My GRABAAWR Experience

[mtbdarby]

Oh crud - there will be no pictures. In my haste to hit the one hour photo place yesterday, I opened up my camera to take the film out before I realized I hadn't shot all the film yet and exposed it. Man, what an idiot

Forgot to mention, in my appreciation for red biking shorts, Team Polska was represented on the tour. Gotta love those guys! hehehehehe

[annie]

mtbdarby,

Were the Canadians from the Thunder Bay Cycling Club? And did one of them wear a strange looking bandanna on his head and pass out canadians pins?

annie

[crazycanuck]

Canucks partying eh....I always thought it was the ozzies that partied harder!!!

Beware of us Canucks...... we like to party eh.

c

[DebW]

Oh crud - there will be no pictures. In my haste to hit the one hour photo place yesterday, I opened up my camera to take the film out before I realized I hadn't shot all the film yet and exposed it. Man, what an idiot

You should get it developed anyway. I believe I've done that and only lost a few of the pictures.

[Trek420]

mtbdarby "Oh crud - there will be no pictures. In my haste to hit the one hour photo place yesterday, I opened up my camera to take the film out before I realized I hadn't shot all the film yet and exposed it. Man, what an idiot "

ok, we forgot that one

Duck on Wheels and I were listing the pros/cons of film vs digital cameras (my faithfull little Cannon point and shoot got GU on it after the TE Diablo ride and may or may not be able to be cleaned) for my next camera.

Score one point for digital

But thing is on rides like this you may find yourself in online albums like snapfish, or the pro shots.

How many people were on this tour?

[SJCzar]

Well, I think Dar did a great job summing up how much fun our first tour was. I was bummed that she couldn't make it the whole week but she toughed it out longer than I'm sure she expected she'd be able to. I guess the pain deadens a little bit when you're having such a good time (and the margarita therapy is effective as well). I was very surprised that I somehow made it through the whole week without feeling at all sore. I did sleep very soundly the first two nights back in a real bed.

First of all the tent issue....while putting up my tent at the staging area the night before the ride I had a fellow rider come over to help since it was getting dark....his story was that I was screaming and swearing and REALLY needed him. This was wild Chris from Kansas. When I bent one of my poles quite badly the next night (due to a bit of impatience) his story became a bit more believable. The tent made it through the week .. although it wasn't the prettiest or straightest and luckily it did not have to endure too strong of winds. Quite unexpectedly the weather was close to perfect all week. The few short rain showers came at convenient times.

There were 900 riders on this tour and all the ones we met were fantastic. I would never hesitate to tell someone to go on one of these alone. It seemed like somewhere around 20-30% of the riders came by themselves and finding people to ride with, eat with, or just hang around with was never any problem. My husband has no interest in riding more than a casual ride every now and then. Many people on this tour had husbands or wives that felt the same way so they were there alone.

Yes, the majority of the Canadians that I met were from The Thunder Bay Cycling Club and bandana man was there. I was told by a friend on the support crew that they have actually mellowed out some over the years. I can't even imagine how nuts they must have been since keeping up with them now is a challenge. The night Dar spent at home I made it until 12:45am at one of their favorite spots. Some were still going strong as the rest of us made our way back to the campgrounds.

As for my speed on hills, I just do what I can to get them over with the quickest. I much prefer a freshly blacktopped stretch of flat road. The last two days each had a ridiculously steep and long climb...I had no idea there was anything like that in this state. On the backside of the worst one there was a glorious downhill that went on for miles and then a nice spot at the bottom to take off your shoes and soak your feet in the Wisconsin River.

I won't be a tour pro the next time around but I learned most of the same lessons as Dar listed. Have fun, don't worry about hurrying on to the next campground. Take as much time as you need to enjoy the sites along the way. Definitely strike up conversations with as many fellow cyclists as you can. You'll form great friendships that will last throughout the tour and beyond. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.