To the end of the road

Spring is finally coming to the Rocky Mountains. This means the snow is melting enough that we can (almost) get our bikes over the passes. We had heard that the pass closest to us had been cleared, so I headed up with a local bike group to check out the first spring views over the top. But alas, the plows still have quite a bit of work ahead of them.

Still it was a beautiful ride and a fun way to get some training in. ~melissa

Beyond the end of the road

Join the Cycle starts SO SOON!

... and I really really need to make the time for some training rides! So yesterday I peer pressured my sister Meryl into most of a nice long ride with me. We started out heading into Saint Paul, and it was definitely the longest ride she'd been on. She was so pissed, she tried to throw me into the Mississippi!

Just kidding! She actually did amazing, and rode over 35 miles by the end of the day. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride, warm sun, cool breeze... And most of our ride was along off-road bike paths hugging the Mississippi. The river was absolutely gorgeous, and only stinky for about a mile's portion. (it was a swampy area)
So maybe I have a morbid fascination with destruction, but the highlight of my day was taking a short stretching break while watching this old factory building get torn down. I thought it was pretty amazing, and I had never seen that kind of action from so close. Eventually it started to get pretty dusty, so we moved along, but not before snapping a few photos.


So I always joke that once we leave LA on our bikes, I'll be carrying my weight in sunscreen, because I am pretty concerned about sun protection. (I've got some irish blood, and am from FL, and refused to wear sunscreen as a kid, and got burned a whole lot, so I'm a little obsessed with taking care of my skin now)

But for some reason, yesterday I flaked out... remembered to apply the stuff to my face and the back of my neck, but I was wearing a long sleeve shirt at the time, and not thinking I'd be stripping down to a tee for the bulk of the day. So this morning I woke up in lobsterville... and my arms are not happy!

I guess it'll just be a base for that sexy tee-shirt tan I'll be working on all summer!

~casey

Roadside Attractions in the Green Mountains

Last weekend I headed north to Vermont to visit my parents. We spent the whole time on our bikes!Vermont is in wildflower season right now and the weather was just spectacular. Vermont has some of the best cycling in the country (don't ask me, Bicycling Magazine will tell you!), and during warm weather, most of my "family time" is spent pedaling the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail.

This time we rode a nice stretch of route 14 between East Montpelier and Woodbury, taking in the rolling hills, and the next day we went out on our favorite back roads, photographing wildflowers and chatting with friends at the general store. 

First tour

I went on my first bike "tour" last week! It was an overnight trip - carrying gear for camping - from Boulder to Estes Park, CO one day and back the next. I went with a friend, Johan, who tricked me into going 50 miles/day, when I thought it was going to be 35. It was challenging, but beautiful!

There were tricky parts: long mountain climbs, snow then rain, and an 8 mile stretch on a winding hill with no shoulder.

But overall the trip was really great. There were the wonderful shop owners of Eagle Plume's at the top of the mountain pass who, after we chatted with them for a bit, laid out a big spread of food for us. There was the spring that appeared just when we were looking for water. There were the two herds of elk that we passed. And of course the beautiful scenery of the Rocky Mountains all around us.

The experience is making me look forward to the start of Join the Cycle's trip even more!

~melissa

RAWking Foods without the processing!

Never in a million years would i have thought I'd be taking perfectly good cashews,almonds,sunflower seeds and turning them into AMAZING! raw food dishes.

The Almond milk was so simple i felt silly! It was a great tasting supplement to use over your cereal. If you add a little Agave Nectar then you don't even need sugar.

Next we have one of my favorites, Jalapeno cheese. It's made with soaked cashews,fresh jalapenos, seasonings,etc and is actually fermented.

This was all thanks to Erica Albanese of Schoolofrawk.com, She's fun,knowledgeable and passionate about raw foods. She makes it easy and understandable, I even watched her create a pretty amazing cheesecake!

I may still enjoy my meats and overall cooked foods but I'm looking forward to incorporating more of these types of foods into my diet.

It really makes you look at how our foods are processed, I believe it's not the meat itself as much as the way we mass produce/consume it.

Stay tuned! Please pledge and Join the Cycle!

~Chris Donnelly

Cycling in Wyoming

Many Wyomingites are not fazed by the snow

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I recently became part of the Join the Cycle team, and have been super excited about the trip and the mission. I have been getting out on my bike whenever possible. Last week, true to Wyoming springs, we got over a foot of snow. Even though this storm closed the roads leading out of town, it did not stop me from riding my bike. Instead of a ride out of town, I made loops in town. Cycle on!
~ melissa

Lots of April snow, but now it's melting fast

The busy, busy bakery!

If I haven't blogged much so far, it because I've been whisking, cracking, mixing, slicing, baking and frosting at top speed. 

I work at Dee's One Smart Cookie, a gluten-free, dairy-free bakery in Connecticut. For those of you familiar with gluten-free baked goods, you are probably familiar with dense bricks of so-called "bread" and crumbly, cardboard cookies. Here at Dee's One Smart cookie bread tastes like bread; cookies like chewy, chunky cookies; and cupcakes just like childhood. So I suppose its no wonder that people are driving in from all over New England and beyond to get their gluten-free fix. 

However, we truly can't bake fast enough for the demand. Lines form out the door, bread is handed over still oven hot and sells out early in the morning. Cupcakes fly out of the shop by the dozen. Easter weekend nearly ended us bakers (hint: the office became "the nap room" and baking lasted all night).

While its exciting to be part of this gluten-free circus, I don't have much time for anything else! My bike training so far has been confined to the gym, but I've been sneaking out on really nice afternoons for a quick jaunt in the outdoors.

Speaking of which, I'm still at the bakery after a long day!