The Strawberry Festival Bicycle Tour

Saturday June 8, 2013

Today we rode the Strawberry Festival Bicycle Tour.  We modified their route to include Young's Jersey Dairy for lunch and ice cream.  We had the pleasure of being joined by Brian and Don again.

We rode 70 miles today.  This was my LONGEST EVER bike or trike ride.
This was Todd's longest ride on a trike.
This was our longest ride on the Tandem Relaxing Bike.

We started in London, Ohio on their bike path.

They had these train cookies at the first rest stop!

They also had a train at the first rest stop.

Here is Don, Brian, and Todd.

For Sale.  The horses or the trailer?

There were some baby horses, too.

More farms.

Yay, we made it to Clifton.  You know what that means....

Young's Jersey Dairy!  One of my favorite places!

We stopped for lunch and an ice cream cone.

No Parking, except for Trikes.

I was tempted to grab some of these free books to read along the way.

This was in Yellow Springs, one of my favorite towns.

Todd loves this bridge.  That is Don in front of us (with the training wheels).

Xenia, along the bike trail.

Xenia Station!

Xenia Bike shop.  Or not.

Xenia bike mural.

Xenia bike racks.

Warning.  Construction Ahead.

This was at the last rest stop (which was also the first rest stop).

Thanks for reading along.  We had a great ride and are looking forward to next week:  GOBA!  

If you're following along on Facebook, I'll be posting updates along the route.  Otherwise I'll update the blog as soon after GOBA as possible.

The 30th Annual Hot Tamale Bicycle Tour

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Last year's Hot Tamale Bicycle Tour is what inspired me to start this blog.  After having two flats and one chain derailment, I started blogging about my Flat Tire Adventures.  Fast forward one year and we have the 30th Annual Hot Tamale Bicycle Tour and I'm still at it.  I'm still riding and still blogging, but with less flats and more adventures.

This time we were joined by two friends, Don and Brian.   We chose the 62 mile option, but it really ended up being about 58 miles.  Brian was out in front on the way back, and I think he took a short-cut.

Her is Mr. Don Smith hiding from me and my camera.

We started in Waldo, Ohio and passed these huge silos.

The first food stop was close, only 7 miles into the ride.  

They are known for their delicious homemade cookies and especially the famous orange cookies (in the big plastic container).  They are especially delicious and I look forward to them every year.

This is the designated trike parking at the rest stop. 

We passed many Amish Buggies along the roadways and even an Amish Farmer plowing his field.  I refrained from photographing them out of respect.  We were almost trampled by a couple of oncoming Amish horses along the route.  Apparently they have never seen trikes before and got a little upset.  Good thing the drivers were able to control them and save our lives!  

One of the food stops was at the LaRue Volunteer Fire Department. 

There was some pretty scenery along the way.

Here we are following Don Smith.

That's Brian behind us.

"On your left!"

This sign was posted at the Fire Station.  WARNING.

BEARS!  We found the bears!  And tigers, too.

Luckily we were safe from the bears.  It appears they were tied to the trees and couldn't attack us after all.  However, we were chased by a couple of dogs and almost trampled by those horses.  Oh and I forgot to mention the peacocks.  I never did see them, but I heard them screaming. 

Here's a horse that did not try to trample us.

This might have been the worst torture of all.  Strong headwinds on our way back.  

We were so glad to see the silos at Waldo!

The following photos were taken by the nice volunteers along the ride:

This is our train of trikes.  Todd & Me on our tandem followed by Don and Brian.

From left to right:  Brian, Don, Todd and Me.

Yes, we're in it for the flags!

The Horsey Hundred

May 25, 2013

One of my Jr. High School friends, Linda, was going to Kentucky for Memorial Day Weekend and she found this cycling adventure.  We haven't seen each other in about 30 years, but we stay connected via Facebook.  We share cycling adventures online and we thought it would be fun to meet up in person for The Horsey Hundred!

Here we are at breakfast.  Linda is on the left.

We did some pre-ride shopping and bought these really cool panniers from Natrilgear.  

They are some really nice folks with some really nice gear!

We are getting ready to start.  There is Linda in front of us.  Linda was smart and chose the 37 mile option.  We weren't so smart and chose the 60 mile option.  We didn't realize that 59 of those miles were straight up.

So far, so good.  This may have been the only flat portion of the ride.

We crossed a bridge with a really pretty waterfall.

The scenery was very pretty.

Again, more pretty scenery.

We rode along many horse farms.  Hence the name "Horsey Hundred."

They should have named it "Hilly Hundred."

Again, some pretty scenery.

They call this "rolling terrain."

The Horses came out to watch us.

More horse farms.

This photographer rode along with the pack and stopped to take pictures several times.  

I finally took his picture.

Awesome Humor.  After all these hills, I'm not laughing.

Cow #51.  I was hoping he was a mile marker, but sadly, he wasn't.

More pretty farms.

A couple of horses.  I think they're 'neigh'bors.

For one of the rest stops, we rode through a very large park and they were having a car show.

The bike is resting....

The horse is laughing at us.

With horse farms come barns.

And another barn.

These two horses came galloping across the field after us.  

I think they wanted to chase us.

It's not the first time I've been chased by a horse on my trike.

Hi Horse!  

yes, another barn.

We were stopped at a train crossing.  Todd thought we could fit under the train. 

Good thing he didn't test his theory.

Choo Choo!

Yay!  Finally, we're back at Georgetown!  

I thought this ride would NEVER end.