High School junior varsity girls tennis team. She most likely will be on the varsity roster next year, so I'm hoping to see her name in the Belleville News-Democrat often the next two seasons.

Great biking weather: It seems as if I brought some warm temperatures home with me from Florida. The high temperatures in the St. Louis area will be in the 60s this weekend, so I plan to get some miles in today. I should have been biking Friday, but I didn't because I put Christmas lights up for my duplex and because I was fighting a bug that left me tired. I finally turned the corner Friday evening, so there's no excuse for me not to ride today.

I want to get a short ride in Sunday morning before I go to the St. Louis Rams-San Francisco 49ers game with my nephew.

Still thinking about Florida: I hope to post my official account of BubbaFest sometime next week in the main section of the Web site. In the meantime, I'm posting a photo taken by my good friend Doug Kaufman during the trip.

Our buddy, John Chester, needed to get a tire fixed during the course of the ride at the Big Pine Bicycle Center. It turns out that the owner, Marty Baird, may be a bigger Three Stooges nut than I am, if you can imagine that.

Not only does he own the jersey pictured here, he also has 146 Stooges episodes on tape and gobs of Stooges memorabilia. It was only appropriate Marty and I recreate a classic Stooges scene for the cameras. I told him about the Tour de Stooges, but he won't be able to make it up north for the ride because it's his busy season. I will try to make sure he gets a shirt for his collection.

Just starting out: Friend and former News-Democrat colleague Emily Priddy, the hippie of the Red Fork Hippie Chick blog, is writing about her efforts to become a cyclist after finishing two marathons and four half-marathons. She asked me not to laugh at her humble Thanksgiving Day ride.

I'm not laughing.

We've all been in Emily's shoes sometime in our cycling lives, and I applaud her efforts to become a cyclist. In a matter of time, she should be able to cruise her bike up those hills she now walks.

Labels: bicycling, Thanksgiving, Three Stooges, vacation

Roger 1 comments 12:21 AM

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

BubbaFest 2006

KEY WEST, Fla. -- BubbaFest, the weeklong tour of the Florida Keys, is going quite well, thank you very much.

The ride, put on by longtime cycling friend Bubba Barron, is halfway over. On Sunday, we started from Key Largo and got into Key West on Tuesday. We had a layover day Wednesday, then we start back up the Keys tomorrow.

The fact that I haven't written before now means that I have found more important things to do with my time besides blogging -- things like petting a porpoise, visiting the Ernest Hemingway home in Key West and soaking in the local scenery.

Fellow BubbaFest rider John Chester and Doug Kaufman are joining me in comparing the Key Lime Pies along the route. So far, John and I think the Fish House in Key Largo has the best, while Doug is casting his vote for the Seven Mile Grill in Marathon. There's still plenty of time to judge more competitors, and I'll present the results when I write the full account of the ride on this Web site.

As for the cycling itself, it's not hard at all. The flat-bar road bike I've rented for the trip is perfect for the rough road shoulders and trails along the way. Personally, I would not recommend the Keys for cyclists who want to go fast, but the Overseas Highway and its bicycle paths for people who want to take their time in seeing the Keys and for those who have the patience in dealing with motorists whizzing by you or pulling out in front of you.

I may write again before the end of the trip, but then again, I may not!

Labels: cycling

Roger 1 comments 9:44 PM

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Get out and vote!

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on when it comes to the issues, it's important for you to vote today. There's a lot at stake on the national, state and local levels, and at least as one of my precinct's election judges said, "You have the right to complain. You voted."

As of this writing, in the Central Time Zone, you still have about 5 1/2 hours left to vote. Get out there and do it!

Roger 0 comments 1:30 PM

Monday, November 06, 2006

Don't heed this advice!

In her "Along for the Ride" column today, Post-Dispatch writer Elisa Crouch took a question from a Mascoutah, Ill., man who was unhappy with his bicycle ride on the Vadalabene Trail along the Great River Road between Alton and Grafton.

"We'll never do that again — it was not a relaxing and enjoyable pedal on a beautiful fall day because of the horrific roar of motorcycles, many of them far above the speed limits, both individually and in groups," the writer said.

Here's is part of Crouch's advice to the writer: "There's hardly anything worse than motorcycle noise, especially on bicycle rides. You should try it again, though. Just pack earplugs."

I couldn't disagree more. While the sound of loud motorcycles often is unpleasant, you may be asking for trouble by wearing earplugs while cycling. To stay safe on a trail or on a road, you have to be able to hear other cyclists who may be passing you, you have to be able to hear emergency sirens, and you have to be able to hear other approaching vehicles.

Being able to hear all three of those things has kept me out of trouble over the years, so I think it's unwise to wear earplugs -- or for that matter, iPod headphones -- while cycling.

Labels: cycling

Roger 1 comments 3:49 PM

Friday, November 03, 2006

Highs and lows of the 2006 cycling season

Now that the cycling season is all but over in the Midwest except for the diehards who try to ride year-round -- and those of us such as myself who will be riding on BubbaFest on Nov. 12-18 in the Florida Keys -- this is an appropriate time to go over the highs and the lows of the 2006 season.

BEST CELEBRITY RIDE: My ride with the Ditty Bops from the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis to Edwardsville, Ill., on July 29. Because of work, I couldn't go to their concert, but I decided I wanted to be a part of their 2006 Bicycle Tour, in which the eclectic folk/pop duo were riding their bicycles from gig to gig across the country.

Amanda Barrett, shown crossing the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi, and Abby Dewald, shown checking her map during a food and drink stop at Rosenthal License Service in Edwardsville, wrote about their cross-country adventure on their blog. On the brutally hot and humid day in which they rode from St. Louis to Litchfield, Ill., Amanda came up with their "ice burrito" invention, which helped keep them cool for the rest of the ride.

In the photo at the top of this post, Amanda, Abby and one of their cycling companions for the day were traveling on Madison County Transit's Quercus Grove Trail out of Edwardsville.

I wish I would have had more time to ride with Amanda and Abby. They had plenty of tales to tell about their cycling adventures, and they're both genuinely nice people who haven't let their celebrity status go to their heads. Amanda told me she'd like to go on weeklong rides similar to what I've done over the last 20-plus years, and I hope she will be able to fulfill her dream.

LOW POINT OF THE SEASON: Unfortunately, July 29 also turned out to be the lowlight of the cycling season. I had to part ways with the Ditty Bops in Edwardsville because I was supposed to go to work later that day.

I didn't make it.

While riding back to the bridge on New Poag Road near the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville baseball field, I managed to hit a 4 x 4 that was on the paved shoulder. It was a weathered block of wood that blended in with the color of the pavement, so I didn't see it until it was too late.

Fortunately, three EMTs happened to be driving on the road when I had the accident. They stabilized me until the ambulance came. I wish I knew who they were so I could personally thank them.

I then spent seven or so hours in the emergency room at Anderson Hospital in Maryville, Ill., waiting on CT scans, X-rays and stitches. The ER had to call in a plastic surgeon to do the stiches on my left eyelid, so at least I can now say I've had a plastic surgeon work on me.

The injury to my left knee hindered my riding for several weeks, so it's a good thing BubbaFest is a flat ride.

TOUR DE STOOGES: The 2006 version of the Tour de Stooges in Lebanon, Ill., drew more than 500 people from 15 states. That still amazes me. But what amazed me more was the quality of the people. The volunteers who manned our rest stops said they had to pick up very little trash because the cyclists did such a great job of cleaning up after themselves.

BELLEVILLE AREA BICYCLING AND EATING SOCIETY: Speaking of quality people, the Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society continued to mature as a group this year. We have more than 220 people on our mailing list, and our attendance was consistently high during the year. Sunday was our final ride of 2006, and I was reminded of what a good group we had. People really enjoyed the ride, and they stuck around to eat, drink and be merry. I do a lot of work for the organization, but I don't mind a bit because I know our riders are very appreciative.

TROUBLES OFF AND ON THE ROAD: Once again, the cycling community was unable to persuade the Illinois General Assembly to overturn an Illinois Supreme Court decision that makes cyclists permitted rather than intended users of Illinois roads. In every other state, cyclists are intended users. Municipal and township governments fear making cyclists intended users would increase their risk of liability and have been able to defeat pro-cyclist bills.

On the road, the organizations that lead group rides in the St. Louis area still aren't doing enough to teach cyclists the rules of the road. All too often, cyclists are riding three or more abreast on the road and refusing to ride single file when traffic warrants it, both violations of Illinois traffic laws. That makes it more difficult for us who live and ride in the Illinois counties of the St. Louis metro area because people tend to lump those of us who try to follow the rules with those of us who don't.

ON THE GROUND FLOOR: I had the privilege of helping create two new rides, the Tour de Coal back in September and the Tour de Grape, which will make its debut in May 2007. Tour de Coal, a ride put on by the Coal Country Chamber of Commerce in Benld, Ill., drew more than 100 people despite dreary weather. Tour de Grape will be a fund-raiser for the HavenHouse St. Louis, which provides lodging for the families of children receiving treatment in St. Louis hospitals.

The successes I've led and the mistakes I've made in running Tour de Stooges has really helped me with steering the rides in the right direction, and both rides have very enthusiastic workers who want to see their events succeed.

All in all, I think 2006 has been a positive year for me, and I'm hoping BubbaFest will be a great ending to the year.

Labels: cycling

Roger 1 comments 12:40 AM