Introductions

Diana and I have talked for years about doing a big bike trip before we are too old. 52 and 53 now, we are starting to get there. Our younger daughter, Lauren, is a senior in high school – so we need to wait until she graduates and heads off to college. But that time is coming soon to a theater near us. 🙂

The current thought is that this blog will detail our adventures, but also the lead-up to the trip. During this run-up time it may also stray into stories of our life pre-bike trip – just to give the reader an idea of who we are and how we tick.

A few days ago I approached Diana with the idea of starting to think for real about our journey. I also let drop that I’m thinking that we should bike around the world. Head east from Minneapolis and just keep going until – probably a few years later – we arrive home again. Now, most wives might have reacted somewhat negatively to an idea like this. But, as you will learn, Diana is not most wives, or most women, or most people.

Diana is an activity addict. She didn’t start biking this year until April because Minnesota had a bit of a late winter. But according to Strava she has biked over 10,500 miles since then. Not bad for a full-time physician, full-time mom, and part-time baker. Suffice to say that Diana has lots of energy. And the reality is that Diana’s biking mileage is only part of the picture. She probably cross country skied 3,000 miles over the course of the winter before she switched to her bike in late-March.

So this is not a case of me dragging Diana along on my fantasy journey. To the contrary, Diana is usually the one pleading for more: “Don’t you think we should keep skiing so that we complete the whole loop?” This at the end of a four hour ski in sub-zero temperatures. Or, after a 93 mile bike ride in the heat without much food or water: “Let’s go around the lake to add another seven miles so that we are at an even hundred . . .” Suffice to say that there are occasional disagreements after comments like these . . .

Now, most people would characterize me as a “serious” athlete. I’m a big cross country skier and I really enjoy ski racing. I definitely like to stay fit – I love to be outside – and I run, ski and bike quite a bit. But at the end of the day Diana makes me look (and feel) like a bit of a slug . . . If you stick with us I’m pretty sure you’ll get to know this tension well . . .

Other things that you should know about us. Diana is a family practice doctor. She grew up in Queens, New York, and went to high school in the Bronx; she is as tough as nails. She is a fantastic doctor who loves her patients. She is empathetic, compassionate and patient. With her patients. Her empathy, compassion and patience are maybe not so pronounced with her husband . . .

I’m an attorney by training who fell into a career starting and running an organization called the Loppet Foundation – a non-profit focused on promoting outdoor activity in the Twin Cities area. (Great organization. You should contribute or become a member). Years ago I left the law practice to grow the Loppet. In those early years it was a good avocation that allowed us to raise our kids with some flexibility. But the Loppet grew and grew, and (like so many people) I left the organization shortly after COVID began – after realizing that the organization had grown bigger than what I wanted to do.

We have two wonderful girls. Ellie, our oldest, is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota. Lauren, who I mentioned earlier, is a senior at Hopkins High School (a high school just outside of Minneapolis, where we live) and has been busy applying to college. They would have their own stories about the obsessions of their parents. But they can start their own blogs for that . . . 🙂

Looking forward to sharing our adventures with all of you . . .