Krause Travels

“Ride as much or as little, as long or as short as you feel. But ride.”
– Eddy Merckx, Belgian former professional cyclist

We’ve ridden bikes together and toured with them for a long time. Soon after we were married in 1985, we took our first overnight bike trip (pictured above). It was from Joplin, Missouri, where we lived, to Pittsburg, Kansas. In 1986, still in our early 20s, we took our bikes to Ireland and cycled the country for a month. We had very little idea what we were doing, and honestly, we aren’t sure how we actually managed to pull it off. The way we traveled then bears little resemblance to the way we travel now.

Once our kids reached the ages of five and seven, we hauled them and two tandems back to Ireland for a six-week trip. This was 1997, so we did it without Internet, cell phones, or GPS. Not only that, there were a total of four adults and five kids on this trip, yet we somehow managed to find rooms in hostels and B & Bs every night by using a pay phone to call ahead every day. This was also before bike lanes or any kind of separate paths for bikes.

For the next several years our cycling mostly consisted of short rides on country roads and bike paths nearby. There were even a few years where we hardly rode at all. Kids, and life in general, tended to get in the way.

Toward the end of our working lives, we began to have the opportunity to take longer rides. There was RAGBRAI, an organized ride across the state of Iowa, and the occasional ride on bike trails in neighboring states.

When we moved to Arizona in 2016, three things about our cycling changed. First, we were now able to ride all through the winter. In fact, some of our best cycling was during October through April. Second, since we both worked at the ASU Downtown Phoenix Campus and our house was only about 4.5 miles away, we rode our bikes back and forth to work almost every day. Third was the fact that Phoenix has over 1,000 miles of bike lanes. Our route to work was all bike-friendly and we lived near the Grand Canal, which has 22 miles of paved bike path along its length. Combined with the Arizona Canal that runs from the northern suburbs all the way to Scottsdale and several particularly bike-friendly roads, we could easily make a 40 or 50 mile loop without really being very far from home. We used these canals and roads to plan weekend bike camping trips, visit wine tasting rooms, see family, or do a tour of local breweries.

Right before we retired in 2022, we donated the Trek hybrid bikes we had had since around 2006 and upgraded to Thorn Ravens, our new touring bikes. Since then we’ve had opportunities to cycle several week-long trips in the U.S. and multi-week trips in Europe. Some of our favorite rides have included the Ohio to Erie Trail, the Great Allegheny Passage, and a trip incorporating the Eurovelo 15 and Eurovelo 6 which we rode from Besançon, France to Amsterdam.

With grandchildren, we now have additional excuses to get out on the road. Whether we are towing them behind in a trailer or cycling next to them on the KATY Trail, we’re always looking for the next great place to ride.