Friday, July 31, 2009

And the Winner is....

Sonia from Baraboo, Wisconsin. She won a free WomanTours trip for guessing closest to Alberto Contador's winning time in the Tour de France. Her guess of 85h:48m:04s was just seconds away from Alberto's time of 85h:48m:35s. Congratulations to Sonia!

In her words:

I'm still shaking!!!!! OMG this is the best news ever. I don't win things and 2009 has not been a good year for me but I feel that my luck is about to change. My husband was home recovering from emergency surgery so we watched the tour everyday. And everyday I would say, "It would be so awesome to be there." The tour, the scenery all of it.

I told him that we should plan a trip for our 25th wedding anniversary (in 6 yrs). We started biking about 7 yrs ago and have followed the tour especially since Lance and all his successes. Words cannot express how excited I am.

P.S. my family was making fun of me because of all the work I put into calculating the winning time!! Who's laughing now?! THANKS SO MUCH!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Northwest Loop Bike Tour About to Begin

We're getting ready for the start of our Northwest Loop cross-country bicycle tour this week. WomanTours photographers Annette and Beth just arrived in Portland, Oregon with our SAG vehicle, affectionately known as Bo Peep. You can follow their trek across the country on their great blog.

To follow some of our bikers' treks on the tour, you can read these blogs:
Anne Cowan
Carolyn Froeberg
Barbara Minnick
Nancy Norton
Clark Taylor

You can also read about Anne Cowan's prep for the tour in an article that appeared in her local paper, the Bristol Herald Courier.

Wish them luck, tailwinds, and a break in the present heat wave!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Wildflowers on the Sun Valley bike tour


Past forest fires bring fields of wildflowers. A couple of us arrived early before the start of the Sun Valley tour and hiked the Fox Creek Loop. The flowers were amazing. And almost as tall as Sheryl.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Finger Lakes Wine Country Tour


For the first time, we ran our Finger Lakes Wine Country tour as a shorter 4-day tour. The women tell me it was a hit. Jen (second from right) wrote us, "I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the tour. It was wonderful and I can't wait until my next one." Jacki and Lisa (second and third from left front) have already signed up for their next tour. I knew it was a great group from the start when they organized a group photo before they even knew each other's names or biked a mile. Thanks Leisa (9th from the left) for the pics!



Later in the tour, we took a break from the bike to hike through Watkins Glen. We have some beautiful parks right here in upstate New York. I bike all over the country, and I still love to come back to bike the Finger Lakes region. It has a little of everything - except those snowy, jagged peaks. I'll be seeing those next week on our Sun Valley tour.

In a car, scenery is wallpaper....

I don't often read articles about people's bicycling travels. I get too jealous and beat myself up over being inside reading, rather than out there cycling. But my parents had cut out the NY Times article for me and the headline, "4 Days and 2 Wheels on the Oregon Coast" caught my attention. I'd be joining our Northwest Loop tour next month to bike up the Oregon coast myself.

I was quickly taken in by author David Laskin's first paragraph:
In a car, you'd cover the hundred miles of the southern third of the Oregon coast in a couple of hours, and you'd think, How gorgeous! But on a bike, you don't so much view the scenery as absorb it....In a car, scenery is wallpaper. On a bike, it's your mission."

I knew I'd found a true comrade. Feel free to read the article yourself, and then get out there and absorb some scenery!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Win a Free WomanTours trip!


Sign up on the Terry Bicycles website with your best guesstimate of the Tour de France winner's time, and you could win a WomanTours bike trip! Check the Terry website for details and to guess away. But do it by July 19. Good luck!