Best Tree In The World

[Nanci]

I had a _great_ ride today with a different group than yesterday, the Strays, who advertise themselves as: The Strays is a touring group. We ride locally most of the time, and at other times we take off to ride in distant places. Sometimes we will ride with ride groups from other bike clubs, in their territory. As a touring ride group, we have no pace lines, no wheel hugging, and no racing. We are dedicated to riding with the idea of having fun and getting some exercise, and enjoying companionship and scenery. Our pace is typically in the 12-14 mph range, and this varies with the terrain and what there is to see on our ride. We sometimes stop to smell the flowers and check out the sights. Definitely not a ride for the impatient or hurried. Normally we ride about 35 miles maximum, but have been known to ride further occasionally, if the ride group feels up to it. Sometimes our rides end with a well-deserved visit to a restaurant. Strays expect a bit of self-reliance from our riders, so a willingness to fix your own flat tire is a necessity, as is the proper backup inner tube to fit your tire. Naturally, we will instruct you and assist you as required, but we expect you to take care of yourself. We don't dust our riders, nor do we leave them to expire on the side of the road. Strays stick together, as we are a sociable group. We are however repelled by the whining needy, and may make exceptions to our rules as needed.

So the ride was exactly as advertised, 31 miles, speed of 13 mph, a stop to check out this tree (wait till you see it!!!) a couple convenience store stops, a couple rests at stop signs, and it was with the President and Vice President of the cycling club! (I had not met them yet, and boy was I on my best behaviour!!) Plus one other girl.

Here is the tree we stopped to visit. It has some sort of award for being a big tree, though no claim to be the biggest, but it has its own park! Its dimensions are 80 feet tall, 150 feet of canopy, and a circumference of 366 inches. When you see it in the distance, in the first picture, it looks big. Very big. I am so glad I rode cyclocross across the field to get to it, because up close, it is awe-inspiring. Look at the picture of Lava next to it! I wonder how many hundreds of years old it is. Has to be 600-800, or even more...We walked around under it, saying "From here it looks like a snail, from here it looks like a dragon's foot..." I love it.

Nanci

[Veronica]

Cool tree! And it sounds like an interesting group to ride with. Checking out the world around you is always good.

V.

[bikerHen]

What an awesome sight. I just love big old trees. This one reminds me of the late great Hooker Oak ( A Valley Oak) that graced Chico, CA for many hundreds of years. It split apart during a very nasty storm in the late '70's and had to be cut down. It was immortalized though, as the very large tree that Robin Hood and his merry men stood on in the 1930's version of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn. BikerHen

[Duck on Wheels]

That sounds like just the kind of group I need to find when I get back to Norway. So ... if I can't find 'em, do the originals have any suggestions about how to start one?

[Nanci]

Look how far out that branch stretches! I am amazed how Live Oaks like to reach down and touch the ground like that.

Nanci

[Duck on Wheels]

That is one beautiful tree! And it sounds like a wonderful ride format.

Dreaming of which ... Do you think this idea might catch on:
What if I managed to organize a small fleet of rental bikes, got some ride guides, and offered weekend rides for tourists to Hell and back. Could do several routes of varying lengths. Longest would be about a metric century, mix of asphalt and gravel roads back through woods and hills then down to the shoreline at Hell, from there back to Trondheim along the old highway (now only local traffic and bike lanes). Shortest route would be one way along the old highway (about 25 miles, rolling hills, some of them steep) and return by train. Could have snappy name like "To Hell and Back" or "Helluva Ride".

[Nanci]

How about "I Went To Hell?" ("I Rode To Hell?") I'd go, if I was there and I was a tourist. Especially if I got a T-shirt :-)

Nanci

[Duck on Wheels]

How about "I Went To Hell?" ("I Rode To Hell?") I'd go, if I was there and I was a tourist. Especially if I got a T-shirt :-)

Nanci

Maybe a shirt that says "I went to Hell on a bike"? There are also a couple of cool things to see, like petroglyphs, and the Hell railway station (with Gods Expedition, i.e. the freight office, place where you expedite goods). Could maybe do the picture of tourist-with-bike-in-front-of-railway-station, then print that on the T-shirt. So now I just need to talk to my neighbor the bike enthusiast. He invented the worlds first and so far only bike lift for getting up reeeeeally steep hills, we could include lift instruction on the ride. He also organized a system of free loaner bikes for downtown shoppers. I bet he could get something like this off the ground.

[nuthatch]

What a beautiful live oak- you lucky girl! I'm perishing for spring to get here!!!

[janetsplanet]

That is one beautiful tree! And it sounds like a wonderful ride format.

Dreaming of which ... Do you think this idea might catch on:
What if I managed to organize a small fleet of rental bikes, got some ride guides, and offered weekend rides for tourists to Hell and back. Could do several routes of varying lengths. Longest would be about a metric century, mix of asphalt and gravel roads back through woods and hills then down to the shoreline at Hell, from there back to Trondheim along the old highway (now only local traffic and bike lanes). Shortest route would be one way along the old highway (about 25 miles, rolling hills, some of them steep) and return by train. Could have snappy name like "To Hell and Back" or "Helluva Ride".

just to let you know there is a Harley Davidson group that has the "The Ride to Hell" I believe every fall in Hell Michigan....
It is a cold ride. Maybe they will let you join in with them

[DeniseGoldberg]

That tree is absolutely awesome. And the contrast between the size of the trunk and a bicycle is stunning. Thanks for posting the pictures - sounded like a good ride too.

--- Denise

[Trekhawk]

Wow Nanci that sounds like the sort of group I would love to ride with.
The tree is amazing.

[allabouteva]

Hi Nanci

That's one BIG tree!

It reminds me of the trees back home where I grew up.. Check out this banyan tree, similiar to the Oak, but with all these stringy bits, where as kids we used to swing on.

[Nanci]

Ooh, they have those down in south Florida. I can just imagine being around them as a kid- it would have been heaven! When I was a kid, I climbed all the trees in our yard, mostly elms and maples, and all the trees in our neighbors' yards, and all the trees at the cabin, and made forts in the fallen down hollow trees in the woods, and knew all the trees that had fallen into the lake that the turtles basked on, that you could walk down and look at frogs and fish and stuff. I've got a pretty good tree in my yard now, which serves as a two-car garage. It's a Laurel Oak. Here it is with my old Explorer that I sold at 300,000 miles.

[Lise]

aaahhhhh.....what beautiful trees. Last night I drove by a Japanese Maple covered in snow, at twilight, a different kind of beauty.

Like nuthatch, I'm perishing for spring up here in the frozen north. The weather thing says it's going to be in the 50s by the end of the week. I know the Earth keeps going around the sun, and eventually it will be warmer...but sometimes I want to get out and push!

That biking group sounds perfect. Hope you have some fun rides with them. I can't remember--does Dilbird go riding with you? It sounds like he might fit right in. L.