There seems to be some similarity of riding conditions between Zhoukou and Lincoln recently. Though we haven’t had temperatures below the teens here in Zhoukou this winter, it has been unusually snowy. Spring is considered to begin after Spring Festival, A.K.A. Lunar New Year, February 15 this year. Palmettos, peanuts, and cotton are common sights, with some farming continuing in greenhouses surrounding the city all winter long, so you know the winters are milder here. […]

It’s finally warmed up and the ice ruts have melted away. This means the training Steve had delayed must now be in earnest. Why training, you may ask? My occasional riding partner for thirty-some years, Steve, and I are planning to leave on a bike tour from Ventiane, Laos to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in three weeks. You may say that it’s too late to train, but I won’t comment. As anyone long married […]

tl;dr version: No, they haven’t found my two stolen bikes. And it’s not likely that they will. It’s a surreal moment, that moment when you pull up Lincoln Nebraska Stolen/Missing Bikes or Nebraska Stolen Bike Alert and start to type “STOLEN!” You’ve read too many of these posts. You know the exact format: make, model, color, distinguishing characteristics, location of theft, type of lock breached (because we all want to know). You’ve simmered with rage […]

Grades were submitted early last week, so I had visions of long, happy rides through the countryside to celebrate. Mother Nature had other ideas however, in the form of the biggest snowfall in about 10 years for Zhoukou. Sure, we get more snow and lower temperatures in Lincoln, but they’re not set up for it here. There is no snow removal equipment other than people with regular shovels, and a few excavators borrowed from some […]

Most weeks I can manage two good rides of at least 50 miles each on my two days off, with some other shorter rides in between. This past week was the third week of my class’s finals, so with finishing up my 491 students’ individual oral exams, grading work, and compiling grades, that was not possible. Finally, yesterday I managed a fifty mile New Year’s Eve ride, and talked Steve into coming along. I promised […]