After the excitement of a white Christmas in Winnipeg has passed and with the prospect of many more months of snow, it’s time to head south, way south, with our bicycles in tow, to find summer in New Zealand.
Author Archives: Kim Ross
Junk Drawer Junk
Most of us have a junk drawer in our kitchen that accumulates all the bits and pieces of our lives that don’t fit anywhere else; the scissors and tape, the paper clips, the loose change, the Chapstick, the button to some unknown shirt, the key to some unknown lock, a single shoe lace and the flashlight without a battery. I have a drawer like this and I have cupboard like this, too, with cups full of foreign coins from countries I may visit again, eye glasses with out-of-date prescriptions, all the takeout menus I’ll ever need, and my Hello Kitty Pez dispenser which is just too cute to throw away.
Cats and Bicycles
Okay. I confess. I’m a cat person. I also, of course, love riding my bike but I never imagined that these two passions could overlap, but apparently they can.
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You Can’t Beat City Hall
Well, you can’t fight City Hall but that doesn’t mean that you can’t comment on or perhaps complain about the things that happen in the running of the city that don’t make sense.
Fact or Fiction?
One of my favorite things to do while I am cycling at the lake is to connect with some of the many cyclists who are doing cross-Canada cycling trips. Continue reading
The Homecoming
As the Cycle of Hope comes to an end, I would like to say that though I have blathered on for almost two weeks, to the annoyance of some, about the ride, it isn’t really about the ride.
Big Falls to Little Falls
I wonder if the people who planned this trip had a bit of a sense of humor when they picked out our final destination for the ride. Twelve days ago, we set out from Niagara Falls, not the tallest waterfalls in the world, but the one which has the largest flow rate of any waterfall in the world. Today, we finish at Little Falls, Minnesota. Big Falls to Little Falls.
Part Boot Camp – Part Holiday
So what does the typical Cycle of Hope day look like?
The Slow Road
We have been very lucky to experience a ride that has taken advantage of some of the most dramatic waterways in North America. We have ridden on the shores of Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan. We ferried across Lake Michigan on the S.S. Badger. Today, we followed the Mississippi River on the Great River Road. It is a scenic byway that follows the Mississippi from its headwaters in Minnesota until it reaches the Gulf of Mexico in New Orleans. It is 3000 miles long and touches on 10 states. (Details are available at Great River Road).
Don’t Tell Anyone But
We have been at this for over a week now, having left on Monday, July 6, with one day off this past Saturday. I have to admit that the fatigue from riding lots and lots of miles every day is finally setting in.
Well Spoke'n 