What's your next ride going to be?

[cruziegirl]

So where is everyone going once it actually warms up enough to ride? Any epic rides planned? Exotic locales? New goals? I do a bike tour in France each year and I'll be going to Provence in late June. It's a great way to see a country and meet people. Pedal, eat, pedal, eat...

...just wondering what everyone has planned...

[DeniseGoldberg]

I'm planning to do two touring vacations this year.

The first will be a long weekend to Nova Scotia, probably in mid-June. I'll drive to Bar Harbor (Maine) and take the Cat ferry from there, ride a few days in western Nova Scotia, then spend a day riding around Acadia National Park when I return. I think that's a reasonable re-introduction to touring after my unscheduled break in 2004!

The second trip is still a bit up in the air. Right now I'm leaning towards the Canadian Rockies, probably in early August. If I don't get distracted by another interesting destination, what I will probably do is fly to Edmonton, take the train to Jasper, and then ride from Jasper to Banff to Calgary - then fly home from Calgary. I was going to try to do some trip dreaming last weekend, but somehow getting my taxes done kind of took precedence. This weekend is for dreaming though...

--- Denise

[SadieKate]

Beyond a full plate of organized century rides like Party Pardee, Top Hat and the little Red Riding Hood, we've got our annual Memorial Day weekend trip to Bend, OR. 5 fantabulous days of incredible libations (Oregon sure knows how to distill/ferment stuff) and let's not forget the singletrack. By the way, Jobob, I've found that Gatorade and Vitamin I work together quite nicely.

[Crankin]

In July I am doing a 6 day tour from Prague to Vienna. We really wanted to go back to Italy, but there's very few tours there during the summer because of the heat. I am very excited about this trip; I haven't done much travelling until recently (last year). In the beginning of June we are doing a 3 day weekend in the Berkshires. Our friends have 3 rides planned, one of which is 40 miles, with a 4 mile 7 percent grade climb. I am trying not to think about that! Other than that, I am registered for a 50 mile charity ride for the local Lions club on May 15th. It's right around in the area I do my local rides in, so that will be fun. So, any of you MA cyclists, come on out. There's no fund raising requirements, just the $30 reg. fee. We are going to Hilton Head at the end of June and plan to do some mountain biking there in the nature preserves/beach. We are driving down, so we'll bring the road bikes, too, but they like you to stay on the bike paths there, which I don't like.
Today, I am doing a 20 mile hill ride through Littleton and Harvard...

[Veronica]

I am so envious of your Bend trip Sarah! We're waiting to see if Thom's company folds or not before we plan anything. Ideas we're kicking around are a self supported tour down the coast to Santa Barbara. Trips to the Tahoe area to mountain bike. Talking Bill and Sarah into going back to Bend this summer...

Nothing really exotic this year.

V.

[Irulan]

I've been getting in a few local rides, but it looks like the rain is finally coming. I've got a trip to the mackenzie river trail planned, and a week in Stanley Idaho ( sun valley area) later on in the summer. I'm sure I'll come up with more before the season is done.

Irulan

[SadieKate]

Talking Bill and Sarah into going back to Bend this summer...
V.

Done! We have to go back to sign closing papers since we officially will be slumlords sometime this summer. Irulan, come on down! MacKenzie is on the list.

We talking about Ketchum/Stanley also since we haven't been there in awhile. We're not doing any mtbbike tours this year since we need to stay loose due to the house purchase in Bend so we're kicking around good ride areas you can do from a campground or hotel.

[Irulan]

Done! We have to go back to sign closing papers since we officially will be slumlords sometime this summer. Irulan, come on down! MacKenzie is on the list.

We talking about Ketchum/Stanley also since we haven't been there in awhile. We're not doing any mtbbike tours this year since we need to stay loose due to the house purchase in Bend so we're kicking around good ride areas you can do from a campground or hotel.

I don't use tours or guide services. I have a good network of riding pals all over the country, and I use maps and guidebooks. Seems to work for me.


Irulan

[SadieKate]

"The List" refers to our list and our list only. We (and our pals) have favorite trails we repeat and new ones we want to try.

Only time we use guides/tour companies is when we want to do 5-6 day trips waaay in the backcountry and don't want to spend our time doing all the planning, shopping, cooking, hauling, cleaning, etc. I can just pack my clothes, my bike, tent and a sleeping bag and show up. Everybody gets to ride every day, except for the guide who is paid to haul the water, the food, the stoves, the groover, the gear, etc., etc., etc. I do way too much planning and coordinating of excurions the rest of the year to want to do this for a truly remote backcountry trip. We do these trips once a year or less; we haul around a box of books and maps the rest of the time.

[Irulan]

my Boise connections have reserved a campground somewhere, where we'll be based out of for about a week. They know the area. Normally we'd bring all our whitewater gear but that's a no-go this years.

[Biking Chick]

As there are no 'tours' to Provence or Bar Harbor in my immediate future, I hope y'all will post your pre and post trip journals to the list ... I for one will be very interested in hearing all about your trips!

Our biking plans for this year include a number of local organized rides - a few of our favorites in places such as Eagle River, Three Lakes, Wild Rose and Marshfield (all in Wisconsin) as well as Marinette, MI and Mackinaw City, MI. We are looking forward to participating in a few new rides and visiting areas of our state that we have not ridden in before. With the addition of our new 7500 FX bikes I am very anxious to get in few more rail-trail rides this year - the Bearskin in Minocqua and the Red Cedar Trail near the Mississippi River are two of our favorties as well as the famed Sparta to Elroy Rail Trail.

We will be participating in the MS Ride from Waukesha to Madison, WI in August and are really looking forward to that ride as we will be riding with a nephew and his team. We are also looking forward to the inaugural ride with the 'Cow Girls' ... the members of Team America's Dairyland sometime in May.

This might be the year that we ride the Door County Century ... until then I'm looking forward to a couple days of warmer weather followed by two maybe three days of rain to melt the 9" of snow we received last week-end on top of the foot or so of snow that has graced my front yard since December!

[Veronica]

Acadia is beautiful. We were there a few years ago on one of our trips home to Maine.

V.

Acadia Gallery

[Irulan]

"The List" refers to our list and our list only. We (and our pals) have favorite trails we repeat and new ones we want to try.

Only time we use guides/tour companies is when we want to do 5-6 day trips waaay in the backcountry and don't want to spend our time doing all the planning, shopping, cooking, hauling, cleaning, etc. I can just pack my clothes, my bike, tent and a sleeping bag and show up. Everybody gets to ride every day, except for the guide who is paid to haul the water, the food, the stoves, the groover, the gear, etc., etc., etc. I do way too much planning and coordinating of excurions the rest of the year to want to do this for a truly remote backcountry trip. We do these trips once a year or less; we haul around a box of books and maps the rest of the time.

Where do you go biking that someone's required to haul a groover? I thought that was only **required** on permitted rivers. Or do they haul it just to make it nicer for the peeps? ( no digging catholes)

I've heard so much good and bad about outfitted trips- they can be wonderful, or, that it only takes one mismatch personallity wise, or ability wise or an ignorant guide to make a trip really unpleasant. I'm certainly biased: we've been outfitting ourselves on private whitewater trips for 15+ years, and DH is a former river guide who's borne the worst of obnoxious customers.

I'm also a cheapskate at heart, I don't think I could ever pay anyone to do what I am capable of doing for myself. We also have all the gear, which can make a huge difference too. About four years ago, we got invited on a permit for the Tatshenshini/Alsek River in Alaska... the whole trip cost our family of four less than what you would have paid an outfitter for one person.

This is just about how we choose do it - I know plenty of folks who just want a vacation and do not want to have to deal with logisitics, gear, and all the other details.

irulan

[SadieKate]

Groovers can be required all over the southwest because the lack of moisture means that nothing deteriorates and also you don't want the peeps wandering all over the place destroying the crytobiotic soils. We've also had to use them in Idaho and Oregon. The population is just getting so high with so many people on the trails that anything hauled in should be hauled out.

Guides and their gear are great when the water for everything for 6 days has to be hauled in over some very treacherous roads. We've done some routes where I sure wouldn't want to be the person driving the support truck.

One thing that is really nice about the mtb tours is that you don't get "tourists." Yeah, there are some clients who get special notes in all the tour companies' files but for the most part they're not too bad because you have to come with a certain fitness and skill level. Kind of like a class 4/5 river trip, you better know what you're doing and the good tour companies will talk to you and access your true skill level; they may not even let you come. The altitudes can be so high also that the tour companies can get concerned. We rode from Telluride to Moab in 6 days on our 1st trip. Day 1 we went over a pass at 10,500 ft and the trip averaged 8,900 ft of elevation. Clients tend to be less obnoxious when they're crawling along clawing for every oxygen molecule.

We only started with tour companies based on the recommendation of friends and have been careful. Asked for lots of information before going, and talked to staff and owners before putting down money. We have had terrific guides who changed routes because they accessed the group and figured out we could handle tougher terrain than the normal routes. We've had guides who had wonderful knowledge of the geology, history, flora and fauna of the area. We've met fellow clients and guides who have become friends that we network with around the country. Guides who served as coaches and taught us new skills. It can be like going to a grown-up's science/bike skills camp.

[DeniseGoldberg]

As there are no 'tours' to Provence or Bar Harbor in my immediate future, I hope y'all will post your pre and post trip journals to the list ...

I do keep journals of my tours, and they are posted on crazyguyonabike.com (actually at denisegoldberg.crazyguyonabike.com . I'll just remind myself to post a link here too when I'm back from my wanderings...

Acadia is beautiful.

Beautiful photos Veronica - I can't believe I haven't been to Acadia for years and years. It will be fun to wander around the park on my bike and (of course) with my camera close at hand!

--- Denise