Another Vague Plan

This year my plan, such as it is, is to travel to the westernmost point of my home of state of Kentucky, and start riding, probably mostly northeast, from there.

I've been fascinated by the Kentucky Bend ("Bubbleland") for a while, but have never visited it. It's an exclave, cut off from the rest of the state, and encircled by Tennessee and Missouri:

For several years I've wanted to ride across Kentucky from its westernmost point to its easternmost point. I'm going to try that on this tour.

West Virginia is one of the few remaining states I have not toured, so maybe I'll continue, probably mostly northeast, through there.

I've never been to the Canadian maritime provinces, so maybe I'll keep on heading that way through New England. I haven't done a tour up there since 2008.

Maybe I'll ride all the way to the easternmost point of North America (not counting Greenland) at St. John's, Newfoundland!

Well, that sounds ridiculously ambitious for an old man who, as I write this on January 26th, 2025, has not ridden a bike in more than two months, and has gained (at least) ten pounds of flab since finishing last year's tour.

To help motivate me to get back into touring shape, I'll start documenting my pre-tour rides here. As part of my purge of all "social media" last year, I deleted my Strava account. I hate to admit it, but using Strava did actually motivate me to ride more. I need to dig deep now and provide my own motivation, I guess.

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Lucy MartinIt’s the Carter Lake of Kentucky. Looking forward to following along; I always enjoy your posts.
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4 days ago

Jeff LeeTo Lucy MartinThanks, Lucy! I hadn't heard of Carter Lake before (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Lake,_Iowa)

My wife's from Iowa, and we travel there at least a couple of times a year. Maybe I can check it out the next time I tour there.
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4 days ago

Rich FrasierJeff, we won’t think less of you if you come back to Strava. :) Motivation is precious. I say use whatever works. You can set your account to private if you don’t want anyone to cheer you along.
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4 days ago

Bob DistelbergAs a follow-up to what Rich said, I used Strava for about 5 years in completely private mode before dabbling with the social aspect just in the last year or so. I’m actually thinking about rolling back to be completely private again.
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4 days ago

Mike AylingRideWithGPS gives quite a few ride statistics and has great maps.
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4 days ago

Jeff LeeTo Mike AylingYes, I use RideWithGps. I exported all my activities from Strava, and then loaded then into RideWithGps before permanently deleting my Strava account.

RideWithGps does not appear to have any "social media" type stuff like Strava, or if it does, I haven't seen it.

That's fine with me.
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4 days ago