Update from the Northwest Loop tour

I received this great photo in my email this morning. Looks as if our Northwest Loop volunteer SAG drivers and sous-chef have been a little grumpy!

We couldn't run our cross-country tours without them. They agreed to work part of their time to support the tour in exchange for a discount off the price. I'll get to meet them later this month when I join them for the last week of their 4-week tour. Can't wait!

We still need a SAG driver for our cross-country Southern Tier 2010 tour. You can find more information on the WomanTours website here.

Sun Valley tour highlights

Back home from an amazing Sun Valley tour. Great group of women. Great scenery. Great weather. Great biking.

But sometimes I felt as if I were the only one out there...


When we weren't biking, we rafted down the Salmon River...


and watched the beautiful sunsets in Stanley....


Next year's tours is scheduled for August 18-25, 2010.

And they're off!

The Northwest Loop Ladies left Portland, Oregon last weekend for their 4-week bike tour through Oregon, Washington and a tip of Idaho. I'll be lucky enough to join for the last week of their journey. Wish them luck, tailwinds and a break in the heat wave!

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!

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!

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.

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.