Tag: US-Arkansas

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A Jaunt Around England

Mandy’s bike needed an inaugural ride, so we planned a loop through from Scott to England and back to Scott (we didn’t do the spur to Toltec this time). I didn’t realize it until partway through the ride, but this almost-thirty-mile loop is by far the longest Mandy’s ever ridden on her own bike (as opposed to ‘ridden as the stoker on a tandem.’) We invited our friends Gordon and Lois to come along for what was also Lois’ longest ride up until now. Kathy decided to join us as well.

We picked up another cyclist just five miles shy of our ride’s end. She was alone and was at the side of the road working on her bike. We stopped to help, and Bryan found that she’d broken some spokes. He was able to get her wheel straight enough that she could ride back toward Scott, and she called a friend to meet her there.

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Hike Little Rock

On the day I picked Mandy up from ecology camp, I got to meet Inge, her favorite other camper. Mandy said that Inge is from Little Rock, so I said hello to Inge’s mom and got her email address. We made some arrangements earlier this week, and picked up Inge for a hike along the River Trail near Burns Park. We walked up the Emerald Park trail to the knife-edge bluff overlooking the river, then across the back of the old quarry, past the backyard of the VA hospital, and down to the River Trail again.

20100710 - Hike LR (small) 20100710 - Hike LR (small)-2

After our hike, we drove downtown for a little unicycle practice near the Clinton Library. Mandy was pleased to show off a little for her friend, and her friend was suitably impressed.

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We all enjoyed Inge’s company. She’s smart and silly and unselfconscious in a way that most twelve-year-old girls aren’t. We called her mom to ask permission to keep her for awhile longer, and Bryan and I took the girls to the Purple Cow, a local hamburger place, for supper and milkshakes. After dark, we drove the girls out to Pinnacle Mountain for a ‘star party’. The local astronomy club sets up in the parking lot there, sometimes, to let people who don’t have telescopes come out and enjoy looking at things. We saw Saturn and Venus, and the Dumbbell and Ring nebulas, and we still had Inge home right on time.

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Mandy Goes to Camp

Through the geology instructor I had last fall, we found out about the Halberg Ecology Camp, a week-long program for middle school kids, run by Audubon Arkansas. Mandy had to apply for the camp, which included recommendations from teachers and an essay. But she was accepted! (And I had to send a big fat check, also.)

This was her first ‘sleep away camp’ but as predicted she didn’t miss us at all–she had a wonderful time. She spent a week in the heat of summer outside, and sleeping in a forest service cabin without air-conditioning. She spent a week with a group of kids who also like to be outside, and who like to learn about science and nature. Best of all, I think, she got to spend a week in science classes taught by high-school and college science teachers. The kids learned about mammology and herpetology and geology, got to spend time in canoes, and ate good food.

She came back tired, happy, and using big words. A handful of this year’s campers get to return next summer for a ‘senior camp’. Mandy’s looking forward to finding out if she made the cut.

UPDATE 11/15/10 –
I got an email today from the director of the Halberg camps. Mandy has been invited back for “senior camp” next year, and so has her favorite other camper, Inge. Hooray!

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Tour de Hoot

The Tour De Hoot is an annual bike ride in McGehee, AR, offering cyclists a chance to help support the small town’s Boys’ and Girls’ club. There’s a pasta dinner and other fun activities the night before, free air conditioned indoor camping, a big breakfast on Saturday morning. We’ve had a busy week though, so we just rolled in on Saturday morning just in time for the ride.

We opted to do the metric century: 100km, which is about 62 miles. (There were other options, too. Riders could register for as little as 25 miles, or as much as 100 miles.) Rest stops along the way were sponsored by area organizations. The best stop by far was the first one, around mile 15. The Red Hat Society of Arkansas City (and the county judge) provided sliced melon, homemade cookies, dried fruit, and cold drinks.

Sag support trucks were never far away, and an ambulance made the rounds too. It was clear that if anyone had trouble, help would be nearby. Food might not be, though — some rest stops had only weak Gatorade and warm pickles by the time we arrived, and there were no convenience stores or restaurants along our route. The weather was lovely. It was about 90 degrees, but the sun stayed behind clouds almost all day. Most of our route followed flat, two-lane rural roads, and though shoulders were narrow or nonexistent, the traffic was so light it didn’t matter.

We hadn’t brought much to eat, so our energy was flagging toward the end, and Bryan’s legs hurt. My new Brooks saddle is beautiful but not yet broken in, so I wasn’t totally comfy, either. We were both glad to get back to McGehee, where a handful of people sitting outside the Boys’ and Girls’ club clapped as we pulled into the parking lot.

When Emil gets helmet hair, he REALLY gets helmet hair. We caught up with him, finally, at the end of the ride, when we shared barbecue sandwiches and chocolate milk. He’s 67 years old and still using his original legs, but he’s still faster than us.

When I say “Our friend Tom is an excellent wind-block,” I am not commenting on Tom’s width. What I mean is that Tom is an understanding sort of fellow, who can see when Bryan’s hurting, or when I’m frustrated with the wind. Tom just gets in front rides a straight line, at a perfectly even speed. You can put your front tire right on Tom’s back, and he’ll pull you in. And that, I think, is just about the best kind of friend to have.

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Bike to Work Week

It’s National Bike Month! All three of us rode to work/school this month at least once.

Bryan’s been getting things together to begin commuting to work on occasion. His goal is once a week through the summer months. His first commute went well, and he even established a safe and convenient bike-parking spot. He’s looking forward to many more commutes just like this one.

 

I commuted by bike to my annual two-day workshop in Ferndale. It’s about 15 miles, much of which is very curvy and hilly, on shoulderless roads. I enjoyed it so much I’ve done some research into the possibility of riding all the way into the university area in LR to my office. It’s farther but flatter, and with better shoulders, and if I time things right I can use Little Rock’s bus system for part of the trip. Stay tuned!

 

Mandy had to take her unicycle to school this week, and decided to make it into a one-wheel commuting day. I let her out of the car in a neighborhood near the school and she rode in on the unicycle, heavy school backpack and all. She stashed her wheel in her GT teacher’s classroom. And after school, she rode to a nearby park and alternately practiced riding and relaxed until we were able to pick her up.

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Ride Crowley’s Ridge: The Final Day


Once again I wasn’t able to join a group for their entire week of riding but I was able to join them (~20 people) for their last day. This group was organized by the Mississippi River Trail organization in partnership with Delta Scenic Byways, Arkansas State University and the Jonesboro Parks and Recreation Department. Their goals for the week included:

  • Scouting a possible alternative route for the Mississippi River Trail through Arkansas
  • Exposing the Crowley’s Ridge/Arkansas Delta area to local cycling groups
  • and exposing the communities on Crowley’s Ridge to the idea of promoting and accepting cycle-tourism

The group started in Cape Girardeau, MO on Monday and will finish the week 320 miles later in Helena-West Helena, AR. I was meeting them on their final day at Village Creek State Park and would wind up riding about 65 miles with them (new record for me!).

This wasn’t an ordinary van-supported tour though, these folks had appointments with mayors, county judges and chamber of commerce folks in the various towns along the route. I got the impression that there had been some education/explanation phone calls and materials made to these folks prior to the ride and meeting with them was a way to show that cyclists that want to ride in the delta DO exist.

So our day started off with people leisurely packing up camp, loading gear into the trailer and heading out at their own pace for a Waffle House breakfast in Forrest City (about 12 miles away). After a filling breakfast, we rode to the county courthouse where we waited to meet with the county judge and present him with a certificate for his support of cycle-tourism in the delta region.

As the day went by we met with the director of the Mississippi River State Park, the Mariana chamber of commerce president and several others whose names/positions I’ve forgotten.

Our group stopped at the Delta Heritage Trails State Park and met with a group of local (Helena-West Helena) cyclists and supporters. This state park is at the beginning of a future 72 mile rails-to-trails project! They currently have about 14 miles made into a nice gravel trail and in the future the trail will extend south to Arkansas City. From there it may be possible to have a gravel trail on top of the Mississippi River levee and ride all the way into Louisiana. That’ll be cool!

At the end of the ride there was a balloon arch, beer, cookies and Gatorade awaiting the participants. The mayor and county judge were also present to meet these cycling advocates and to express their support for cycle-tourism in the delta region.

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Last Days of the Spring Tour

The Arkansas Bicycle Club had its “Spring Tour” and even though I couldn’t ride with them all week, I did manage to join them for their final two days. Susan picked me up on the way to Glenwood where we met the road warriors for dinner at a very nice Italian place. After dinner we set up camp at the canoe outfitters, hung out for a bit around a camp fire and headed off to bed at a respectable time.

The next morning we rode several miles and had breakfast at a cafe on the square in Amity (that’s Janice coming into Amity in the photo below) and bought supplies for lunch at the grocery store next door.

We pedaled about 40 miles that Saturday and made camp at Lake Degray State Park. The photo below shows most of our bikes parked in a single parking spot (two bikes were parked elsewhere) outside of the Visitors Center.

Camp was set up, showers were taken and then dinner was had at the state parks restaurant. The next morning, breakfast was again at the on site restaurant and we headed to Sheridan where five members of the group had started out seven days before.

On the way home though, Brad had a shifter cable break! Don’t worry though, Brad had the spare part with him and we stopped on the porch of an abandoned storefront in Donaldson so he could make the repair.

Here’s a shot of my LHT waiting patiently in Donaldson. The bike has functioned extremely well… it’s comfortable, stable and easy going, I’m not sure what else could be asked for in a touring bike. Today we rode about 58 miles which is a new record for me.

The Brooks saddle was comfortable straight out of the box and I’m getting used to the drop bars and gearing on this bike. I wound up using Aly’s front panniers and really liked the way the white bags looked but I’ll be ordering myself a pair of yellows to match our existing rear panniers.

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Big Dam Wheel

After hours of carrying rocks and digging holes, I was ready to go home, but Mandy wanted to see if she could ride the unicycle over the Big Dam Bridge (BDB). According the Wikipedia’s BDB page, the bridge itself is about eight tenths of a mile long and the approaches are at a 5% grade.

It was clear she could do it. She was strong enough to ride up the bridge, and balanced enough to steer around little kids and dogs, and controlled enough to descend without falling. In fact, she was strong enough to do all of it over and over. But she’d get the ‘hard part’ done and something silly would happen, like people who didn’t move out of the way, or sand in her eye, or a violent apple-juice-induced coughing fit, and she’d fall.

And that wasn’t good enough. She was determined that she was going to do it straight, up and across and down, without dropping the uni.

Finally, on the fifth try, she did it. She says her next project will be a triple backflip with a twist. (Surely, she’s kidding.)

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Rough Riders

I keep thinking I’d like to try a long ride on the endless gravel roads in the National Forest near here. Sure, the surface is rougher, the hills are steeper, and there aren’t any sandwich shops. But wouldn’t it be nice to ride all day without getting crowded off the road by an angry pickup?

Mandy’s in Tulsa this weekend, so Bryan and took an experimental ride near Lake Sylvia. My bike’s the one with racks, so I carried all our tools and snacks and rain gear for the day. I still have no good low gear, so with that extra weight the hills were difficult. The road surface, on the better-traveled of the forest roads, was perfectly comfortable for the Voyageur, even with its fairly narrow tires. (32-630)

Bryan wanted to try to get his bike up North Fork Pinnacle, to see if we could camp there on a future bike tour. (Being older and wiser, and having been up there many times, I opted for a snack and a nap in the afternoon sunshine instead.)

The prize of the day was finding a usually-gated road, on a gentle, miles-long downhill, with small packed gravel that reminded me a little of the smooth Katy Trail in Missouri. We found a beautiful campsite next to a clear green stream.

Shortly after lunch, though, our perfect road turned to a jeep track with rock chunks the size of cats’ heads. The wide, flat puddles got bigger. There were stream crossings. I hadn’t signed up for mountain biking, so I walked the larger portion of this part of the road.

Bryan and his hybrid Giant, on the other hand, had a great time cruising through puddles and dodging rocks.

I don’t think I’m cut out for mountain biking: sometimes two wheels just doesn’t seem as practical as two feet. But the smoother parts of the day were lots of fun, and we’ll definitely ride in the forest again.