Sioux Falls South Dakota - Bike Ride
Sioux Falls is a great place to go for a biek ride! There is an 18 mile trail around the central part of the city. This trail extends along a somewhat circular river course through several parks. Underpasses were included at most all busy intersections. At one point where the trail goes up a hill the designers actually put switchbacks up the grade! Note: As of the date of this ride the south western section was under construction and requires about a 1 mile ride on gravel.

Washington DC Bike Ride

Washington DC is a great place to ride bike! There are several nice trails including rail to trails taking one to any number of directions to and from our nation’s capital. I was staying very close to Regan National airport. Considering this I chose to join the Mt Vernon trail since it goes right by the airport. The Mt Vernon trail is 18 miles long winding along the Potomac river to George Washington’s famous home with the same name. I had a different destination in mind though. I went the opposite direction with the desire to ride along Capital Creek. In order to do this I crossed the Potomac to the western end of the mall stopping to see a few favorite monuments, and then made my way to Georgetown, where the trail begins. I rode about 8 miles up this trail before I decided it was time to turn around. At the far north end I went through an interesting rail bridge. The Dalecarlia Bridge is a beautiful roman arch bridge made of brick. Within the passage way were 4 “duck ins” that rail workers if they happened to be in the tunnel when “train time” came. Incidentally, this former rail and before that the capital canal were used to transport coal to the capital until gas and electricity became the preferred form of energy.
23 Miles

P.S. I wasnt really in this picture but I was really there. Thank you Photoshop for allowing me be "in" the picture!

Cycling from Boston Logan Airport to... the Beach!

June 16, 2008

It is possible to ride a bike from Boston Logan airport and be at the Atlantic shore within 30 minutes or less. From Logan Airport Eastbound to the Atlantic through Winthrop out to the Deer Island water treatment plant. Riding to a treatment plant does not sound so great, but there is actually a nice trail around the plant along the harbor on one side and ocean on the other. Traffic was not especially pleasant when I got on the road back towards the airport.

Had I riden the other direction (West) from Logan Airport it is possible that I would have ended up in downtown Boston via tunnel but that will have to be determined on another day.

My route is show on the map with yellow highlighter, starting point on the left side.

Sawyer Camp Bike Trail - a ride! SFO

Crystal Springs Reservoir is the location of the Sawyer Camp Bike trail. The Sawyer Camp Trail also includes San Andreas Lake. In a roughly 3 hour time frame, I was able to climb up from the hotel, just south of SFO airport, through Hillsbough via Skyfarm road. There is a killer hill on Skyfarm but the payoff is worth it is the most direct route to the Lake. Additionaly, Hillsbough is a beautiful community with wonderfully landscaped homes and great views of the San Francisco Bay. Among the interesting finds along the Sawyer Bike trail were the second largest Jepsen Laural tree in the state of California! This tree location is not well marked near the water fountain midpoint on the 6 mile trail. What is a laural tree anyway? The camping site of the party who discovered San Franciso Bay. Could this have been the Sawyer party? The exact location of the camp site apparently lies under San Andreas Lake. The most interesting discovery though, was a speed limit sign along the trail (see photo) with warning.


I wonder how they enforce the speed limit? Does the sheriff have radar on bike patrol? Maybe they enforce this by air? If so, do they use ultralights with radar?



After riding up and down the trail I returned the the hotel via Crystal Springs road to San Mateo, then up the bay trail. Total 25 miles.

I have to make a comment about my picture above. Yes that really is Crystal Springs Reservoir, BUT...I dont really look like that! I'm much younger; No, really! It seems that every time I take a picture of myself with my phone camera I have to squint to see the view finder to see if I am in the picture. You'd be surprised at how many times I am not even in the frame! So there you have it, it's not the real me; me= much younger.

American River Sacramento

Another day to ride the American River in Sacramento. The day turned out to be windy and I was a bit run down from the previous day. I spent the day sight seeing via bike. Old town, Discovery Park. The Capital; what beautiful ground this is on!

No pictures (

The Forbidden Drive in Wissahickon Valley

I landed in Philadelphia with an entire afternoon to explore. I found myself in Wissahickon Valley Park riding my bike on the "Forbidden Drive." The ride wanders through a valley once described by Edgar Allen Poe as such beauty that "every bard in England" would want to come to see if they knew about it. The ride from downtown covered 26 miles round trip.





An interesting side note was the Pennsylvania primary was in progress and man the town was full of activity!

27 miles on 13hours at LAX

LAX – Los Angeles

April 16th in LA was a nice sunny day for a ride! Temperatures in the 60’s with winds of about 10 mph out of west were the conditions. I rode from the hotel on the LAX strip around the north side of the airport (Westchester Blvd) to the beach. From there rode 11 miles further on the Marvin Braude bike trail taking me about 10 miles further, all the way to Torrance. Along the way I past El Segundo, which I think consists of nothing but power plants one after another. Then came the real beach communities; Hermosa, Manhattan, and Redondo Beaches. I think it was Manhattan Beach where the most spectacular houses were. One that stood out was all glass with a shiny chromed Harley in the living room! There several others that I swore I'd seen in movies! The bike trail actually goes through a parking garage on the south end of the Redondo Beach Marina! The beach activity didn’t really take off until I was returning. On the way back I observed a wave kayaker, kite surfer both preparing to enter the water, a number of surfers that were not out earlier. I also noted a hang glider port, I think in El Segundo but no hang gliders. My seat nearly fell off as I was approaching the hotel. I did not have an Allen wrench with me to secure the seat to the post. I’ll be doing some tool shopping this week. Total: 27 miles