Sunday, January 23, 2011
My Bicycle Tour Wishlist #1
Natchez Trace Parkway: I rode about 60 miles on this excellent and bike friendly route that goes from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS. It is full of old growth pine forests and awesome camping and no commercial vehicles allowed. Ben and I rode the final 60 miles of the Trace as it's called down there. I had to ride the entire stretch on a broken spoke, but that didn't prove to be an issue at all. I got the thing fixed in Natchez at some car shop or something. Cheap, and good service too. From the first turn onto the Trace, I knew this would be a place I would tour the length of one day. Total Length: 444 miles See More Here and here. Maybe I can do it this coming autumn, or next spring. Hopefully sooner.
Monday, January 17, 2011
I Should Explain Myself Briefly
I am a man who loves his family, his friends, his music and his bicycle. I love to ride it all day long and I want to all the time. I can't wait for the day when my 3 and a half month old son Ari Dustin Larson is able to follow behind me in a little trailer. I love going on bicycle adventures. Only having been on one so far, I may be jumping the gun a bit with this blog, but I'd like to do it while I want to, and then who knows. It'll be here as long as this site lasts I suppose. That's good enough. I can't remember everything forever.
I rode once from St. Louis to New Orleans with
my friend Ben Oney, who started in Minnesota somewhere. Ben started a blog called Careening South, which I sort of took over once I joined the ride. Using my Blackberry phone, I wrote a post every day after riding, or almost every day that is, and would e-mail the posts to my Dad whenever I'd have enough of a signal. It was the shit! I loved every minute of that ride, except the night behind the church. That sucked totally.
The idea for the name of my blog came from a term Ben taught me on the road one day in the Tennessee back country. Big ringin' it is when you're riding in the highest gears you have for an extended period of time because your momentum is going crazy. Because that is my favorite feeling out on the road, I decided to call this Big Ringin' It after those times.
So, I'll write about the rides I go on from now on. It was fun to write, and I just looked back at it and it was reminishitsville! I'll include some pictures I take along the way and of course all kinds of incomplete and terribly written accounts of what happens.
I love you for reading this.
I rode once from St. Louis to New Orleans with
my friend Ben Oney, who started in Minnesota somewhere. Ben started a blog called Careening South, which I sort of took over once I joined the ride. Using my Blackberry phone, I wrote a post every day after riding, or almost every day that is, and would e-mail the posts to my Dad whenever I'd have enough of a signal. It was the shit! I loved every minute of that ride, except the night behind the church. That sucked totally.The idea for the name of my blog came from a term Ben taught me on the road one day in the Tennessee back country. Big ringin' it is when you're riding in the highest gears you have for an extended period of time because your momentum is going crazy. Because that is my favorite feeling out on the road, I decided to call this Big Ringin' It after those times.
So, I'll write about the rides I go on from now on. It was fun to write, and I just looked back at it and it was reminishitsville! I'll include some pictures I take along the way and of course all kinds of incomplete and terribly written accounts of what happens.
I love you for reading this.
Nate and Ian Decide to ride the Katy Trail in 24 hours
It was after we'd been hanging out for a while. I mentioned Ian's piece of shit bike that he left in my back yard about a year ago, and 20 minutes later we decided we would bike the entire Katy Trail. Ten minutes after that, we decided we could probably ride the entire trail in 24 hours.
For those who don't know, the Katy Trail is a 264.6 mile long bicycle only path that goes from St. Charles to Clinton MO, or back the other way if you like. We'll take the Amtrak to Clinton with our bikes, and ride east till we get to St. Charles, and hopefully get picked up by someone with a big truck to put our bikes in.
A picture taken from the Katy Trail website. Wonder what it looks like at 3.47 am...
A lot of things excite me about the idea of this trip. One, Ian and I never ride together, well to be fair, he never rides at all. I've been trying to get him into the idea of a short tour, but he's consistently against the idea. Somehow I must have said the right combination of words, and I convinced him to do it. So that is cool. I also have always wanted to do some kind of 24 hour bicycle challenge, and this is a good one to start with. Also, the whole trip will take one whole day, so I can do it on a weekend, or a weekday that Crystal is off work. Easy peasy! It would be so awesome to ride that far, and only need a backpack full of food and water. So cool. It sounds like such fun. I'll bet I can convince a couple more friends to try it with us. Definitely Steven at least. Also, it would be so cheap. I mean, I would only need 24 hours worth of food and wouldn't have to pay for any accommodations. Cheapy! I think I'd use a backpack for food and this trek top-of-rack bag my dad gave me to carry the tools and spares and etc. It would be cool to have some kind of clothes that has tons of pockets, maybe I could do it with no backpack at all!!! Maybe not. We'll have to see. I can't freakin wait to go!
We're planning to do it sometime in March. So, time to start training!
For those who don't know, the Katy Trail is a 264.6 mile long bicycle only path that goes from St. Charles to Clinton MO, or back the other way if you like. We'll take the Amtrak to Clinton with our bikes, and ride east till we get to St. Charles, and hopefully get picked up by someone with a big truck to put our bikes in.
A picture taken from the Katy Trail website. Wonder what it looks like at 3.47 am...A lot of things excite me about the idea of this trip. One, Ian and I never ride together, well to be fair, he never rides at all. I've been trying to get him into the idea of a short tour, but he's consistently against the idea. Somehow I must have said the right combination of words, and I convinced him to do it. So that is cool. I also have always wanted to do some kind of 24 hour bicycle challenge, and this is a good one to start with. Also, the whole trip will take one whole day, so I can do it on a weekend, or a weekday that Crystal is off work. Easy peasy! It would be so awesome to ride that far, and only need a backpack full of food and water. So cool. It sounds like such fun. I'll bet I can convince a couple more friends to try it with us. Definitely Steven at least. Also, it would be so cheap. I mean, I would only need 24 hours worth of food and wouldn't have to pay for any accommodations. Cheapy! I think I'd use a backpack for food and this trek top-of-rack bag my dad gave me to carry the tools and spares and etc. It would be cool to have some kind of clothes that has tons of pockets, maybe I could do it with no backpack at all!!! Maybe not. We'll have to see. I can't freakin wait to go!
We're planning to do it sometime in March. So, time to start training!
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