Solo Woman Cyclist=My Trips, part 1
January 2018, and I’m
dreaming of my next cycle long-distance tour. I have to—it’s negative 7 below
zero outside. It’s necessary to have something to look forward to.
But as a way of introduction
here is a list of some of my past tours.
5 years old: rode my bike
with training wheels across the highway. The pedal fell off and had to walk it
home. Got home after dark, but never fessed up about what I’d done.
Middle school: a bunch of us
took on our bikes—after a carbo-load breakfast where I ate a whole loaf of
bread for French toast. After a few miles I got a stomach ache and had to turn
back. Not sure where we were going actually.
Still in middle school: after
helping my sister deliver the Sunday newspaper (starting out in darkness) we
decided to ride our bikes to Xenia (Ohio). I got as far as Spring Valley on my
banana seat bike before the miles or hunger sent me back home. I remember we
made it as far as a ski hill? in Spring Valley—does anyone know anything about
this place. Can’t find info about it on Internet, so I’m wondering if I just
dreamed the whole thing up??
Sometime while in college:
loaded up my bike for multi-day trip, rode from Centerville to Hillsboro where
I spent the night at a state park. The next day I called a friend to come pick
me up, cancelling the trip.
Sometime in the 90s: rode my
bike with a group of novices Chicago to Bushnell, IL. We did everything wrong
but accomplished what we set out to do. I consider this a victory. It was less
than 250 miles and took us 4 days, 3 nights. A decade later did the trip again
in 3 days total.
Also in the 90s: smallish rides
where I’d ride out, spend the night, and then back. Once more myself along with
2 friends did the I & M Canal, 3 days and 2 nights one of which was so cold
our water bottles froze. We discovered a great stealth camping spot that has
been a go-to for me in years since, right along a canal lock where there is a
3-sided hut and a huge fireplace.
Katy Trail: I believe we took
4 days and three nights, one of which was in a bicycling hostel. It was a
blast.
Around Lake Michigan: this is
part of a series of trips I took with my friend Stefi. We had big hopes with
this one, but fell short. We had to get picked up somewhere after Grand Haven.
We took the train to Kenosha and made it to Oostburg using the Interurban
trail. But our second day we failed to make it to the Badger ferry (Manitowoc –
Ludington) for the early afternoon so rode to Point Beach State Park. On day 3
we got down the coast but was stopped by darkness. Later that evening we were
treated to a fireworks show the region puts on to celebrate end of summer/back
to school. On day 4 we spent the night outside of Holland. We’d only budgeted
time for a 5-day ride and at this rate we’d need a few more days, so called for
a ride. Eventually I would close the gap on this ride solo after Stefi moved
away to Minnesota. Since then I’ve done it a couple of times. Each time feeling
a sense of satisfaction.
Natchez Trace: Stefi and I
did this in 2013 from Nashville to Jackson, MS. It was our first trip where we
packed the bikes up and put them under a bus. We had no on-line navigation,
just paper maps. We did have the advantage of cell phones. We took Megabus to
Nashville, rode to the beginning of the trace. We ended the trip in Jackson
where we stayed with a couchsurfing host and rode our bikes to a bike shop
where we boxed them up then begged for a ride to the train station. I remember
the train was awfully late getting in at the station.
Columbus – Cincinnati, OH: I
talked Erin into doing this one with me. We again Megabused to Columbus. I
don’t think Megabus goes to Columbus anymore and for sure they stopped being so
easy to get a bike on. I stopped taking them for this reason; I hated the
hassle. The ride took 3 days and 3 nights. In Cincinnati a friend met us at a
diner with bike boxes where we tried and failed to get them entirely broken
down and simply resorted to stuffing them into adapted boxes and loading them
onto Megabus back to Chicago.
Comments