Myrna CG Mibus - Idyllwild

I'm on a writing retreat at the Anderson Center in Red Wing and took a break from my writing yesterday and this morning to get out and ride the Cannon Valley Trail . The CVT parallels the Anderson Center's property and to get to the trail I only need to bike a few blocks down a hill. I simply can't resist  riding the trail when I'm here! The CVT is my favorite bike trail and although I've ridden it many, many times, I never get tired of riding the trail or the beauty that surrounds it. With the leaves gone from the trees, I expected the scenery along the trail would be somewhat bland. But I was wrong. I spent most of my rides simply taking in the beauty along the trail. The sun shining through the bare trees. The green moss on rocks and fallen logs. The brown leaves covering the hillsides and carpeting the woodsy floor. On my ride to the Welch trailhead this morning, I noticed a newly constructed Marshall Memorial Rest Area alongside the trail. On my way ...

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” Albert Einsten I'm at the Anderson Center in Red Wing this weekend with two of my writing friends, Joy  and Chris . We're here having a writing weekend and are working on our various writing projects. The Anderson Center is an awesome place. We're staying in a huge house surrounded by lots of green space and a sculpture garden. It's quiet here and it's a perfect place to write, read and rejuvenate. It's also a perfect place for bicycling as the Anderson Center is right by the Cannon Valley Trail . So in addition to packing some books, my journal, fountain pens, computer and works in progress, I packed Zippy, my  Salsa Vaya, so I could ride this weekend - partially because I like to ride the trail, partially because I'm in the middle of another 30 Days of Biking challenge and partially because I find that riding helps me write. Earlier today I rode about 12 miles. Most of th...

Well, Round 4 of 30 Days of Biking came to a close last Friday - just in time for me to get sick with a terrible cold. Ugh. I'm not happy about the cold but am happy I finished 30 Days of Biking for the fourth time. The weather for Round 4 was almost perfect. I didn't have to bike in the snow like I did last April or in the pouring rain like last September . Instead, save for some light drizzle here and there and some killer winds, the weather was great. Completing Round 4 of 30 Days of Biking -  though still a challenge - was not too hard this time around. Looking on my Dailymile history it looks like I logged more miles on my bikes during this month than I ever have before. So, in light of that accomplishment I'm going to share some highlights of Round 4 of 30 Days of Biking. Here they are (in no particular order): •I biked 317 miles during September •Owen did the 30 Days of Biking challenge with me again. This was his third round •Two other friends of mine ...

Numbers associated with my bicycling sometimes frustrate me - like when I realize that my average pace still hasn't gone up as much as I'd like or when I realize that the numbers related to my weight haven't gone down even though I'm biking a ton. But when I get close to reaching a mileage milestone, numbers don't frustrate me - they motivate me instead! I really like seeing my bike computer's odometer turn over to big numbers. When I first got my road bike last April, it was a big deal to see 100 on my odometer's screen. Later that year when the odometer turned over to 500 and I realized I had biked 500 miles on my road bike it was another big deal. Whenever my computer turns over to a number with zeros after it I let out a whoop, smile and ride on - and start logging miles towards my next hundred mile milestone. Today I woke up with the goal of kicking that road bike's odometer over the 1,000 mile mark. I knew I was close -  within 40 miles of reachi...

I hauled my bike over to the Cannon Valley Trail today to ride all by myself, something I don't do very often. The whir of my bike wheels and the ticking of my gears got me into a meditative mode as I rode the nice, flat trail. The trees formed a canopy overhead, the leaves crunched under my wheels, my pace was fast, my spirits high and I realized I was on one of the best rides of my short biking career.  Then I started to wonder, what is a best ride? Is there such a thing as THE best ride? Like the very best that can't be topped? Or are there different kinds of "best" rides, like the fastest ride or the longest ride? Can the best ride be a whole month of rides, like I'm doing for 30 Days of Biking , rolled all together to create a best? Maybe the best ride is in an beautiful location, like Italy. Or maybe it involves riding a great race or setting a record. What makes a ride a best ride? I'm really not sure. But then I thought back to yesterday's ride, t...

My daughter, Rose, turned eleven on Sunday. I could get all sentimental and tell you about the day she was born or how I made up a little birthday song that I've been singing it to her - but I won't.  I need to go to bed, really, and if I start writing about my daughter and reminiscing and all that I'll be up all night and will likely end up in tears. Rose on her 11th Birthday. But I will write a bit about Rose and her Birthday because I feel like doing it. I'll just write a bit. I promise. I'll even talk about bicycling (!) and I'll stick to the facts, mostly, so I don't get all weepy. Though I am prone to crying so we'll see how this goes... Rose (in dark green, front and center) and her friends with their paintings Rose had six friends over on Friday evening for a Painting Party led by artist Carla Thomspon at the Northfield Arts Guild . They painted and laughed and had fun. Each girl painted a scene on a block of wood - and every one was a beau...

I’ve been on two dates with a biker in the last three days. No, I'm not talking about a motorcycle kind of biker I'm talking about a bicyclist kind of biker - my husband Owen.  I’m not sure what it says about us, that we get a sitter to watch the kids and instead of heading out for a romantic dinner or out to see a movie we load our bikes in the van and head to the Cannon Valley Trail for a bike ride. But that’s what we did on Thursday - we arranged for a sitter just so we could ride our bikes. And you know what? A bike ride date is something I’d like to do again. Why a ride on the Cannon Valley Trail instead of a ride on the roads near our home? Well, I’ve been wanting to get out on my road bike for a ride of 20 miles or so to see how my new saddle feels on longer rides. I didn’t want to ride the hilly roads near our home and have to work hard, I simply wanted a nice flat piece of trail so I could just pedal away and see how the saddle and I got along.  Owen and I got on the...

I can’t believe we are almost to the weekend and I haven’t written about our biking fun from last weekend. I could give you a day-by-day play-by-play but it would get too long. Here are a a couple of highlights instead... We had a chance to take in some bike racing on Sunday - No, we weren’t watching Stage 1 of the Tour de France live, we were in Northfield, Minnesota watching the 11th annual Northfield Criterium bike race s that take place in our town every 4th of July. Cayman, one of the guys from Valley Bike & Ski , saw us there and came over to talk to us and tell us a bit about what was going on. His behind the scenes knowledge helped us enjoy the races even more and we had a lot of fun! Cruising down Division Street Northfield 4th of July Criterium Races After the races we took our bikes over to the Mill Town Trail that connects Northfield and Dundas and rode to one end and back for a total of six miles. Ryan rode the Trail-a-Bike, Rose her bike and Owen and I our hybrids....

When I bought my road bike this year I worried that I would find the tiny saddle, forward position and drop handlebars uncomfortable and that I wouldn't want to ride because of it. Much to my surprise, my Giant Avail is very comfortable and my bike of choice when I want to go out for a ride. I discovered, however, that there are two big disadvantages to riding my Avail on family rides like the one we just took on the Cannon Valley Trail . My road bike is way faster than everyone else's bike. This isn't too much of a problem when Ryan is on the Trail-a-Bike but will be more of an issue when he wants to ride on his own. My hard soled biking shoes with SPD cleats are not good for hiking when Rose and Ryan decide to check out things along the trail. We're planning another family ride for this weekend, this time around the beautiful Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis. Ryan is going to ride his own bike this time so I expect even more starting and stopping on this ride and a s...

I'm glad to report that I'm back on my bike! After biking 32 days in a row for the 30 Days of Biking challenge I took what I thought was going to one or two days off from riding. No worries, I figured, I'd be riding again soon. But then a day or two turned into four and then it rained for days and I got sick. Bummer. I was pretty much out of commission all of last week. I was finally back into nearly normal form by the end of the week so we decided to head out Saturday morning for a family bike ride on the Cannon Valley Trail . The trail is about a 30 minute drive away in Cannon Falls and as we drove there I worried at first that the day wouldn't go well because Rose and Ryan were picking on each other. But once we go to the trail head an started unpacking the bikes the kids got so excited to ride they forgot to pick on each other. Owen go the bikes ready and we all put our helmets on and got ready to go. Soon Rose was ready on her mountain bike, Owen was on his hybr...