Posted in Bicycle Lifestyle, Bicycle Touring on August 16, 2010| 2 Comments »
The Cyclehisers have been searching for the perfect ‘All-Rounder’ for our family alpine touring adventures, and we have landed on Rawland’s Drakkar. Today we ordered the frame set from Sean and Ann Virnig of Rawland, a courageous couple from Northfield, Minnesota.
Check out their site http://www.rawlandcycles.com/
An example of the Drakkar
Posted in Bicycle Lifestyle, Bicycle Touring, Parenting on August 12, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Mark and I took the girls on an easy mountain biking excursion up Mount Margaret recently. It absolutely blew our minds. What fun! The less interesting miles at the beginning of the trail were a breeze on the bikes, the kids stayed happy and we covered distance like never before on foot. When we reached the more technical sections near the summit, the girls were excited to get off and scramble around.
Taking the road less traveled
Eva Scrambles Near The Top
By contrast, we went hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park recently, and the girls hiked the first few miles of the trail. We moved too slowly, afternoon thunderstorms caught up with us, and the kiddos bonked early. A mountainous meltdown ensued, turning us back short of the summit.
Post-meltdown double carry. Not exactly sustainable
It is odd that, despite our love for hiking/backpacking and cycling, we have done very little mountain biking. The dilemma is, once again, how do you incorporate the kids? Our Long Haul Truckers accomplish this on pavement, albeit snugly, with racks and a Bobike child seat. But I am not one that feels very comfortable riding a road bike on single track. Especially with a kid high-centered on the back. Very few companies are designing bikes for expedition touring to begin with… add the complication of childseats, and there are really no options for less than $1500 (for the frame only). Unlike many expedition tourists we’ve been reading about, we don’t have the option of going ultra-light. We were interested in Salsa’s Fargo, but realized the Bobike/racks combo would only really work on the large frame size. Oh bother.
So for the time being, we will be mountain biking with our Big Dummies. They are sluggish, but sturdy, and the kids seem to ride on the snap deck well enough. If only we could find a way to transport them… but more on that later.
Posted in Bicycle Touring on August 4, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Mark and I took our first bicycle tour with our girls this April and May. Although we planned on blogging about the experience extensively, we found that between two small children, camping, and 30-50 mile days in the saddle, blogging was the least of our priorities. On occasions when we had the great fortune of staying with a ‘warm shower’ host with an internet connection, we found that it was much more enjoyable to truly socialize, in person, with our hosts. I digress.
The purpose of this post is to mention that I will be using this blog to share a few stories from our trip. Things we’ve learned, and to (hopefully) convince others to try and tour with their families. It’s not only doable, but life-changing and so, so much fun.
As many of you will know, the Cyclehisers toured Washington’s coast, Olympic Peninsula (the rain shadow side), and the San Juan Islands. Most folks I have chatted with were concerned about riding during the notoriously rainy Pacific northwest spring. We took precautions, like making a new cover for the Chariot (see earlier post), and being equipped with full rain suits for the girls, etc. According to some of our hosts, it was apparently one of the coolest springs on record in the Northwest and the rain+cold made for a few challenging days. Fortunately, the soggy rides typically had a warm surprise at the end of the day. Sometimes a ‘warm showers’ host would surprise us with a warm cup of Irish Breakfast, or a spaghetti dinner and homemade cherry cobbler. When we were on our own, we would locate a cafe with hot chocolate and the girls would be happy for miles to come. On rainy days, the girls spent more time in the trailer, so we had to break more often. They didn’t seem to mind however, it was often our morale, not the girls, that wavered in the wetness. They had their babies, and active imaginations to keep themselves warm.
Posted in Bicycle Touring, Travel on June 7, 2010| 1 Comment »
Dorothy had it right. There is no place like home.
We have pedaled all around the Northwest – Awakened in the most mystical of forests, breathtaken by the dramatic cliffs plummeting into the Pacific, and charmed by some of the world’s most friendly and unique people. But after all of our wandering, we have decided to return home. Home, for the time, being Fort Collins.
Having grown up in FoCo, I simply didn’t know how good we had it. Family and friends play a major role, but this small city can easily stand on its own. I will detail some of those strengths in future blogs, but for now, our decision has been made. We are digging in, setting down roots, and getting involved.
Posted in Bicycle Lifestyle, Bicycle Touring on April 21, 2010| 2 Comments »
Our Chariot Cougar 2 (2005 model) is an absolute necessity in our touring rig. We decided to purchase it used in 2006 after our first daughter was born because we were uneasy about the $600 investment in the Chassis. After 4 years of nearly daily use, we could have probably purchased a new model every year with the gas savings alone. Regardless, we still have the old model, but it has recently needed a little ‘smartening’ up. After riding around Eugene in a downpour, we realized it was ineffective at keeping the girls dry. The cloth border quickly became soaked and water started pouring in the fabric screen. A rain cover costs $44 and would cut into our touring budget, so we decided to improvise. My sister-in-law came up with the brilliant idea to use a shower curtain. The curtain cost $10 and we used a hair straightening iron to seal the seams. Voila! Now the Chariot is as waterproof as ever.
Thanks to sister Genny for the inspiration and use of her hair products
Posted in Bicycle Touring, Travel on April 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »
We love Corvallis. It is smallish, clean, green, historic and beautiful. The surrounding landscape is both agricultural and mountainous. After spending the night with Jodie and Richard (thanks for the glass necklace beads Jodie) we packed the bikes Friday morning and pedaled towards the purple lines on the bike map. First through downtown where we met mother and daughter Brandi and Alexa for a play in Riverfront Park.
Fun on the Run
We continued along the riverfront bike path and before long we were coasting in the surrounding countryside.
Papa and Eva riding the green pastures
Mary’s Peak is the highest point on Oregon’s Coastal Range and right outside of Philomath, our destination at bike path’s end.
Mary's Peak in the background
After Philomath we looped back around to the north side of Corvallis via bike paths and dedicated open spaces.
View from Midge Cramer Path
Back in Corvallis, we spent a few more hours downtown, stopping for lunch at the Old World Deli. We were lured in by the ‘World’s Best Brownies’ and ‘Championship Chili’ (both debatable) but the sandwich was fantastic and the owner/author/volleyball coach was quite amusing. It was a great conclusion to our stay in Corvallis. We will be back soon.
Note the pair of feet in the window
Benton County Courthouse
Posted in Bicycle Touring, Travel on April 18, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Now that we have been on the road for about two weeks, we are finally about to begin the bicycle portion of our tour. This ‘North by Northwest’ (NXNW) tour, as it is now being called had two objectives. The first objective was to take a bike tour somewhere beautiful in the northwest. The second, getting to know more about the cities in Oregon that we have read so much about: Eugene was the first on that list (and where both Mark and I have sought employment/education opportunities). As we examined the weather in the first days of the trip, it appeared as if ‘showers’ were expected in the northwest every day until the end of the forecast. After major snowstorms in Montana, and Eva feeling under the weather, we decided to set our sights on the Willamette valley – and to get there using the car.
A few days, and many miles later, we found ourselves in the world-class agricultural valley where we tasted the local flavor through visits to an organic bakery and the Deck Family farm. In Eugene we stayed with the ‘MacRhodes’ (as they will soon be changing their names to) who inspired us with stories from their 11,000-mile cross-continental journey and entertained us (and our daughters) with their wee Isadora.
Missy+1 and baby Isadora
The van rested up as we traveled by bike all around Eugene’s extensive bike trail network and excellent bike-facilitated streets.
Rainy morning and one of the many bridges over the Willamette
We stopped in on some local bicycle icons in Eugene such as the Center for Appropriate Transport and Bike Friday. The Waldorf school in Eugene was a dreamland, an aesthetic delight tucked away in the forest of the south hills. Eugene had a lot to offer, but probably not a place I would do anything in order to live in. We were dismayed about the level of bike theft (apparently second to only New York City) and crime in general. It was a very educational visit, however, and we met many tremendous people.
After our final day cycling Eugene, we decided to go through Corvallis on our way back to Portland. It was a beautiful drive on HWY 99W and we parked in downtown Corvallis and immediately fell in love with the little city. Local shops, a historic downtown, this placed looked and felt a lot like a west coast Fort Collins.
Post Office, Corvallis, OR
We stopped in on the local ‘Bike and Hike’ shop and chatted with a really nice fellow Jordan who explained the many attributes of the city and surrounding landscape. He recommended we supper at ‘Block 15’, a pub featuring it’s own brew and naturally-raised local meats.
Block 15
Great recommendation. Our minds were made up, we needed to spend the night in Corvallis and spend the next day exploring the city more thoroughly. An old friend from Northwest Youth Corps, Jodie, lives in Corvallis, so I e-mailed her around 5:00 pm with my fingers crossed for a floor to crash on (rain clouds were building). Sure enough, just as we were finishing dinner, Jodie called me and we had a place to stay! Hooray! A half hour later we were meeting her boyfriend Richard, their cat Holly, and turtle, iguana, fish and other family members (very exciting for the kids, as you can imagine).
So I guess what I mean to say, after all this dribble, is thanks to the MacRhodes, Jodie, and Richard for allowing us to explore both Eugene and Corvallis knowing we had a warm place to stay at night.
More on our Corvallis explorations later…
Posted in Bicycle Touring, Travel on April 14, 2010| 1 Comment »
We have been on the road since the beginning of April.
By car from Fort Collins, CO, to Bozeman MT for Easter with Oma and Opa Lighthiser.
How does the Easter Bunny turn boiled eggs into plastic?
Cold. Snow. Eva got sick, and therefore very little riding in Bozeman.
Then to Plains, MT to see Oma and Opa’s little ‘Paradise’ away from home.
Next a long day’s drive to Portland, OR where we saw a beautiful waterfall en route and stayed with my former associate at Geosyntec Annette, and her husband and son Jeff and Owen, respectively.
Next to the Deck family farm in Junction City, OR for a few days of WWOOFing (more on that delicious experience to come). 
And today and yesterday in Eugene, OR where we have had the pleasure of meeting and staying with the ‘warmshowers’ family the MacRhodes – a couple that took a 11,000 mile bike tour around the US in 2006-2007. Today we FINALLY got back on the bikes for a 28-mile tour of Eugene. It rained most of the morning and we got soaked. But no matter, a stop at a coffee shop, two coffees, one split kid’s hot chocolate, and one Clara poop later, and we were ready to ride. And to our great fortune, the skies parted, and the remainder of the evening (we rode until about 8:00 pm) was spectacular. A lovely bowl of soup with four spoons from Market of Choice and a bath, and we are all feeling warm and drowsy. Time for bed. Goodnight.
Posted in Bicycle Touring on March 11, 2010| 1 Comment »
In preparation for the bike touring season, Mark and I have been gearing up. Mark is extremely stoked, packing, and repacking panniers. He is going to be an ace by the time we hit the road. Now if only the weather would cooperate so we could do a mini-tour with the girls… Stay tuned.
Mark's Surly LHT equipped with new Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus Panniers
Mark as he contemplates the necessary gear
We will be traveling with the Bobike seats and Chariot
Posted in Bicycle Lifestyle, Bicycle Touring, Parenting, Slow Food on February 9, 2010| 1 Comment »
Since arriving in Fort Collins after leaving my job in San Diego, Mark and I have schemed. Fort Collins is a homey resting spot. A place to rest, enjoy home cooked meals, warm beds, toys for the kids, and plenty of miles of bike trails to circumnavigate the city while making the next big plan. But where to next? We appreciate Fort Collins for all of its wonderful attributes, but it is the place of my birth, and the place where wanderlust takes hold the quickest. Since I left for University in 1999, I have often stopped back in the Fort for short periods to recover, and plan my next move. Now that I have a husband, and two children, you’d think I’d have grown up. Or at least have a grown up plan. Not the case. We’ve had so many hair-brained schemes since departing the land of endless summer that our SoCal friends have begun referring to as the ‘Drifthisers’. Funny. They never visited the Wandering Cyclehisers Blog.
Anyway, for the curious, here are a few of the ideas we’ve considered/are pursuing.
– Erica goes back to school for an agricultural PhD program, somewhere overseas or in the Northwest
– Mark gets a bicycle-related job in Missoula, Montana, Eugene or Corvallis, Oregon
– Stay in FoCo and develop Mark’s Handyman on a Bike business in Fort Collins
Mark and I have each applied for positions in organizations that we are waiting to hear back from. We are keeping our fingers crossed, as each will offer unique new experiences, thriving local food systems and plenty of miles of country roads to tour on bikes. If the above-mentioned plans fall through, the major contingency plan is this:
– Move what is left of our belongings to a storage unit in Bozeman, Montana and begin the Last Chance America (LCA) tour from Bozeman, and south down the Adventure Cycling Association’s new ‘Sierra-Cascades’ route
What will it be?
Mama Cyclehiser 