30 Miles Around Anchorage!

It has been a long time since my last entry but I did a real nice ride in Anchorage on August 25 that I wanted to post.  I started out downtown and rode East on the relatively new Ship creek trail.  This 3 mile section features a 360 degree circling cross over ship creek!  Pretty cool.  From here I continued east of side streets to Boniface Road.  From here I went south to Russian Jack Park. I had my google map and Ipad with me otherwise I dont think I would have found my way through the park without exiting to the streets!  At south end of Russian Jack I entered U of A campus and rode until I came upon road construction.  I was able to connect to the Campbell Creek trail by riding south a 1/4 mile or so.  I thought I was home free but hit construction again along Campbell creek.  You can see my detour to north by the Seward hwy. Back on to Campbell creek trail to the end. I took an enjoyable tour through the Sandy Lake neighborhood, then on to Kincad Park where I was able to get onto the Coastal trail back to Anchorage.  Nice ride on a beautiful day!

Vashon Island Ride (near home)

This 20.3 mile ride required us to take our boat across Colvos Passage to a friends house on Vashon Island.  We rode up a steep hill (far left side of map). 
 We stopped off at the famous bike in the tree where I snapped a shot of my riding partner, Rees with the tree.

At the Isthmus we stopped at the "vashon island health club" to take a photo.

Health Club on Isthmus

The turn around point was the Point Robinson Lighthouse on the east side of Maury Island.

38 Mile Ride to Ft Meyers Beach

Ft Meyers, FL 38 miles from Coconut Point to Ft Meyers Beach Pier.

It was a another nice day for a ride. weather was in the high 70 to low 80s and humid. A good wind was blowing from the southwest. I rode south along Tamiami trail. I think this road goes to Miami, but I'm not positive. Anyway, I rode south on a nice sidewalk for about 5 miles to get to the road that would take me to the gulf shore. As I turned west I passed by many stores and a few restaurants catering to beach goers. When I got to the shore I noticed that access was somewhat restricted with several private pay beaches along the road. There were however a surprising number of public access point with cute little parking lots with space for 8-10 vehicles. I came across a state park and decided to go in. Lovers Key was the name given. I immediately began to wonder how it got its name. For $2 they let me ride my bike anywhere in the park including dirt nature trails. I took advantage and rode for about 3 mile off pavement. there were a few tricky spots where soft sand wanted me to go a different direction. the gulf shore beach was crowded with people, umbrellas, chairs. Inland there were kayaks paddling in the bayou but swimming was not allowed due to alligators. Gee, if there are alligators in there would a plastic kayak adequately protect the kayaker? They must be small alligators! I have never seen a manatee. When I saw a ranger I asked if there might be a good vantage point for this activity? She said she had seen one earlier in the day near the ranger station and suggested I look there. I looked at every bit of brackish water that I could find but no luck! By this time my stomach was calling for food, so I resumed my ride towards the pier. I had been riding a marked bike path on the road for several miles. I came upon a bridge and a sign stated that the bike trail was ending.Mather funny thing was an arrow pointed on the trail for riders to continue over the bridge. I guess the sign was to mitigate their responsibility as the bridge was narrow with no shoulder. Several more miles on beach houses, then gradually more and more people were about. this was Ft Meyers Beach. The pier area was by far the busiest area that I had been to. hundreds of people were moving about, walking, eating, fishing, enjoying the day. After walking the short and narrow pier, I retreated from the crowd to a waterfront restaurant that I had eyed along my ride. The grouper sandwich was very good as advertised! My waitress even brought me a piece of tape so that I might attempt fixing my sunglasses that broke a few minutes earlier. this was not a day to be without! Before long it was time to head back to my hotel. Along the way I took one more peek by the rangers station for manatees. Today was not the day for me to see one of these creatures

St Louis, MO 22 miles; The Arch; Old 66

Gateway to the West, Old 66 "Chain of Rocks Bridge"

The hotel was located almost at the base of St Louis' "Gateway to the West" Arch (see above). When I began the ride, I couldn't help but ride straight to this wondrous sculpture and do a loop around each of the founding ends. That is how the ride started out. The temperature was in the high 70s with some humidity in the air. A nice day for a ride, once I found the river trail! This river trail went north along the, ah, river. I immediately noticed some local artwork along the path in front of an electrical plant. The trail did not appear to be very well maintained. Now clearly in an industrial area "bollards"

as they were called, had been knocked down allowing for motor vehicles to enter the non motorized path. There were plenty of indications that this had been done; dirty tire tracks on the road. The trail began weaving in and out of water barriers, apparently when the river gets high they close these. For the next 3 miles I traveled, almost thru junk yard after junk yard. The Smell at times was horrendous at times!

At about mile 4 I was out of this section. Stopping at a fountain for water (in my hurry to leave I neglected to fill my camelback) no water! The fountain was dry! In the end I did find another fountain on the trail that actually did work. Looking back on it, the ride was not the great, but there were a few surprises. When I was planning my ride I had noticed a pedestrian only bridge that spanned the entire Mississippi! This was where my ride was to end. This bridge turned out to be the original bridge that transported American's from one side of the river to the other, when traveling the famed route 66! And, it must have been about 2 miles in length. There were some nice relics along the way, still run down as if it had been forgotten like the rest of the trail. On my way back there was a highway crossing with a button to stop traffic. I hit the button and the light immediately turned yellow and red. I was glad that I looked for traffic as a truck decided that he didn't need to stop and what was clearly a red light! My ride ended with a stop at one of the locally famous barbecue joints. The place I had found was called Bogart's. Bogart's had been rated highly numerous times on the yelp site. I would say that Bogarts lived to its name!

Orlando 5 Mile Run with a Twist

Run around Sea World Orlando (yellow line)

Staying at the Rosen Plaza hotel for the first time I set out on what was to be a 5 mile run around the Orlando convention center and Sea World recreational park. The run started out like a typical run would at a new location; I plotted the run on a map program, wrote the street names and a crude diagram on paper and headed out the door. I quickly found the convention center and began to wind around the back side as hoped to do. I immediately became aware of a lot of activity going on even though it was early in the day. There was security all over the place it seemed. This made me a bit on edge as I never want to overstep boundaries, plus I was u familiar with the area. As I pressed on I was impressed that the center staff had the ability to close off t he entire road behind the center. This got my mind wondering as to what kinds of celebrities may entertain here, or is this merely a product of post sept 11?

I pressed on. Off my left was a road that I wanted to get onto. The

Problem was that this road appeared to be in the "SECURE AREA." I really needed to get on this road as it was the only I way across the freeway that let to part 2 of my run; circling Sea World Orlando. I kept moving along Exhibit road looking for a spot that did not have security personnel watching over, not that I was going to do anything wrong, I just didn't want to stop and take the time to explain what I wanted do do when I really wanted to be running unimpeded. As it turned out at the very last minute before the road rose up to cross over I found my entrance point, nobody seemed to notice me. Well, I wasn't really looking to see I merely ran on trying not to hear anyone saying, "hey you, Halt!".

Once over the overpass it was fairly smooth sailing all the way around sea world. I thought it was interesting that there was an apartment complex on the west side of sea world, such that it was lodged between Sea World and the freeway. I wondered who would live in such a place: People that work at sea world? I remembered back when I was a working teen. My first job was of all places at sea world! I could not imagine being able to afford to live in a place like this on what I was paid! I wonder if sea world owns this place.

The other thought I had while circling the park was why does the sidewalk lure me to one side of the street only to abruptly end and start up on the other side? I decided that sea world must have been there before they were required to put sidewalks in. The hotels I was now passing came later and part of their agreement to build included building a sidewalk on that side of the street. So I crossed the street a few times to try and stay safe, only to give up on the south end and stick to the sea world side.

Now for the best part of the story... Coming up the east side and final stretch of my run I could see the 2 towers of my hotel ahead. I entered the lot and confirmed it was the Rosen hotel. The sign said Rosen Center anyway. My key said Rosen plaza, so this must be the convention center entrance,, right? My watch shows that I have only been out for 40 minutes. Humm this is odd as I don't usually run this fast when I'm not competing. I go into the hotel and it looks right, except everything is backwards like a mirror image, the pool is there and looks right but I must be on the opposite side. I get in the elevator, go up to the 5th floor where my room is an, what is this maintenance is in my room, wait my bed is stripped? The guy looks at my confusion as I pull out my key and he says in broken English, "Rosen Center, no Rosen Plaza". He points up the street. All of the sudden it all makes sense. So I didn't really do my 5 mile run in 40 minutes without breaking a sweat. I was at the wrong hotel! My hotel was about a mile up the road! This was the southern of two hotels that sort of bookended the convention center! Now that I realized this I said my goodbye and slipped back into the elevator, out the door and jogged off as if I was just starting my run. About 8 minutes later I arrived at the twin hotel to the north, the one where my room door was closed, and my key opened the door to reveal that my belongings had reappeared!

Note: I told this story to the crew on the way to the airport that day. A flight attendant who was riding along with us said, "the same thing happened to me" in her best southern belle accent. Well, it turned out that it was not exactly the same. Her experience was that she and her husband came back to the wrong hotel after driving out for lunch. But I think it confirms that there may be a problem with having hotels with similar names, layouts and decor!

UP SHIP CREEK; NO PADDLE REQUIRED!

The ship creek trail is 2.7 miles long, is a scenic trail on the north side of Anchorage connecting to Mountain View at William Tyson Elementary School.  The highlight of the trail for me is the 360 degree spiraling bridge that crosses over ship creek as well as the railroad line. The trail passes along several potential fishing spots as it meanders eastward from its starting point by the Alaska Railroad building on C street.

Ship Creek Trail

Spiral bridge over Ship Creek

OAHU RIDE: WAIKIKI to MAKAPUU

Eighteen mile bike ride with a great payoff! The ride goes east leaving Waikiki going around the outside of Diamond Head. Follow the road all the way to the Walalae golf course then go left to the highway. On the highway there is a lot of road noise but there is a nice shoulder for riding. This shoulder continues almost all the way to Hanama Bay. The real pay off is from Hanama Bay to Makapuu Point. Along this stretch the views are spectacular! Unfortunately the road is narrow and windy - not very bike friendly so be very careful here! For a great view of Makapuu and beyond take the lighthouse road to the lookout on top. The ride is uphill all the way from the parking lot to the lookout, but it is downhill the rest of the way! From there to Makapuu beach is a short ride but road is very narrow and windy. If you want to get back to Waikiki quickly you can hop on the bus from Sealife Park and be back in about 20 minutes.

(click on map to enlarge)