Ole Noah built himself an ark.....

North Hackett.... flooded.....
This is normally a horse pasture..

It was cool....

There are usually 10-12 feet of clearance below the trestle....

The east side trail at Big Woods Lake....

The west side....

Heading toward New Hartford....

Dressed "just right" for today's weather....

Butler Road. Closed due to high water....

The Queen of Cross after lunch....

I assumed that since the Cedar had crested early this morning I would be able to hit the bike trail on Hackett and head to Cedar Falls. Wrong. Hackett is still under water. I Climbed Grand Boulevard heading west and rolled by the Utilites and then got stopped on the south side of the golf course. Under water. Rolled into CF on State and headed out to Big Woods Lake on North Main to find that you couldn't get around the lake due to water over the trails. I headed back into town on Main then out 2nd to Division, then out 4th to Union. I headed north to the gravel just before the railroad viaduct and then west toward New Hartford. The gravel was in pretty good shape, allowing for the frost boils and pot holes, which are pretty normal this time of year. Butler Road is under water on the north side of the tracks, so that was a "no-go".... I headed south on loose gravel until I crossed the highway, where it was then pretty much packed as hard as asphalt all the way to 27th Street. The wind was pretty much out of the west when I got to 27th Street so I headed east toward the UNI Dome. The tail wind made it pretty easy to roll at about 23 mph without TOO MUCH effort. About mile into it Clint Stainbrook rolled up behind me, said "hey, how's it going?" and then took off again. He's a machine. Must've been rolling in the high 20's. He can do that all day long.

I got back into town at the University then headed north on Hudson Road to 12th then took Division back to 2nd and then back home. It was a good ride on the CX bike. I'd pumped the tires up to 80 psi before I left home, planning to ride on hard surfaces. I could have let some air out on the gravel, but it all worked out in the end. I love that bike!

G-Ted is back home, TI v.4 is in the books. Sounds like they ran into some truly shitty roads and wind and weather, so it was shortened to 250 miles. Yes, they had finishers! Go read about it on Ted's blog. Follow the link to the Trans Iowa site and listen to the podcasts. Brootal.

Redemske finished 5th in th Cat 4 roadrace in Iowa City yesterday. I haven't heard yet how everyone else did. I know that the women's races should have been hotly contested with Syd Brown taking on the Punk Rock girls. Our own Kat Porter was planning to be in the mix as well! It was a windy bear yesterday. The Old Cap Crit was today and I'm pretty sure they had a lot of starters.

That's it for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Tuesday....

G78 X 15 studded snow tire. Wonder how long it's been there?
Wet trail....

I think this might be the guy that got lost on TI v.3....

Wet gravel. North on Ford Road....

Pretty good shape....

Mooooooo.......

More gravel....

The maintainer is out scraping the roads....

Yeah, we have some weird ones in Iowa too....

"You shot an arrow....through my heart...."

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Today....

71F in Hudson....
Mmmmm.....

Sweet....

Last year it was the street in front of my house.

This year it's just to the west 1 block.

In front of Jackal's house.

Beautiful, sunny day today. Winds from the ESE at 25. Ouch. It was still good! I went south to Hudson then west toward Dike on the Zaneta blacktop. I thought the wind was going to flip me over out there in the wide open spaces! I went out to MFer hill and turned around. Wicked! Met Clint on my way back into Waterloo. That dude is an animal!

G-Ted is back from California and the festivities they call Sea Otter. TI v.4 is still scheduled for this weekend. It's gonna be an extreme sufferfest for those who ride it. Ouch! Good luck to all of the riders. Watch out for wild cows!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Last night....

The 1x1....
Yup, under water....

The Queen of Cross in her wagon....

I decided to roll the Surly for a few miles at sunset last night just to loosen the legs a bit. It was a beautiful day here yesterday but it started to get a bit chilly about the time I was heading out. I put on a base layer and arm warmers and walked out the door. I checked my lights and took off toward Cedar Falls on the bike trail where it crosses Hackett. There were deer and raccons galore out in the woods near the trail. I wished I'd worn knickers or knee warmers..... Oh well, I warmed up pretty quickly. I got into Cedar Falls via the trail by Washington Park and immediately noticed the stench from the sewage treatment plant. It instantly left a rather nasty metallic taste in my mouth. Yukkkk.... Anyway, I headed over the dike to get a picture of the water over the bike trail where it goes under the Hwy 218 bridge. It's pretty high right now. It was starting to get dark so I turned on my red blinkie and my headlight and headed up 2nd to Main with plans to go out around Big Woods Lake. Guess what? My headlight was going dim after about 2 minutes. I turned around and headed back towards home. I could see just fine but was concerned that others in those big metal behemoths called cars wouldn't be able to see me. Took the trail all the way home. "Over the river and through the woods, in darkness we shall go...."

When I got home there was a red wagon parked in my driveway. The Queen of Cross had come visiting. In her pink pajamas. She was all smiles, being out and about in her wagon. She loves that thing. Time to get the Burley out of the garage, I guess. :)

That's it for now. It's in the mid 60s with an ESE wind at 15. The sun is shining and the forecast is for mid to upper 70s today. I'm on vacation this week so I think I'll go for a ride since rain is forecast for most of the week.....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Sunshine and (nearly) 70....

Doug and Jackal on the Ho Chi Minh Trail....
This was a corn field last year....

Heading north on the trail from Hudson....

Rolling by a recumbent....

Jackal and Rhea met Judy and me at Toad's for lunch today then we came home and went for a ride to Hudson. We met Super Ron Saul on the trail along Ansborough and talked to him for awhile. He's certainly logging the miles this year! I saw him yesterday in downtown Cedar Falls as I was heading out and he was heading home. I think he put in a little over a hundred miles yesterday while his wife ran 20 training for a marathon to be held in Saint Cloud. Super!

After we said our good byes to Ron we headed south toward Hudson and ran into Doug E. down by the dog track. He was returning from Hudson but turned around and added a few more miles to his day riding with us. Good seeing you guys!

We had a bit of late season snow this year followed by some pretty serious rain over the past few days. The ground is saturated and there is water standing everywhere. Looks like planting is going to have to be put off for awhile. I'm sure that doesn't make the farmers very happy. Rain in the forecast most of the coming week. We'll probably have a drought this summer.... You gotta love it!

That's it for now. Enjoy the good weather while you can!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Cool and damp....

Last Saturday found me in Florida with sunny skies and 85 degree temps. I got sunburned big and bad. Today finds me in cool, damp, cloudy Iowa with 52 degree temps but I got out and rode the bike! Saweeeeet! Even though it was 52 and drizzling, I was thoroughly enjoying it today. 31 miles out to the end of 27th and back. Supposed to be sunny and 70 tomorrow. I can handle that!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Work....

Breakfast in Minneapolis on the trip down to Florida....

Bloody Marys and blueberry muffins. Yumm!
The back view from our hotel....

Fort Myers Beach, Florida....

The Gulf of Mexico....

Warm white sand....

Mike didn't believe that the natives have better tans....

No question about it.... It was hard work. We left at 7 a.m. on Thursday and I got back at midnight last night. It was 85 F when I boarded the plane in Fort Myers and 35 F when I got off in Waterloo. Where would I rather be?

It's good to be back.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Tough....

Down in Bonita Bay Florida. It's been mid 80's and sunny. Tough stuff.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Dude!

The traech will come out soon....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Sunny Saturday....

Didn't really need the arm warmers....
This was covered with snow and ice last Saturday....

Standing water. The ground is saturated....

I headed south toward Hudson into a 20 mph headwind this afternoon. I wasn't sure where I was going to end up on this ride. I thought about the Orange Township loop or going to Dike. By the time I got to Hudson I was thinking Orange but then decided to just turn around and come back the way I came. I was feeling pretty good but my brain was telling me to get a few more miles in before starting the longer rides. It was good! The wind was brutal on the trip south but I think I smiled all the way home with a tailwind.

The thermometer at the Credit Union said 68F but the one in Hudson said 62.... I suspect it was somewhere in between.... The knee warmers came off when I got to Hudson. I could have ridden without either knee or arm warmers today and would have been perfectly fine.... A sign of things to come. Rain in the forecast for tomorrow. It is that time of year, I guess. We could use a good rain to clear some of the sand from the streets.

I'll be heading to Fort Meyers, Florida for a managers meeting on Thursday with the return trip late Sunday afternoon which will get me home about midnite if Northwest is on time. I'll be pretty busy the entire time so there won't be any sight seeing other than some fishing in the Gulf on Saturday afternoon.... I'd rather be here for the Finchford-Roubaix road race on Sunday. Oh well.

I think that's about it for now. I hope everyone is doing something fun this weekend.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!