Back Home from the Adirondack Tour

Sue, Nancy, Maria, Kathy, Risa and Jenny enjoy the view atop Second Brother Mountain in Adirondack State Park. Despite what all my photos may show, we did a lot of biking on this tour too, along with our kayaking and hiking.

It was a beautiful tour. We watched the trees change colors before our eyes, as I've written on our tour itinerary. They all made fun of my marketing hype, but it was true.

I came home to rain, a sick dog, and kitchen cupboards inhabited by mice. But the rain has since stopped, my dog's on antibiotics and I now have fully cleaned cupboards. It's almost time to go on another tour!

New Book about Bicycling the Southern Tier

Lorraine Veisz biked the Southern Tier with WomanTours a couple years ago and then went on to do what the rest of us only dream of - write a book about it.

Conquering the Borderlands is a beautifully written and wonderfully illustrated tribute to her 3000-mile bicycle trek and the lands she rode through. She weaves historical stories about the roads, towns and geography of the Southern Tier into her personal bike journey across the country.

It's a must-read for everyone considering doing a southern tier bike tour themselves. You can find it for sale through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, AuthorHouse and Adventure Cycling.

I found myself sad when I turned over the final page. I didn't want her journey to end. We'd both been having such a good time.

Bicycling with your Local Bike Club

I've been spending a lot of time in Lynchburg, Virginia and the weather has been gorgeous lately. This morning I set out to meet the "B Group - no one gets left behind ride" from the local bike shop.

After a couple miles of dying, trying to hold on, I told the group that I was going to do my own ride and they should go on without me. The 15 men were way too fast for me - no surprise. A couple of them valiantly protested, but we all knew they'd be happier without me.

Then another of the two women in the group volunteered to go with me. She admitted that they were too fast for her too. We set off together and chatted some, but she was obviously stronger than me. She waited at the first turns for me, but for no more than 20 seconds, as I was always within sight. And then, during the second half of the ride, she disappeared. She dropped me. I rode back alone to the bike shop's empty parking lot and drove home.

You know I'll never try that again! Unfortunately, people like that do bicycling a disservice. They give the sport a bad name. And they wonder why more people don't bike.

Thank goodness for our tours, where I can bike with women - some faster, some slower - who will wait for each other and always stick around to cheer the last one into the parking lot at the end of the day.

Back from the Northwest Loop

It's been only 10 days, but it seems so long ago that my week with the Northwest Loop bike tour ended.

They told me I missed some incredible scenery by only being able to ride the last week. I saw the ocean, but they saw rivers: The Columbia, the Snake, the Salmon and the Willamette. They saw mountains: the Coastal Range and the Cascades. And they saw the high desert. Who knew the terrain of Oregon could be so varied?

The women who did the entire 4-week tour raved about it and said we should keep the trip on our schedule. Look for it again in 2013.

Pam takes in the view.


Hille, Nancy and Ramsey first met on our 2007 Southern Tier tour.


Some of the beautiful scenery.


To read personal travelogues of the trip, click below:
Anne Cowan's blog
Carolyn Froeberg's blog
Barbara Minnick's blog
Nancy Norton's blog
Clark Taylor's blog

Win a Free Bike

Here's a chance to win a free bicycle. Create a link on your own blog or website or twitter account and you'll be entered in a weekly drawing for a free Madsen utility bike. They look pretty cool! Click below for more details.
MADSEN Cargo Bikes