Another nice day....

Warm....
Tailwind.... Sweeeeet!

It feels like summer around here but it's only the last day of April. It's about 20 degrees above normal for this time of year but I'm certainly not complaining! Woohoo!

I finished out the month with a quick 22 1/2 miler tonight which brings the monthly total to 523.29 miles. Now, if I had the energy and ambition to do that every month I wouldn't be such a fat ass.... :)

Jackal is checking on some of that frame saver stuff that you spray inside your frame tubes to keep them from rusting from the inside out. After my foray into the water on the East Lake Trail on Friday I figure I should do something with my Surly. Water and steel.... not so good!

His mtb race is coming up on Sunday at Camp Ingawanis near Waverly. He had a great group of racers and spectators and beautiful weather for it last year... Lets hope for more of the same this year. A lot of trail maintenance has already been done with a great group of volunteers pitching in to make it happen. Final touch ups on Saturday for the event on Sunday. It's a beautiful venue in the hills along the Cedar River. Be there if you can.

Guitar Ted is alive and well after some much needed rest following Trans Iowa. Anyone who has ever planned and executed an athletic event will have an idea of what's involved. Add 38 hours of sleep deprivation to that and you'll know how he feels! Welcome back to the land of the living!

Kerkove is back from pimpin' Ergon in the southeast for the last week or so. He got some good riding in some beautiful areas of the country and worked as Sloane Anderson's pit crew for the Dirt, Sweat, and Gears 12 hour race down in Fayettville, Tennesee.

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

500.68 miles....

It's only the....
....29th of April

Sheep on West Mt. Vernon Road....

The C'dale....

Sunset over Big Woods Lake....

I just couldn't wait until tomorrow so I went out and put in 22 1/2 miles on the cx bike to take me over 500 for April. I think of some of those miles and shudder. April was hot, cold, wet, dry, snowy, rainy, windy..... Weird! The Good Friday ride was cancelled because of 30 mile per hour winds and temps in the low teens and today it hit 89 F....

My ass feels like it has a saddle sore the size of Texas on it. It started hurting halfway through my gravel ride yesterday.... I guess things like that happen, eh? Those TI v.3 guys and gals are surely hurtin' worse than I am.

That's it for now. Time for a grilled peanut butter sandwich and chips.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Wind....

DIKE 5, with a tailwind....

Called Jackal this morning but he was already out riding so I took off in the opposite direction to maybe meet up with him. We must have passed each other near Hudson because we never saw each other.... He took the Ho Chi Minh trail north out of Hudson while I took the bike trail south into Hudson. Oh well....

It was 11 miles south to Hudson from the house with another 9 miles west on the Zaneta blacktop to the Dike blacktop. Winds were steady out of the sw at 20. Killer. An hour 45 to ride the 20 miles to the Dike blacktop then an hour 15 to ride the other 23 miles home. Pedaling downhill into the wind and doing 15 mph. It was a good workout! 20 to 25 on the trip north to Dike and beyond then east on 27th.

88 degrees outside right now. We went to lunch with Jackal and Moo and baby Rhea then came home and mowed the lawn and moved the crap that had fallen out of the trees during the winter to the other side of the creek. I need a trailer for the lawn tractor.

I need 22 more miles to hit 500 for April.... Trying to decide if I want to take the Surly out through the parks tonight or wait til tomorrow and ride to Hudson on the Colnago after work. There is a chance of thunderboomers tomorrow evening. What to do, what to do..... My butt is really hurting right now and the wind is still blowing like a banshee.

Congrats to Ira Ryan on his first place finish in Trans Iowa v.3. I believe his time was 25 hours even for the 320 mile "loop". The first singlespeed crossed the line exactly one hour later at 26 hours even. I'm sure that there will be pics and an update on G-Ted's blog tomorrow. For those who can't wait, try Karl's site.... I'll bet that G-Ted is a zombie right about now, driving back here from Decorah after being awake for something like a week.

Ah well.... That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Gravel grinder....

Iron bridge at Westbrook and Y....
The Surly in the New Hartford hills....

Fairfield Township school No. 5....

Chasing my shadow....

Went out and rode 36 miles on the gravel this afternoon. Union Road via 4th thru CF and then Westbrook to Diaganol and into New Hartford. North out of NH and then into the hills and back to 12th into CF and home. Temps in the mid 70s and a nw wind at 20. It was good!

I wonder where the TI v.3 guys are right now? I listened to Mark's podcast for awhile this morning at ride424.com and Ira Ryan was tearing it up. Sounded like he and 2 others had a break with a 28 minute gap an hour and a half into it. The winds are shifting to the sw right now so the riders could possibly have a tailwind for the entre route. Wouldn't that be something? I'm sure the leaders and the majority of the field have been to Brandon by now and are on their way back north.

One of my co-workers passed away this morning. Gary DeVries had been sick for quite some time and was apparently traveling in the car as a passenger with his wife driving. She thought he had fallen asleep and didn't realize that he had died until they reached their destination. It is believed to have been heart attack. Gary was 44. That sucks.

Nothing else going on here.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Water and things....

Bob Roll's twin....?
Things are getting green around here....

Lots of water over the East Lake Trail....

It was cold....

....and deep.

North on Ford Road....

East on Mt. Vernon....

Rhea entertaining Pooh and friends....

"I'm Happy...."

Poster girl for the Twin Six "Fly"....

I took off on a ride on the Surly after work last night. It's been raining all week but it was beautiful last night so I couldn't resist it. When I got to the East Lake Trail I found it under up to about a foot and a half of cold water. My entire crank and chainring were submerged so I suspect I'll have some work to do on it tonight. It's sealed, but you know how that goes. Hubs too. Oh well, it was fun. The current was scary strong in a couple of places where the lake was draining over the trail into the river. All good! I rode up through Wyth and Gateway Parks then out through Big Woods and up to Black Hawk, which was closed due to the water. I just headed north from there on Ford Road as the sun went down and did a little gravel grinding. I could have ridden all night! It was soooooooo nice outside!

Speaking of riding all night... The TI v.3 folks should be grinding their way south from Decorah right about now. PERFECT day for it! Ride safe, Folks....

Jackal, Moo, and baby Rhea were at the house when I got home from my ride last night so we had pizza and watched the tube for awhile. Rhea stayed awake as long as she could but at about 10 her eyes closed and she fell asleep on my lap. Just like that.... What a sweet child!

That's it for now. I'm at the office this morning getting ready to write a couple of performance appraisals for a couple of my people.

Ride safe!

Peace out, yo!

Landis....

Floyd Landis....

(Photo courtesy of AOL)

In the beginning I didn't want to believe that Floyd did it. Or that he would even consider doing it. Then I said "shame on you Floyd, for doing that". As the farce has played out I have come to the conclusion that whether or not he did it is irrelevant. The charges, the testing, and the media circus that they have caused give the entire situation an aura of extreme negative credibility.

The "B" samples came back today with "traces" of synthetic testosterone in them. The original sample from stage 17, the "A" sample, taken at the exact same time as the "B" sample, had "unnaturally elevated" levels of testosterone in it. Remember, there was no indication of anything out of the ordinary until Landis' stage 17 victory. All 7 "B" samples, taken at various stages of the race, now contain traces.....

Does anyone else find this to be just a little bit incredible? In my humble, uneducated opinion, the lab and the tests have "0" credibility. He was tested frequently throughout the Tour and there was never any indication of any banned substances in his system until after stage 17. Those would be the "A" samples. Now all of the "B" samples have "traces" of a "banned" substance. Somehow I got lost somewhere on this journey. I can't quite grasp this.... All of his tests were negative until after winning stage 17. The "B" samples are taken at the same time as the "A" samples. All of the "A" samples (excluding the stage 17 pee) were negative. All of the "B" samples are positive. Help me out here. I don't understand. How is this even possible? It defies logic. Are we so stupid that we'll believe, without question, anything that we're told?

Furthermore, representatives of the USADA (U.S. Anti Doping Agency. {They have an office right down the hall from the USFBAPTA, the U.S. Flowered Bra and Panty Testing Agency}) failed to show up for the testing which, by agreement, precluded Landis' expert from being able to observe the conducting of the tests. He was there but wasn't allowed to observe. The tests were performed anyway, without the scheduled outside observers.

It is my opinion that this is such an incredible fiasco that the only right thing to do now is to throw all of the testing and samples out the window and forget that any of this ever happened. The tests are, at this point, meaningless, as are the samples. Politics and sports are never, ever a good combination. Never. The lab that tested these samples should never even be allowed to test horse shit for hay.

Do you think this will stop the stupidity in the future? How many other careers have been ruined by this same type of ineptness? How many will be ruined? There is a pall of shame hanging over the governing body and they don't even realize it. Or even worse, they do realize it and don't care. The atheletes are just part of the show. They come and go and no one cares.

Did Floyd take drugs? Did he "dope" to enhance his performance and win the Tour? I don't know. At this point, I don't care. It's not what's important. It's the teams and the UCI that have turned on him and found him guilty prior to trial and in my mind that's shameful. It's unbelievable and sickening. My anger is not directed at Floyd. It's directed at the Ringmasters who are running this circus. The UCI is on a witch hunt. They are looking for examples to punish to make people believe that they are credible. They are not.

I hope that each and every competitor and potential competitor realizes that he could find himself in this same situation at any time.

Rant off.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Sunday....

"Lookie! I can touch my toes!!...."
East Lake....

"Will this make it smell better....?"

Friday was my day off the bike and Saturday found me working at the plant in the morning and up at the scout camp helping Jackal get some trail maintenance done for his race in the afternoon. When I got there it was Jackal, Eduardo, Casey, and me raking some trails and moving some fallen trees. Sounds like they had a great crew up there in the morning too. (Jackal has some pics posted here...) A lot of work was done! I helped him and Moo up there again this morning then went to lunch with them and Adam and his family. It was good! I know that Casey was back up there this afternoon. The trails are in great shape and the May 6th race should be a good one!

I went riding the Surly this evening and got caught in a downpour about 2 miles from home. (on the way back) I needed a shower anyway.

Trans Iowa V.3 is next weekend as is the Iowa City Road Race on Saturday and the Old Capitol Criterium on Sunday. The Decorah Mountain Bike Time Trial is Sunday also. Wow! It'll be a busy weekend for racers in Iowa next Saturday and Sunday. Plenty of choices for those so inclined.

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Fat Albert....

A bit cooler today....

I rode the Colnago for a couple of hours after work yesterday and felt pretty good. About 3 this afternoon I started feeling pretty beat and wasn't sure I'd ride after work tonight. I thought I might take the "day off" and rest. Well, I sat down in the e-z chair in the living room at 6 p.m. or so for about 2 minutes and heard the Surly calling me. Ride me, ride me......". Geez! Oh well, I got up and changed clothes and went out and rode the Black Hawk Park loop. It was a good 20 mile ride and I'm glad I went. It was about 63 F when I left this evening, which was about 5 degrees cooler than yesterday. I took arm warmers with me and put them on within a mile of leaving the house. Wow! Whoda' thunk that 5 degrees would feel THAT much different? Ah well. It all turned out good. Lots of skaters and walkers and a few joggers out and about but I didn't see too many cyclists. Weird. Oh well. It'll be warm soon and then the trails will be full of people and I won't go near them. County roads and gravel, baby!

326 miles so far this month. 245 last month. Wonder where I'll end up for April?

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Baby Rhea....

Peace out, yo!

Finchford_Roubaix 2007....

Door headers from the school that once stood here....

Out alone....

Jackal looking "Euro"....
Cat 5 lead group at end of 1st lap....
Beginning last lap....
Jackal finishing....
J. Fry pre-race. Oh yeah, he had his fudge rounds....

Doug E. and the missus after winning the cat 5 race....

Brent got himself a new sign....

The "man" himself.... Nice hat, Buddy....

I got up early Sunday morning and rode out to Finchford with Jackal to watch the annual "Finchford-Roubaix" road race. It was a nipply 34 or so degrees when we left his house for the 14 or so mile ride. The sun was shining and the wind was out of the northwest. A beautiful day for a ride! We stayed together out to the railroad bridge by the Retreat House where he dropped me like a bad habit. He had to get registered for the race and I knew I'd be there long before the start.

Great turnout for all classes again this year. John Adamson and all of the Bike Tech Racing guys put on a great event.

Watched the Cat 5 races with special interest because fellow blogger and childhood mate of Kerkove, Bryan Redemske, and Jackal were racing. They had a neutral start rolling downhill from the staging area to turn one then they were gone. The first lap seemed brutally fast to me with about 15 of the 27 starters staying in the lead group and a few solo riders and a couple of small groups following. Jackal lost contact with the lead group somewhere and was about 100 meters behind at the end of the first lap. I thought he'd bridge that gap and catch the group, but it wasn't to be. He hung in till the end and finished in a solid 18th. He didn't decide until Saturday night that he'd race because he hadn't been able to train as much as he would have liked to. Way to gut it out! Bryan has been training for and looking forward to this race for a long time and was able to stay at the front of the lead group right up to the final sprint. I think he was anticipating the sprint for the finish but when it happened at 300 meters it took him by surprise. He finished with the lead group with official placement of 13th. Good job, Bryan! Chalk it up to experience and go out and do it again. Go for the sprints on your group rides and you'll have it down for next race! Local racer Doug E. took the win at the line by about 6 inches with a very loud maximum effort. It was the kind of finish that everyone who loves cycling loves to see! Congrats, Doug! I got there about 2 seconds too late to get a picture. Damn!

Jeremy Fry, a.k.a. Fat Albert was there for the cat. 3/4 race with a pocket full of his favorite treats, Little Debbie Fudge Rounds. Not the little ones, either. Oh no. He likes the big ones!!!!

Another local racer, John Adamson, won his 60+ Masters class. Congrats, John!

Rode back to Waterloo with Jackal and Super Saul and then went to lunch at Toad's with Jackal, Moo Judy, and my little sweetie, Rhea. After lunch we stopped at Bike Tech to say hi to Brent and admire his new sign. He's also moved into the 21st century with barcoding on his products. Pretty cool!

I rested for a couple of hours then went out and rode down to Hudson and back, making the total for the day a little over 50 miles. I beat my vacation riding goal of 200 miles by a little over 32 miles. "Go you chicken fat, go"!

Local businessman Scott Jordan has purchased the strip mall on University where Europa Cycle is located and plans a facelift of the entire mall. I think everyone is excited about that!

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Good day....

Kyle....
Jacob....

"I had too much to drink last night,

I had too much to driiiiiiiiinnnnnnkkkkkk...... last night...."

Probably mixed it with Everclear....

We had the grandsons today. Went to lunch at Village Inn where Kyle and I made up a song about a blue nosed cow. We got some looks.... (my singing voice sucks....) Then Jacob wanted to get in on the act so we sang it again. Didn't seem to bother Judy at all, though she didn't sing along. (she totally ignored us....) It was good!

"Here comes Bessie the blue nosed cow, the blue nosed cow, the blue nosed cow...

Here comes Bessie the blue nosed cow.... eatin' hay allllllll day long"

I rode down to Hudson and back this afternoon. It was a good ride. I didn't see any other bicycles out and about, which kinda surprised me since it's such a nice day. Their loss....

I had ridden past the Hudson Cemetary on the Zaneta blacktop when I saw the skunk. I swear that I didn't touch it. It was laying along side the road just like that. I had to stop on my way back to take a couple of pics. Rest in peace, little buddy. I've tipped a few in my time with some people who got "drunker than a skunk". A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Let this be a lesson.... ;)

I was on vacation this past week with the intention of riding the bike 200 miles while I was off. If all goes well, which it should, I'll make that goal tomorrow, and then some. I had 185 miles for the week when I got back from Hudson this afternoon. Remember, we had some pretty crappy weather most of the week. It's all good!

The "Finchford-Roubaix" road race is tomorrow and I think I'll ride out to Finchford and watch it. Just getting there will put me over 200. Might take the long way home. Not bad for the second week of April.

That's it. Kerkove is still in California and I haven't seen hide nor hair of Jackal for days....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Friday the 13th....

South from New Hartford....

Rolling in to Dike....
Passed by the Driver Ed car....

Does anyone need a new combine? Plenty of them here....

Ummmmm...... yeah....

This is where your corn fed beef comes from....

So, there I was.... just riding along.... fat, dumb, and happy. I'm rolling south on the Dike-New Hartford blacktop watching the big assed green tractor coming down the road from the other direction with a car following and another one quickly closing on it. The first car pulls out to pass and sees a cyclist (me) and does the safe and courteous thing and pulls back in behind the tractor. I feel much better because I am now sure that both cars will wait until they have met me and gone by to pass the tractor, right? Whatever! The STUPID BITCH IN THE SECOND CAR PULLS OUT TO PASS BOTH VEHICLES AND RUNS ME ONTO THE SHOULDER! Then the STUPID BITCH has the audacity TO WAVE AND SMILE at me when she is right in front of me. I waved back. I know she saw my friendly wave because she was so close to me that I could have ripped the cigarette out of her mouth if her window were down. Jesus... Was getting to wherever you were going more important than my life? Back in the day, before I became such a calm person, I would have wished all kinds of evil upon her. Now I just hope that she gets over being so DAMNED STUPID!!! Rant off, for now.

It is a gorgeous day. A breeze out of the NW at 5 to 10 and the temp 51 degrees, according to the thermometer in front of the bank in Hudson. Couldn't have asked for a nicer ride!

And then..... I'm on the end of the bike path at Ansborough and Blackhawk Road, 3 miles from home, and I have the light in my favor. Some YOUNG FAT BASTARD in an old beat up black Grand Prix is fiddling with his FREAKIN' cell phone while I'm crossing the street in front of him. I should have known better than to trust him enough to cross in front of him. He started to do his right turn on red about the time I was directly in front of him. He wasn't even looking where he was going! 6 inches! The lady in the Exploder next to him saw me. She was paying attention. Oh well. I was having flashbacks to last summer when I got whacked in front of the Broom Factory in Cedar Falls. It's all good, right? Rant off, again.

So, anyway.... I rode out 12th to Union Road and then went to New Hartford then South to Dike. From Dike I headed over to Hudson. It ends up being just a touch under 50 miles and I feel petty good. I met Super Saul on 12th by the golf course as he was coming back into town. I think that he was trying to outrun the mini-van that was behind him. (were you riding the 29er, Buddy?) We exchanged pleasantries while on the move and continued on in our seperate ways. Ron.... those mini-vans will beat you every time. You were doing what, 25? 28? Those things can do at least 50. :)

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!