Monthly Archives: October 2011

Busse Woods Trail Ride, October 21, 2011

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I just took a 19 mile ride out on the Busse Woods trail and it was so beautiful this time of year  that I just had to mention it even though I do not have photos this time (I usually bring my camera when I go on new trails or trails that I have not been on for quite a while but this was just a last minute casual ride).

Anyway, I noticed that the photos that we have posted on this site for the Busse Woods Trail, were also from October, although they were from a few years back. So see our Busse Woods Trail Pages for some nice fall photos of the trail.

I crossed the bridge in the photo below and it looked a lot like it does in this panoramic photo (from a few years back, not today’s ride).

Busse Woods Bridge Crossing

Busse Woods Bridge Crossing

Getting back to the trail itself, as I mentioned in our article on this trail, this trail can get crowded on really nice prime time days so I really like riding the trail at off time whenever possible.

Today (Friday) is still a work day but the weather is excellent and I think some people may have been getting an early start on the weekend. Anyway, there were people out on the trail, of course, but it was not really all that crowded or congested at all.

As for my ride, I started at one of the forest preserve entrances off of Golf Road which is next to the “Black Trail” leg which is where I got on the trail. I just hate the intersection where you have to cross Higgins / Route 72 by Route 53 so I planned my route to avoid having to cross there and it worked out great.

I took the “Black Trail” to where it hits the “Red Trail” (close to the Higgins Road intersection) and then went east  from there.  I ended up doin the entire Red Trail all the way around (on both sides of Higgins (since it has a bridge to cross on the east side (by the Elk)) to the bad intersection at Higgins.

This was only 8.5 miles so rather than crossing Higgins, I turned around here  and went back the way I came. I also did the “Purple Trail” (that goes out to Alexian Brothers Hospital) on the way back for a few extra miles.

 See the Busse Woods MAP (photo) here if the route that I’ve described  is hard to understand.

So my trip ended up being 19 miles and I never had to cross an intersection (except where the bridge crosses over Higgins).

I live not too far from this trail but it is not within easy bike riding distance so I do not make it out there very often. I had forgotten how beautiful Busse Woods can be, especially in the fall, so I have just decided that I will definitely try to make it out to this trail a few more times this year (if the weather cooperates!)

Schwinn 150, Schwinn 250 AC Power Included and Knee Care

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I hope the subject for this post is not too confusing but I wanted to address both subjects that I discussed with a visitor to our site in some recent emails.

The first subject relates to Schwinn AC Adapters. The first email that I received was an inquiry about whether or not the new Schwinn 250 Recumbent Exercise Bike came with the AC Power adapter.

AC Adapters on Schwinn Exercise Bikes

AC Adapters on Schwinn Exercise Bikes

I discovered that we did not specify this on our Schwinn 250 review pages and also that it was not even specified on the Amazon page or most other pages when I searched for this model.

Well, I finally did confirm (via the owner and assembly manuals) that the AC Adapter is included with the New Schwinn 250 Recumbent.   

This question then made me wonder if the AC Adapters were included on the other mid-range and high-end Schwinn Exercise Bikes so I checked all of the “40” and “50” series models and found that the AC adapter (or power cord) is included on all of these models.

I have since updated our Schwinn Exercise Bike Review pages to include this information. See the Schwinn 140, and NEW Schwinn 150, Uprights and the  Schwinn 240 and the NEW Schwinn 250 Recumbents for the updates and/or for the reviews and additional information.

Knee Care, Knee Problems and Cycling – on Bikes and Exercise Bikes

The second subject included in this article has to do with taking care of your knees while cycling. This includes cycling on outdoor bikes or on exercise bikes.

The woman that had asked me about the AC Adapters had also just mentioned that she was planning a “non-weight bearing exercise regimen” that was necessary for her bad knee.

I have had some minor knee problems myself,  in the past, and have also had cycling friends that have occasionally had knee problems and I have looked into this subject before.

What I had found was that, if you have knee problems and need to reduce the the strain on your knee(s) while cycling, you should ride in lower gears (outdoor bikes) or at lower resistance levels (exercise bikes) at a faster pace (higher rpms).

So I just passed this information on as an “FYI” and was happy to get an email reply stating “That’s exactly what my Physical Therapist said!!”.

Thank you for your nice replies and for the updates.

 Rob

400 State Trail Wisconsin, October Ride

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Riding season is not over yet!

As a matter of fact, this is actually a really nice time of year, here in the Chicagoland area (and in Wisconsin), for bike riding.

A friend and I have just returned from an excellent bike ride that we did on the 400 State Trail in Wisconsin. It is pretty much peak season for fall color in this part of Wisconsin so if, by some chance, you are able to plan a ride in the south-western part of Wisconsin (not far from the Dells) I would highly recommend the 400 State Trail.

Both of us took quite a few photos while we were out on the 400 Trail and, as usual, I have uploaded all of our photos, selected and formatted the best and most relavant bike trail photos and have posted a full Bike Trail Article (with photo pages) on this site for this trail.

The new Bike Trail information  and photos can be found on our New 400 State Trail Pages. A view of a rock formation and lake along the 400 State Trail

I have actually been wanting to ride this trail for years now since I had already ridden (and photographed) the Elroy-Sparta Trail and my friend has contributed bike trail articles and photos of the other 2 bike trails, the Lacrosse River Trail and the Great River Trail that make up this series of connecting bike trails (referred to as Bike 4 Trails, in Wisconsin).

The 4 connecting trails go from Reedsburg, Wisconsin (on the south east end) to the Mississippi River (around Lacrosse, Wis) and north along the Mississippi to just past Trempealeu Wisconsin for a total of 101 miles (one way)!

For our trip, we just did an easy ride on the 400 State Trail from Reedsburg to Elroy and back for a total of 44 miles. Although we just did the 400 Trail on this trip, I now have complete trail pages and photos for all 4 of these bike trails on this site. If you check out the new 400 State Trail Article, there are links to the 3 other connecting trails on the main trail page.

It has actually taken me WAY longer than I thought it would to select and format all of the photos (I selected 49) and web pages for the trail article. I have been using almost the same format for my bike trail pages as I used when I first started this bike site and it is very time consuming.

Plenty of fall color on the 400 State Trail in Wisconsin

The good side to using the same format is that all of the trail articles and photo pages are consistent. The bad side is that it is cumbersome to use this format and there are probably newer and nicer formats out there. Well, at some point I will transition to a new format but for now, I hope you still enjoy the trail and photo formats that we’ve been using for years now.

So don’t give up on riding season yet! There is still some good weather and excellent rides to be taken!