Now I know that some guys out there feel the need to keep some things their own things, but I'm all about having my wife in on my favorite things in life. That just makes them that much more favorite. Over the past year, she has been working hard to try and incorporate cycling into her life so that I don't just drive her crazy with all of my bike riding. At this point, I'd have to say, she's doing very well. Yesterday, she officially graduated to the level of bona fide bicycle adventurer while we were riding our bikes around Lake Pepin. We climbed big hills, rode a considerable distance into a headwind and even got rained on. Quite eventful for only 40 miles of riding. I'll let her tell you about the trip, but I want a chance to brag about her riding.
In just one year she has gone from a wobbly road riding novice to a savvy cyclista. She rides a straight enough line that I would feel comfortable drafting her if I wanted to and she's even to the point where she can take off and put on her sunglasses while she is riding. Impressive, no? Regardless of all this amazing improvement, like all of us she still has some weaknesses. Number 1 on that list is hills. For instance, today while riding uphill into a headwind she shouted in frustration with the incline "I'm going to ride around this stupid lake!" But even with her aversion to gaining altitude on two wheels she managed to tackle and CONQUER the biggest hill she has ever ridden yesterday. It was a veritable mountain by Minnesota standards (it was in Wisconsin, go figure) and looked something like this...
That's almost 400 vertical ft in just over 2.5 miles. Not bad for a flatlander, eh? She was a serious trooper and I'm proud of her for getting up it. Next up, Alpe D'huez! (I can just imagine her reaction if I knew she was reading this... "over my dead body"...I'll leave it to you to determine who's body that is.)
For those of you looking for a riding locale, Red Wing, MN is a great destination. The riding on the Wisconsin side is a little bit more biker friendly traffic-wise, but all in all it's a nice area with plenty of interesting terrain and muchas vistas buenas. Plenty of little B&B's like the Spring Street Inn where we stayed in Stockholm, WI and restaurants like the Stockholm Pie Company serving up tasty homestyle cooking.
