TandemHearts

On September 22 I rode my sixth double century – the Knoxville Fall Classic staff ride. A rain storm had been forecasted for Saturday and Thom had been keeping his eye on the radar for much of the week. He thought we wouldn’t get much rain. He was wrong.

There were about 34 riders total, with the bulk of us leaving at 4:30 AM. A faster group left later at 5AM. As we rolled out we saw a huge bolt of lightening off in the distance. It was far enough away that we couldn’t hear the thunder. It was definitely a portent for the day. (more…)

The “Work is Over Rated” tour reached its outer limits of civilization with a trip to Badlands National Park and the Minuteman Missile Historic Site. This corner of South Dakota is pretty empty and is a long drive from anywhere (2 days from Glacier National Park and 2 days from Moab), but it was worth it. As a “bonus”, we stopped at Wall Drug.

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The first stop on our “Work is Over Rated” Tour was Yelowstone National Park. Yellowstone’s most famous feature is probably the Old Faithful Geyser, but we found the hydrothermal pools to be at least as interesting. Yellowstone sits on a geological hotspot – hot magma sits just 3-8miles under the surface of the Earth. This compares to most places in North America where the magma is 20+ miles underground. The heat from below reaches up and heats the ground water, which then needs a place to go. Sometimes it finds an easy outlet and forms a steaming pool of water. When the super heated water can’t find an easy way to the surface, it needs to build up pressure before it can force its way out; this is where geysers come from. (more…)