My Thoughts

By March I'm starting to feel restless. With the days slowly getting longer, I get that urge to be outdoors. I admit bicycling has been on my mind lately. Both Bike man and I are getting eager to ride as soon as the roads are salt-free and snow-free. We need to get back on our bikes since we know we want to do a two-week bicycle vacation in early June (self supported). Remember the bike trip we postponed to Dubuque, Iowa in 2010? We were going to ride to Dubuque in search of good ice cream! I think we need to reschedule that trip. Two weeks on the bike.....is like carefree living!

A Traveler

Was leaving work this afternoon and spotted this bicycle outside our building. The bicyclist came into the library to use our Internet computers. Wow, this is his way of traveling by bike. I think his sleeping bag is in the milk crate, but what's up with those dried weeds? Gotta give him credit for traveling by bicycle.......high five man!

Not sure if I can post over the next three days since we will be visiting family in Northeast Wisconsin. Bike man is taking off tomorrow and heading north via bicycle. I will meet up with him somewhere north. Hoping he can get in 70-80 miles before I catch up to him by car.

Looking Back

I remember this moment

Was digging through old photos tonight. Thank heavens Bike man has photos from our Montana bicycle trip (2009), cuz I lost all the photos when my computer crashed last October. I remember taking this mountain creek photo after spending hours climbing and climbing up this mountain pass. Since I wasn't use to climbing this higher elevation, I wasn't prepared for how long it takes to reach the top of the mountain. Now I know, and actually, I'd like to go back. I'd love to go back to Montana and do it all over again.....well minus the single track on the edge of the moutain pass which was pretty scary!

As for today, another grey day, followed by a nice long walk. Going to bed early tonight since Bike man has a medical procedure scheduled for 8 am tomorrow morning. Taking the day off tomorrow to be with BM and then looking forward to a long weekend.

Enchanted Travels

Enchanted Travels

Nothing could be better than riding through a dark, damp and cool tunnel. When you come out the opposite end, it's always bright and refreshing. I love these tunnels. Dreaming of tunnel rides, but not until next summer. Darn

Riding South

On Saturday October 16th, Bike man and I took off from Eau Claire and headed southwest towards the Mississippi River. The beginning of this trip was a little different for us since we had to drop off BM's car at Anna's house in Eau Claire. From her house we navigated towards Phoenix park, where we picked up the bike trail through the city and then connected with the Chippewa River trail, which took us southwest to Durand.

From Durand, we rode the State highway south towards Nelson. The highway was extremely busy with weekend traffic.....crazy traffic I must add.


We finally arrived at Rieck's Lake park near Alma and camped for the night. The weather was beautiful, around 65 degrees, sunny but very windy, which made for a tiring ride that day. Rode about 60 miles the first day.

Dinner plans consisted of freeze-dried camp food and cold Foster's.....well, maybe two! Crawled into our tent by 7 pm. and feel asleep immediately. Woke up a few times but slept until 7 am. Wanna know my trick for sleep 12 hours? Ear plugs! They work like a charm and drown out someone snoring, trains passing by every 30 minutes and car noise. It took me three years to learn this handy trick on bike trips.

This is what I saw went I crawled out of our tent. Simply gorgeous. The ducks & geese were all awake and squawking madly. I'm guessing the morning temp at this point was about 35-38 degrees. Brrrrrr!

Now how did we mange to find this in Alma? Must have been the balloons that caught our eyes while biking through town. This is an awesome bakery with a history dating back to 1922. Of course it's changed owners, but the new owners/bakers, Chris & Stephanie know how to make delicious scones and cinnamon pull-aparts. Chris was really pumped up with much enthusiasm, since beginning today, he and Stephanie will begin making homemade pizzas. Dang, I wish we lived closer to Alma. Sounds like a road trip for pizza, hey Krissy? Check out the Vintage Oven Bakery in Alma. Their webpage is working right now, but look for them on Facebook.

It was great talking with Chris, and his coffee was excellent! Chris just happens to be a bike enthusiast himself.

Now look what he had in his bakery basement. When was the last time you've seen a Lotus road bike? Cool.

We continued on our way. The weather started to warm up, but Bike man and I continued to wear our warm gear until 2 pm. By then we changed to lighter cycling jackets and mid-tights. I don't know, something happened when we reached Onalaska near La Crosse. I think a cool front moved in because by 4 pm the temperature dropped and lots of clouds started to move in. Kinda looked like rain.

We finally reached West Salem for the next camping night. Rode another 60 miles. This was actually my final stop since I needed to go back home for work. The Son came down and picked me up. After getting some food for Bike man, we headed home.

I just have to say, this was a weird bike trip for me. The first time ever we've experienced crazy drivers, like rude drivers. I'm guessing with so many traveler's out on the road this weekend, we just happened to experience driver's that hate bicyclists. Remember, everyone wants to drive 70 mph, even though the speed limit is STILL 55!

Let's see, we had cars honking at us to get off the road. One motor cyclist yelled at us to get our "f" bikes off the "f" road.....that really scared me! Then we had a car trying to pass another car coming right towards us. He quickly moved in and cut the other car off, but gave us the fingers while driving by. Thanks buddy.

Geez, even this one little kid was a brat and stuck his head out the car window, yelled something at us while pointing his finger out the car window. It was at that point I just wanted to get off the damn highway and get back on the trail.

I told Bike man that there is no such thing as "Sunday drivers" anymore. Our American society has turned into rude, spoiled, and selfish. Simply no respect for others and absolutely no respect for people like us just trying to have a good time while getting good exercise and adding no pollution to our atmosphere. Some American don't understand that concept any longer. It seems like you have to burn fuel to have a good time. What is happening to our society?

Well, besides the hatred actions of motorists this weekend, I did have a fun time. Wish I could have continued on with Bike man, but work is calling me. Bike man will continue on to Baraboo....his final destination for a Lake Leaders conference.

PS. My dad is back in the hospital again from complications of his surgery. Sorry dad, hang in there ok? We love you.

Our Last Bike Trip of 2010

Does this look like a mess? Your right, it does, but don't worry because we are slowly getting all our bike stuff together and packed into the BOB. We are running behind tonight....way behind. Guess it was a busy week with work and other activities.

Our theme tonight was to pack warm bike clothes since the morning lows will be in the 30's. This is a short bike trip for me (Sat & Sun), but Bike man will be continuing on for another two days, which will make a 4-day bike trip for him. Bike man's destination is outside of Baraboo, WI.

Are we camping? You betcha! Tomorrow night's low will be in the 30's!!! Thank heavens we have warm sleeping bags. At this time tomorrow night we will be in the tent, deep in our sleeping bags, and fast asleep!

I can guarantee you I'll be dreaming about a steaming cup of hot coffee.

Adios my friends!

I'm Tired From Work, Not Play

It was a very long day today. Actually, a ten-hour day at work. I ordered a couple new computers for work, so everything had to be set up and files needed to be transferred. Thank heavens I have a personal tech guy that helps me in situations like this. Bike man spent about nine hours with me today getting the new computers up and running. We still have a few more computer glitches to work out, but all in all things are good in the technology area.

On a side note, I decided I will be joining Bike man this weekend as he will be taking off on another bicycle trip south. I've decided I will take off with him and bike Saturday and Sunday, about 120-130 miles. The Son will drive south and hook up with us late on Sunday. I will drive home with him and Bike man will continue on south to Baraboo, WI. Since I don't want to take anymore vacation time from work, riding on the weekend is perfect. One more short bicycle trip before the snow flies. Let's hope the nice weather holds out.

Late Sunshine

Sunshine finally arrived tonight. It felt so good. Decided to do a quick three mile walk instead of jumping on my bike. I actually walked my old running route around Tainter Lake and was totally surprised to see everything listed as FOR SALE. The struggling economy is very evident around here. After living on the lake for nearly 28 years, I've never seen so much property for sale....it's crazy! Life is crazy sometimes. I'm beginning to really believe that less is more.

On a different note, Bike man arrived home last night after his two-day bicycle trip north to attend a lake workshop. 133 total miles and 60 of those miles were on forest roads!!!!

I'm Just Being Honest

I guess you could say this was my last day of gallivanting here and there. Yes, my vacation ended today. Tomorrow it's back to the old grindstone. Wasn't sure what to do for my last day, but yesterday while visiting with Krissy at the farmer's market, she asked me if I'd like to try out this new brick oven pizza place south of Durand. I said sure. We planned it out that I would take off from my house by bicycle (solo) and ride all the way to Durand and meet Krissy in Durand by 5 pm. I was pretty close. Actually pulled into Durand about 4:15 pm. Wow, the wind was a challenge today. Dealt with 25 mph wind gusts out of the west. That meant head winds at times and cross winds all the way down to Durand. 30 miles today.


So Krissy and I found this place in the valley called Stone Barn. It's south of Durand near Nelson. The first thing I noticed when we drove in and parked, wow, 2/3 of the vehicles had Minnesota license plates. Please don't get me wrong Minnesota friends, but this spelled, "yuppie" all over the place.


Basically, it was an old barn converted into a pizza place, but no waitress/waiter service. You just go up to the counter and order your pricey pizza and also ask for your cold beverage. You are given a number and then go and grab your table, inside or outside.

There it is, their claim to fame, a brick oven.

Here was the first pizza we ordered. We actually ordered a second pizza, but I forgot to take a picture of it! Ok, here's the food critic in me. The pizza was tasty, but I wasn't prepared for the ultra thin crust. If you know anything about baking, you just know that you cannot put a lot of toppings on an ultra thin crust because the crust won't support all that weight of toppings. What we found was that the outer pieces of the pizza were somewhat crispy, but as you worked your way into the center, the crust became soft.....too soft for Krissy and me. It felt like I was eating a pizza made from a thin flour tortilla. What really bothered me was that the pizzas were very pricey. I realized that we were basically paying for the atmosphere and not the actual quantity of the food product. Everyone else around us seemed extremely familiar and happy with this place, but Krissy and I walked away feeling skunked. I guess it's yuppie verses country gals!

Like I mentioned, the atmosphere of this unique pizza place is beautiful, but not price worthy for two hard working women like us. In fact, the guys in my family have talked about making our own brick oven for baking pizzas and breads. I might have to investigate that idea.

I love to try new places, and I was thankful Krissy asked me to join her today since Bike man took off again for a lake workshop in Northeast Wisconsin. Of course he had to take off on his bicycle as well. Today was a 73 mile ride for him and tomorrow will be around 60 miles. He'll head back home with friend, by car!!!!

Eventful

Well, our trip was certainly eventful. Bike man woke up Monday morning with a head cold, sinus infection or both! He sounded awful, but he insisted we follow through with our three-day bicycle trip since this was our last chance before I return to work, so that's just what we did. I wasn't really proud of the fact that I always seemed to be riding much further ahead on the trail or highway, but that was the case since Bike man wasn't up to par. He didn't complain at all, until we reached Pepin (55 miles), which was our first day stop. He said he was whipped, ass was dragging, felt like...........I made the decision we needed to motel it for the night and forget the camping stuff. Good move on my part since our first night ended with intense lightening storm, rain and then extreme windy conditions after midnight. Getting up Tuesday morning was very, very slow. Imagine heading back out on the highway @ 9am on your bicycle cycling into 40 mph wind gusts. It was interesting!

Before I continue on, I just have to tell you once again I had one of those "I can't believe it" moments. So here we are cycling between Durand and Pepin and along comes another cyclist on the opposite side of the road. Two vehicles pass this cyclist and pull way out into our lane.....of course we slowed up to avoid being smashed. As we finally start to pass by the cyclist, he says something to us about the vehicles, but then I hear, "oh hi Lisa and that's Bike man with ya." It clicked in my head, I knew that voice. "Hi John" I yelled back. Remember the guy that surprised me this past summer along the Red Cedar trail and said hey your that tainterturtle lady......I follow your blog???? It was him, John. Now how cool is that? John turned around and followed us as we chit chatted for a minute or so and then we parted our ways. Hey John, if you are reading this, that was soooo cool. Don't be shy now, we'd love to read a comment or two ok?


I choose a series of photos to blog about, but sorry, it's kind of wordy I know! This was taken on the wind storm day, Tuesday. Thankfully it was our smallest mileage day (29.2) but it was also our extreme hill day too. Up and down was the theme for Tuesday.




Stopped at one of the scenic rest stops outside of Pepin to view the great Mississippi River. Hey look, I'm still smiling at this point. Good thing Bike man didn't take a photo at the end of the hilly day!

When your traveling by bicycle always remember to ask if you can bring your bikes inside the motel room before paying for the actual room. The first motel I inquired at had a sign on the door that said NO BICYCLES INSIDE THE ROOMS. Geez, not real bike friendly so they didn't get our business! I remembered to ask before handing over my money at this place.

North of Pepin along the Mississippi River, which they actually call Lake Pepin.

So we took off from Pepin Tuesday morning and can you believe there was no place to eat breakfast! There's a place called the Great River Roasters in Pepin.....great coffee, but of course they were closed for the day. So up highway 35 we rode to Stockholm. Again, no cafe was open. We did however find this place. It was called the Palate.

We took our chance since we didn't know what this place was. Was it a store, was it a coffee house, was it a sandwich shop? After we stepped inside, ahhhhhhh, yes I smell coffee. I also smelled this delicious smell of something baking. The Palate was the coolest shop. Nancy (she's off to the left) runs this shop with her daughter. They sell beautiful housewares, cooking supplies, linens, specialty foods, and baked goods. Nancy passed us along the road in her car on the way to the shop. She must have sensed we would stop by so as soon as we walked into her shop, the Lemon Blueberry scones were coming right out of her oven. I was in scone heaven. Even you Aunt Krissy would approve of these scones! Here on the wind storm day, we were sitting there taking a mid morning break eating scones and drinking delicious hot coffee. I made sure not to complain about the wind and cold because I knew my alternative would have been to be back at work just sitting at my computer cataloging library items. I made sure that thought ran through my head all day!

This is Maiden Rock, right outside the village of Maiden Rock along the Mississippi River.

After turning off of highway 35 along the river, we headed into the Pine Creek area. This is where we cycled up, up, up, out of the Mississippi bluffs.....half paved and half gravel roads.

Did I mention gravel? Did I mention crossing little flowing streams along the gravel roads? Yikes, at first I was apprehensive. Wasn't sure how deep, or muddy or greasy it would be. It was fine......I was just being a big baby about the whole thing! I fret too much.

After day two, we finally made it to the top of Pierce County! Well, it felt like the top. Nugget Lake County park near Plum City. The mosquitoes were bad and we didn't really have much to do, so we crawled into the tent at 7:30 pm and went to bed. Woke up at midnight to the sound of coyotes and a couple Barred owls singing in the nighttime. Woke up again around 6 am to the Great Horned owl hooting right next to our tent. That's nature for ya!

Took off our third morning, still in Pierce County, still really chilly like 45 degrees chilly. We soon warmed up in the beautiful sunshine and started stripping layers. Man, Pierce County has a lot of gravel roads. Glad we finally found one paved road, but it didn't last too long. Somehow we totally bypassed Eau Galle and Elmwood by mistake. Well, actually it was the GPS's mistake. We just kept riding on these little country roads.

We finally reach a major State highway that took us right into Downsville. We could have bypassed Downsville and headed through more hills to little town of Irvington, but I opted to shoot for Downsville since it was almost noon and we really never had breakfast. With all those hills and gravel roads, I was STARVING. The miles were still low the third day (41 miles), but with hills and gravel, the riding can be real slow at times.

All in all it was a good quick three-day trip. I ended up coming down with a head cold as well on Tuesday evening. Another reason why we went to bed so early. I blame it on the windy conditions, cool temps and the HILLS.

No ice cream in Dubuque, but we did have a great hamburger in Pepin, and a delicious scone in Stockholm, and a yummy cup of Chicken Gumbo in Plum City and an oh so good Beef Au Jus sandwich in Downsville. My computer tells me I burned 6,000 calories in three days, and Bike man burned 7,000+ calories.

Plan C

My folks seem to be situated now, knowing that my mom's eye surgery is this coming Tuesday and my dad's surgery is at the end of the month, I feel more at ease. To make matters worse however, my mom came down with an awful head cold yesterday and is worried that they will not perform the cataract eye surgery on her other eye next week. When it rains, it pours! We'll see what happens.

Bike man and I took off for home today. After arriving home we needed to do laundry, put stuff away and then pack for our Plan C trip. Yup, that's right. I decided that I didn't want to go back to work since I've waited all year to take a bicycle trip. Yesterday morning, Bike man announced that he had planned a two-day bike trip to Pepin....Pepin is along the Mississippi River on HWY 35. Was I up for that? You bettcha.

After making a big pot of spicy chili tonight, I think we are packed for our 3 day trip. Annabelle was intrigued by our trailer.....crazy cat! Here's the plan: Ride from our house to Pepin (via the RC trail & county roads), 58 miles and camp overnight at a campground in Pepin. From Pepin we will head north to Maiden Rock and then head up into the hills.......I said hills, like 9% grade! The second day we will camp at Nugget Lake, which is near Plum City. The third day we will head for home (Wednesday). Total miles should be around 115-120.

We only want to be gone a few days since Bike man is planning on taking off this weekend on his bike to head north for another state lake meeting. His bike trip should take him into next week. As for me, I hope to be on my bike this weekend......not sure where. Becca/Artena, do you wanna bike with me???

Maintenance Priority

The bicycles are getting their maintenance work-over before our trip, which begins on Sunday. Bike man and I are taking off on Sunday and heading towards the Mississippi River. We plan on crossing the river at La Crosse and heading south along the Mississippi through Minnesota and into Iowa. Once we reach Dubuque, Iowa we will turn around and head back into Southwest Wisconsin. Once back in Wisconsin, we will head towards my parents house for a two-day rest break. After that we head north back to Tainter Lake. Approximate travel time will be two weeks! I'm excited and can't wait to take off by bicycle.

I really need to confess something my fellow blogger friends. As of today, I'm a half a century old!!! Oh Geez. I called my mom this morning to thank her for giving birth to me (and my twin). I know it wasn't easy giving birth to twins, but she was a real trooper.

What has been the best part of those 50 yrs? Getting married and having two children. I can't even imagine my life without my children. Our children are now adults, but heck, they will always be kids to me!

Let Me Continue.......

Getting back to Sunday afternoon, Bike man and I invited the youngins over for a meal. These are the young people that Bike man worked with this summer with all his lake and stream monitoring.

Jake just happens to be an Americorp Vista worker at UW-Stout, and that's his wife Erin, who is working on her Masters at UW-Madison and has spent a lot of time in Northern WI lake monitoring. I made a bunch of food.......used lots of vegetables from my garden. We had a good time Sunday afternoon. So fifteen minutes after this group left, I received the call from Jim and Julie looking for a place to crash (Warmshowers)! We haven't been that busy on a Sunday in a long time. I loved it.

I was actually very tired yesterday and today so decided not to ride. Instead, I will devote most of this week to packing for our bicycle trip. Can you believe all that stuff in the photo above? Ha.....that's just my stuff!!!! Really, I'm trying to go lighter this time. I basically need to have everything packed and ready to go by Friday since Saturday I'm hosting a birthday party for myself and then we take off on Sunday mid morning for our big trip to Dubuque, IA. Maybe, just maybe, if I get everything put together for the bike trip, then hopefully I can do a trail ride on Thursday.

I Let Him Have the Camera

Tonight I decided to show off a cool photo that Bike man took earlier in the week. During one of his BioBlitz outings, he found many varieties of fungi. This particular one reminds me of coral. It's amazing what you will find when you are out wandering in the woods. Good job BM! Maybe I should let you have the camera more often......well, maybe!

We had visitors tonight. A local man that we know has decided to run for State Assemblyman. He and his wife came over so Bike man could educate him about our local problem with lake algae. Since Bike man has worked with our lake association for over ten years, plus all his lake and stream monitoring, he has a good handle on what is being done to help this pesty algae problem, along with all the legislative stuff that goes along with clean waters. Geez, Bike man sounded like a politician himself, especially since he can recite legislative laws and who voted for or against the issue.

Who would ever think my Applied Math graduate would now become a biologist working out in the field. It just goes to show you are never to old to start something new in your life....even after retirement (5 1/2 yrs now). You know, life is too short, so don't spend year after year never enjoying your daily life. Find something to do that you really enjoy. For me its cooking, photography and of course......bicycling and bicycle trips. I can't wait to tell you about our end of August bicycle trip. I will save that for a future post.

This Was Her Seventh Day On the Road

This is Amy.....Bike man found her at the laundry mat trying to dry out her wet, soaked cycling clothes.  Amy has been traveling by bicycle from Michigan, en route to St. Paul.  She wanted to keep traveling farther west this afternoon, but couldn't pass up Bike man's offer to come and stay overnight at our house, especially since it had been raining all day today.  You know, we've done this before and believe me, it's always just a random thing.  Every couple of years it seems like we are a magnetic to someone traveling by bicycle.  One thing that makes a big difference is that WE know what it's like to be traveling by bicycle, and sometimes you just want a shower or bed to sleep in for one night......or maybe you just want to get out of the rain and dry off for one night.  I'm amazed at the timing of our house guest, especially since I just got back to work this afternoon from being with my mom and dad for three and a half days.

I treated our guest to vegetarian enchiladas (refried black beans, with sauteed onions, yellow peppers & green chilies) made with green chili enchilada sauce, and a fresh green salad.

Amy will take off tomorrow and head for St. Paul.  She'll be crossing into Minnesota via Stillwater.  She'll spend a little time with a couple that she knows, then will take the train out to Montana, where she will begin her summer job at Glacier National Park. 

It's been enjoyable to have her here at our house.

Calling the Bud!

Hey Bud.....we haven't forgotten about you. It's been a long winter and we didn't have a jacket for you so we couldn't take you out for a winter ride. Just wanted to let you know you need to get yourself ready for the spring/summer rides. Brush yourself off, do a few stretches and get ready to strap on once again, cuz it won't be long now and we'll be going for a ride.

Yee Ha!

Monday Night Spin

A quick evergreen photo I took yesterday afternoon….I love simple!

Had a great spin class tonight. I stepped it up a notch, meaning, I added a few extra songs to make the spin class longer. Did my class feel it? Yup. One gal fizzled out at the end of my class, but I told her that’s ok, she’s still a newbie. The other people have been spinning with me for several months on a regular basis, so it was time to bump it up since they are NOT newbies.

Tonight I was talking to one of my male class participants about my Monday Night RC trail rides during the summer months. It dawned on me that I really, really miss my rides along the Red Cedar River. Sometimes it’s good to establish a routine and then stick to it. By last September, I was up to riding 24 miles along the river, but what I miss the most is riding with my friend, Kim. Because of our rides together, she discovered a new love….cycling. I think I might invite her to become a “tainterturtle.”!!!!!!

So bike man and I have still have to figure out our 2010 summer bicycle trip. Here are our options: Maah Daah Hey trail in South Dakota (mountain biking), or ride the Mississippi River from Onalaska, WI, south into Iowa (road riding). Whatever we choose, I can’t wait to be on our bikes again feeling free and easy!

It's Ok To Dream.....Just a Little

At this time of the year I love to sit back and plan bike trips for the future. After looking through bike man's photos from his Great Divide trip, it just makes me want to hop on a bike and ride......ride somewhere green, fresh, warm, and breathtaking.

It's ok to dream a little. Right? I'm sure there are many places I will never get to ride bike, however, I can always have my plans in order. You know, just in case!

Maybe I should be thinking about more snow riding as a big major snow storm will be rolling in starting tomorrow night. Of course we will be going over the river and through the woods to grandma & grandpa's house. Sounds like a slippery ride and should be very interesting! Yikes.

Back in 2005........

My Bike Man

I've been going through pictures from 2005 and found many of the photographs bike man took on his Great Divide trail ride. That's him above riding somewhere in Alberta, Canada in the mountains (July 4, 2005).

His bike trip on the Great Divide trail lasted about five weeks during the summer until he aborted in Wyoming. That was such a good ride for him. His brother Larry also accompanied him and they rode about 1,350 miles, but didn't complete the whole ride like they had planned. I hope to ride a large part of the Great Divide ride trail with bike man in a couple of years from now.

No spin class tonight. My energy level just wasn't up to teaching class because of my head cold thing. Mark was nice enough to cover for me tonight. Should be more perky in a couple days!

The "S" Word

Bittersweet

Woke up to another 28 degrees this morning. Eventually, I will get use to these cooler temperatures, but it's just too darn early to think about snow. Anyway, we are forecast to receive 2-3 inches of accumlative snow by Monday night. This is really funny because my blogger friend/follower (Sarah's Jottings) from Calgary, whom Icorrespond with, talks about her weather conditions. As it seems, whenever she talks about her weather, we usually get her weather like 3 days later. After Calgary's first snow fall, last week, we got snow too. She just reported receiving snow again, and now our forecast says......yup, SNOW. I'm convinced that our prevailing jet stream comes straight west from Montana and northwest from Alberta.

Well, the Bike Man completed his bicycle and camp-out trip this afternoon. I drove over to Cadott to meet him and brought him home via car. He ended up doing 80 miles total and burned around 7,000 calories. The cold weather didn't dampen his spirits too much. I'm totally opposite. Cold weather camping is not my idea of fun. Cycling is ok, but not camping out in a tent! No way.