History Lesson....

Rare photo of the 1940 Tour de France

Thanks, Brownie.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Tuesday....



Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Yesterday....

Nice ride last night. Poor Tony flatted after crossing Hudson Road on the way out of town. That sucks. He went back home while the rest of the group continued on. It happens.

Good seeing you, Fatty!

I rode up to Janesville and then back to Cedar Falls with Kat and John. They had already ridden 40 miles yesterday prior to the group ride. Added another 30 last night. Thanks for pulling me around.

Not much else going on. Heading back to Phoenix for a couple of days tomorrow. Flying this time. 3 hours in a plane compared to 30 in the car. Hmmm.... Judy and I definitely had a good time driving down there in June. It was fun.

Have a great weekend.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

I dig pink, but....

....a pink excavator? Whoaaaaa.......

Rode the Hudson/Orange loop solo this morning after watching le Tour. What wind that did exist was out of the west and gave me a little push toward the Eagle Center intersection from Hudson. Beyond that, it was not a factor at all. 68F. Awesome! Speaking of Hudson, they had their Hudson Days celebration this weekend. Judging from the looks of the main drag I would say that they partied rather hearty last night. Tis the season for the small town celebrations. ;) Good stuff.

The pink excavator is a rental at Mid Country Machinery just south of Waterloo. Might be a bit much, eh? I picture some big ole manly-man with a 12 pack belly and 3 days growth climbing out of that thing at lunchtime on some jobsite. Pretty good, eh? S'pose his buddies would give him any guff? LOL.

The tour stage today was pretty good. The mountains certainly sort things out! No spoilers here, just in case someone reading this hasn't watched it yet. I just wish that Versus would get over the Lance worship.

That's it for now. May go paddle a bit this afternoon.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Wisconsin....

Yes. This road goes to the cemetary....
Sunset near Manchester....

Judy and I drove over to Beetown, Wisconsin today to look for her ancestors. Didn't find them. We did find 20 miles of newly paved Mississippi Valley road. If you aren't familiar with eastern Iowa and western Wisconsin's terrain near the Mississippi you're missing out. It's like a little mountain range. Hills. Sweet. I should have taken my road bike. I could have ridden the 22 miles from Beetown to Dickeyville while Judy traipsed through cemetaries. Next time.

Ah well.... Hope those out on the GTDRI are having fun. 110 miles of NE Iowa gravel goodness. Same kind of mini mountains that we drove through in Wisconsin today, except they're on the other side of the river in Iowa. And they're gravel, of course. Lung searing, thigh burning climbs. Sketchy descents. Perhaps a bit of Stranahan's? Ya never know, do ya?

Have a great rest of the weekend.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Cupcake....

Fatty eating....
Fatty thinking about eating....

Fatty eating....

Fatty thinking about eating....

Fatty was eating something from a bag that looked like miniature frosting covered cupcakes. No idea what they were. Not sure he knew what they were. He'll eat anything. Anytime. That's why he's fat. And that's why they call him Cupcake. Well, that and a couple of other reasons.... ;)

Group ride was good. The wind sucked on the way back. I rode the CX bike with no intention of going out on the group ride. Once I got to the shop Fatty shamed me into it. My legs still hurt from Sunday. It was probably good for me though.

Kat is back from Colorado. I thought we were going to make it a short ride and then roll back together but she was with the fast guys and I never saw her again after Beaver Valley. Looking fit after the Firecracker 50 and the Triple Bypass out in Colorado. She's prepping for leadville. Wicked fast.

I think I put the hurt on Fatty on the roll out to Union Road. I could hear him behind me moaning and groaning.... What can I say? Poop happens, Buddy :)

That's all for now.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Nice day....

The Queen of Cross....
Go Gophers....

Calm water....

Cool clouds....

A kid with a dog and a skateboard....

This is blog post number 601. I don't even remember when I started but I do know that Jackal and Kerkove had blogs and I wanted to comment on them so I started my own. Lots of things happen in 4 or 5 years.... Meet lots of great people!

It turned out to be a very nice day today. I took the kayak out to Big Woods Lake for awhile after work then came home and mowed the lawn. It's all good!

Group ride tomorrow, if it isn't storming. Seems like we've had a lot of that lately. Not much that you can do about it. We had a big one last Thursday night/Friday morning. I slept through it. Darn.

Ah well....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Bikes, Blues, and BBQ....

Goose Island give-away. Good!!!!

Great racing up at Clear Lake, Iowa this weekend. What did I learn? Simple. I need to ride with the fast guys on the group rides until I get dropped, then go back the next time and do it again. And again.

I raced the Masters 50+ rr today. I knew I'd get dropped at some point and then I'd be riding alone. 42 miles. I figured they'd finish in an hour and 50 minutes or so. I'd do it in 2:30. Well, I did it in 2:20, so I'm pretty happy with that. Plus, I stayed with my group for over 12 miles. I was definitely pleased with that! Remember, I hadn't done a road race in over 20 years, until this year. I had fun. Suffering in the rollers and wind by oneself usually isn't a lot of fun, but today wasn't bad. The miles just clicked by.... A little wind, a few sprinkles of rain, and temps in the 70's.

Anyway, I have things to put away. More later.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Group Ride....

Chasing on 3rd Street....
The Belgian National Champ and friends....

Very short ride for me tonite. Physically I feel fine. Mentally, I'm beat. Long story. It's all good.

Ride safe.

Peace out, Yo!

Cedar Rapids....

We spent the day in Cedar Rapids yesterday for the Iowa State Criterium Championships. It was a beautiful day with a great course and some awesome racing. Saw a lot of old friends and stood there and listened while Jackal told my buddy Brent Hauser that "the reason everyone knows my dad is because he has a big mouth". Wow! That was the compliment of lifetime! Thanks!!! :)

On a more serious note: All of the racing was good. And very fast. It was a 6/10 of a mile rectangle on 2nd and 3rd Avenues which crossed the Cedar at Mays Island twice. Pretty flat and very fast. There were a few crashes in the 4's race, which didn't surprise me because the riders were very close and intense. I thought it was starting to get a bit ugly in the final laps when people started crowding each other. Group sprint finish behind one solo break-away rider. Good stuff! Jackal led a few times and was looking pretty good throughout the race. I think 40 started and 30 or so finished. Fast pace from the start that never slowed down.

Landon and Richard did a good job of representing Bike Tech in the Masters 50+ race, as did Mike Johnson in the 4's race. Good job, guys!

The pro/1/2 race was intense right down to the wire. The group of 5 that broke away actually lapped the rest of the field with 2 to go. Thought that might hold the lead group back in the confusion at the end but with one to go the leaders all got through the pack and sprinted it out. Very close finish with Brian Eppen taking the win on his single speed. Can you say IMPRESSIVE? Wow! He had just won the single speed race an hour before, right after he'd taken 2nd in the Masters 35+ race. 3 races, 2 victories and a 2nd place. Awesome!

That's about it for now. Pics will be added later. Hope everyone had a fun and safe 4th!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Happy Independence Day....

Small town Iowa 4th of July....
The Queen of Cross....

Supper at Z's....

Test ride....

East Lake from the dike....

Hanging around....

I went to the Shop at lunch time on Thursday, just to say hi. The Thin Man was putting brake levers on his Transition so I asked if he was getting ready to put it on the road. "Nope, I sold it". Whoa! Along with his Zipp 404's and a new carbon Ruby for the guy's wife. Pretty good day! The guy who bought it said he was tired of getting beat by the girls in the triathlons and wanted a faster bike. Sounds like a motor issue to me.... Oh well. He got a very nice bike! Hope it works out for him.

While I was there Chris asked if I was going on the group ride Thursday night. I told him no, I was still hurting from Tuesday's solo effort after being away from the bike for 2 weeks. He seemed a bit disappointed. Hmmmm.....

We went back to work and after I'd left for home at the end of the day I decided to ride the C-50 for awhile, rather than the CX bike. I ended up at the shop at 6 and Chris talked me into the group ride. It was good. Very mellow. The entire group left together and kept the pace sane. I expected the first attacks to come after crossing 1st Street on Union Road, but it didn't happen. Double paceline at about 19 mph going north on Union. Wow! I took my pull with Craig and then dropped back. At that point Chris and I rolled at about 17-18 mph and continued north while the rest of the group headed west to Finchford. I must say that it was a great ride and that I'm glad I went. We rolled to Janesville then back south to Cedar Falls. I was still a little stiff from Tuesday and this ride was perfect to help straighten things out. I had ridden a bit before heading to the shop, so I ended the day with 35 miles in 2 hours. Perfect! Thanks, Chris!

Friday found Jackal and I heading south to Hudson at 8:30 in the morning. It was fairly cool and the winds were calm. When we got to Hudson we rode to the far end of town then back through on the main drag before heading back north on Ho Chi Minh. My legs were a bit stiff again when we left, but that passed quickly. We kept the speed at a pretty reasonable 17 mph or so. Once back on the bike path we headed to Cedar Falls and a trip through The Intersection of Death. We were crossing with the light when I heard Jackal say "red Trail Blazer right". I'd seen it and we continued through the intersection. Some young gal driving, talking to her friend in the passenger seat. She was going to do a "slow and go" right turn on red. She was almost on top of us when one of them noticed us and she stopped, wide eyed, with both hands covering her mouth and a look of terror on her face. We continued on across (very slowly, for effect...) while giving her the "look". I think she peed her pants, as she waited for the light to turn green before proceeding. Good stuff! Hopefully she'll pay attention the next time. All in all, a great ride. 25 miles.

Judy and I went out to breakfast this morning then just kinda piddled around for awhile before I went riding.

I went out around East Lake then up through the parks to Black Hawk and back. When I got back to Cedar Falls I decided to go back through the parks and around East Lake again on the way home. I met up with Steve Bullerman at the entrance to Wyth Park and we rode together to River View, where we said out good-byes and he went under the bridge while I went over and on toward home. The pace was a touch faster than I would have ridden if we hadn't met. It was really a nice ride. He was on his new Chili. Sweet bike!!!! Good seeing you, Steve!

Ended up with 30 miles this afternoon. Good stuff. It was raining this morning but pretty nice when I went out. Cloudy, but no rain. Jackal and Bottke did the Hudson route this morning between showers. There were quite a few families out riding today, as well as a few walkers.

If you haven't kept up with le Tour today, STOP HERE!!!!

After today's results in The Tour I would say that it will probably be an interesting race. 2 Liquigas riders in the top 10 and a 40 second gap between Cancellara and Lance. Yay! 18 seconds between Cancellara, who's leading, and Contador, who is in 2nd. We'll see how it plays out. FYI: I am not a Lance fan. He lost my respect long ago.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. Good luck to those of you racing in the Firecracker 50 in Colorado and to those of you racing at the State Crit Championships tomorrow in Cedar Rapids. I'll be there watching and taking pictures.

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

35 years ago today....


....at the 97th General Army Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany, Jackal was born.

Happy Birthday, Carl!

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!

Well....

I hadn't been on the bike in two weeks, until last night. I went home from work and changed clothes then spent some time on the CX bike.

I left the house and rode east then out around East Lake and through Wyth then stopped at the Shop before heading out around Big Woods and through Black Hawk. It looked like a pretty large group getting ready to head out on the Tuesday night group ride. All the fast guys were there. I passed.

I talked to The Thin Man for awhile and then headed back out to finish my ride. (Thanks for the butter, buddy) It was good! Low 70's and overcast. It was pretty windy last night but I was riding the bike paths through the parks, so that didn't really mean much to me. (It probably meant something to the guys out on the group ride....) A bit over 25 miles in an hour and 30 minutes. Not bad, for having been off the bike for so long. I feel it just a little this morning. :)

Today is my brother Brian's birthday. He's pretty old. Just sayin'....

Ride safe.

Peace out, yo!