Kudos from a Bicyclist on our Natchez Trace Tour

What a wonderful way to start the day: to open my email and see this message from Jackie of Delaware, Ohio. She just finished our Natchez Trace Tour of Mississippi.

If I wanted to do another tour, it would be with you guys.  You will get an "excellent" always from me when someone asks about your company.  The biggest thing is if I'm tired, I can stop riding.  If there's something wrong with my bicycle, it will get fixed.  If I'm the last one, someone is with me until I finish and they coach  you a little to get you to finish even when I would rather give up!  Oh!  We are fed like it's the last supper!  There's always great food.
 
Thanks much for a great vacation!  Keep doing what you do. 
Sincerely,
Jackie

Boston to Provincetown Bike Ride

If you need a good reason to go out and train this spring, or if you're just looking for a real challenge, consider joining a few of us on the Outriders 130-mile bike ride this June. Bicycle from Boston to Provincetown on June 20, 2009.

This isn't a WomanTours event. There's no SAG support, but the route is extremely well-organized, very well-marked and there are food breaks every 30 miles. They cap registrations at 300 people and usually donate to worthy causes with any leftover proceeds.

It's one of those rides that makes you feel really good when it's over. We always celebrate by going out to eat and a few of us will have to helped out of our chairs to leave the restaurant. Walking can be hard after bicycling 130 miles!

It's a great event - let me know if you want to join me.

Bike to Work Week and Women's Mountain Bike Rides in Pocatello

Sandra runs the west coast office of WomanTours in Pocatello, Idaho. When she's not coordinating the logistics of all of our tours, she's volunteering her time on her local Bike to Work Committee. May is Bike to Work month, so it's not too early to help plan your own community's bike to work activities. Check with the League of American Bicyclists for more information.

Sandra is also an excellent mountain biker. She's starting a women's only mountain biking group to introduce women to the joys of bicycling the beautiful trails in and around Pocatello. If you're in the area, join her!

Second Louisiana Bayou bike tour comes to a close

They biked up and down the Mississippi River, staying at historic antebellum homes along the way. Here's the group just before going out to ride.

For more pictures from the tour, see Annette's and Beth's blogs.

Fund Raising on our Southern Tier

Some women bike across the country on our Southern Tier tour for the challenge. Others do it to see the country or to get into shape. But then there are a few women who use it to raise money for a cause and who inspire the rest of us.

As a 20-year survivor of ovarian cancer, Laurey Masterton is one of those women. So far she's raised $33,000 for the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance toward her goal of $50,000. She'd like to appear on the Ellen DeGeneres show to help spread the word. She owes her life to early detection. You can read more about Laurey in a recent article from the San Antonio Express-News.

Marci Silverman has raised more than $11,000 for the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson's. Her grandfather died from the disease and her boyfriend's uncles suffer from it. She recently appeared on KPLC 7 news in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Laurey and Marci and all the women on the Southern Tier are an inspiration to the rest of us. They'll finish their trek from California to Florida in less than 2 weeks. Wish them luck.

Stopping in the Southern Tier

After I finished our first Louisiana Biking the Bayou tour last week, I drove to meet the group doing our cross-country Southern Tier tour in St. Charles, LA for dinner.

They didn't realize it yet, but having just finished their 3 weeks in Texas, they're now on the downward slope of their tour. The state crossings - Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama will come fast and furious now. They'll be in Florida and worrying about how to get their bikes back home before they know it.

Thanks for a great dinner, Linda and Lois. And a big thank you to our volunteer SAG drivers, Jan, Nancy, Ann and Carol, who are doing a wonderful job.

Louisiana Biking the Bayou bike tour

Just back from helping lead our first Louisiana bike tour and I have such great memories. The roads were a little rougher and busier than we would have liked but they were FLAT, as promised. The food was delicious, especially if you liked seafood. The swamp tour was memorable, if not for the alligators, then for the airboat driver. For many of the women, it was the furthest and longest they'd ever biked - congratulations to all of them!

Here's kudos to Karen who raised $2000 for her Slippery Rock Community Library by biking her personal best!

Click on my twitters to the right to see more images from the tour.