The Artful Prairie

Bicycling

As with many of us, bicycling for me started as utility transportation.  My two hand-me-down, 26" balloon tire, 1950s vintage, cast iron monsters with metal saddle baskets served me well getting around my home town of Gilbert, IA.  I used them for getting to school, delivering newspapers, and for my extensive explorations of the surrounding countryside.  This transportation allowed freedom, exercise, and a means to access the natural areas and fishing holes that are few and far between in the vast expanses of intensive agriculture found in central Iowa.

I swapped a motorcycle for my first 10 speed bike (and some cash) while a college student at Iowa State University.  Upgrading to a Swinn La Tour while a graduate student at Oklahoma State U. allowed a friend to push me to do longer rides and touring.  Interest and distances continued to increase through my years at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where friends were similarly disposed.  This is where I organized my department's two "Mechanized Madness" 40 mile round trip rides to Poet's Seat Tower.  On one of these rides I had the infamous short conversation with a friend originally from New York City that went something like:

Pointing to a small group of milk cows in a field beside the road, my friend asked, "What are those?"

"Holsteins,"  I replied not thinking too much about it.

"I didn't know they had Jewish horses?!"

At that point I nearly had an accident because I was laughing so hard, and my eyes were tearing up so badly I couldn't see where I was going.

Early in my time at the University of Notre Dame I came out of my building to get my bike and start the commute home, only to find that my lock had been cut and the bike had been stolen.  Needless to say, my beloved Schwinn La Tour was never recovered.  It was an opportunity to upgrade to a slick, blue Peugeot 12 speed.  I covered many miles, rode RAGBRAI in 1993, and thoroughly got my moneys worth over the next 19 years.  It was a good bike, but it was really time for it to be put out to pasture in 2002.  I gave the Peugeot to my nephew and purchased a carbon fiber frame Trek 5200 road bike, which I am still riding today (now close to 12,000 miles on it and still in great shape).  It has seen many club rides, tours and five years straight of the Hilly Hundred in Southern Indiana.  I also have a Trek 7200 cross bike that I purchased in Texas for commuting and trails, and has been very useful in New Mexico.

The first three months after arriving in New Mexico, I toured all over the wonderful bicycle friendly city of Albuquerque.  The only significant draw back to this area is the presence of "goat heads" which are seeds with short, sharp spines that are really hard on tires  The good news there is I am  now really good at fixing flats and checking for tire penetrators. When we moved to the East Mountain area, the goat heads were much less prevelent, but I found two new impediments to bicycling, time required to work on the house while traveling for work a rather insane amount of the time, and a lack of variety in local routes due to there being a relatively small number of paved, bikeable roads in the area.  I found a couple of standard routes ranging from 10 to 35 miles.  Few of the roads have reasonable shoulders.  The traffic is typically light, but not slow or as watchful as could be wished.  Thank goodness the scenery here is so wonderful, otherwise I would get pretty board while not dodging cars. 

During the two years that I was completely consumed with construction of our dream home, the bicycle was pretty neglected. In 2013 I barely logged 100 miles. 2014 has been less intense, and I have been able to reacquaint myself with handlebar, peddles, and … saddle. Had to kill all those nerve cells in the posterior all over again. I also joined a small, informal, ad-hoc group of cyclists which we have dubbed the East Mountain Cycling Club (AKA, E=MC² Seemed only fitting since we are in the state where the atom bomb was developed). If things go as planned, we will even have our own jersey designed and printed this year.



I eventually settled upon something that helps with several issues, however it cuts into my time on the bicycle.

Motorcycling

As noted earlier, I had a motorcycle back in undergraduate school to get me around.  I enjoyed it, but eventually became impractical as I needed more carrying capacity.  I had been thinking for years that it would be nice to get back into motorized two wheeling again, but while I was moving with work, it was still impractical.  Moving to New Mexico where a high percentage of families have one or more of: horses, pickups, ATVs, or motorcycles, and with the very inviting and scenic miles of open roads, including Rt. 66 (the "Mother Road" which is eight miles away from us) the temptation was too much.  So, I have now fallen into two categories, first was a Ford F150 FX4 pickup (4 wheel drive of course) and then a Honda Shadow Spirit 750 cc motorcycle.  Tooling around on the cycle, running errands, and touring to see more of this wonderful state, both solo or with friends, has been most enjoyable.  In late March 2014, I did a "character building" trip to Las Vegas, NV for a conference.  Between 60 mph winds, dust storms, rain, cold, and dirt roads with sand traps, it was an experience.  After that, most touring will be very pleasant, so I look forward to the next adventure on two wheels.

I have been a member of:

Michiana Bicycle Association, South Bend/Michawaka, IN
Prairie Cycle Club (leader for the Friday night Mahomet ride for three years), Champaign/Urbana, IL
Plano Bicycle Association, Plano,TX

East Mountain Cycling Club (E=MC²), Edgewood, NM

I have participated in the following organized cycling events:

Turning Leaves Century, Dawagiac, Mi - 1992
RAGBRAI XXI - 1993
Hilly Hundred, Bloomington, IN - 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
C-U Across the Prairie - 2002, 2004
Mahomet Rotary Ride, Mahomet, IL - 2002, 2003
Ilini Chill Ride (A Red Flannel Affair), St. Joseph, IL 2002, 2004
The Bob Galloway Memorial Amish Country Tour (Tour de Manure), Arthur, IL 2003, 2005
TRIRI - 2003
Tour de Fire Ant, Marshall, TX - 2007
WildRide! Bike Rally, Plano, TX - 2008

And the following tours with VBT (Vermont Bicycle Tours):

Scotland - 1998
Acadia, Maine - 2002
Big Island, Hawaii -2004