Living without a car

We've been living without a vehicle for almost a month now, since July 3 when we returned home from a month-long trip back East. The clutch went out on our VW van in Escanaba, Michigan, on the way back to Wisconsin. We rented a U-Haul truck and trailer and towed the van to a VW specialist in Ironwood, Michigan. It's still there as he couldn't begin to work on the van until a week ago and we're having some other work done, too.

Our decision to live close to town (less than a couple of miles) rather than further out is now paying off. We've been getting along just fine without a car, using our Marin "utility/commuting" bikes to get groceries/run errands. (Note the cool baskets made by Amish folks from Pennsylvania.)

This month-long period without a car has made us even more aware of how easy it is to use the bikes for our every day needs rather than jumping in the car. Using the bikes gives us much pleasure and makes us feel self-sufficient. We expect to have the van back within a week but, after this experience, I think we'll continue to use the bikes more often than before.

P.S. Much has happened since I last updated this blog. I'll post a review of our activities during the past few months soon.

Combo ride

We did what I would call a "combo" ride today, a ride that included both paved and dirt roads. Mike prefers to call these "DERRs," (dirt-extended road rides).
Along the way we crossed over Mosquito Brook.

 We stopped at the Sawmill Saloon for pizza.

 We crossed the Namekagon River several times along the ride.

Many trees are beginning to leaf out in that special, delicate shade of green that is unique to spring.

By the end of the ride it was just beginning to sprinkle, but we didn't get wet.
Another perfect ride...

Riding fire roads

In the last couple of weeks we've begun exploring some of the many dirt/gravel fire roads in the area on our touring bikes with 35mm tires. These are mostly hard-packed dirt roads with fairly fine pebbles/gravel so the 35mm tires can handle the terrain without problem (with the exception of deep sand) and the touring bikes with drop bars are more comfortable to ride on this terrain than our mountain bikes.

Some of the fire roads are narrower and more intimate than others; those are the ones we're seeking out and prefer. This opens entirely new areas for us to explore and is a great addition to riding the quiet country roads and mountain biking on the single track trails. It will also allow us to ride routes/loops that we couldn't previously connect/make work when we were riding our narrower 700C tires.

Once the trees leaf out, some of these roads will be like riding through a "tunnel of trees."

Primo Road Ride!

Today's ride was on some of the sweetest roads we've ridden to date. Thirty seven miles on a loop out of Cable that included Lake Owen Dr., Pioneer Rd. and Garmisch Rd.

On the entire ride we encountered only about a dozen cars, an equal number of cyclists, two motorcycles, a bald eagle, an osprey (nesting on a telephone pole) and numerous choruses of frogs in the ponds we passed by; temperature about 70F. Pizza and beer at Rivers Eatery after the ride. What could be better? Perfetto!

Rivers Eatery philosophy. I like it!

"Cool food. Cool space. Cool people." Indeed!

First ride of the season!

After a long hiatus, it's time to update the blog. Went on our first ride of 2012 today and first ride since November 15. It was a glorious day, 56 degrees, sunny, the roads clear of ice and snow.

The lakes are still frozen and there's still lots of snow on the sides of the roads from the storm that dumped over a foot at the end of February. The snow was so wet and heavy that some of the branches broke on this tree, including the one that is hanging over the van.

We got in a good week of skiing this past week, so now that warmer weather is here and the snow is soft and melting, I'm ready to hang up the skis and switch to the bike.

Temperatures are forecast to be in the 60s this coming week (maybe even up to 70) so the snow on the x-c ski trails will soon be melting fast. More later...

First snow

It looks like winter has arrived in the Northwoods. We got about 4" of snow yesterday, our first snowfall of the season.

Front yard, yesterday afternoon.

Back yard, yesterday afternoon.

Front yard, this morning.

Back yard, this morning.

November ride

Clear skies, sunshine, and comfortable temperatures in November for our afternoon ride on small, quiet country roads past serene lakes--just the kind of weather we had hoped for...