Exploring next door

[Bob Allen]

Friends,

As bicyclists, many of us are naturally attuned to paying close attention to our surroundings. Our lives can depend on it. Or to be less dramatic, our choice of conveyance simply encourages noticing things missed by those unfortunates trapped in zooming motor vehicles. The Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour sharpened my appreciation as a unique group ride where you focus on everything other than the rear wheel of the rider in smack in front of you. Noel Robertson encouraged us to stop, get off our bicycles, and wander into the woods to appreciate the "thousand miracles at our feet." Grant Petersen built a brand on unracering us and champions S24 overnight adventuring. Many of you stop and brew coffee or tea in underappreciated corners of your local landscape. If you follow the link, you can enjoy further encouragement from a reformed world traveler. It's a lovely essay from Alastair Humphreys. I hope it speaks to you as it does to me.

I look forward to discovering and rediscovering many of you in a Red Wing parking lot come May.

Cheers!

Bob Allen

Middleton, Wisconsin

And in case the link above fails you, or you prefer to look before you leap, here is the full link:

https://www.noemamag.com/a-single-small-map-is-enough-for-a-lifetime/?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20240203&instance_id=114245&nl=the-morning&regi_id=124768854&segment_id=157190&te=1&user_id=c44977d54733a15ab7942534e005c449

[Sandy Skilling]

Such a great read, and a thoughtful reminder to just stop where you are and start noticing!  - thank you for sharing

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[Tim Long]

Oooo, Thanks Bob, an absolute tonic, and as my advancing years circle ever more swiftly into the swirl, I've come ever more to appreciate just slowing the heck down all the more.  A practice and pilgrim-way enhanced by getting around on sixty-year old machines from England, too.  I'll see your Alistair Humphreys, and raise you two English writers:  Paul Kingsnorth, who found trying to save the environment by chaining himself to bulldozers to be futile, since The Man will not relent, and he now writes weekly about the locations and histories of holy wells in Ireland; and, William Cobbett, who at the end of the 18th C wrote in great detail of the benefits of home-brewing beer as opposed to the purchase of tea in "Cottage Economy", and of the vile intention of Parliament's Corn Laws to steal the commons and lands from rural tenants in his lengthy exploration of England on horseback in "Rural Rides".  I also much appreciate the cyclist and builder Grant Peterson.  Think I'll split a little firewood this afternoon for tomorrow morning's stove fire.  Hope to see you in Red Wing.

Tim Long

Rock Island, Ill

Just up the Hill from Lock 15

[Bob Allen]

Hello Tim,

Glad you enjoyed the essay from Humphreys, a writer I had not previously encountered but will now explore further. And thanks for suggesting Kingsnorth and Cobbett. Always looking out for new (or distant) voices and fortunately, as a happily retired person, I have more time to explore the printed page along with whatever obscure little roads I can stumble across.

Yes, I'm planning on making another circuit around Lake Pepin in May. Hope we cross paths there.

Cheers!

Bob A.

Middleton, Wisconsin

Just a half a mile from the railroad tracks