I certainly hope so! There are enough of us in the area. I know she would want to see the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers!Quote:
Originally Posted by Catrin
I certainly hope so! There are enough of us in the area. I know she would want to see the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers!Quote:
Originally Posted by Catrin
Then if no one from Florida/Texas/Oklahoma area wants to take Maidei for bike ride after she visits Chile in South America, perhaps at least Maidei be sent to a Utah TE cyclist to meet 3 TE members in 1 sweep.Quote:
Originally Posted by Flybye
At least after Utah, Maidei could eventually go to California or U.S. Midwest.
We have to remind ourselves that Maidei doesn't need to a huge bike ride per TE member.
I realize your trying to make the next connection...
What about those in California, Oregon and Washington. Then there are more people in SLC, me in S. Utah, Colorado? I thought we were going to try and hit each area of the US?
Am I not understanding something here?
Red ROck
I would love to take Maidei for a ride in Florida! Even if it is just a short trip. :) Let me know what you need from me to make this happen. :)
I agree. We should plan a general route, and if events occur along the route, great, if not, too bad. If we try to get her to particular places at particular times, then we wind up having to do a lot of shipping and mailing and skipping areas and missing connections. Continent-to-continent is one thing, but this is supposed to be a BICYCLE tour when possible, and hopefully keeping the connections as short as possible when cycling isn't possible, and trying to do the hand-offs in person, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Rock
Can I make a general suggestion about covering the Americas.... subject to criticism now, and revision as time and seasons pass?
From South America north through California to the PNW and western Canada.
From there, east to the Rocky Mountains.
South along the Rocky Mountains to AZ
East to Texas
North through the Great Plains
East along the Great Lakes (including the Canadian side)
South through Appalachia
East through the Deep South and counterclockwise along the Florida coast (just for directionality... inland Florida could catch her in either direction, most likely)
North along the East Coast of the USA and possibly to anyone in eastern Canada we missed on the Great Lakes tour
Fly to the UK, then connect with Europe.
Comments, criticisms, sane or insane remarks?
Hey, I totally agree Maidei should hit the road in every state and province if she's wanted there.
And as a kind consideration for planning, that it would be logical to choose next spot..it terms of:
a) willingness of TE member to get next point to pick up Maidie at logical date.
b) or next closest TE location for reasonable shipping costs. ie. illogical for Chile pepper to ship to NYC instead of Florida.
actually, shipping to NYC would cost the same as shipping to florida...
If I get her June 5 she gets an Idaho tour and a Utah tour :) and I can pass her to another 2-3 TErs from there.
You know those maps of the USA that you see on RVs where they color the states they have visited...I have seen virtual ones on some travel sites...maybe Maidei needs one to keep track of her travels?
There must be a world version to be found online.
I don't have time to look for it right now, but I seem to remember somewhere on this board there is a map that you can stick virtual pushpins in. It shows where all the TE members (who've done it) are from. I'll bet one could be set up for Maidei too.
good idea, Eden!
Oak, I agree we should try to keep the hands off in person if we can and the route you suggested makes perfect sense but I would really like for her to come through St Louis on her way to Indianapolis. I know there are lots of TE's on here from both places with me and a few others in the middle. I don't think that route would catch us.Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
Oh I was only being general of course! I didn't mean to exclude the ... [okay maybe if I knew the name for the part of the country you live in, maybe I would've been better about specifically including you ... sorry :o]. I guess I was envisioning you on the eastern edge of the plains and zig-zagging up to Minnesota, but yeah, you could just as easily touch base from the Indy/Illinois side.
Oak- I like your progression here. Looks good. Maidei has a lot of traveling still to do!
Red Rock
Well, it might be *next* spring before she gets to the east coast of the US. It looks like a long trip.
Oh, too neat!
I just found out about Maidei and have been reading the thread.
I don't know if she'll be anywhere near Kansas City, Missouri...but if she wanted a tour of City Market...
Fledgling, I hope she gets to come through Missouri, Illinois and on to Indiana. I really think she would enjoy seeing the Arch and the Mississippi River, don't you?
Most certainly. The Arch isn't something to miss. And whose life is really complete without taking a picture with the Nelson Atkins shuttlecocks? :p
I think she would love to see the International Motor Speedway, I only live a mile from it :D Let's see, there is also Eagle Creek Park - and while I don't ride singletrack, Brown County State Park in the southern part of the state has some great singletrack that I bet someone could take her on! I could take her hiking on it, but I bet she would prefer to ride. There are other great places as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bike Chick
I know of some pretty neat places in Eastern Nebraska that she'd like to go, too.
For the Record, DH & I are planning a trip down the Katy Trail this fall. If Maidei is in the vicinity, she's more than welcome to come along. We could do an exchange with, um, whomever, near the Arch - or something like that.
Is she coming to AZ (or vicinity) soon? My partner and I are going to bike along the north rim of the Grand Canyon for 4th of July (big US holiday) and I bet she'd love to see it!:D
Very belatedly, here are photos of Maidei at the "Girls on Bikes" ride in Methven, Canterbury, New Zealand in February. It was the inaugural ride and with 750 finishers the biggest women only ride in New Zealand. A beautiful day and great bunches to ride with
Attachment 11093
Attachment 11094
Thanks for these photos, kiwigirl. That sounds like a huge ride for only women! How was it promoted to get a huge participation rate?
apologies - I started writing this and I got a bit carried away, Shooting Star's question has really got my passion for the great state of women's cycling both as a elite and mass participation sport in New Zealand at the moment going...
I can't remember if I learnt about the event from seeing a poster in a bike shop window (and every bike shop I walked past for the 3 or 4 months before the race had one) or if I was on a mailing list because I did a (mixed) event by the same organisers last year. The ride had both a 35 and a 76 km option which opened it up to a range of riders.
Methven where the ride was is a small ski town, but Christchurch with a population of 335,000 is only 90 minutes drive away. One key thing is that there have been a couple of very very successful entry level womens only triathlon series (generally 200 m pool swim, 10 - 15 km bike 3 - 5km run) over the past 5 - 10 years that have been really positive in getting women to get into sports. Lots of people have gone on to these to be more involved in running, cycling or triathlon at a more competitive level. Most of the women I talked to at Girls on Bikes had started at one of these events
There are now lots of women who met through these events, various internet forums, training groups and (for triathletse) people who meet at the pool that word of mouth can be pretty good as well
Cycling is really on a high in New Zealand at the moment. There is a core group of men doing well in the pro circuit (two guys in the tour de France and Jesse Sergent won a stage in the tour de Gila a couple of days ago). The womens road programme doesn't get a lot of publicity but there is crossover from the track programme, particularly the coverage that the elite pursuters have got. Even though Sarah Ulmer has retired she is probably still one of the most respected athletes in any sport and of either gender in the country. She has put on a series of womens only rides around the country for a few years as well. Alison Shanks has carried on that success and that publicity for cycling (helped by the fact that a) she is really good, and b) her background in netball which is the highest profile womens sport in New Zealand.
You might want to use this site to track Maidei's travels: http://www.whereivebeen.com/
:)
Sorry it's taken me so long to post this. Maidei arrived in Chile about two weeks ago. As it happens, I fractured my shoulder when I laid my bike down on Easter Sunday, so we haven't been able to go out for a spin in the Andes. However, she was quite amenable to helping out with the vintage, seeing as that's what we do here this time of year. Here she is inspecting grapes in the vineyard:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...hevineyard.jpg
And now filling barrels:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...ithbarrels.jpg
And finally, with the finished product (our 2007):
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...withbottle.jpg
Saludos from Chile!
P.S. where is she going next?
I love Maidei poking around the vineyard grapes and riding the barrels. You ought to feature her on your blog, Chile. It'll add an interesting twist to your blog but still wine related. :)
Who's getting Maidei next? Sooner, the better.
Another thread was started with a couple of responses. I'm in the middle of the US but am traveling to South Carolina in June and could bring/pick Maidei up on the trip.
If the SE US is next on the itinerary, there are quite a few of us in this part of the world. I'm in Virginia, and I can help out.
I'm in Atlanta, and I'd love to be a part of the Maidei tour!
...she's welcome to come to Michigan----I'd love to have her :)
I would love to have her in Indianapolis - and there are others in Central Indiana that might like to see her...hmmmmm, we could get together :D
We have a decent-sized Ohio contingent too.
We need to just make a decision as to who gets her next.
It still seems to me that if she's going to North America next, it makes most sense to start either in one of the southern corners of the USA or in coastal Canada, and zigzag her way across ... but I guess she could start in the middle of the Plains and spiral out from there, instead!
New Orleans is a port city. Seems maybe she should come through a port, "accompanying the wine shipment" as it were. :p
Or she could be the jet setting international traveler, and fly anywhere into the US. :cool::D
We need to decide one way or the other and I don't think it matters where we start. I think the New Orleans idea sounds good and she could travel up the Mississippi to Michigan and zig zag her way west or east. We just need to get her here somewhere.
I can meet her at the dock by the French Quarter, refresher her with cafe au lait and beignets, then we can go for a ride. As a young lady, maybe I ought to keep her off Bourbon Street after dark, it just isn't proper :p
Oh Beth, that would be lovely. I think she would really like that. I think she also needs to taste some gumbo, crawfish and etoufee while she's there. I also agree that it wouldn't be proper for her to be on the streets after dark but certainly don't see anything wrong with stopping by Pat O'Brien's on the way home for a Hurricane!
Heck, you are making me hungry for some wonderful New Orleans cuisine! I think I might join you;)
Just copped on to this thread. Looks awesome! I was about to offer to take Maidei in Singapore because I'm planning to tour part of the way home to Singapore from the Angkor Wat Half marathon in December but I see Deeaimond has already hosted Maidei here. Rock on Maidei!! =D
I am sure that she would love to visit Central Florida. :)
Where has she ended up? Does anyone know?