Cycling Season 07 Oh Boy!

[Hammer]

It's been a long cold snap in South DAkota... That's crazy, I know!! I haven't even been running outside for awhile.

Cycling classes have me longing for the road. While I imagine cycling classes are better than trying to get myself to spin away on a trainer (due to my own motivation).... I am getting stir crazy and antsy to cover some miles.

I have my 10 year high school reunion sometime this spring... That's kinda early in the season, I already look pretty decent, in my opinion. I'm getting married in August. I already have my dress. Between now and then I'm planning to do the Tour de Kota... Hopefully some other locally sponsored rides... club rides and also hopefully the MS150 two weeks before my wedding.

Here's to the upcoming cycling season (well, for those of us that are not inclined to be cycling all year... But I run to make up for it.... ) .... And, here's to hopefully needing to take in my wedding dress a little around the hips!!! (Even though it really looks great now and alterations would cost money... but how worth it would that be?) YAY!

[LadyinWhite]

Here's to the upcoming cycling season

Cheers!!

PS: congrats on the upcoming wedding!

[Bad JuJu]

It's even been cold in north Florida this year, so I can't even imagine what it's like in South Dakota. But at least here it's not too cold to get out for a ride most weekends.

So how IS the cycling in South Dakota? We're going up to Sioux Falls for a visit in July. I've never been there before, but thinking I want to take my bike. So whadya say--is it worth hauling my bike up there, or, more accurately, worth the trouble of talking DH into tucking my bike into the van somewhere for the trip?

Congrats on your impending wedding--I'm sure you'll look great!

[Hammer]

Heck yeah there's places to ride... How long will you be in Sioux Falls? Sioux Falls has a 20 mile bike path that runs around its perimeter. I've not done the loop, but my fiance got me a bike rack for my car for Christmas. My mom lives in Sioux Falls. I live about an hour south. So I think I'll be loading bikes up to go up and get my mom out and active. There are some nice parks that the bike path goes through.

Also, in the area there are some nice places to bike. Check out http://www.tourdekota.com/ They have the projected route maps on there. The tour is from Vermillion to Watertown. 475 miles and none of those miles are more than 2 hours from Sioux FAlls by car.

Thirdly, Spoke-n-Sport is my LBS of choice in Sioux Falls. Their website has a calendar of rides. The Sioux Falls bike club has several rides a week. Maybe you can hop on with them. I discovered their calendar the first year that I rode with a hybrid. I never got up there... I had planned to take advantage of it in my second year so as to maybe meet additional people and network, especially if I were still single. But alas, I met my current fiance.

Anyway, I digress. I've met a couple of the Spoke-n-Sport fellows, they've come down to Vermillion for our rides a time or two. The website is:

http://spoke-n-sport.com/index.cfm

Click on the cycling events. They have local cycling routes posted there and a link to the Sioux Empire Bike Club.

Are you checking out any other part of South Dakota? Why Sioux Falls?

[cosc]

Hammer, I live in SD and feel your biking loneliness. Sounds like your a go-getter combining running, biking, tours and a wedding. Congratulations on finding a future DH. I plan on riding Tour de Kota and am praying for a early, nonwindy spring. Getting in shape on my trainer will not be easy. With the forecast of more snow I plan to have more fun with my snowshoes.

[Bad JuJu]

Hammer, thanks for the info on SD cycling! Sounds like there'll be plenty of ways for me to get my cycling fix when we're there.

We're planning this trip for a reunion with DH's old navy buddies. Apparently Sioux Falls is roughly equidistant from the homes of most of the folks who plan to attend, though I think they're just saying Sioux Falls provisionally and they're really thinking it'll be somewhere in southern South Dakota. They're looking for a kind of campground that offers both camp sites (tent or RV) and cabins, so wherever such an animal can be found is probably where we'll go.

[Hammer]

Hammer, I live in SD and feel your biking loneliness. Sounds like your a go-getter combining running, biking, tours and a wedding. Congratulations on finding a future DH. I plan on riding Tour de Kota and am praying for a early, nonwindy spring. Getting in shape on my trainer will not be easy. With the forecast of more snow I plan to have more fun with my snowshoes.

What Part of SD do you live in? Have you registered for the TDK yet? I haven't gotten around to it. I wish they'd post more info.

Bad Ju Ju: Pallisades State Park near Garretson (maybe 20-30 min north of Sioux FAlls) is really pretty. It's not a large park, but it's very scenic... pink rock cliffs (I'm blanking on the actual name of the stone, rose quartz or something....). They have tenting areas, a few cabins (can't remember how many) and I'm pretty sure that I saw campers there too. Small river that runs through it. Paved road right out of the park (I think) so you can hit the road right away.

Newton Hills is about 30 min south, outside of canton, they have nice hiking and horse trails... people go mountain biking there too. There isn't any water there as far as a river or lake or anything.

There are several options around there. Good luck!

[Aint Doody]

Bad JuJu--I hope you're not in SD when I'm coming to the Panhandle in July. I was hoping to ride with you. I'll be at Navarre Beach July 13-20th and will contact you ahead of time.

Susan

[Bad JuJu]

Yeah, Susan, this trip to SD is a new development--I'm not even sure what the dates will be yet. I'll let you know when I find out. I AM still looking forward to riding with you, so hoping our travel dates will be different, or at least not totally overlap.

[cosc]

Hammer, I'm from Chamberlain,SD and no I haven't registered for tdk. Have you rode on this tour before? I can't believe I missed the previous year's tdk.

[Aint Doody]

Bad JuJu, we'll be in touch!

[Hammer]

Hammer, I'm from Chamberlain,SD and no I haven't registered for tdk. Have you rode on this tour before? I can't believe I missed the previous year's tdk.

No, I haven't done the TDK yet. The first year I wasn't a biker. Though, I did a segment for South DAkota Public Broadcasting about it. It was something that I thought that I could probably do, so I bought a hybrid and started biking. The next year I bought a road bike. But, broke my arm almost right off the bat. And I realized that I started training probably a little late even despite my broken arm.

So, that leaves this year. I know a bunch of people that have done the tour, they seem fairly content with it. It's still very new and I think that some of the organizers maybe have changed a little. It should still be a great ride.

The first year was gorgeous, despite a day or two of extremely heavy wind.

Man, riding around Chamberlain, you've got some pretty decent hills to work your way up and down. You should be set, this year looks like it'll be kinda flat overall.

[KSH]

Yea, I wish it was here already!

I have two pretty new bikes (tri and road) that need to be ridden. I have 110 miles on the tri bike and 25 miles on the road bike.

This weather sucks.

BTW- Congrats on the upcoming wedding and I am sure you will be looking great for the reunion.

[KabyMom]

Hi

Glad to hear there are a couple of you out there that are doing TDK !

I registered a few weeks ago and can't wait. Now if the snow would just go away !!!!!! Trainer and Spinervals are just so hard to make myself do....

I did ride it last year and loved it. And this year it ends in Watertown which is super for me!