Nerd Em's Adventures
Way back in 1994, I got my roommate assignment for my freshman year at Colorado State. Back in the days before everyone had an email address and mobile phone, my future roommate and I wrote letters to each other in the lead-up to move-in day and then talked on a… gasp… landline phone. Read more
It’s early. 6.15am. There is frost on the ground and it’s 30F. Importantly, there is no fog. My flight out of Albury will not be delayed.
I’m sitting in our little airport waiting to board. Read more
Today is just a short day. Baby H is 11-months-old. She enjoys riding in the trailer, but only for 2-3 hours at a time. So our days will purposely be very short.
Jen’s mom, sister and nephew are going to go on a cave tour first thing. Then Sister C is going to drive up to Custer and ride back on the Mickelson Trail to meet us. Jen’s mom will meet us all in Custer later. Read more
It’s still raining and COLD in the morning. Supposedly, the showers should ease this afternoon, but at 9am, it is not looking good. In a brief break between showers earlier in the morning, I darted out of my tent and packed up everything. I managed to keep all my gear dry, but who likes packing up a soaking wet tent when it is 30-something F? Yuck! I pack up Jenny’s wet tent, too. But tent duty is more suited to my skills than baby duty! I assist with Sister C’s tent – it’s too big to do alone! Read more
If you’ve never ridden the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway through Custer State Park in South Dakota, then you must! It should most definitely be on your bike bucket list. It is so, so fun and very scenic. It is a twisty, curvy, climbing, descending piece of heaven. Go early in the morning and you won’t even have to worry about traffic – because it does get traffic-y as the day goes past 10am. Read more
The forecast is not good today. Yesterday evening, after Sister C and Baby K left for home, there were some thunderstorms and I hit the tent in between heavy rain showers. It rained through the night but there are signs of clearing in the morning. Showers are forecast after 10am.
So the plan is to dash up to Rochford early and meet Jen’s mom there. We’ll reassess weather and baby needs at that time. Read more
It’s been a very wet winter in my neck of the woods. Like sloppy, soggy, sodden. The wet winter has continued into a wet spring. There’s been rain on 15 of 24 days in September. Because it’s been so wet, I’ve kept wanting to ride out to Wiesner’s Swamp since it is likely to be full and gorgeous. However, through July and August that ride just kept not happening.
So I returned from 3 weeks in America on Monday evening. It quickly became apparent that there is still water everywhere. There has been enough flooding at work that our normal carpark access was cut off for several days by overflow from the Murray River. So all of that this week said to me that Wiesner’s Swamp should still be looking great and should still be worthy of a ride. Read more
To make my goal of riding 4,000 miles this year, with 4,000 kilometres within that being loaded touring…
I need to ride 350 miles each month, including 350 kilometres of touring: 350 miles/kms x 12 months = 4200 miles/kms
So for September I rode:
September Unloaded Miles: 205 miles
September Loaded Miles: 0 miles (0kms)
September Total Miles Ridden: 205 miles
Year to Date Unloaded: 1111 miles
Year to Date Loaded: 1919 miles (3088 kms)
Year to Date Total Miles: 3030 miles Read more
So last Monday, it looked like we might finally get in an overnight ride. After two days of rain Thurs and Friday, Saturday’s forecast was for a 20% chance of rain in the morning of only 2mm. Yay – finally a camping weekend!
Alas, as the week wore on, the forecast got worse and worse. Saturday arrived and it drizzled and rain most of the day. It took a long time for the big system to move out – but we can’t complain… the entire state of South Australia lost power when the storm rolled through there earlier in the week. Read more