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!