50 for 50: 1998

YEAR: 1998

AGE: Turned 28 on Nov. 6

LOCATION: Madison, Harbor House Apartments

WISCONSIN FOOTBALL RECORD: 11-1

SONGS I LIKED: "Push It" by Garbage; "The Way" by Fastball; "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies

MOVIES I SAW: "Shakespeare in Love"; "There's Something About Mary"

TV SHOWS I WATCHED: "The Practice"; "Sports Night"

MUSIC VIDEOS I ENJOYED: "Ava Adore" by Smashing Pumpkins; "Miami" by Will Smith; "Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia

CONCERT I EXPERIENCED: Garbage

VIDEO GAMES I PLAYED: Warcraft; Williams Arcade Classics

One of the perils I've encountered in writing this series of blog posts is that I remember a photo that would go perfect with a post, but then can't find the photo anywhere in the house. That is the case today.

The photo in question was is of Lori and me, standing with our bikes on a road in Wisconsin's North Woods near Eagle River. The colors are peaking perfectly on this fall day, and Lori and I are wearing similar Old Navy green-and-blue pullover windbreakers and smiling, despite the fact we still have several miles to go on a 30-mile bike ride.

This particular weekend was the first in October, when Eagle River hosted the annual Cranberry Festival. The festivities included a 10-mile walk on Saturday through the woods and a 30-mile ride on Sunday. You got a discount if you signed up for both, and well, for some reason we did. Although we were exhausted by midday Sunday (and still needed to drive four hours back to Madison), the weekend was fun, and I think the bike ride was the highlight.

In the spring of 1998, we bought Trek hybrid bicycles as an early one-year anniversary present to ourselves. We eventually bought a Saris roof rack for the car and were able to take the bikes places for rides. 

Wisconsin has some wonderful rails trails, composed of crush limestone that suited our hybrids perfectly. The scenery on these trails is amazing -- rolling hills, brilliant colors in the fall, running streams, and, on one trail, old railroad tunnels that you would walk your bicycle through and use flashlights to illuminate the way. 

That summer, with our friends Mark and Jen, we even took the hybrids way off road on a trail near Hayward. That was incredibly fun but not something I would try without two people more used to mountain biking. Also, Lori and took the bikes to Chicago and rode the North Shore Trail, which started (or used to start -- it got stretched a few miles south) near my house while hugging the Chicago River.

I also would take my bike out on my own after work. At first, I just rode around the neighborhood, but it was too hilly and I don't really like city riding. Instead, I would put the bike on the rack and drive a few miles west to Riley, then ride the trail about five miles to Mount Horeb and back. The trail was never crowded and mostly wooded, and the return trip was just downhill enough that it never felt difficult if I was tired. The journey cleared my mind and allowed me to daydream in a way I never quite got from a walk or run. 

When we moved to Utah, we were disappointed to find there were no rails trails like in Wisconsin. There are a few nice bike trails now, including one by our house, but 20 years ago, our options were suburban riding, which was hilly, or canyon riding, which was really hilly. The Treks are no longer in use, and I keep threatening to buy a new bike and use that instead of the used one we bought at a garage sale and got tuned up (I don't really like it that much). But I'm not the same bicycle rider I once was. Mild uphills just destroy me, and I'm afraid of going to fast on downhills, even if it's not that fast. I have wiped out on my bike too many times that the tiniest bit of not being in control on a two-wheeler isn't appealing at all.

Maybe Lori and I will get new bikes and start riding again when we're empty nesters. Maybe I'll find the solace again of a wooded, easy trail on a gorgeous day.

And maybe I'll find that picture of Lori and me on the Cranberry Festival ride. Until then, I've included a photo of the two of us from the summer of 1998 at a wedding in the North Woods. Our first full year married was wonderful. The adventures -- and the adventure -- was in progress.


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