Update its been awhile

I don’t update this page at all anymore. The picture above is from the French Alps with my brother. Anyways, SO here I sit in January of a much much more pleasant winter. I have been doing a lot of thinking the past 6 months about cycling in General. I had significant fun on the last RAGBRAI but for the last five years or so I have noticed something nagging about the whole RAGBRAI experience. I hadn’t been able to put a finger on it but I have come to realize that it has been a group dynamics issue. Some people seem to have no problem enjoying moments of unrestricted uncertainty while others find great anxiety in not knowing “what’s coming next”.

For me RAGBRAI is about relaxing and doing whatever we want to do (legally) when we want to do it. If I find a spot along a route that I think is fun then I will stay there until I am no longer having fun…even if it means for several hours…heck even if it means several days. Some people just can’t handle that and they project their feelings on others in the group. On a RAGBRAI group of adults only every person should only be responsible for themselves. If one doesn’t know where the over night town is then it is their fault they didn’t get directions in the morning.

I guess my point of this posting is the fact that I have grown tired of the “where the heck have you been” mentality or the “you need to show some respect and get in earlier at night” well guess what! NO! I don’t have to get in earlier at night and I shouldn’t even be confronted with someone else’s opinion on the matter. The Only person who has the right to say something is my wife..and she would be a welcome factor in decision making on RAGBRAI. 

Therefore I am taking a long hard look at RAGBRAI this year and who I choose to ride with. I may even consider going bagger for the ride. If I do I will be going solo or pilot fish with one other person. Either way Team cycling for Johnny is downsizing. I will be riding differently this year as well. I will be riding 20-30 miles each day early in the mornings. Weekend rides will all be very early in the mornings. I will be cutting down on the long epic afternoon rides due to the time consumption and “ahem” sun exposure (getting old). However if I do go on a 50-60 mile ride it will be VERY early in the morning so I am back by 8-8:30 AM. If I find time I may cherry pick an organized ride here or there but for the most part my cycling this year will be subtle. I plan on cycling a modest 3000-3500 miles for 2011 and I will be switching fixed gear to the road bike intermittently. Riding the fixie is fun and it really builds the leg muscle. Thanks for listening and RIDE ON!

Plan Changes !!!

I checked the Ultra-cycling site and see that there is NO single speed record across Iowa. I may be petitioning the UMCA for a judge. There may be a chance that I can hold the single speed trans-Iowa Record. If that is taken I may consider FIXED trans-Iowa. If I am going to ride across the state in less than one day…I want to hold a record of some sort. Like I said Training started…..a LONG TIME AGO..

Wish me luck and lots of happy thoughts…and don’t call the shrink yet.  

I wonder if I won't hurt my knees.

Johnny across IOWA!

Ok gang. In about a year I am going to embark on another adventure. On the weekend of my birthday (7-1) I am going to ride across Iowa in less than 24 hours. In fact I plan on doing it in less than 20 hours. training starts…several months ago. I have always wanted to ride across the state in one sitting but I better get going cause I aint gettin younger. I will have a motor pace (car behind me with flashing lights) for safety. I will do the shortest northern route. It will be FUN!! Wish me luck!

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pic gain

pic again

Rig

Comments on My RAGBRAI group paednoch

Before I begin on this one I would like to mention a few things. I begun a deacon formation program in the last few years and it has transformed me into a person who I want to be. Sometimes we have myopic vision and we haven't a clue on how to see the world around us. I have begun to realize that the world is a bigger place seeing things in a narrow view are not what we are to be as humans. I am enjoying the process quite well but I am coming to know that I need to change how I see others. It is a revelatory process. Maybe it is age.. but I am guessing that it is discovery through facilitation. I hope my narrow views from the past can be used in a positive way to see people with love and affection. I have several years to go through formation but I feel good. I hope to be a kinder nicer person.. don't we all?

Below is a quickly typed message from Johnny paednoch about RAGBRAI this year and some thoughts. It was typed very quickly so it may be FULL of spelling and grammar mistakes. THE POST IS A LETTER RESPONSE TO FELLOW TEAM MEMBER TIM OFF REGARDING THE IOWA FALLS RIDING GROUP.

The core group seems to have parted ways. Burch and Tony and Deb are doing self contained the whole week. Bruce is going to keep it smaller quite a bit smaller actually. I am fairly certain you still have an Iowa Falls group to ride with as last week I talked with Bruce and he seemed pretty upbeat about Jessie/Lynn/ you. I talked with Randy Off. He may only go part. Randy and I started cycling together 25 years

Heck Randy and I are the only people in our group that are original Green Belt bike members. Our first group was the originals. Shirley Weldon, Ramona Weldon, Foster Mason, MY MOM (who is now 78 years old)...even Ruth Lillie was a member of that group...I know Foster is dead (struck by a car while cycling in arizona). Those early years were so much different than they are now. Rand and I went on an organized ride EVERY weekend. There were years where Rand and I were the only “young” guys (remember he was in his 40s then) in the Iowa falls area that were into cycling. We used to ride miles and miles of Hardin County in those days. I lived in Eldora and would meet him out in the boonies for some epic rides. I miss those days.

There was another guy from Iowa Falls who rode with us. His name was Rick Woods. We used to do RAGBRAI together with an old beat up dodge van we would either trade driving or con Francie into driving for us. I have stayed in every town on this year’s RAGBRAI some of them multiple times. I know RANDY and I have ridden this exact route back in 1999 or very similar. We have slept in Barns, corn cribs, city parks, garages and farmyards. I even remember sleeping on a trampoline in a farmer’s back yard who hosted us. His place was 15 miles off route on Gravel and we got 4 inches of rain in the night. We had to walk our bikes in MILES of slop to get to the main road. Not easy in cycling shoes.

My brother who had done RAGBRAI way back decided to join us after our first few years. After I moved to Iowa City I continued to ride with the Iowa Falls group up until 1999. After that I Joined DLO and rode with them for 3-4 years. (That’s why we know all of them and stop at their bus) I rode 2005 solo with nobody and 2006 I rode with my wife on the Tandem and outfitted with a local charter that year. (It was a great ride but super hard) My did stop midweek that year (she planned that) and I rode my road bike solo the rest of the week except the second to last day where I met up with the Iowa Falls bunch. I joined them that day and have ridden with them every year since. I am sort of bummed out I wish we could have the original Iowa Falls Group. The Captain, Sherry, Rod R, Bruce, Jess, Lynn, Burchie, Randy O, Tim O and ME.

With that in mind there are a few people who I will NEVER ride with again. I won’t give names out however I will say that if someone is going to commit to riding their bike 500 miles in one week they should do some prep beforehand. Also contrary to ones belief riding a bike across Iowa in one week is really not that difficult of a task. My mother did it when she was around 60 years old. I have NO TIME for whiners and bitchers who drag the group down. I believe Bruce is making a good move by eliminating the anchors we had in our group who certainly didn’t belong with stronger cyclists. The Iowa Falls group is composed of fairly strong cyclists who some of which have ridden at high levels of competition fringing on professional racing. Those who don’t prepare for the ride and are not really in to cycling should realize that those of us who ride our bikes every day are there for a vacation and not to babysit. RAGBRAI is for fun and if one is on the ride not having fun needs to find another form of recreation. I honestly think there were some people in our group who hate biking but “want” to like biking...it just doesn’t work that way. You either got it, or you don’t. did it when she was around 60 years old..I have NO TIME for whiners and bitchers who drag the group down. One good thing bruce is doing is closing the door to nominal riders. The iowa Falls group is a group a strong and experienced cyclists..some of whch have raced at high levels of competions fringing on professional racing...(thinking of Lynn and Jess off) there is no room for unprepared and inexperienced riders in this group. Such people don't even realize that those of us who ride every day are actually on Vacation and have not intentions of babysitting

Season begins

I usually start ramping up the biking on SUper Bowl Sunday but since BOTH of my teams lost yesterday I have decided to start a little earlier. I rode the new single speed yesterday. I will dub the single speed/fixed  the “white” bike from here on out. Yesterdays ride was telling that my form needs some work. It was way colder than I thought and very windy. The windchill was around 10 degrees. I about croaked riding fixed into that wind. No gears means no shelter. Gonna take some getting used to.

Riding in France with me brother.

Here I am filming an ascent up an Alpe in France.

LBJ was an interesting Character

I found this on Lances Twitter site. President Johnson gets quite graphic when he orders a pair of "slacks" from the president of Haggar menswear. You gotta listen to this whole phone conversation.
CLICK HERE

New Rig

Got this new single speed/fixie last week. Took it for a short spin today. Its looks like it may be some fun to ride this year when I feel like kickin around.

Nuff said

It was a cold ride in.

Cold

Hey gang,

I rode to work today. I started to leave home but couldn't pedal. I took the bike into the garage and the chain was a solid piece of rust. I found some triflow and doused it pretty good. The chain loosend up on the way to work. Snow wreaks havoc on chains. Keep it lubed folks.

Oh by the way. It was -13 today. Just a little nippy.

Pedal hard

Johnny

This new year includes a new rig.

Hey gang! Happy New Year! Looking forward to putting some good miles in this year. My commuter bike turns 20 years old this coming march and I am going to buy a new bike. I am seriously looking at single speed. The reason why is because my current commuter has always had trouble shifting in the cold weather. Anything below ZERO and the dern thing locks up. A fixie is out of the question due to the snow I have to ride in. I am looking at these two bikes. Click on them for detail. Any advice is appreciated.

 

Pedal On!

Johnny

Another Year Begins

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Hey gang its been awhile. I have been continuing riding to work. My commuter bike is 20 years old in a few months and has thousands of miles on it. I mentioned getting a new bike to my wife. Much to my surprise she concurred. So looks like I am in the market for a single speed. I considered a fixie but that would be difficult in the snow. In the next few weeks I am taking the road bike in for an overhaul. I Believe I put a new chain and cassette on it right before I went on TOMRV last year. That was about 2000 miles ago. Not sure what I will do on that one. Anyways the blog will become active again.

Pedal On……Johnny

Mission Accomplished!

Ok gang I know its been a really long time. I didn’t realize how much stuff I put off preparing for this trip. My brother and I spent 2 days on the bike in the Alpes. Day one we rode to the north of Bourg up to a ski station called OZ. After our ride that day which was around 40 miles (with LOTS of HUGE climbs) we attempted to ride up Huez. Bad idea. Day 2 we warmed up in the Valley and then attacked Huez. Due to weight my brother beat me by 5 min. (which isn’t that far when going up hill) 5 Min is about 500 yards on Huez. I was dead wrong about Alpe D’Huez. It is harder than imaginable. I was very surprised to see how difficult it was. I made it to the top without stopping one time but I was pretty spent by the top. I will have to admit that this was the hardest bike ride I have ever done. In fact it may be the most difficult thing that I have ever done in my life. I had several thousand training miles in for this specific event. I consider myself a strong cyclist (at least around the flats of Iowa) but riding up 10% grade for 8 miles gets inside ones head. I would guess that the average RAGBRAI rider wouldn’t even make it up the first incline to the first switchback (which has Lance’s name assigned to it). I am going to say that one would have to have at least 2000 miles on their bike to make it to the top..and 4000 miles on their bike to do it in respectable time. Its just that hard. (it isn’t even one of the hardest climbs in cycling). All in all I feel good about my ride up and I know that if I had my own rig I could approach an hour for time. Not having my own bike and not scouting the route played against me. I did destroy Sheryl Crowes time up the hill (big deal) but I know I could do LOTS better. Here are some pics.

Final days and super legs.

Entering into the final days of prep before leaving for Alpe D’Huez. I scaled back the training and I am amazed at the power I have achieved in this “coasting” period. I rode out to rock creek today and found a 13% hill and rode up it SEVERAL times. To be honest with all of you I felt like superman on the bike today…..like they say it felt like there was no chain on the bike. I only rode 36 miles but man did I feel good. I am going to ride briefly tomorrow, 30-40 miles on Thursday and MAYBE on Friday for 10 miles. This will complete training for the big ride. I plan on riding the 3rd weekend in October with the Super Tuned bunch on a trail ride. Should be a good time. I will be posting trip reports on Facebook.

RIDE HARD

Johnny

Final days

Well it has been awhile since last posting here. 1 week from today I get on a plane and fly to Lyon France. From there Andy and I will drive to Besse, France which is a little mountain hamlet in the Alps. After much needed sleep the following day will be spent biking Alpe D’Huez, Telegraphe, and the  monster mountain….Galibier. I read yesterday that there is snow up on top of Huez. If that is the case Galibier (which is much much more altitude) will either be snowed out or close to snowed out). After two days of riding in the French Alps we fly to Munich for Oktoberfest. After spending 2 days in M Munich we hitch a ride with a friend back to Frankfurt and catch the High speed train to Paris where we will no doubt hang our livers on the clothesline from Oktoberfest. It is going to be a fun trip in all but I bet I sleep allot when I get home. I am off to ride today. I got to get 40 in before heading out to the Iowa game.

Rivalry Week

One pic says it all.

Sean Walker Wins the Iowa Cup AGAIN!

Local Grinnell Racer Sean Walker (bikes2You/world of bikes) won his second consecutive Iowa cycling cup. Congrats Sean. Sean worked on my bike last night and gave me the big news. I had a chance to ride with him earlier this spring until he dropped me like a bad habit. Kudos to Sean!!!!!

Rain Rain GO AWAY!

Haven’t been able to ride the past 48 hours due to rain….LOTS OF RAIN. If it dries up later this afternoon or evening I will head out to get what I can.

ON A SIDE NOTE!! KUDOS to the the people who make KEEN sandals and bike sandals. I have had a pair for several years and the dog ate the laces off of them.  Well KEEN will send you a pair of replacement laces and the clips for FREE!!! Don’t see that much anymore. I guess I will remain a buyer and fan of KEEN for a long time to come. HERE is the site for replacements.

Until next time KEEP ON RIDING!!!

Training update

Hey Gang,

Five weeks from Today I will be flying to Europe ending up in the town Bourg D’Oisans which is the hamlet located at the bottom of Alpe D’Huez. I received an email confirmation from my bicycle rental place in which they are expecting us. As far as training goes I feel right on Track. I have put in 120 miles in the last 3 days and feel pretty strong on the bike. Towards the middle of September I plan on going out to rock creek and climbing the steepest incline 30-50 times per week. Today I rode the steepest hill on the west side of the lake. My GPS said 16% for the Grade. Unfortunately this 16% is only 100 yards long so I will do it over and over and over again. I want to simulate the grade of Huez as much as possible. Below is a picture of me a few days ago after a ride. I look a tad fitter than a few months ago. I know I am way stronger on the bike than I was in March. 

Lance wins again.

I watched the webcast of the race (BTW the commentators were HORRIBLE) yesterday. Lance wins by around 1/2 hour. He rode the last 10 miles on a flat rear. The race was 100 miles and the lowest elevation, 10,600 ft was at the start/finish line. The high point was over 12,000 feet. I find it pretty amazing these guys can ride their bikes over horrible terrain straight up a mountain. Too bad Tinker Juarez had a malfunction. He could have been in the mix. I read somewhere that he trained like a madman.

Training continues

I have been riding consistently since the end of RAGBRAI average times are up quite a bit. I have found it difficult to post here and on FACEBOOK. I have around 3500 miles in for the year. The Alpes are waiting and we are now 6 weeks out. Football season starts in the next 3 weeks. Have been having problems with flats this past week. Got a bad batch of tubes I think. The Grinnell Criterium was very successful. I missed it due to Deacon Formation. I hope they move the date in the future..or I will miss it until after ordination.

RIDE ON!

Johnny

Well Summer Finally Shows up

We have been spoiled. It is now High humidity and high heat for the first time this summer. I drank 50 ounces of water on my 43 mile ride today. I felt great for 35 miles then sorta bonkied. I have around 2900 miles in for the year. Not near as much as I would like but it is only august so I have a good 4 + months of riding left. I am sure those last few weeks will be hit or miss with the weather. Some years its pleasant all the way up to december. Other years it can get horrible from the beginning of NOVEMBER on. Heres hoping for the former not the latter.

And they see the light

Well, I guess my old hometown finally saw the light and decided to send in the RAGBRAI host town application after all. This is a good thing. At least now the ride organizers will get the impression that there is some interest. Iowa Falls is a very pretty town and would do great with RAGBRAI.

Iowa Falls, Iowa Gets a big fat F

My hometown is “refusing” RAGBRAI. I hope they never get the ride now. Lazy lazy lazy. Whoever the chamber president is I wonder how easy their job is. Talk about LAZY. What an embarrassment. SHAME ON YOU IOWA FALLS. Letter to the editor below.

After hearing at an Iowa ride event that Iowa Falls has declined application for RAGBRAI I would like to extend my condolences to those local merchants and community organizations (especially the local churches) who are going to miss out on this opportunity for an economic boost during a time where finances may be tight. A few years ago I had the opportunity to pre-ride part of the RAGBRAI route with former RAGBRAI director Jim Greene. In our conversations Jim expressed his amazement of how towns clamor for being an overnight stay. I also got the impression that if a town declines RAGBRAI they don't see ride organizers come asking again. Is this what Iowa Falls wants? I am slightly put off by the comments that Riverbend Rally is too much work itself. Iowa Falls is not the only town that hosts an annual event. Mt. Peasant tackles the much larger Old Threshers Reunion and had little trouble hosting RAGBRAI. Kudos to Eldora for rolling up your sleeves and having the courage to benefit your community. The rewards will be great!

John

Osborne

Grinnell, Iowa

cc: bikeiowa.com

RAGBRAI video

Ok gang here is the video of actual riding on RAGBRAI. Sorry RANDY OFF for not getting you in on this one as well as Tony and Leah, sherry and Captain….wish I would have got in this one. Everyone else…well……

No this is not Pennywise

There is a very good reason why you should NOT take your children on RAGBRAI. Contrary to the belief of many this is not Pennywise from Stephen King’s “IT”. This is George who met up with us a few times on the ride. Actually he was an OK guy. Just a little unstable.

Wow look at lances eyes.

Pic is worth a thousand words.

Long time no post

Well Gang I am back from RAGBRAI. I have to admit this one was VERY easy. Our group averaged around 20 MPH on the last day (however we did stop one time for 5-10 min) so we likely would have averaged quite a bit faster. There was a time the last 8-10 miles we never got below 24 mph. When I was on front with Bruce O I noticed that our line had grown to about 20 cyclists so it took awhile to work back up to the front. It was a blast. This was a very enjoyable ride this year. Contrary to the thoughts of some I thought our group got along just fine. There were some end of the week gripes and groans but that is to be expected at the end of a week long ride. If anyone wants to enjoy RAGBRAI I suggest you ride at least 1500 miles before going. Especially if you are riding with stronger cyclists. I consider myself slightly stronger on the bike and was annoyed a few times about the complaining, it was a very easy RAGBRAI and nobody should be going on a group tour without some miles on their legs. I hope to add some photos but I failed to take many. I do have one video that I may add to the site.

KEEP ON RIDING!

JOHNNY

Legs! I found My Legs

Hey Gang,

Well after 2200 miles of riding this year I can admit that I have finally found my legs. Today’s jaunt through the rock creek watershed was easy as pie. I never left the big ring and felt light on the bike. I only rode 35 miles but I felt great the whole time. On the home stretch I got stung YET AGAIN by a bee. This time on the head. It was a bumble bee and it didn’t hurt near as bad as the honey bee on the leg from my ER visit. I pulled over and ran across an old cycling pal Bob Wemer. Bob rode his bike across the US a few years back. After a nice chat with Bob I headed home. I felt FAB today. Gonna mow the lawn and watch the tour this afternoon.

Adios

Tour

Keep track of the race

A trip to the Hospital

Hey Gang,

I post the other day about getting stung by a bee on a ride. Well, I ended up in the ER the next day because the bee sting site swelled up to the size of a volleyball on my inner thigh and turned quite red. The doctor said it was too early to be infection (which I thought too) and placed me on a medicine called Atarax. WHich is a strong antihistamine. I woke up this morning and noticed a bit of improvement so looks like I am on the mend.

Hey Gang!

Its been awhile. I just crossed the 2000 mile threshold. I feel guilty because I could easily have 3 grand in by now. I have piddled with some shorter rides but I do feel a little stronger with each passing week. Some days better than others. I rode the Rock Creek area today and then a bit more to 224. 32 miles in all but lots of hill climbing involved. Got stung by a bee today. He bounced off my leg and left his stinger and venom sac. It hurt like the dickens.

Where’s Johnny Gonna Be last week in July!?!

 

You guessed it Kitties…..Employer gifted me some time off……

Post ride report

Hey Gang. I rode up to Iowa Falls on Tuesday. 80 miles in 4 hours and 19 minutes. I felt pretty strong the whole way. The heat was incredible. Our state was under a heat advisory warning and I must admit it was probably the hottest weather I have ridden long distance in solo. I remember exactly 10 years ago RAGBRAI was intensely hot. I believe the humidity was the real cause of the problems. I drank 4 20 ounce water bottles of water. I was wringing wet with sweat. I started to worry a bit because I was starting to chill on the home stretch but still felt Real strong. I rode to Alden later in the evening with the Iowa Falls bunch. hats off to Adam Hartford and Bruce Off for smoking me on those last few miles. They made the attack and I couldn’t bridge the gap. Bruce has always been strong but Adam seems to have gain significant cycling strength. I plane short rides today and tomorrow as I have a retreat this weekend. Have a great week.

Ok its been awhile.

We after an easy week with minimal miles in I am back updating this blog. Just a little over a week ago I rode in the Tour of the Mississippi River Valley, a 2 day 200 mile event. Day one ended up being right at 110 miles and extremely hilly. Our route took us into 3 states, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. We climbed around 7000 feet the first day with almost all of the climbing coming in the last 40 miles of riding. A notable climb was Chestnut Mountain which is a ski area. I don’t recall the elevation gain but we took country roads and they were extremely steep. After being rained on most of the day I must admit that I felt pretty strong throughout the ride especially the hills. I even caught myself climbing some of the longer less steep grades on my big ring. Day two was a bit shorter and started out with some  brutal climbs that were very steep. Most notable was the climb up to the Mines of Spain recreation area south of Dubuque. After climbing that “hill” we shot down into a canyon nestled in the rolling terrain and we presented with an extremely long but gradual climb out of the Dubuque area. 3 of us broke from our group and rode tempo up the climb of 5-6 %. I have no idea how far it was but it seemed to be at least 3 miles. Aside from the rain we had gorgeous weather. I highly suggest anyone going on this ride to be prepared with many miles in before attempting it. It is a VERY hard bike ride. Even at a slow pace an inexperience cyclist would have considerable trouble with the terrain. Below I have posted a video shot from my cell phone of us on our home stretch. Cruising along in a pace line at about 24-25 MPH on the flats near the end of our ride. I ride to Iowa Falls in the morning and spend some time with my mom. I will ride back the following day. I will be meeting up with some friends in I.F. to go on their weekly club ride. I should be getting about 120 miles in tomorrow.

Hey there I am still recovering from TOMRV

Rode 26 yesterday. Legs felt like lead. Gained some weight over the weekend but did eat like a mile. TOMRV is a tough challenge. It was rewarding.

IMG00148.jpg

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Ouch!!

Vid from Tomrv. Hard ride with rainy headwinds on day one. This is paceline video from day 2.

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Our host.

Our host. What a ride. 110 mile wooooohoooo
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Having fun on TOMRV

Having fun on this ride with the gang tough ride.
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I am now RACING up Alpe D’Heuz!

I have now been officially entered into a race up the famous Alpe D’Huez. Ok Ok not really. However, my brother is now coming along with me and we plan on spending and entire day riding around the heart of the Alpes. We have set a goal challenge to race each other up the famous climb. I can’t wait, it gives me something to train for late in the season. After Heuz and Galibier we are flying to Munich for Octoberfest. Sounds just too fun. Its gonna be a great trip.

Great day with an old pal.

Rode out to rock creek with old friend Tyler O. Good times. Thanks for the ride Tyler!
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I get to ride the dream ride in September. Alpe D'Huez!!

I will be in southern Germany last part of September and First part of October (can you say OCTOBERFEST!) I will be driving to The ALpe D'Huez for a climb up. Totally a dream to ride up the most famous bike race route in the world. Doing it solo or with my brother if he chooses to come.



I plan on riding this baby on Sept 28th or 29th along with Galibier. Dream ride YAHOO. ALPE D'HUEZ here I come.

Hey Ho! Update time

Hey gang! Been riding quite a bit. Several trips out to Rock Creek SP for some hill training. Also some riding in the southern part of the county for more hills. V-18 seems to be a nice road. Short steep hills to sprint up and LOTS of em. Not too terribly hard. Lance Armstrong has ridden V-18 a few years back on RAGBRAI. This past week was the first time I felt some fitness creeping in. I don’t know why but I like to stand and dance up the hills. I have had to use a rolling pin on my legs to get the lactate out when I get back from a ride. If I don’t the next day it takes me 15 miles to loosen up. The rolling pin does wonders but it takes lots of elbow grease to get rid of the lactate. I have some vids of ROCK creek climbs on Facebook. Most of the climbs out there are short but steep. One of them is 13% but it is only about 400 feet long…

Take care!!!

Been a great weekend so far for riding.

Rode the hills out at Rock Creek and Kellogg area. GREAT training ride in. Going to try and get another 30 in before Mass this morning. Looks like it is going to be a glorious day. I hope everyone has the good weather and enjoys the extended weekend. Sorry no pics today.

On a side note I noticed that Levi got dropped on the last little climb in the Giro. He fought his way back but that does not look good. I appears as though Menchov and DiLuca actually throttled back to allow Levi to catch back up. Which is odd. Both of them looked back and saw Levi fading but didn’t attack. WEIRD.

Weekly update

I have decided to update this blog weekly. If I remember. The Clear Lake ride was cancelled. I attempted to ride up to I.F.  but it was just too cold and windy. Below is a ride from the other day. I believe if you click on the image it will take you to motion based where you can view the vital stats for that particular ride.

Mission update

Made it to 4 miles north of le grand then turned around froze to death. 47 miles.
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Here goes

It is 5:15 AM and the wind is blowing at 20 MPH directly out of the NW. The Temp is 39 degrees and the wind-chill is 28 degrees.

Seems like about the worst possible scenario has happened.

 

Going to make an attempt. Probably be back in a few hours after battling the wind.

Gonna Make a stab at it.

I am going to attempt a very early morning departure tomorrow for my bike ride. It is going to be fairly cold and windy. I will be riding directly into the wind for 140 miles. If I don’t have troubles with IT band on my right knee I am thinking I can make this ride all the way to my destination which is Clear Lake Iowa. My biggest concern is making it to Iowa Falls. Once I get there I plan to meet up with super tuned and will have some drafting options. Wish me luck!

INTO THE WIND

Looks like a pretty poor day to ride tomorrow. When NOAA weather site says "BREEZY" and says the wind will be out of the NW, it usually means REALLY WINDY. I am going to attempt to ride early in the morning into this wind. But based on how far I plan on riding I may have to scrub the mission. I planned on riding between 120-150 miles. Riding along the Iowa River valley in 2 spots of this trip calls for some hilly terrain. The distance coupled with the hils and wind may be a bit much. Its also supposed to be freezing cold early in the AM.

Weather this weekend

Weather is not looking good for my ride plans this weekend. Temps are going to be in the low 60s indicating that the wind direction will be out of the North. (my theory is that when it is warm with rain following wind usually follows from the NW).

The sailboat is a hint of my final destination. WAY far North of here.

Weather this coming weekend

Hello,

Its been awhile since posting. Deacon Classes are done for the year so I can settle down with some focus on mileage on the bike. Johnny hopes the weather next weekend is favorable for a loooooooooooong ride. I plan on doing some considerable mileage on Saturday. I play on riding way way way over 100 miles. Hint.......Gee I hope the wind isn't out of the northwest!

My LBS guy wrenched for Chris Horner

I can’t give enough plugs for my Local Bike shop owner and good friend Craig Cooper. The time he spent fitting my wife was impressive. Craig and his son Drew rode a Tandem form San Diego to Texas last fall. Craig has some connections with cycling fame too. Craig is good friends with Chris Horner’s girlfriend/fiance’ thus has spent some time with Chris. Those of you who don’t know who Chris is, he is Lance Armstrong and Levi Lipheimers’s right hand man on the pro- team Astana. Anyway, below is a video of Chris at the Jingle Cross race in Iowa City a few years back. At 2:43 on the video you can see Chris Talking with Craig and then taking his bike from him. Craig is wearing a cap and his son drew is wearing a black skateboard helmet. Craig wrenched for Chris at this event. Perhaps Craig is even giving some tactical advice. :)

 

Wife gets a roadie.

So I take sherry down to Bikes 2 You and she does some test riding. I was quite impressed with her selection process. She spent around 20 minutes riding each bike before making her selection which was the most expensive bike but it was a very good choice and worth it. Giant OCR 1 WSD. Craig spent a very long time getting her fitted properly. Quite impressive. Sherry has never gone clip-less however the bike came with Shimano SPD pedals so Sherry picked out a very nice pair of Shimano SPD road shoes. (really nice looking shoes). After setup Craig wanted her to take the whole “package” out on the road one last time. Sherry came back wide-eye. “Man you can go way way faster with clip-less!!!!!!”  So we get home and gear up for a ride. Sherry took off a few minutes before me and it took forever to catch her. At our turn around we had a stiff wind into our face. Below in a video of Sherry red-lining into that wind. I am in big trouble…she is going to only get faster.

Wife gets a roadie

Sherry getting fitted for her road bike. Yay.
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