I biked 48 miles yesterday. Yeah, it's an e-bike, but still...
We made it down to the Stewart Tunnel just south of Belleville. The quarter-mile tunnel has a curve that makes its center completely dark.
We biked through the tunnel and back twice — something I can do easily now! — before heading home, via Paoli, where we got some Babcock ice cream at the Paoli Bread and Brat House.
As for the Stewart Tunnel:
Work started on the tunnel on Dec. 13, 1886, with small construction crews starting at both the north and south ends. Some of the workers were local farmers who joined the construction crews to supplement their earnings during the severe drought of 1887. Each worker was paid $1.25 per day....
Hand drills were used to make holes in the limestone for explosives. A hoisting apparatus was built at the north entrance to lift the rock out of the cut and later, two steam shovels were added, the larger one weighing 48 tons. The excavated material on the north end of the tunnel was hauled on horse drawn carts north about one-half mile. A smaller 20-ton steam shovel was used at the south end. The material excavated at the south end was dumped into cars on the little locomotive the workers called "Stella," which pushed the cars out to the Lynn Hollow dump.
In July, the crews got equipment in place for compressed air drills to replace the steam operated drills. In August, a 10-ton, 120-horsepower Mongul boiler arrived for the compressed air machinery. It took 12 men and 12 horses to move the boiler the five miles from Monticello....
Finished in December 1887, it was a feat of the era's engineering that construction from these two ends met exactly in the middle. One side of the tunnel was off by about one inch and the other side was off by less than three-quarters of an inch. Almost perfection....
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Sorry, I don't mean to steal your limelight, but........you do have a Puget Sound audience.
Last week, the wife took me on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. It starts up north in Duvall, runs past Snoqualimie Falls, and terminates at Rattlesnake lake. It's 39 miles one-way on an old rail bed, and the uphill grade never exceeds 2%. The north-bound return route is all down hill.
Highly recommended, and I did the entire trail on a 40 lb rental bike with just 3 speeds.
Wow i biked 25 miles yesterday and the last hill at Seminole drew me to a halt for short time, but you and Mead crushed it although the old railroad line doesn’t exceed 6 degrees of inclin,. Now what to do this rainy day,
As for the lack of incline... true re the Badger State Trail, which is rail-to-trail. But when we got out at Paoli, we did about 5 miles on very hilly roads. I enjoyed that immensely because that's where the e-bike is most noticeably helpful. Meade is not on an e-bike and he's a much stronger cyclist than I am, but I could always smoke him on those hills. Up and down hills is more challenge and more fun. I agree!
I am worried about getting hit by a car though. There's almost no traffic on those great hilly roads out there, and the cars I have seen give a very wide berth to us, but it only takes one inattentive/drunk driver to blow you away.
Nice. My wife and son did a 50 miler with some scouts. Rainy trip, but they did well. Their odometer ended up showing 55 miles.
I didn't do any miles yeasterday, owing to constant thunderstorms on the radar.
Hills shouldn't matter if you have gears. You go slower but it's no more effort.
You're most efficient uphill anyway. All your work is saved as potential energy, instead of being dissipated right away as heat.
Yesterday, a friend and I biked from Cedarburg to the Milwaukee lakefront via the Interurban and Oak Leaf trails, with a stop at Whole Foods for lunch. Round trip, according to my Garmin: 42.21 miles. We're preparing for the Door County Century in the fall.
My dog is my campanion, and she can't ride a bicycle so we're limited to walking. We go about 25 miles/week. She weighs 85 lbs so I'm not going to pedal for her. Maybe someday if they make an e-bike with a sidecar.
he weighs 85 lbs so I'm not going to pedal for her. Maybe someday if they make an e-bike with a sidecar.
two words: dog sled bike!
Why pedal, when your dog can do the work?
The longest tunnel at the Hiawatha Trail (MT) is 1.6 miles. It's lit for half way, then you have to rely on the other bikers' lights.
Unfortunately a lot of retards go on that ride because of the easy grade and I wrecked due to some old guy popping out of nowhere sans lumination.
Good for you, Althouse.
"but it only takes one inattentive/drunk driver to blow you away."
I wouldn't ride a motorcycle or moped, not with the number of people talking or texting on their cellphone.
And a quickie in the tunnel, well done. But would have been more manly if Meade had thrown his bike down, rather than put it on the kickstand.
You biked 48 miles, I flew about 1000 miles. Up down, up down, up down. Delta doesn't really go where I wanted to get to.
Wait a minute. Is that a picture of Meade wearing shorts?
"but it only takes one inattentive/drunk driver to blow you away."
I wouldn't ride a motorcycle or moped, not with the number of people talking or texting on their cellphone.
Motorcycle. Thirty five operations in a year and a half with painful recoveries. Almost constant infections. Now, 50/50 whether they can save his leg or will amputate. Loss of everything, back home with mom and dad as caretakers Low speed accident with driver texting while driving. Seconds will change your life forever.
35 years or so ago when I last rode that trail, there were gigantic doors on the tunnel portals.
"And a quickie in the tunnel, well done."
Hey! It was completely dark in there.
And you can see approaching lights from very far away.
Blogger AllenS said...”Wait a minute. Is that a picture of Meade wearing shorts?”
I believe that counts as an exception under §3(c) of Althouse’s sartorial rules for men. Remember: men are to dress for women and to undress for other men. That’s just the way she likes it.
And Meade can wear shorts for at least 3 reasons:
1. I have always recognized the appropriateness of shorts when you're participating in a sport for which the official gear is shorts.
2. There's an exception if you look good enough in shorts.
3. I'm super-accommodating to Meade.
Prof Althouse my partner bought e-bike a few weeks ago so she could feel comfortable going on bike rides with me, she greatly enjoys her new bike and it's all due to you and your posts about your new e-bike.
Any recommendations on comfy biking shorts for long distance biking? Or seats?
Curious George said...I wouldn't ride a motorcycle or moped, not with the number of people talking or texting on their cellphone.
You just need to get their attention. I like to survive and even enjoy Calcutta mania, for one recent example, on a 50K Dakar-style enduro, dressed flash. That means moto gear, not ADV gear, for those non-wrinklies here. If you’re on your pegs and moving fast, they mostly freeze. Actually, I’m not kidding. Doesn’t work where more than 50% of the local population doesn’t ‘open defecate’, as they describe technically, is my global rule of thumb.
That's cool that Wisconsin has repurposed outdoor rec structures like that.
@jwl
Cool. I’m glad to help. I’m eager to get this info out. I think it’s transformative for couples.
Hey I biked through Paoli yesterday too! I participated in the Steeple to Steeple bike Ride for Hunger yesterday and the route was Fitchburg to Verona, Paoli, Oregon and then back to Fitchburg for 32 miles in total. I haven’t done that loop in a few years and Sun Valley Parkway kicked my butt. Either the hill got steeper and longer or I aged!!!! While I am still riding my road bike and plan to continue for some time - I am definitely going to buy an e-Bike at some point. I especially think they would be great for young families! I see people zipping around with an e cargo bike - with 2 kiddos and they are not struggling - they are a wonderful invention!
Last I heard ebikes are still considered motor vehicles in WI, ones that do not meet MVSS, and so are not technically allowed on streets and are banned from any non-motorized vehicle trails. Have the state statutes changed? In California it is a free for all with electric bikes, scooters and other vehicles sharing sidewalks, bike trails and streets. It would be good to get clarity from the legislature so it does not have to be made up by cops on the beat and judges.
A couple of weeks ago I took a LONG motorcycle ride. I was wearing a FitBit watch. It, apparently, read the vibrations of the ride as steps.
But I'm not saying I took 138,000+ steps, nope, not me, nope.
Looks like a great ride. And the ebike allowed you to go farther out than you likely would have knowing you have to pedal back.
I saw some of this trail when I stayed in Monroe during my daughter's UW-Madison graduation a number of years back. Still haven't gotten to ride it though.
Great job! It won't be long before you get a Strava account. :)
FullMoon, so sorry to hear of your accident. Keep your morale up. Alive but perhaps not kicking is still better than almost any other way your conscious atoms could be configured.
Get well.
Be careful on the roads,Althouse!! Please. Inattentive drivers will always exist, drunks driving in the middle of the day will always exist, and now we have inattentive and possibly drunk drivers texting away. A friend of mine was struck on an empty country road by a drunk at 11 in the morning. He bike was in a tree, his shoes 30'yards away. His brain injury will impair him for the rest of his days. Job gone. Wife gone. Be careful. Please.
"Last I heard ebikes are still considered motor vehicles in WI, ones that do not meet MVSS, and so are not technically allowed on streets and are banned from any non-motorized vehicle trails."
That's not what they told me at Trek when I bought it. I feel sure I am in compliance.
@Michael
There were 2 recent incidents here in Madison where pedestrians on the sidewalk were killed by cars.
I'm very wary of biking around cars and have been trying to avoid it, but you can be too avoidant, and people are sometimes killed at home, so it doesn't work 100% to do anything and of course, in the end, something will kill you.
Anyway, I'm really safety oriented but also aware I can't control the world or be immortal. I think getting out is healthful and I'm trying not to be too timid about living. You know, that's an important perspective. You can't be so vigilant about dying that you fail to live, and worse than dying is not living.
It's not the years in your life, but the life in your years that counts.
My sister was hit by a car while biking to work, appropriately kitted out and in the bike lane. She recovered and still bikes but the ol' bod is never quite the same after that.
My husband's girlfriend bled to death in his arms when they were teenagers. Drunk driving a box truck hit the car she was driving while he was in the passenger seat. Drunk died on the scene, also.
My cousin was hit and killed by a drunk driver at 13 while walking home from wrestling practice at 4 in the afternoon.
Be careful out there, people.
Well since you asked, I did 34 miles yesterday round trip from Urbandale to Minburn Iowa on the lovely Raccoon River Trail. No "e" in my bike yet. Tried out some new biking shorts. Not awesome unfortunately.
Someone downthread ask for bike shorts recommendations. My advice: don't skimp. Pearl Izumis (now part of "Big Bika" Aka Shimano) are generally good. Don't wash in detergent.
Generally, ebikes that are "pedal assist" are legal on all trails. Once you loose the pedal assist component and add a throttle for the most part they become "street" scooters. I don't think the regs for ebikes are calibrated quite right yet.
It discriminates against women, older people, and persons with disabilities not to permit these bikes on trails. It would be privileging men and those favored with excellent health to forbid them.
Not sure where the "women" part of that discrimination comes from he says to the resident of the home state of Susie Favor Hamilton.
I have no problem with ebikes on trails riden by anyone . . . . .yet.
But, I'm not sure why adding a throttle should change the trail legality of a lightweight vehicle. I don't have the answers or even a proposal, it's just that the regs still seem arbitrary and capricious to date. NBD - hopefully they'll evolve
Good for you. The e-bike looks like fun. Glad you enjoy it.
I have been trying to ride one of my bikes every week this spring but whenever I have time it's raining. Like today. One of the trails I ride most frequently requires a 2-3 day recovery after a heavy rain and we haven't had 2-3 days without a rain all spring.
Rails-to-trails conversions are wonderful. Near where i live here in TN we have the Virginia Creeper Trail, which runs from Abingdon, VA, to White Top, NC, via Damascus, VA. It requires a constant ascent from Damascus to White Top, with about half of the total climb in the last third. It's gotten to be a tough climb for an old geezer like me but there are services that will take you to the top for a modest fee so you can just ride down. It's a great ride, by beautiful mountain pastures and waterfalls in the creek alongside the trail. An e-bike would be fun on the trail but since about 1/3 of it is also a segment of the Appalachian Trail it probably would not be allowed.
There is a local rider, known as "The Legend", from nearby Bristol, who is about 85 and has averaged riding the trail about 5 days a week since 1990, doing round trips out of Abingdon. As of last year he has ridden 192,400 miles.
My favorite trail in the Atlanta are is the Silver Comet, another rails-to-trails conversion named for the old passenger train that used to run from Birmingham to New York via Atlanta. It goes from northwest of Atlanta all the way to the AL line and then joins the Chief Lidiga Trail over to Anniston, 103 miles total. I have done 44 miles on it. I can highly recommend it and the Virginia Creeper to any of you who enjoy biking vacations.
I have had two pair of Pearl Izumi shorts for the past couple of years and will never wear anything else. I have a Brooks B-17 saddle on on of my bikes. It looks like it would be too hard on your rear end but I have found it to be the most comfortable saddle for long bike rides. You can usually find them on Amazon.
"Not sure where the "women" part of that discrimination comes from he says to the resident of the home state of Susie Favor Hamilton."
She competed against women. Put her in with the men and they would win. I'm sure some women can outpace men in cycling, but in most couples the man is stronger than the woman and for the two to ride together, unless they use a tandem bike, he will have to ride more slowly for her or she will be straining in a way that he is not or some combination of the those things (which is what I was doing with Meade before I got the e-bike).
One of my favorite loops in Colorado puts me through these two tunnels on the way up:
https://www.outtherecolorado.com/the-haunted-tunnels-of-gold-camp-road/
I usually do that ride (Captain Jack's) early, just past dawn when I get to the lower Captain Jack's trailhead, so both tunnels are pitch-black in the middle. Feels like I'm floating through them - but I have to admit that I haven't noticed the e-bike-like ghostly assist you can supposedly experience in tunnel #2...
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