This is our Bigdaddy—the Tour for Cancer Century. The route was originated by Dennis Robinson to touch nearly all the clinics in our health network, and it is one of the premier long rides in the Upper Left-Hand Corner of Illinois.
We start from our YMCA located on the Highland Community College campus and cycle north by northwest through the villages of Lena and Warren. The route then swings southwest down gorgeous Fiedler Road to Canyon Park Road—a wide blacktop which rolls south towards Stockton through a broad valley.
Our destination in downtown Stockton is Karen’s Restaurant for an early lunch. Our right of passage is a beastly 15% grade on Binkley Road which we call the Binkley Bonk. Pray that a dog doesn’t chase at your heels on the way up as it did me the first time I climbed the Bonk. Once on top, your reward is a spectacular westerly view from the summit.
Karen’s has humongous sandwiches and yummy pie. We tucked into piled high turkey clubs and bacon cheese burgers. Darrell Windell lured us to the rhubarb pie, and this prompted Andrew “Diet Right” Soria to proclaim that we were “an eating club with a bike disorder.”
From Stockton, our Century heads east over to the borough of Kent. My legs felt like lead with all that lounging and eating at Karen’s. But my tum was pleasantly full with fresh warmed homemade pie.
South of Kent, we tackle some big rollers and swing into another beautiful valley which meanders southwest along Loran Road towards Mount Carroll. We lovingly call this the Valle de Loran.
As we approached Mount Carroll, the pace quickened. Evidentally Karen’s pie wasn’t enough to satisfy our craving for sweets. Dr. Mike Perry and Chuck Garrett were locked in on Hawaiian Pineapple and other Blizzards at the Dairy Queen. Their flying P-38 recumbents set us up with a nice draft down to Mount Carroll.
Our route from Mount Carroll to Lanark runs off Route 40 onto Cyclone Ridge Road. Praise Almighty, the winds were out of the southwest. We set our spinnakers on Cyclone Ridge, and flew over the rollers to Lanark. From Lanark, it’s back to Freeport and Highland College via the village of Shannon with a short stop at Casey’s if called for.
Wanna ride this fabulous Century? Drop me a note. The course markers should remain visible for the next few months, and I’ll send you a map and detailed directions.
Better yet, come ride with us on June 28, 2008. All contributions go directly to our Ferguson Cancer Center here in Freeport.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Lanesboro
Where is Lanesboro, and what is so special about it? To find out, we ventured out of the Upper Left Hand Corner of Illinois. Our destination was the Lower Right Hand Corner of Minnesota and their smooth bicycle trail which has been in existence for over twenty years.
Lanesboro is the centerpiece of this tarmac trail system. It is an enchanting enclave surrounded by limestone bluffs with the Root River running through it on its way to the great Mississippi.
“What happens in Lanesboro stays in Lanesboro.” So say the T-shirts on sale there. This must refer to cash receipts from visiting tourists, because Lanesboro is an economic tourist engine-- like the Wisconsin Dells but much more quaint and classy. And it’s all because of a bike trail.
The town also draws tattooed Harley riders and scantily clad river tubers who seek the cool ripples of the Root River. On Saturdays and Sundays it resembles Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with its cacophonous parade of two and four wheeled chrome machines.
But the majority of folks arrive with bike racks on the backs of there SUVs and vans. They come as families and friends to ride the Root River Trail. They come, as we did, to enjoy the après biciclette when the bikes are in the barn, the sun is over the yardarm, and extraordinary wine is lovingly uncorked. They seek the succulent slightly pink legs of lamb arched delicately over beds of couscous graced with mango jalapeno chutney. Peddle pusher or not, this is gastronomic heaven.
Our appetites were fed by the fresh out-of-doors, as we rose early in the morning sparkle to ride bicycles. During midday, we poked into an array of smart shops and lunched on a shady deck overlooking the river. Following lunch and the Schell’s pilsner, we napped in the afternoon with Wallace Stegner’s “Angle of Repose” by our bedside.
In the early evening, we rose to observe Doctor Mike “Sparky” Perry assemble a great wood fire on the lawn and sample the wines he had carefully chosen for this magical weekend.
Who says bicycle riders are boisterous barbarians? Admittedly, we were a loud as we pulled our vinyl Adirondacks around the roaring “Sparky” Perry fire. As the vino flowed from our throats to our brains, we leapt from our seats to dance and chant like Sioux warriors.
Here we were on a splendid weekend-- long married couples sharing our love for life and cycling in this special place. I say long married, because we couples together represented over 200 years of devotion.
Thanks go to our beloved Commodore to for arranging our weekend in Lanesboro. We may have been too hard on him of late complaining of his appalling routes through the Upper Left Hand Corner of Illinois. But he showed himself to be a cultured gentleman along the banks of the Root River in Lanesboro, Minnesota.
Lanesboro is the centerpiece of this tarmac trail system. It is an enchanting enclave surrounded by limestone bluffs with the Root River running through it on its way to the great Mississippi.
“What happens in Lanesboro stays in Lanesboro.” So say the T-shirts on sale there. This must refer to cash receipts from visiting tourists, because Lanesboro is an economic tourist engine-- like the Wisconsin Dells but much more quaint and classy. And it’s all because of a bike trail.
The town also draws tattooed Harley riders and scantily clad river tubers who seek the cool ripples of the Root River. On Saturdays and Sundays it resembles Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with its cacophonous parade of two and four wheeled chrome machines.
But the majority of folks arrive with bike racks on the backs of there SUVs and vans. They come as families and friends to ride the Root River Trail. They come, as we did, to enjoy the après biciclette when the bikes are in the barn, the sun is over the yardarm, and extraordinary wine is lovingly uncorked. They seek the succulent slightly pink legs of lamb arched delicately over beds of couscous graced with mango jalapeno chutney. Peddle pusher or not, this is gastronomic heaven.
Our appetites were fed by the fresh out-of-doors, as we rose early in the morning sparkle to ride bicycles. During midday, we poked into an array of smart shops and lunched on a shady deck overlooking the river. Following lunch and the Schell’s pilsner, we napped in the afternoon with Wallace Stegner’s “Angle of Repose” by our bedside.
In the early evening, we rose to observe Doctor Mike “Sparky” Perry assemble a great wood fire on the lawn and sample the wines he had carefully chosen for this magical weekend.
Who says bicycle riders are boisterous barbarians? Admittedly, we were a loud as we pulled our vinyl Adirondacks around the roaring “Sparky” Perry fire. As the vino flowed from our throats to our brains, we leapt from our seats to dance and chant like Sioux warriors.
Here we were on a splendid weekend-- long married couples sharing our love for life and cycling in this special place. I say long married, because we couples together represented over 200 years of devotion.
Thanks go to our beloved Commodore to for arranging our weekend in Lanesboro. We may have been too hard on him of late complaining of his appalling routes through the Upper Left Hand Corner of Illinois. But he showed himself to be a cultured gentleman along the banks of the Root River in Lanesboro, Minnesota.
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