Well.....

We all appear to have survived the weekend's ice and snow, power outages, etc. I have a crew in here on overtime this morning and who do you suppose doesn't show up? My 2 production supervisors. Way to set a good example! (We do get nasty winter weather in Iowa. Deal with it!)

Kerkove has some pics up on his site from their team training/photo shoot in Mallorca, Spain. Go check them out! Pretty sweet!

Jackal has his new Rush up and running..... Pics on his site.

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Winter is still here....

The Jetta under cover....

Back from the store....

Scootin' through the snow....

The Blazer covered with ice....

Rainbow Drive....

The bird house....

It's done dropping freezing rain on us and has started snowing. Typical Iowa late winter weather.

Eric and Nikki were by with the boys this morning and called about a half hour after they'd left asking to come back and spend the night here. Apparently the ice has taken down some power lines and poles up near Readlyn and they had no power. It seems that it got cold and dark in their house and they wanted someplace warm to stay so they drove back. I had to run up to Hy Vee to grab a gallon of milk a little while ago, which required about a half hour of scraping on the Blazer just to get the ice off the windshield, the 2 side windows, and one mirror. Sweet! The roads suck right now, by the way.

The early forecast was for about 12" of snow but it has since been changed to about 6" for tonight and another 3" for tomorrow. They are calling for 13 to 20 inches up in The Cities. Doesn't make it much easier here.... Ha! Just a reminder that it could be worse, I guess.

It looks like Jackal has his new Carbon Rush race bike built up now. The pics look pretty sweet! Go check them out! If you look real close you can see Bob and Doug McKenzie in one of those pics. It looks like a lot of new things have been happening in Kerkove's world too..... Take note that he has a new web address. www.jeffkerkove.net .

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

The Twins last summer....

On the edge....



We're right on the edge of the pink spot. What's the "pink spot", you ask? It's that big area on the weather map that is forecast to get beau coup freezing rain and up to 12" of new snow this weekend. 100% chance of precipitation on Sunday. 48 hour weather warning starting at 6 this evening. Oh yeah! I don't know about the rest of you but I'm ready for some spring weather. 70 degrees and sunshine, day after day. Yup, that's all I want. I'm thinking about the Good Friday Ride and the Big Guy keeps sayin' "it ain't happenin' yet!".



Hope everyone has their snow shovels ready and that the blowers are all gassed up. Be careful out there.



No heart attacks.....



Ride safe.



Peace out, yo!

Mmmmmm.......

Remember last spring? It was warmer then.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

First ride....

The thermometer across the street from this one said 21F. WTF?

A bit of snow sitting around....

Sweet saddle. The bottles froze within 5 miles....

Pink tape, of course....

Dark outside....

Hippy chick....

I rode the new Cannondale for the first time tonight. 15 miles and it was a nice ride! I like it! It is a sweet rolling bike, even with 35's on her.

I think it was colder than the sign in downtown Cedar Falls said it was since my water bottles were frozen within 5 miles. Hmmmm.....

The new bike has a Selle San Marco "Ponza" saddle on it, which, at first blush, is pretty sweet. Jackal had it set up perfectly for me. I'm thinking that I'd recommend this saddle. I run a Fizik Arione on the Colnago and Terry "Fly" saddles on both of my mountain bikes. This Ponza is nothing like any of them. Thin and sleek with minimal padding. I know that 15 miles isn't enough to get a real good feel for it, but for now, let's say that I like it. Not sure about the auxilary brake levers.... I think that they may need to be moved closer to the stem. We'll see how it goes. They may be easier to use without the Salsa Lobster gloves.

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Sunday....

NASCRAP on the tube. Bring on Moto GP.....

What you doin'....?

G'ma & G'pa with Baby Rhea at Toad's....

Jill Homer finished the Susitna 100 up in Alaska early this morning in 20 hours and 50 minutes. 100 miles of cycling through the snowy frozen wilderness near Anchorage. I mean THROUGH the snow. Not on snow covered roads or bike trails. I mean out in the WILDERNESS! CONGRATS, Jill!!!!

Had lunch with Amy and Judy and Baby Rhea today. BLT sandwich and Pepsi. It hit the spot! Jackal is up in The Cities attending Frostbike with Leans on Wood and Bottke from the shop. Hope they see some neat things. I wonder what Jackal might be bringing back with him? Hmmmmm.........

It's above 20 here today and I'm going to go ride the new Cannondale CX bike now. I have the red blinkie on the back and the Cateye Doubleshot on the helmet. Good to go!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

A little article about Kerkove in the local paper.

Peace out, yo!

She's here....


The new Cannondale Optimo II cross bike is here! Woohoo! I got up this morning and there she sat in the living room. I like her!!!! I mentioned to Judy that "that's one sweet bike" and all she could say is "it's just a bike. it's different, but it's just a bike". I was extremely impressed that she noticed it was different!

Thanks to Jackal (he's posted some pics) and to the folks at Europa!

Have a great day!

Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

Happy Valentine's Day....

Baby Rhea and G'ma....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Yes, well.... ummmmm, yeah........

It looks like a couple of more days with some snow and some wicked cold temps then a warming trend. Mid 30s to low 40s. It's bound to happen sooner or later. Oh yeah!

I think the new Cannondale cx bike will be at the shop tomorrow. Just a feeling. I can dig it! Feeling giddy like a schoolgirl.

Did you see the pink Contis on the Cap'ns TT bike? Pretty cool!

That's it for now. Time for bed.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Finally....

The Jetta and the Surly....

Old fire truck in farm field....
(click to enlarge)

Coming into New Hartford....

Iron bridge....

Crossroads....

It was finally a decent enough day to get out and ride! I have the studs on the Surly so I drove out 12th Street and parked the car at the golf course and rode 20 miles of gravel. Rode out 12th and over to New Hartford then left town on Diagonal and back over to Jepsen Road then back to 12th Street, making a pretty nice loop. It was getting dark at the halfway point and started snowing about the time I hit Jepsen to head back south. It was good!

Had lunch with Jackal, Moo, Baby Rhea, Judy, and A. Lo this afternoon. A.Lo is moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan in the morning. Good luck, brother!!!!!

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

The Utah trip....

The Rockies from the airport....

Big mountains....

The "Front Range"....

Sunset over the Rockies....

Denver at dusk....

I spent Tuesday and Wednesday at our plant in Ogden, Utah checking out some press problems and helping present a couple of new programs to the management staff out there. The temps were in the 50s, which was a considerable change from what we'd left here in Iowa. We were on the runway here in Waterloo at 7 am on Tuesday having our Citation II de-iced prior to taking off in a snow storm for the west. 2 1/2 hours flying into a headwind to Denver, where we took on fuel and dropped off one of our sales managers then another hour and a half over the Rockies to Ogden. Good eating and a couple of whiskey sours at a new restaurant in Ogden on Tuesday night then a little television while falling asleep in the motel. We spent Wednesday working at the plant then headed home Wednesday night. There is a lot of Air Force F 16 activity out there from Hill AFB, which is right cross the road from our plant. I'd love to fly one of those babies! About an hour and 10 minutes to Denver, where we took on fuel and picked up our sales manager then headed home. 1 hour and 40 minutes with a tailwind to Waterloo. Scootin'!!!! It was 45 degrees when we left Denver and a balmy 3 above when we landed in Waterloo. It's all good.

Jackal informed me this afternoon that my new Cannondale Optimo II Disc cross bike shipped from the factory out east this morning. Woohoo!!!! He works at the shop next Wednesday night and plans to assemble it then. I'm pumped! This will be sweet!

The guys at TWAF out in New Hampshire sent me a little present which arrived today! Thanks guys! I won't dishonor it at the bar! ;)

That's it for now. Jackal and Moo are here with my Baby Rhea.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

He's back!!!!


I spent the last couple days at our plant in Utah checking things out. The temps were in the 50s out west. Stopped in Denver going out and coming back.... No jacket required! Ahhhhhh..... It will be spring soon, I hope.

I made reservations at the Moab Valley Inn for our trip in June. That will be a good time! We flew over the area yesterday on our way back to Iowa. Looks like rough country.

I 'spose I better get back to work. Plenty to do here.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

The Show....

Jackal sizing up the new ZX10R....

The "Doctor's" M1....

Sweet....

That's bigger than both exhaust outlets on my Ducati....
"my pipe's bigger than your pipe, my pipe's bigger than yours...."

This is the view most racers see....

-11F. The Jetta says "It is cold"....

The show was good. Lunch at Hooters was good. I felt like ass on the way home and had Jackal drive the last half of the trip. Thanks, Buddy....

My new Cannondale cross bike is supposed to ship this coming Saturday.... WOOHOO!!!!!

If anyone knows of a sidecar racing motorcycle for sale (reasonably cheap), please let me or Jackal know....

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Hmmmm.....


Someone out there knows where this is at.....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

-17F....


1st post on "New Blogger". I hope it doesn't disappear. I liked the old one just fine. Oh well....

Made the trip up to The Cities on Saturday for the International Motorcycle Show. It was good! Saw Rossi's race bike.... That thing is yummy!

17 below this morning. It took about a half hour on the battery charger to get the Blazer running so that I could get to work. Brrrrrr.......... I should probably buy a new battery for the beast.

I'll be in Utah tomorrow and Wednesday for work. Highs in the mid 40's out there! That should be like heaven!

That's it for now. I need coffee!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Colder than cold....

6 below zero F this morning. 26 below with the windchill. Crap! It's cold! Jackal and Moo and I are going up to Minneapolis in the morning to see the International Motorcycle Show and eat some wings at Hooters. Hoping to hook up with someone to talk about finding a racing sidecar. If you can picture Jackal hanging off one of those things..... Oh yeah! We'll be the team having the most fun, for sure. I giggle like a schoolgirl when I think about it. It's all good.



That's it for now. Gotta get out in the plant.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Remember The Twins at Afton?
















Before........















After........






Not much going on around these parts as of late. International Motorcycle Show this weekend up in the cities, which should be good since the high for Saturday is forecast to be 0F. That's getting to be too cold to ride.

I thought I'd re-post a couple of pics of Jackal and Kerkove from last year's race at Afton just for poops and giggles. They seem to be lounging around quite a bit, huh? You'd of had to been there, I guess. Ahhhh well.....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!