Ummmm.......

Good advice....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Wicked Cold.....

Brrrrrrrrr......
Today....
Frozen....
The Surly with studs....
She's growing :)

I went for a nice ride this morning on the Surly. It still has the studs on it and makes a terrible racket on pavement but is oh so nice on ice! I went up through Hartman North on the gravel road (covered with about 7" of nasty, frozen, pock marked snow), which was difficult since the walkers have really made an "impression" out there. Ah well, we share the trails around here :) I'm sure the XC skiers like it even less than I did. It seems that the walkers wait until the skiers have been out, then they walk in the ski track and destroy it. I've felt that frustration before!

An hour and a half riding at 4F left me with cold thumbs and chilled toes but overall it wasn't bad. I kept a water bottle under my jacket in my jersey pocket which kept it from freezing. A good gravel ride would have been great today! I should have had Judy drive me up to Parkersburg and I could have ridden back with the minus 22F windchill at my back. Perhaps another time.

I'll get an hour or so on the trainer tonight and all will be right with the world.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Rode the trainer for an hour and 20 minutes tonight. Hopefully some gravel this weekend. It's all good.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Texas....




I lived in Texas for a couple of years in the mid 70's and I believe this to be true....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Hmmm....

Baby Rhea and Grandma....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Snow....

My Jetta is buried....
Up to the top of the racks....

We had a little bit of snow fall last night. Looks like another 3 or 4 inches. I 'spose i better go get the snow shovel out and start digging. I'll probably ride the Surly this afternoon.

Have a great day! Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

Chicago....

Just west of Chicago....
Limo ride....

Flew into the Palwaukee airport yesterday to visit a company in Lake Zurich regarding a new printing press. I think that they have a little bit more snow than we do. Arrived at 8:30 and rode in a limo to the company that we were visiting. We were done with our business by noon and back in Waterloo by 1:30. It's all good!

It looks like the really cold weather is gone for awhile so I expect to be back outside on the Surly by Saturday. Woohoo!

I lost a young co-worker to cancer last week and her funeral was this afternoon. I went into work this morning and learned that the father of another co-worker had passed away early this morning and that the father-in-law of yet another co-worker had also passed early this morning. Strange few days!

That's it for now. Time to read for awhile.

Ride safe....

Peace out, yo!

Cold!

Kerkove's magic face warmer....

He's at it again.... Mr. 24 has done me a huge favor and, by some magical means, grown me a wicked warm beard for riding outside this time of year! Thanks Jeff! Thanks also for not making it grey like it woud be in reality. My reality, not yours. :) (will I have snotcicles in that thing?)

It's colder than hell outside so I'm getting ready to go for a ride in my basement. I'm thinking a little Meat Loaf to keep me company tonight. It'll be back into the teens outside soon and I'll ride The Green Bike..... It's all good!

Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

More snow....

It looks like we received about 4" of new snow last night. I shoveled the drive this morning thinking Judy would like that when she went to work. At 5:50 she was still sleeping so I went to see if she planned to get up this morning. Hmmmmm..... It's a holiday today and the banks aren't open. Must be nice.

There's enough snow for some xc skiing.... What to do, what to do....? I think I'll probably ride the bike.

My Chicago trip is postponed until Wednesday now due to the weather.

Have a great day! Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

Snow and ice....

Baby Rhea....
The Cedar from the dike behind Cattle Congress....
The paved trails....
George Wyth Park singletrack....
First bike on this singletrack....
Studs....
My Tifosi's were iced within 2 miles....

15 miles on the Surly with the studs this morning. It was SUPER! There were other bike tracks on the trails this morning, and quite a few footprints from walkers. It sorta surprised me because it was only 25 F and drizzling. My glasses were unusable and had to be removed at about the 2 mile mark because of ice buildup on the lenses. My jacket was frozen solid, which makes a great wind barrier.

I did some singletracking on the north side of the paved trail next to Alice Wyth Lake. First one in there today, though there had been a bicycle on the singletrack on the south side of the trail. It was awesome! Someone had cleaned the trail from the golf course up around the utilities building and out to Waterloo Road. I saw quite a few bicycle tracks in the snow by Pfeiffer.... Did somebody have a grinder today?

Eduardo is right.... I'm starting to get anxious for the new cx bike. That should be a blast in the snow with studs! I'm thinking we should have an ice ride once East Lake or Big Woods Lake is completely frozen.

That's it for now. Judy wants to go out to Barnes & Noble.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Worked later than I had planned yesterday and ended up on the bike in the basement again. I don't really like that thing!

I need coffee!

Peace out, yo!

Indoors....

21 F and windy this evening.

I rode the trainer in the basement for an hour tonight. Low to medium resistance and medium tempo. Does anyone know how much I hate the trainer? I guess it's better than not riding at all. I'll be moving the fan downstairs and plugging in some Stones or Guns & Roses or something of that sort for the next ride. Don't need television.... Just focus on the far wall and let your mind go.... I don't plan to do this too much. It's all good!

That's it for now.

Check out Rob's TT project here.... Sweet!

Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

Baptism.....

My Sweetie before her baptism.... She's 3 months old today.
Whooda thunk Jackal would clean up so well....?
Big Woods Lake trail.... It's starting to snow....
Just pedaling along....
Toes are toasty....

Baby Rhea was baptized this morning. She was soooo well behaved! Not a peep out of her in church with all of those strange people around her.....

20ish miles on the Surly this afternoon. 32 F and 25 mph winds out of the NW. Not so much fun. Oh well, we all know that this is Iowa and that we have been blessed with an extremely mild winter thus far..... It's never gonna be sunny and 70 every day of the year here.

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Kinda cold....

Had to wait for a train in Cedar Falls....

Nice 30+ miler on the Surly this morning. 28 F with an 8 mph breeze out of the west. I need to get the Blue Bike out one of these days. Today wouldn't have been good with the little bit of snow and ice from last night on the trails. I'm not sure I want to ride the county roads this time of year because drivers of cars pay even less attention to bicycles than they do in the summer. Oh well, they've got the heater going and the coffee cup full of warm liquid right along with the ever present cell phone and the CD player..... Not a great combination for cyclists.

Time for lunch.

Ride safe.

Peace out yo!

Pink Tape....

Minnesota pink tape....

They have a little more snow than we do....

New "Serious Pink" tape on Blue....

C'apn Bob is trying to figure out what color bar tape to put on his new "Faze Five" TT project bike. I'm suggesting pink. Have some fun with it.

The trip to St. Cloud was uneventful. The drive home was a piece of cake.... Judy rode along for company and the cruise down the 494 to 35W was relatively easy for 4 in the afternoon. Once we hit the 35W it was full speed ahead in the carpool lane to Burnsville and all points south. The entire trip home took less than 4 hours and 50minutes, including "stretch" breaks for us old folks. That's a record for me.

Jackal tells me that the new Cannondale Optimo 2 Disc may be here soon..... Too cool!

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Happy New Year!!!!

Oh Yeah! It snowed last night....
Winter morning....
1st bike across the bridge....
Icy trails....
The first day of 2007....
Nice!

Kerkove, Super Saul, and Buchanandale getting ready for the Gravel Goo....

I took off a bit earlier than the Gravel Goo guys this morning because I'm getting ready to head up north to help with inventory in the morning. I met them all at Pfeiffer Park as I was returning home so I stopped and said "hey".... Kerkove, Buchanandale, Super Saul, Guitar Ted, Casey Dean, and John Adamson were getting ready to head out of town for some New Year's Day gravel goodness.... It was cold this morning when I left for my ride, with lots of snowy and icy trails, but I suspect that with the rising temps they will definitely encounter plenty of "goo".... I hope you guys have fun!

That's it for now. Heading north!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!