Buchanan, TN to Gilbertsville, KY
May 18, 2023
65 miles
Tour total: 339 miles; Personal miles achieved: 339 miles

I love trail magic! It comes up in the most wonderful unexpected ways.

The day started out with all of us knowing that we had to cover 65 miles to our next hotel. Looking at the elevation chart gave us the impression that we were going to be doing more hills. After our day off from riding, I wasn't completely sure that I was in the mood for more hills, but I reminded myself that that kind of thinking wouldn't get the job done.

The hills were not that bad! Maybe they weren't as steep as the hills we climbed two days earlier. Maybe my legs were getting stronger. Maybe a little of both. 20 miles went quickly and there was the first rest stop! Didn't stay too long, and off I went to cover the next 20 miles.

We were traveling in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area...beautiful country with long rolling hills and quiet roads. At almost mile 29, a bunch of us reached the Kentucky border, our third state since we started 7 days ago. Just as I rolled up to the Welcome to Kentucky sign, a few of my tour sisters did as well. In short order, there were seven others besides myself. They all lined up under the sign and I called for them to shout, "WomanTours rocks!!" as I took their picture. A nice bit of trail magic to share this special moment with others.

They rode off, which gave me the chance to set up my bike against the posts of the sign to take its picture. My bike is performing beautifully, and I wanted it to take center stage.

Later on at around mile 40, as I was getting ready to leave the second rest stop, a butterfly was perched on the first aid kit on my bike. As I approached, I was sure it would fly away, but it didn't. I took its picture from two different angles. I put my phone back on my handlebars. Still no movement. I put out my finger out towards it, thinking that would shoo it away. It climbed onto my finger and stayed there! I called out to the two leaders, Kristie and Cindi, "Do you have your cameras handy?" They took pictures of this bold little butterfly, who finally took off only to then land on my left shoulder for another minute or so while it basked in the limelight of all the attention it was receiving. Finally, it took off for good, but then another butterfly, and by its shape and size another species, landed on the plastic map holder on top of my front pack. Kristie filmed a video and it appeared to make a small meal out of whatever residue was there. What an amazing moment to interact with nature at such an intimate level. Trail magic at its best!

The last 20 miles weren't effortless, but they weren't that hard either. I finally caught up to my tour sisters, Jacquie and Mo, and we decided to ride to the end once again. The last little bit of trail magic came 5 miles from the end in the form of the Wood 'n Wheel Bike Shop. I wanted an extra front light if I could find one, but more importantly Jacquie and Mo had some mechanical issues on their bikes attended to. Not only had we stopped at the right place, but Jacky, the store owner had the time to do what needed to be done to each bike, and he was an excellent teacher, sharing his knowledge as he systematically went through each adjustment and repair. Refreshed from the extended stop, the last 5 miles were a breeze, although the trip over the Tennessee River highway bridge was a bit hair-raising. Fortunately, we were all safely together.

Another 65 miles done…EBI ( every blessed inch)!

Gilbertsville, KY to Morganfield, TN
May 19, 2023
91 miles (biked the first 58 miles)
Tour total: 431 miles; Personal miles achieved: 397 miles

91 miles - that was the distance between hotels…some significant climbs, some of them looking like they went straight up on the elevation map. I was looking forward to the attempt at riding a "century", a hundred miles…or close to it in one day. I knew it was coming because the daily mileage was published on the WomanTours website even before I signed up for the tour. I thought, surely the terrain would be relatively flat to make the mileage attainable. In fact, for the most part it was, except for those four climbs. Long story short…I made it to the third rest stop at 57.8 miles. I had caught up to Mo and Jacquie a few miles before the rest stop, and they were thinking they wanted to ride it all. I was almost convinced to try, but once I stopped and got off the bike, it didn't take long for me to realize I had reached my limit for the day.

But why 91 miles between hotels? Couldn't the route planners at WomanTours have broken it into two smaller distances? It turns out the answer was simple…the next hotel was the next hotel…there were no others between Gilbertsville, KY and Morganfield, KY.

I am fortunate, indeed, to have had the WomanTours van to help me travel the 30+ miles left to go.

As I reflected on the name of this week's Torah portion, B'midbar (in the wilderness), it coincided perfectly with our having travelled through a bit of Kentucky's wilderness. And as I ride each day, I try to spend some time reflecting on the freedom seekers of the 19th century, who risked everything, traveling mostly by night, with no promise of a safe place to stay out of harm's way or out of bad weather, with no vehicle waiting to help them to get to a comfortable bed to rest for the next day's journey, with no assurance of their next meal or healthy and helpful snacks along the way.

Parashat B'midbar begins with God telling Moses to take a census of the Israelites...to count the people, to have the leader of each tribe help with the counting and to list the name of each male above the age of twenty. How many freedom seekers and the members of their families who were left behind in bondage were never named in the ledgers of their alleged masters? People "owning" people?

I am merely getting a taste of the enormous accomplishments of the freedom seekers, the distances they traveled (both physically and spiritually) and the terrain they encountered (very, very hilly). I remain in awe.

Morganfield, TN to Owensbrook, KY
May 20, 2023
64.6 miles
Tour total: 496 miles; Personal miles achieved: 462 miles

Finally! A day that was mostly flat riding. And…a delightful rail trail at the end leading us to our hotel! That said, a strong head wind for the first 20 miles challenged me and a lot of my tour sisters.

I had just rolled into the edge of Henderson, KY around mile 19 and spied a gas station / convenient store that would, for sure, have a restroom. And the WomanTours van was in the parking lot to boot!

What tickled me was the brand name of the gas station: Circle K. My Jewish brain went to a silly place and I thought it would be the perfect name for a kosher rest stop. There are so many kosher certification trademarks out there…why not Circle K?

The wind died down a bit for the last 45 miles, but depending on which direction we were headed, it sometimes slowed us down and sometimes came at us from the side. Having checked into the hotel and showered, now I'm just a couple of hours away from another yummy dinner, courtesy of Emily, our WomanTours chef.

I thought that today with the first 10 days of the tour behind me, I would introduce Team Greta, the name I've given to my bike and gadget collection. Greta is the name I've given my bike. Why Greta? The bike is built on a Guerciotti Greto gravel bike frame. This is an all-woman tour, so Greto became Greta. Mounted on Greta in various places on the bike are four pieces of electronic equipment. On the handlebars are my iPhone and my Wahoo Elemnt. No, I didn't spell Elemnt incorrectly...it seems to be a "thing" with the Wahoo company to remove the letter E from the model names of their products. I own two of them: the Wahoo Elemnt, the bike computer that can track and record where and how far and seemingly a whole bunch of other statistics for each ride…and the Wahoo Kickr, the Bluetooth-enabled bicycle trainer that I used this winter to help me train and get fit enough for this bike tour. I invite you to check out the Wahoo website to explore the other products and interesting names they are given. Anyway, my Wahoo Elemnt's name is Ellie.

At the back of my bike, mounted on the rear of my Topeak bike rack is my Garmin Varia, which I have named Varia because it's already a female-sounding name. Varia is truly a very cool piece of technology. She's both a bike light with a variety of lighting patterns to choose from: solid on, pulsing bright and less bright, piercing blink (my personal favorite) and no light at all. Moreover, this bike light is also a Bluetooth-enabled rear-facing radar that can be wirelessly connected to Ellie, my bike computer. When Varia is powered up, a thin radar readout strip shows up on the left side of Ellie's screen. If there is no traffic behind me, Ellie's radar readout is green. As soon as Varia detects any cars behind us (and she can detect cars 180 degrees around), she sends the data to Ellie, who voices an audible alarm, and turns the radar readout strip orange (or red if the car or cars are coming at us really fast). Little car images are displayed in the orange (or red) strip and move up the strip as the car(s) get closer. When a car passes me by, the image of that car disappears from the radar readout. When all the cars have passed by, Ellie's radar readout strip turns green again and sounds an "all clear" tune. Too cute…and super helpful.

On top of my helmet is my Terrano X, my Bluetooth-enabled communication system. It consists of a transceiver and a pair of headphones that are positioned next to my ears, allowing any ambient noise, including traffic sounds to be heard. My husband and I both have this handy device. It allows me to connect to my iPhone via Bluetooth, so I can talk talk on the phone hands-free while I'm riding. When paired with another Terrano X, such as my husband's, we can use it as a walkie-talkie system while we are riding, so we can have a regular conversation with each other and not have to shout to be heard. While on the bike tour, I'm using it to hear the turn-by-turn instructions from the Ride With GPS app on my iPhone. Terry is the name I've given to this very handy gadget.

Mounted to my front pack is my Lezyne KTV Drive front light. "Lizzie" lets oncoming traffic know that I'm there in road. Of course, I'm riding on the right side of the road, but I still keep her blink pattern on throughout each day's ride. And some states that we're traveling through require bicyclists to have it.

So there you have it, my iPhone talks to Terry through Ride with GPS; Varia talks to Ellie, who tells me when there is traffic coming up from behind. Ellie also provides me with lots of real-time information, such as how fast I'm going, how many miles I've traveled, how many feet I've climbed and descended, my average speed and what time it is, all the while storing all of this data and more. When I turn on the Wahoo app on my phone, Ellie happily downloads all the stored data from each ride and stashes it away, so I can view it at my convenience. And Lizzie lets others know I'm heading their way.

Having all this technology is not necessary to ride on the tour. I have several tour sisters, who use the paper cue sheets alone and manage just fine. I keep my paper cue sheet tucked into the clear vinyl pouch on top of my Topeak handlebar bag. One of my tour sisters, Barb, looked at my setup this morning at one of the rest stops and declared the Topeak handlebar bag with the cue sheet on top along with my iPhone and Ellie mounted on my handlebars to be my "cockpit"! I love it!

Team Greta, my mechanical and electronic traveling family: Greta, my bike; Lizzie, my faithful front blinky light; Ellie, my on-board computer and Varia, her faithful sidekick, who literally has my back; Terry, who with help from the iPhone's Ride With GPS app, keeps me informed and up-to-date with where to go and how to get there…left, right or straight and how far until the next turn.

65 miles…EBI (every blessed inch)

Owensbrook, KY to Tell City, IN
May 21, 2023
47 miles
Tour total: 543 miles; Personal miles achieved: 509 miles

Mostly flat today - crossed another state line, Indiana.

Beautiful countryside- lots of barns, silos, farmland, cornfields. Long stretches of quiet roads. A few plaques with interesting historical facts about the area through which we rode ... Enjoy reading them by viewing today's pictures.

As I crossed the bridge over the Ohio River to enter Indiana (our fourth state so far), it was a bit unnerving as there was a narrow shoulder and a long line of cars behind me. I was riding by myself, so I stepped off of my bike and walked it across the bridge. It felt nice to walk. I got back on my bike after taking a picture of the Welcome to Indiana sign on the other side of the bridge. The hotel was a welcome sight only a couple of miles away.

Since yesterday, I've joined the after-dinner dishwashing crew. It's a nice way to end the day and a chance to socialize a bit. The leaders are a bit more relaxed at the end of the day, and there's a bit of gentle ribbing and teasing. It makes the time go by quickly with the washing and drying. As the sayings go, "many hands make light work" and "teamwork makes the dream work." Most of all, it makes the leaders' lives a little bit easier at the end of a long day of caring for the welfare of 25 bike riders.

I'm not able to fully articulate my feelings, but the more I ride, the more I am in awe of the freedom seekers and the hardships they experienced to take their freedom. Out of necessity they and those who helped them had to keep their methods of travel secret in order to help others who came behind them.

47 miles EBI (every blessed inch).

Tell City, IN to Brandenburg, KY
May 22, 2023
55 miles
Tour total: 598 miles; Personal miles achieved: 564 miles

The day started with a ride (or in my case, a walk) back over the same bridge we rode over yesterday, except going back into Kentucky from Tell City, IN.

Very hilly today and more strong head winds in the afternoon. A little unnerving because many of the roads had no shoulders and many cars passed when they had a clear view of the road ahead and around us. I rode with my tour sisters Mo and Jacquie a good part of the day. I was surprised that the hills were relatively straightforward, even though some of them were pretty steep and pretty long. I'm definitely getting stronger and I'm not breathing as hard as I was a week ago.

Rode by the Holt Homestead. I invite you to check out the plaques in the pictures. Joseph Holt was a key player in helping Kentucky stay in the Union as other southern states seceded before the Civil War.

The best part of the day came at the end during dishwashing after dinner. Because it was my third time helping out, I was entitled to pick the music. Other tour sisters previously honored have selected their favorite Spotify or other such sources for their musical offerings to make the time while washing dishes a little more fun. What I chose to do was to teach Bina's Nigun by Joey Weisenberg. It's the first tune in his "Live in the Choir Loft" album.

First of all, this was not something they were used to doing. They were used to having some background music, but I had already told them last night I was going to do this. Some of them were a bit intimidated and warned me that they weren't good at carrying a tune. I assured them that the point was to make community through singing the song together and not to consider it a performance of any kind. One tour sister said she doesn't sing and that was her choice…duly noted. The rest of them enjoyed the challenge as I taught the tune in little chunks. By the end everyone got it more or less and were humming it as we left the dishwashing table. They admitted that it was fun after all. A nice end to a challenging day.

55 miles EBI (every blessed inch)

Brandenburg, KY to Louisville, KY
May 23, 2023
50 miles (biked the first 40 miles)
Tour total: 647 miles; Personal miles achieved: 604 miles

The day's ride started with some of us taking a slight detour to see a Confederate monument (very, very tall) set up down by the river and a small, but poignant, statue commemorating the efforts of the Underground Railroad.

I had a relatively leisurely day riding at the back of the pack with 3 other tour sisters. There were a lot of hills…mostly gentle rollers, but some were a bit steep and whoever made it to the top (usually the one who had an e-bike) would stop and wait for the rest of us to catch up.

We had pizza for dinner as a group in the hotel common room. The decorations on one of the tables were woven in such a way as to look like interconnected Stars of David. It's fun to find familiar images in objects not necessarily intended to provide them. After dinner, everyone went upstairs to their respective rooms. Tomorrow is a layover day (another Shabbat for me, as it were) and one of my tour sisters, Sue, went to the trouble of finding both a museum to visit and an historical walking tour with narration that we can listen to on our phones as we go from location to location. Sounds like fun.

50 miles covered - 40 on my bike: 10 in the van after stopping to visit the Carnegie Center for Art & History.

Louisville, KY - layover day
May 24, 2023
0 miles
Tour total: 647 miles; Personal miles achieved: 604 miles

I must credit my tour sister, Sue, with finding two outstanding activities for us to do on our layover day in Louisville, Kentucky. The first was a visit to Roots 101, a museum, owned and operated by Lamont Collins. The museum is dedicated to teaching about the rich heritage of Blacks in America. The second was the Frazier History Museum that sponsors a walking tour combined with an audio narration one can listen to on one's phone while walking to and viewing a series of plaques dedicated to teaching about the "Unsung Stories of the Underground Railroad".

I recommend a visit to both should you find yourself in this beautiful city. Enjoy the pictures.

Louisville, KY - Shavu'ot D'var Torah
May 24, 2023

Shabbat shalom (for me because today was a layover day on the tour)!

Tomorrow night is the beginning of Shavu'ot, the Jewish holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Israelites on Mount Sinai. One of my synagogue communities, Temple Aliyah in Needham, MA, has a Sermon Slam on Erev Shavu'ot every year. This is when any member of the community can offer a 3-minute teaching on some aspect of the Torah. I've participated in many of these Sermon Slams over the years, but knew I would be away for this one. That said, the organizer approached me before I left for my bike tour and said if I sent her a teaching, she would read it to the group on my behalf. So ... here's what I wrote:

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Chag Sameach from Linda Sue in Louisville, Kentucky!

As many of you know, I'm on a 1500-mile bicycle tour from Fulton, MS to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada to commemorate the struggles of freedom seekers before the Civil War and those who helped them, otherwise known as the Underground Railroad. I'm riding with 25 others with support from three leaders in two vans and a traveling kitchen. We have so far traveled over 600 miles and through 4 states: Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and back to Kentucky. It's an amazing group of women (yes ... all women), who over the course of two weeks has already become a family, looking out for and encouraging each other as we challenge ourselves, both physically and mentally, on this amazing adventure. This community is not unlike my Temple Aliyah community, although none of the others are Jewish as far as I know.

As I write this, it's May 24th, 2023 (Erev Erev Shavu'ot), our fourteenth day and the 2nd layover day. Our first layover day came on the seventh day. The next one will be five days from now and then again seven days after that. Days of the week have been replaced by 'how many miles are we biking to our next destination?' and 'when is our next layover day?'. As I was pedaling on the day before our first layover day, it was a Tuesday, but inside of me it felt like Friday ... not because I'd lost track of what day it was, but because the next day was going to be a day off, a day without riding the bike.

And then I remembered a teaching I learned when I was in cantorial school. One of our teachers presented a question that the Sages ask in the Talmud. If one is alone and loses track of time, how does one determine which day is Shabbat? The answer was simple ... start counting the days and the seventh day will be Shabbat. I felt validated in my notion of considering the layover days on the trip as my own personal Shabbat while I'm away from my Jewish community.

This is what it's like for me on my bike trip. I eat a good dinner, often prepared by our traveling chef, go to sleep and get up the next morning to ride to our next destination. Eat ... sleep ... ride. Every few days, we get a day off and do not ride, but of course we still eat and sleep. Isn't that the essence of Shabbat?

So, hello again from Linda Sue ... Shabbat Shalom ... and Chag Sameach!