Dan's Cycling Page

Home Bikes Rides Schedule/Results Links

Rides

I have been lucky to do some very interesting bike rides. Read on to learn about some of my cycling highlights.

Mt. Evans, CO August 2004

My friend Shahved went out to Colorado and Utah and I tried to ride up Mt. Evans. Mt. Evans is the highest paved road in North America at just over 14,000 ft, and the road to the summit starts 28 miles away and 7,000 ft. below. I made it half way up before turning around due to time restraints / fatigue / bad weather. I hope to return and make it to the top.

Mackinac Island May 2003

Mackinac Island is very peaceful, very pretty, and a very nice place to have a bike. Julie and I went up there for our first Anniversary in 2003 and had a very good time. The Island is off limits to auto traffic, and circled by a 6 mile bike path. Add to that the scenic roads that cross the interior of the island, and you have a biker's paradise.

Northwoods to Capitol Tour June 2003

A week long tour which neither started in the Northwoods, nor ended in the Capitol (it went form Wautoma to Washburn). It was a good week of 500 miles training, but I went on it alone which was a big mistake. Most of the riding was good, but once I'd get done it was boredom until the next day's ride. Not a very fond memory.

Elroy Sparta State Trail July, 2003

Went down with a few friends to ride the famous trail and had a good time. The whole rails-to-trails concept is excellent, and this is sort of the flagship for the idea. A good day of riding, except for the very end where I pulled my foot out of the pedal and almost crashed.

Glacier National Park August 2003

How does a 2,000 foot elevation gain in 8 miles sound? FUN!!! This was the best ride of my life. Took an hour to ride the 8 miles up, and 12 minutes to ride the same 8 miles coming down! It was just amazing to be riding in such a beautiful place, add to that the challenge of climbing a real mountain for the first time, and it was one of the highlights of my life. Very fun.

Peddle the Kettle Century September 2003

Decided I'd do a century (100 mile ride). It took me under 6 hours of riding, and about 6:30 total including rest stops. The ride was nice and fairly well organized. The wind shifted part of the way through which meant I rode about 3/4 of it into the wind, or so it seemed.

Florence, Italy March 2004

Julie and I went to Florence in March of 2004, and I decided to rent a bike for 3 days and ride around Tuscany. Day 1 of riding I never got far out of developed areas, which was too bad. Day two could have been the best ride of my life (even better than Glacier) had it not been raining. I rode out of Florence along the Arno river and into some really beautiful countryside. Then I cllimbed up a hill the the Giro d'Italia rode over in 1996. This was a 1,200 foot gain in 3.75 miles, ouch! Then on the descent it was through cold rain, and the roads were slick, and it was fast, and I didn't really know where I was supposed to turn next. It was worth it though, great ride, and as I said, if it had been sunny, maybe the best ride ever. Two days later I did a ride through some of the hills south of Florence which was very nice.