Not Expecting the Expected

Unfortunately this is not the first time I have written a post like this.  Many people know my mom has been fighting a strange Encephalitis illness over the past few months.  Unfortunately, I received the call from my sister telling me she had died yesterday morning.  It was not as shocking as I was prepared for which tells me I prepared quite well.  Like with all life-changing events, it takes awhile for the gravity of it to set in.

Ma went into hospital with pneumonia-like symptoms in October.  After a couple weeks her condition worsened and my family called to say I should go out because she was in a serious condition that may not have a good outcome.  So I came out and spent a week in the hospital with her and we talked and laughed and sometimes I would help her eat if she was having a bad day.  Physical therapy was helping her stay as strong as she could and all kinds of tests were being done to try to find out what was causing her symptoms.

She stayed another 10 days which put her total stay in hospital over a month and was finally released into hospice care as an undiagnosed patient.  She was much less responsive and bedridden at this point.  Shortly after she came home, I went out to stay another week.  I can't imagine how difficult this whole process has been on my stepfather so I figured as much help as I could give, the better.

This time it was mostly me that was doing the talking.  I fed ma all the time now and her responses were mostly limited to yes or no answers.  I talked with her when I felt she understood about what we perceived to be the issue: that she was understanding what we said and she could formulate responses but she couldn't make her mouth and voice work enough to enunciate those thoughts.  Each time, I told her we were trying our best and hoped she wasn't too frustrated with us for not understanding.  Each time, she smiled and made me know that she understood we were doing just fine.

Things lulled into a fairly normal routine.  Ma was sleeping a bit more now but she tended to have good days and some bad but the swings were not that great.  I would be wrapped up in my life and a couple days would go by and not much would change so I wasn't feeling that I had to check in every day.  Each time I did, the report was generally the same.  

I was out again for Thanksgiving this year and it ended up being especially hard on my stepfather.  Ma did not wake up much at all that day and we had some unfortunately high expectations.  We had dressed ma up a bit and were hoping we could sit her up to the table to join us.  And that just didn't happen.  Fortunately, it was just my sister and her family, and my wife and I for the meal which meant there was no additional pressure of other people to entertain.  It still did not make for the best of holidays.

What I did take away from that trip was what happened when I first walked in.  Ma always perked up some when people came to visit, but she beamed at me and gave me a tremendous hug.  She hadn't been able to do that to me since my first visit over a month ago.  She and I are physically a lot alike, small and wirey.  We pack a fair amount of muscle in a small package and I am going to miss her strong, boney hugs.  I'm glad I was able to get one last good one in.

Ma, I love you and am going to miss you like crazy.  I know you have finally found the peace and rest you deserve.

Camping weekend

Heading out the Gateway

One of my favorite things is bike camping.  It goes right along with self-contained touring but is much less demanding, mostly of time.  We here in the twin cities are extremely fortunate to have a plethora of camping opportunities easily within an afternoon's bike ride.  I haven't done a "sub 24 hour" ride for quite a while.  It was about time.

I sent an email out to a core group of bicycling friends and only heard a tiny response.  Some plans were made and by the time we were ready to roll out Saturday, 7 people were in for a short adventure.  I made sure to let people know their bicycles should be prepared for any type of road surface as I had a few gravel roads in mind for either heading out, or home, or both.  It turns out we ended up with a bit of both.  Just how I like it.

As always, we started out a little later than normal, but everyone was a bit excited to be on the bikes so our pace was spirited.  We wound our way out of the cities via the Gateway trail and shortly before the end at Pine Point Park, we edged north and picked up May Ave which is a lovely gravel road.  With only a short stretch of oil, we wandered off to Old Guslander Trail to ride a bit more gravel before entering into Marine on St Croix.  There is a bit of a dip down to the river and the group was flying!  My new hat had not been secured to my head via the chin strap and whoosh!, it was lying in the road several meters behind me.  I turned around to retrieve it and rode solo into town.  It turns out there was an art fair happening that weekend and the entire town was filled with tents, closed up for the evening, but I was afraid there would be no room at the bar.

Brookside Bounty

Fortunately, there was plenty of room for us and we were cramming food into our faces in no time.  Brookside seems to have expanded since the last time I was there but the beer is cold and the food a perfect balance of grease and fat.  Just what a healthy cyclist needs to fuel them the 2 miles or so to camp.

We rolled into William O'Brien State Park sometime after 10:30PM (I think) and found our way to our site.  Everyone set up there sleeping arrangements and we were gathered around the fire pit struggling to start the fire when the park ranger walked up.  He talked to us a bit about our overpopulation of the site, too many shelters that were erected, and firewood.  After all that, he mentioned the actual reason he came over which was to tell us to keep it down during quiet hours.  Rowdy cyclists.

Sleep was a bit difficult for me as I had a raging headache.  I later determined I had not had any caffeine that day and that, matched with my lack of hydration made a long night of trying to hydrate and sleep as much as I could.  I figure I snagged a couple hours.  It turned out I was too warm for the overnight and actually crawled completely out of my sleeping bag at one point early in the morning.  That is usually unheard of for me after 2AM.  Too soon the sound of the squirrels rummaging through the food we left on the picnic table was beckoning us to rise and shine.  John had made a quick trip to pick up firewood to have a proper fire.  Coffee was made and shared and we made ready for the slog to breakfast.

We grabbed a nice little breakfast in the nearby town of Scandia before turning our steeds towards home.  I was hoping to discover some new gravel so we started winding our way a bit west before riding too far south.  With only 1 small navigation error, we did find some amazing gravel and wonderful countrysides.  I hadn't ridden much through that section of roads as we are usually farther east to try to avoid certain highways.  It turns out if split just right, there are at least a couple extremely decent routes around the northern suburbs.

By the time we were back into the city proper, my food level was pert-near empty.  It seemed to take a very long time to return to the shop and just when the thought of finding a patio for some food and grainier consumption was taking shape, I was reminded of other commitments I had made for the afternoon.  In fact, I just made it in time.  It seemed like everything worked out just right for the camping weekend.  So much so that I have the idea of doing another one in the not so distant future.  Practice makes perfect.

Amazing gravel and views

2015 RAGBRAI tour *Part 2*

We found this guy by chance

  We rode the next day with the RAGBRAI crew to Eldora.  There were no super antics that happened, just good clean fun.  It was hot and the heat again grabbed ahold of me and took me for a spin.  I did stop and help a young woman who had a flat but nothing with her to fix it.  I try to not play bike mechanic on the ride but sometimes it just makes sense.  It was easy to find shower and food in Eldora and then it was hanging around the square, lounging and having a couple drinks.  When it was time for sleep, we rode around for a few minutes trying to find a good spot where we wouldn't have to put up our tents.  This is when we rode by a small group of people that asked, "Do you want to see Saturn?"  I thought it sounded fishy but after double checking, off we hopped and sure enough an amateur astronomer was zoomed in on Saturn.  It was super wild to look at it.

  We did find an ok spot to sleep but it turned out to be a bit close to the driving action so there was a bit of traffic until quite late and started up pretty early the next morning.  We grabbed a little breakfast and ended up sitting alongside the route as there was quite a traffic jam of everyone trying to leave town.  We made coffee and nibbled until things cleared out and then we were on our way.

  I found riding out of town after 9 the riders we met were more my style.  A few more baggers and general attitudes of calm and fun.  We stopped at a stop for coffee and cruised into the first rest town after only 9 miles or so.  We stopped just for a quick bathroom break and then cruised out for the next grueling section of 7 miles to our last stop with RAGBRAI.

The most difficult mechanical all week

In Ackley, we wandered through the streets and happened by Aaron, whom we were somewhat looking for that morning.  We grabbed a slice of pizza and hung out watching antics and people for a good amount of time.  We then found a shady spot near the library where Cayley could change her cleats over to her sandals and departed town.  It was only a mile or so until we turned off the route and apart from the normal, "You're going the wrong way!" shouts, one person bellowed out, "Come back!" which was the second of memorable quotes from the week.

  We turned onto Franklin Ave which turned into gravel after a short time and went straight north for as far as we could see and then some.  Cayley did have a flat tyre, having a 10cm nail go through the rear but fortunately not through the rim.  There was shade nearby, so changing it out was not much of a bother.  Back on the bikes, we continued to ride north on gravel until just outside Nora Springs, IA.  I had a small mechanical with a loose rear fender bolt but thanks to a well documented packing list, I had the correct wrench to make the repair super slick.  At Nora Springs we took a shade rest and topped off liquids before making the short trek over to Rock Falls.

I love this place!

  There is a fabulous campground at Rock Falls with the best showering facility I have encountered at a campground.  There is also a great little bar and grill just a short walk away from camp.  We cleaned up and walked up to the bar.  The place was packed!  Turns out it was two dollar burger night and most of the town had shown up.  We were able to find a couple stools at the bar, sitting down next to the former owner of that bar.  He was a friendly gent and I talked with him most of the evening.  Weirdly enough, a couple other RAGBRAI'rs stopped in for ice so they could make cocktails out on the road.  They were also done with their RAGBRAI and were heading to Osage for the evening.  They had ridden over from Denver and it just amazed me that we would bump into them there of all places.  Total bill for 3 burgers, 2 orders of fries, and 6 beers totaled $23.

  I miscalculated our mileage for the next day so we started a bit lazy which I would change if doing it again.  We didn't have Butch follow us out of town like I had happen to me the last time I left Rock Falls, and we found what I thought was a great route over to Northwood, IA for breakfast.  Stocking up on drinks again, we again found wonderful gravel routes over to Geneva, MN for lunch.  There is a nice little bar and grill there which we used for lunch last year and again I don't think they disappointed.  Turns out we were a bit of talk and while we rested in a park after lunch, several locals came over to talk to us.  I haven't had that happen too often and it is a bit flattering.

  The maybe worst part of the entire tour was the stretch after lunch riding into Owatanna.  I am not a big fan of this bit of road and we took a direct route as it was getting later in the day and we wanted to conserve a bit of time.  I was not feeling very spirited at this point and when we stopped at HiVee for supplies, I did not have a lot of fight left in me.  Not being a huge distance from Nerstrand State Park, we headed out and shortly found even more good gravel.  The back way into the park is gravel and just a little bit hilly.  I used my small ring for only the second time during the week.

  Also very nice shower facilities at this campground offered pleasant cleanup after having a bit of dinner.  We were expecting rain overnight so we prepared everything and hunkered down for the night.  And rain it did.  There was quite a storm and the ranger the next morning told us we received over an inch.  I did end up with a bit of water in my tent but being the last day, it was not a big issue.  We made the little ride over to Northfield for breakfast where we bought food from a TRAM'er.  She was donating her tip money to the MS Society so it was one of the few times when my tip was more than my actual bill.

  The tailwinds were phenomenal almost all the way into St Paul and we covered the 50 miles in something like 4 hours.  That was with a couple stops as we were not in a huge hurry and it was quite hot and humid.   It felt a bit like cheating riding the wind like that all the way home, but it was a nice easy end the the week.  All those sunny days and miles behind me and not a bit of sunburn, one tiny mechanical and tons of smiling makes me think it was a successful vacation.

2015 RAGBRAI tour *Part 1*

Wow, it has been a while.  It turns out I did a fairly thorough recap of the week so I think I will break this up into two parts to make it a bit more readable.  I just finished my 3rd consecutive RAGBRAI tour.  We rode right around 550 miles over 7 days which I feel pretty good about.  I have a 600 mile tour set for the end of August so this feels like a very good warm up for that.

4 heading out for breakfast

  We headed out with three last Saturday morning after picking up my newly altered Chaco sandals.  I did not plan well and did not have enough water with me.  That sent me into a pretty solid dehydrated state by the time we rolled into Northfield.  We ate some lunch and I was still not feeling very healthy and fortunately everyone was up for a small nap.  Well that felt good.

  Unfortunately, it did not help my pedaling mood and it was a bit of a slog into Faribault.  We picked up some dinner supplies and headed down the trail to Sakatah State Park.  We VERY quickly decided to skip the bike camp site and head to the regular campground.  We also made dinner as fast as possible to try to escape the swarms of mosquitoes.  WOW they were insane!  A quick shower and crawled into the tents to escape the swarms.

  In the morning, we packed up super fast and rode into Waterville for some breakfast.  It was here that Ken departed us and we continued down the trail.  I tried to start drinking regularly and it did eventually pay off but this day was not to feel much better than the previous.

  We made it into Minnesota Lake for some lunch and fortunately found a bar open (Sunday at noon).  I ordered a burger and fries and a PBR, it is a RAGBRAI tour after all.  Here, my riding partner was barraged with smartphone questions and when trying to explain what we were doing, the bartender replied with, "You don't want to ride gravel!".  Oh, but we did.  We caught a couple z's in a small park by the lake and after resupplying, set off to find some southern Minnesota gravel.

We did not choose this route

  The winds had picked up a bit by now and not in our favor.  But the gravel was quite spectacular and it really wasn't too long until we wandered our way into Blue Earth.  I was seriously overheating now and had to take a small break to escape the sun.  It was here I had the thought (or guidance) to search for "park" instead of "camp" and behold, a nice little park popped up just 8 miles south of Blue Earth.  We again, grabbed dinner supplies and set out for camp night number 2.

  I must have had the right combination of liquid because I felt a bit better on the ride to camp.  It was easy to find and it was 8 miles of gravel to get there (bonus).  The mosquitoes were much better but the showers not quite so nice.  We had a light dinner and hit the tents pretty early.

  The next morning we had some light rain but it wasn't enough to need rain jackets.  We rode about 5 miles into a small town to grab some breakfast in Elmore, MN.  While eating, it rained pretty solid but stopped by the time we were ready to roll out.  We had a small panic about finding water, but fortunately there was a hydrant right along the road.  Off to the small roads of northern Iowa.

  I started feeling better this day and with a long day ahead of us, we wasted no time in tackling a long stretch of freshly graded Iowa gravel.  We did make one small navigation error when leaving the town of Lakota but it only added a couple miles, and it was very nice gravel.  The tailwinds began kicking in and we cruised into Algona after a busy road section, ready for lunch.  We picked some groceries and lunched in the grass outside the grocer.  And of course, all too soon, it was time to climb back on the bikes.

  We wound our way through Algona, picked up some final snacks and headed out west into the wind.  We battled the somewhat headwind for a couple miles before turning south on what was a fairly busy road.  We watched several large trucks and farm equipment head down our direction but as there was no other option without going a ways farther, we embarked down the busy road.  Fortunately the heavy equipment didn't last long and the tailwind really started to push us along.  We rode that wave all the way into the RAGBRAI route stop at Clare.

RAGBRAI found!

  Unfortunately, we had been riding for quite some time and didn't really feel like starting the drinking, so we moseyed with the riders over to Ft. Dodge.  I felt the little bit of experience I have kick in and we rode straight to the high school where showers were.  After cleaning up, we found a nice camping site and set up tents.  Then we were off to procure dinner and some drinks.  Eventually, after walking WAY too far, we headed back toward our camp and hung out with some friends.  All-in-all a good day.

  Up next : RAGBRAI finishes up and the road home.