Like most youngsters I owned the traditional Schwinn with a banana seat and high handlebars. That bike morphed into a CIATO 10 speed I rode during high school and college. As an adult I owned a TREK 720 for many years and rode occasionally.

In 2005, while on the South Beach diet I “plateaued” in the weight loss department. The Tour de France was all over the news and people were gaga about Lance. Riding a bike to help increase the weight loss seemed like a good idea. Over the years running had about done in my knees.

A trip to my LBS resulted in bringing home a TREK 5000. I rode that bike all over SW Wisconsin and the pounds continued to drop off. Somewhere along the line I got the touring bug and soon there was a Cannondale T2000 in the garage. Within a couple of years I had added the Bon ton Roulet, Illinois Great Rivers Ride, GRABWARR, RAGBRAI, West Shore of Lake Michigan, Tour de Wyoming, and Northwoods rides to my list of growing adventures.

A 1,000 mile circumnavigation of Wisconsin on “Connie the Cannondale” created many pleasant memories and the thought of retirement! After 31 years with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources it was time to move on. What better way to start retirement than with a trip across the US.

In 2008 I rode the TransAm. The three month, 4,400 mile trip from Yorktown, VA to Florence, OR gave me a lifetime of memories. Nearly every day there is some event that sparks a pleasant memory from that trip!



Not wanting to limit my riding adventures to North America I have also bicycled in the Burgundy region of France, the Italian Lakes area (where I was mistaken for George Clooney) and most recently along the Danube River in Hungary, Austria and the Czech Republic.

Most recently a TREK Fuel 8.0 showed up in my garage and I’ve become a mountain biker. But that is a whole different story . . . . . . . .