AIDS/LifeCycle 11 - Day Zero

Orientation Day at The Cow Palace in San Francisco.

Last time I did the ride, the push was to get there as early as possible to finish as early as possible. Truth is, it takes about 3 hours regardless of when you go. This time, it was suggested that people go in the afternoon as lines are often shorter at that time. Everyone listened! lol So the lines were still long. But we got funneled directly into a Safety Video and got that out of the way. Then I went to get my tent. I had been promised a tent by a disgruntled former teammate who had no ill feelings toward me (or so I thought). She was hoteling it the entire ride so I would have had my own tent. A couple days before, she backed out and gave it to someone else. Apparently my association with her former team actually did affect her. Anyway, my random tentmate was standing there too so we met briefly. But there are things to be done on Day Zero so I moved on quickly. Bozo was standing in the Registration Line for me so I jumped in there. That took at least an hour. But I ran into Kar from Team Misfits and Kevin and Scott from Team Sacramento during that time. I also got to spend some time gabbing with a couple guys from Team Popular. That's the kind of team name that is just set up for being teased! But they were all so darn cute, I'm sure they didn't care! lol

We got a room at the La Quinta near the San Francisco Airport, which turned out to be a perfect location. Close enough that it was a short drive for the morning. But there was also a 24/7 Denny's right there so I would get a full breakfast. Last year the ALC Sponsored hotel said they would have breakfast available but it was just a bit of fruit and some pastries. NOT good riding food! So Denny's was convenient. And these are the kinds of things I have to think about at this time. Usually something like that wouldn't matter much at all. The other VERY cool thing about this La Quinta was that it was not only pet friendly but there was a separate building for pet owners so we didn't have to worry about those crazy people who don't like animals. That building had also been renovated so it was very nice. Wide screen TV worked for me too! (=

Went for dinner at Di Napoli Pizza at 202 Grand in South San Francisco. Awesome food, surly server.

I spent a little time trying to cram all my stuff into a smaller bag. The hockey bag I bought just for this purpose a few years back turned out to have a "spread" problem. The bag wasn't nearly full but everything seemed to spread out, making the bag look HUGE! And, it was heavy empty. I couldn't get everything into my smaller bag so I'm using the Canada hockey bag. It'll do for this trip but I am definitely getting a different bag. Anyone want to make an offer on what is probably perfect for hockey gear?

To bed about 10pm with a plan to be up by 4am. WHAT???

Superior Circle Tour - Day 0

(no real outdoor content, just driving)

Bad start in the morning… about 3 hours late. There were some things we weren’t able to do last night so they waited until morning. Then… the biggest thing was that I could not find Jeero. I try very hard not to travel without Jeero! So we “wasted” about 30 minutes looking for Jeero. Never found himher so we had to leave without. We then had a detour from the interstate before stopping at Lorrie’s job so she could turn something in quickly. Then… on the road… for real. Both a little grumpy. Not a usual occurrence for us. I don’t think so anyway. Guess I can check back to old blogs!

We stopped a little later in Pine City, MN to get some lunch. They were preparing for a parade that coincides with their free fair. So there were chairs lining many of the streets. Apparently it’s a huge deal and people want the best seats possible! We found a great little co-op or natural foods deli/market. I love that it is becoming so easy to find organic foods in small towns now. Back on the road. Though we were tempted to stay for the parade! (= It rained off and on much of the drive. We passed through the border at Pigeon Creek around 7pm CST with no issues. We stopped at Rydens to exchange money and put Emma’s muzzle on her. She seems to know how important it is that she behave at the border. So she does. She fussed with the muzzle for a few seconds then seemed to understand that it wouldn’t last very long. All ICE asked was if we had the dogs’ papers but didn’t make us show them. We did have the papers, of course. Across the border and off came the muzzle. She’s a good girl that Emma! Off again… in Canada. Lorrie expressed her usual request to see a moose. Instead, we saw huge black lab…. which was actually a bear cub! In the middle of the road. It hustled back into the woods as soon as we got up close to it. VERY cute!! I’ve never seen a bear so now I can mark that off my list! I really wish I’d gotten a photo of it though. But why would I take a photo of a big black lab!? lol Once in Thunder Bay, we spent a few hours with Lorrie’s older sister. She lives on a tropical island but is staying with her two sons for about a month while getting some business taken care of in Canada. It’s cute that she’s staying in a little apartment with two of her sons. (= Then to Lorrie’s best friend from high school’s house where we stayed up way to late chatting. A jag nightcap… if you can call about ½ oz a nightcap! We also got to hear about Yvette’s, Karen’s sister’s, 2 gold medals in the Special Olympics earlier in the summer! Pretty amazing!

Superior Hiking Trail - Day 0

The preparations are done... mostly. Lorrie and I get out of the house around 8am. We had talked about 7am. But that's all it ended up being. Talk! My family was here for the 4th of July as is the tradition. It was great having them here and everyone seemed to have a good time. But it made last day and last minute preparations difficult. Though, God love my mom, she did help me out! We had to stop at Gander Mountain once we got through St. Paul so that I could stop and buy a CamelBak bladder. I know! I know! It's not smart to buy something like that on the day you need it... unless you love the taste and smell of acid and rubber. Which I don't. But I was desperate and had not been able to find either of the 2 I already owned. So we stopped. And I got one. And some small travel size Nalgene bottles to decrease the amount of liquids I carry. The closer we got to Grand Marais, the more nervous I started to get about this trip. I wasn't sure I had prepared enough. I wasn't sure I'd prepared Emma Blue enough, which felt even worse to me since she had no choice in the matter. I also felt bad that I didn't have my pack ready to put on and go. Lorrie was going to drop us off at the starting point and then take off to Canada for some time with Tori her family... on the beach. (just a reminder... Emma Blue and Tori are our dogs).

So we met Pam at Java Moose in Grand Marais around 2pm. Not too late. I got an iced coffee... figured it would be my last for a little while. Then we caravaned to our ending spot near Kadunce River before cramming all 3 of us plus 3 dogs into my SUV. Funny thing... Emma Blue can be a little aggressive if she feels trapped... so she got the front passenger seat while Pam, Milo, Tori, and I crammed into the backseat. What a little princess! lol So Lorrie dropped us off at 14, Arrowhead Trail. Well, I use "dropped off" lightly. She had to stand there and help Pam and me decrease my stuff so that she could take with her what I don't need. I know she was antsy to get going so I am grateful for her patient nature! And decrease it we did! I won't even list all the things Pam suggested I get rid of. They are too many and I might get embarrassed writing so much! lol But I am inexperienced so I can't be expected to know exactly what I need. Eventually we got it all in my pack. It's heavy... but I have no idea how much weight I'm carrying. We got Emma Blue's awesome Ruff Wear Palisades pack all ready for her. We posed for our outgoing shot by the sign and then took off into the wild. (Hey, good title for a book... and movie! But I digress...)

Lorrie took off... slowly. I could tell. I know she watched us disappear. Because that's what she does. And I know this is an outdoor journal but my life is part of that. And it is significant that in two years, Lorrie and I have not spent this much time away from each other. And to do so without any possibility of communication for much of the time is also significant.

Our first hike was very short. We knew we would be starting late in the day and so decided that just getting into the trail and setting up camp right away would be a good plan. That would also give me practice setting up and taking down when I am not exhausted. So, we went in about 1 mile to Carlson Pond. There was SO much tall grass. Some of it was pressed where tents had been but it was on it's way back up. There was a wooden plank bench all around the fire pit, a picnic table, and a latrine. I got everything set up without issue. The vestibules of my tent were filled with high grass, which actually looked cool from inside. And I liked the swaying sound.

Pam dumped everything from her pack out onto the picnic table. She said she would have to repack everything tomorrow anyway so she just empties it out. I did the same except that I put a lot of mine directly into my tent. I have a 2-person tent while hers is a 1-person. So I have a little more room to maneuver with stuff tossed in.

Time for dinner. I had used "Freezer Bag Cooking" to prepare all my meals. Tonight, it's curry chicken rice for me except that I used tuna instead of chicken. The bugs came out pretty quickly so we were in our tents pretty quickly. You may recall my extreme sensitivity to bug bites from my Boundary Waters trip reports. I brought 100% deet this time... but figured I would just get inside for tonight. It's only about 8pm. I have 1/2 the tent. My backpack takes up a little less than 1/4 of the tent and Emma Blue has the rest. She uses my sweatshirt and other random things as padding and rests her head on my plastic ziploc full of clean underwear. What will she rest her head on in about 5 days?? lol

Tomorrow, we *really* start!


To see the rest of the photos, visit flickr.com/photos/twotiredoc

BWCA II - Day 0

Happy Summer Solstice!

We did well getting everything prepared. Yesterday we drove all over Southern Minnesota dropping Tori off in Mankato and Emma with my parents in Geneva. Darshi fed us lunch and my parents fed us dinner. That was nice! But we got home a little late and still had to pack and shave. Got to bed around midnight. We were up by 8am and on the move. But with all the stops we had to make, it was a long day! Grocery store for hard candy (necessary when paddling near lunchtime!), gas station, The Tavern for breakfast. Then on the road we had a major detour to deal with. That was after stopping at REI to return my aluminum Sigg bottle and picking up mosquito head covers. Once on the interstate, after the detour, I decided I wanted an iced coffee and Lorrie needed a computer to use so we stopped at a Dunn Bros. That taken care of, we went into the grocery store to get some lunch. But it was stacked with samples! So we filled up on those! lol That was a fun meal! Back on the road. Again. Finally off the interstate and more on the back roads or county highways. We stopped in Virginia for gas then got into an argument about where to eat. That sucked! We got that cleared up pretty quickly then found a Mom & Pop place to eat. A couple burgers in us and we felt great! A little while later, we were in Ely, MN. We had a canoe on the roof of my SUV in no time. The magic of Ely I suppose! You pull into town and a canoe appears on your roof. (= We got our paddles, life preservers, permit, and Sue's food barrels. Ready to rock and roll! Another hour down Echo Trail, which is mainly gravel, and we are at Jeanette Lake Campground for the night. Lorrie and I did okay building a fire with lots of wet wood. Actually, the credit goes to Lorrie! Sue and Terry, our travel companions for the week, showed up a couple hours later. Terry'd had a wedding to attend so they got a later start than we did. Now everyone has gone to bed. Sue is in the back seat of my car collecting "hair of Emma Blue" for the trip and Terry is in Sue's pick up. They didn't want to set up their tent for a such a short period of time. Early morning tomorrow! "Hey Lorrie! We're in the Boundary Waters again!!"

TRAM (Day 0 - July 22, 2007)

Well, we're done training. I feel okay about riding. I'm more stressed about "stuff." This ride is different from the AIDS Ride in many ways. One is that I have to bring my own tent and we have to provide our own food. I had thought about just bringing some peanut butter and jelly to save money. Then I remembered that I have a job now and can buy food. I'd still like it to be inexpensive but I think i can avoid the pbj thing. We get 3 items each and they are not to weigh over 35 lbs. lol Right! I'm sure everyone abides by that! I know I overpacked for the AIDS Ride so I have learned a bit of a lesson. A problem here is that I actually do need street clothes each day after we ride. There, apparently, is a lot more free time than I'm used to. I hate comparing everything to the AIDS Ride, but that's what I know. There we rode, put up the tent, showered, ate, and went to bed. It was simple. Lorrie's friend Daryl has done TRAM for 17 years, every year that it has been put on. He's the one that suggested Lorrie do the ride in the first place... for several years now. Lorrie and her friend Jeanie finally agreed that they would do it this year. Daryl has some other friends that he consistently rides with. So it seemed an okay group. Anyway, back to packing. I get a little crazy when I'm packing for any kind of trip. And I hate overpacking! I know. That sounds funny since I always do it. But I've been monitoring lately what I wear and don't wear. Oh yeah, another problem. Who the hell knows what the weather is going to be like in Northern Minnesota!? Ya know!? I think I did pretty well though. I had my cycling bag with helmet, shoes, cycling clothes, and basically everything else. My street clothes went into a much smaller bag. Then I had both our sleeping bags crunched into my messenger bag. Lorrie brought a camp chair, a bag of clothes, and the tent. Not bad. We'll learn. (= Off we go to Alexandria and the Douglas County Fairgrounds, which is where we will leave my SUV for the week. It's about a 3 hour drive and we seem to be doing fine. Then Lorrie realizes she has forgotten the directions. Ha! As we get closer, I told her we just needed to follow any bulk of cars with bikes on them. That actually worked! We ended up in a caravan of about 5 cars all with bikes on them and we made it without difficulty to the fairgrounds! lol We parked then wrapped our frames in some bubble wrap to keep them from getting knocked around in the truck. We took our bikes to the trucks and then back to the car for our stuff. We were able to carry it all in one trip to the bus line, which I thought was a very good thing. No multiple trips from the equipment trucks! People were pretty cordial and such in line. But then the bus showed up and it was a mad rush to get on! lol We didn't have our stuff *on* so we missed the bus we should have been on. WOW! That was crazy! So we just held on to our stuff so we wouldn't miss the next one. Another comparison to the AIDS Ride... that would not have happened. We all would have been arguing about who would go first! lol About this time I was dying of thirst! How is it possible that *I* did not think to bring water. I take water everywhere! I didn't even bring a nalgene bottle with me since I figured I could use my cycling bottle. Wow! That sucked! It was very hot! I'll live. So the bus comes and I made sure we were the first ones on. Ha! Don't f*ck with me! lol We get into our seat, get settled, and realize we are also starving! NO FOOD! lol No food, no water. Where was my head? I also was feeling a little nauseaus. Something about the air conditioning or something. But when we started moving, it felt a lot like car/motion sickness. Ugh! I just closed my eyes for a bit and that passed. To take our minds off food and water, we played tic tac toe, hang man, and other car games. Neither of us had any idea how long this drive was going to be. That's a strange feeling! I was going someplace I had never been, without knowing where it is, I'm on a busload of strangers, I have no food, I have no water... and I was having a good time! lol The drive took a couple hours, which surprised me. I thought it would be shorter. But I guess if I were logical, I would realize that it was going to take us 5 days to ride our bikes back there so it should be more than 30 miles. I just wasn't thinking.... because I was staaaarrrrving to death! (= We had no idea where Daryl and Jeanie were. They didn't seem to have signals on their phones. I figured they'd gotten on an earlier bus and hoped they would save us a spot to camp. We finally pulled into Walker and the park where we would camp. It was really pretty... on a lake and such. Lorrie got ahold of Daryl so he was looking for us and led us to our spot. The spot was on an angle! lol It was hot, I was hungry, and that made me a little crabby. We finally got some cold water. Phew! I almost perished there! I was being a little short with Lorrie while I was putting up the tent and she was catching up with friends. I should have just let her do that and get the tent done. But I was crabby, remember!? She handled it well and we figured the tent out just fine. Got all our stuff in and realized how friggin' small my tent actually is! lol The air mattress basically takes up the entire floor! I still haven't gotten therm-a-rests so we brought her big mattress for her big tent. lol Jeanie and Daryl put their bikes in their tents! LOL That done, we sat for a few minutes and regrouped. I met Heidi, Tim's wife. He's the guy who rode from Mankato to do the Sakatah with us recently. I also met Brian and Jan. Brian is from Fargo but he is dating Jan who lives in Mankato. And I met Bill who lives in Mankato. They, along with Daryl, Jeanie, Lorrie, and me would make up our Motley Crew for the week. (= Finally we agreed it was time to eat! A few of them have been to Walker several times so they had some ideas about where to go. One place was along the water. So we walked... and walked... and walked. Finally Heidi went into a store and asked only to find out the place had closed a few years back. lol So we found the same Mexican restaurant everyone else in town seemed to be finding. We sat at the bar. The bartender seemed a little out of sorts. She did a little of that huffing and puffing people do when they want you to know they are pissed but they can't express it outwardly. Who knows what was going on. They had to have expected this crowd with 1200 people coming into town, right? Anyway, Lorrie and I shared some fajitas, which were awesome! They really were but I think my hunger made them 10x better too! lol We stayed there a little longer than we might have otherwise but it was cool in there and it was still in the 90s outside. Lorrie, Daryl and Jeanie shared a pitcher of margueritas and maybe a bottle of wine. They were all feeling pretty good! lol We finally headed back to the park, slowly, doing some window shopping. Once back I got the tires pumped, lubed the chains, filled the water bottles, and got my clothes ready. Lorrie got the air mattress ready and got her stuff together. Then we hung out with everyone by the locked bathrooms. lol The mosquitos are loving me this year so I couldn't stay out too long. I have no idea what time it was when we went to bed but I was tired. I was also feeling nervous about the ride, not knowing if I had trained enough. There were things happening with Boba too that I was disappointed about. But I need to get over that for now.

Lesson learned today
-Arrive at the start point early for an earlier bus and better tent site
-Bring lunch and water, or something to drink, on the bus
-Bigger tent
-Possibly no sleeping bags if it's going to be this damn hot
-Nalgene bottle

ALC/LifeCycle 5 - Day Zero (June 3, 2006)

Orientation (aka Day Zero) at the Cow Palace. I have to say that it was quite funny that the Jehovah’s Witnesses were having a convention or crusade or whatever they call it… just on the other side of the Cow Palace. The opportunities there were endless… but we all behaved! I was continually warned that I’d be spending the entire day in lines. As it happened, the lines weren’t so bad and the only thing that took awhile was getting to see the safety video… a requirement before doing anything else. Apparently they want us to come out of this thing alive! It was quite the social atmosphere. And as I look back on it now, it was the beginning of “ALC5 Life” as opposed to “Real Life.” People were courteous and nice, thoughtful and giving. It was WEIRD! LOL What’s sad is that it’s so unusual to hear people saying “thank you” as much as they did. I’m from the Midwest, so we say “thank you” all the damn time! I didn’t hear any complaints about the lines or the inconveniences that we experienced. Once I had my safety video bracelet, my tent and bag truck assignment and tags, turned in my donations, and my general orientation packet with my helmet and bike numbers…. it was time to find out if my bike actually made it safe and sound from LA. I had dropped her off on Wednesday to some guys in a big truck…. hoping they were the *right* guys in the *right* truck! Fortunately they were… and though it took awhile, I did finally find her. I took her out to the bike mechanics to get her chain lubed and some air in the tires. I have been training with 100psi in my tires and as I was talking to my friends, I decided that I would go up to 120psi like they were. I think I was always just afraid of blowing the tire as I pumped it up. But I figured with mechanics right there, it wouldn’t matter if I blew it. One thing I learned at Orientation was that I should have brought my hand pump, computer, and maybe even my helmet to leave with my bike overnight. Especially the pump since it goes along my top tube and I had to put my number on the top tube as well. So I’d have to arrange it the next day….it’s got sticky stuff on it so I wasn’t sure arranging it would be easy. *That* is the kind of thing that becomes a priority during the ride. Who cares about world peace!?! Can I get my pump back on my bike if I’ve got my number on it already?? After that, a few of us went to one of the hotels that was near the Cow Palace to hang out until it was time to catch a taxi for dinner. We were going to have dinner with Team Orange County at Buca di Beppo. I’m not on the team… in fact, I’m not sure anyone I was with was on the team! LOL But one or two of them at least live in OC! (= Funny thing about this is that I don’t eat pasta… and that’s basically what they served! BdB does everything family style…but, I hate to admit again, I couldn’t afford the $20 per plate. So I ordered a “side,” which ended up being more spaghetti than I’ve eaten in 2 years! LOL And two HUGE meatballs. But I ate it all! Guess I was hungry. Anyway, we went by one of the guy’s big gay hotel (Hotel Metropolis) to see his big gay bathroom. It actually was quite the place… bordering Tenderloin!! Ha! The last two of us walked to my hotel (Cathedral Hill) and then my friend caught a cab back to her hotel (Alpine Inn). I needed to get my crap back in my bag and be sure I had everything ready for my 3am wake up! We had to be down at the shuttle at 4am!! One thing I did spend some time on was cutting out my numbers for my helmet. They were blue on a white background and I cut each number out individually. I wanted as little stick on my helmet as possible. Well…and it looked much better! (= I also got my Accelerade made and my water bottle filled. I wonder now if I should have done that the day before and left them on my bike. Not a bad idea! I know…not important in “real life.” I was basically ready to go and in bed by about 9pm or so. But my roommates weren’t back yet so I knew they’d be waking me up again, which meant I really couldn’t fall asleep. Once they got back, I fell asleep pretty quickly. Phew!! All I needed was a little insomnia the night before we ride out!