Bicycling

I was in Denver for the second time this month. This time, however, it wasn’t to see airplanes, but rather… bicycles! Continue reading »

“The distance from my house to the Nebraska border is exactly 100 miles,” a Fort Collinser named Mike told me at the Jorge Torres presentation the other day. “If you go out-and-back, it would be 200…”

Nebraska? It sounded intriguing for my final long ride of the year, designed to be about 200 miles so as to continue a double century streak going back to 1996. Continue reading »

“Phew!” I exclaimed to Joe and Sarah after biking over to a little diner in downtown Berkeley. “What a workout.”

I was kidding around. Despite this being only the third or fourth time on two wheels since the Tour Divide in July, even I could handle riding the one mile on a borrowed hybrid bicycle starting from Sarah’s place. Joe, on the other hand, had woken up two hours earlier to bike over from Lafayette in order to meet up with Sarah and I and had even done some riding in the dark. He certainly deserved the pancake and eggs served up for us on this Sunday morning. Continue reading »

On Day 8, when I encountered Mike Dion taking a breather under the only tree in southern Montana for miles, I couldn’t help withhold my excitement.

“You’re the first person [from the Tour Divide] I’ve seen in a week,” I exclaimed. We chatted and rode together for about 10 minutes before I took off, only to see him one more time later in the evening in Lima. If I had known he would be the last Tour Divide racer I’d see for the rest of the race, I might have stayed back just to talk with him longer. Continue reading »

I suppose I can’t say I hadn’t been warned — even if it was at the last minute.

“You will get numb hands,” advised the other racers in the Tour Divide. Not “might,” but “will.” Continue reading »