The Tillie Ride

Planning the Route

Posted on by Posted in Route .

I intercepted this email from the route planners… teachers! If you know any schools on this route who might want to be included, please have them email Roger at gillesr@gvsu.edu. It’s coming together!

Hi all:

Bob and I got together this evening to take a longer look at the map, and I think we’ve come up with a pretty good tentative route. We already have many interested schools. We need schools for Monday and for Thursday.

Monday (need schools for this day)

North Park School to Allegan area

Ride down Kent Trails through Byron Center south to the Allegan area

Check for schools in Wyoming, Byron Center, Hopkins, Allegan

This is about 45 miles, or 4 hours of riding

Very few lodging options

OR

North Park School to Saugatuck/Douglas area

Ride down Kent Trails through Byron Center west to Holland/Saugatuck area

Check for schools in Wyoming, Byron Center, south Holland, Saugatuck, Douglas

This is about 50 miles, or 4-5 hours of riding

Plenty of lodging options

Tuesday (plenty of candidates here–we need to choose which ones)

Allegan or Saugatuck area to Benton Harbor area

Allegan area on rural routes through Bloomingdale, over to South Haven and south

Or south from Saugatuck on Blue Star highway to South Haven and south

Schedule schools in Coloma, Benton Harbor, St. Joseph

This is about 50 miles, or 4-5 hours of riding

Plenty of lodging options

Wednesday (plenty of good candidates for this day)

Benton Harbor area to New Buffalo

Benton Harbor/St. Joe on rural routes to Sawyer/Three Oaks and then to New Buffalo

Schedule schools in Sawyer, Three Oaks, Galien

This is about 40 miles, or 3-4 hours of riding

Plenty of lodging options

Thursday (need schools for this day)

New Buffalo to Griffith/Hammond, IN area

This is nearly all two separate bike trails.

Check for schools in Hobart, south Gary, Griffith, Highland, Hammond.

It’s about 45 miles, or 4 hours of riding

Some lodging options

Friday

Griffith/Hammond area to Chicago

Erie Lackawana Trail to Calumet City and then to Lakeshore Dr. and Chicago

Schedule Chicago schools, libraries, and Swedish American museum

This is about 40 miles, or 4 hours of riding

Plenty of lodging options

http://tillieride.suestauffacher.com/234/

Posted on by Posted in Training .

Winter Training Location for Tillie Ride Riders!

With a forecast of snow, the Tillie Ride team moves conditioning indoors…

Where else to do our training but the good ole YMCA?

I have taken four spinning classes so far. It’s a wild workout where you can simulate hills and build endurance by increasing resistance on a stationary bicycle. One of my favorite high-energy teachers is Laura Karston. In addition to being very encouraging, she entertains us with stories about her new Exercise Barbie.

After class--note the redness of my face compared to Laura's

If anyone has any recommendations about how to distract yourself from the pain of climbing a hill that lasts for the entire Journey song, “Don’t Stop Believing,” I’d like to hear them.

Where do ideas come from?

Posted on by Posted in The Backstory .

Some authors don’t like to reveal the intricacies of their creative process.  Not me.  When kids ask me where ideas come from, I tell them straight out: the bathroom at Big O’s restaurant.  It was a long line at Big O’s here in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  So I thought, I’ll just pop into the restroom.  As I was washing my hands, what did I see but a framed vintage postcard that said something like, “Tillie the Terrible Swede Rides Past the Pantlind Hotel.”  Being a curious sort, I thought to myself, ‘Who would have a name like Tillie the Terrible Swede?’  So I started doing a little research.  That was in 2005.  I got so excited about this lady that I made a scrapbook of all the old news articles I found (you can see it in an album on my Facebook page–Sue Stauffacher Books) and sent it to my editor, Nancy Hinkel, in New York.  Six years later (in January 2011), Tillie will debut in picture book form.