.Cycling For Johnny

2011-09-05T08:58:00.001-05:00

Update its been awhile

2011-01-16T08:09:00.002-06:00

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 !!!

2010-06-30T18:58:00.001-05:00

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.

Johnny across IOWA!

2010-06-26T18:32:00.001-05:00

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!

Home

2010-06-17T19:46:00.001-05:00

pic gain

2010-06-08T07:54:00.001-05:00

pic again

2010-05-30T18:16:00.001-05:00

Rig

2010-05-30T08:06:00.001-05:00

Comments on My RAGBRAI group

2010-02-06T08:19:00.001-06:00

Below is a quickly typed message from Johnny 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

2010-01-25T04:53:00.001-06:00

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.

2010-01-23T16:56:00.001-06:00

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

LBJ was an interesting Character

2010-01-19T14:06:00.002-06:00

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

2010-01-16T15:33:00.001-06:00

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

2010-01-04T07:48:00.000-06:00

It was a cold ride in.

Cold

2010-01-02T07:09:00.002-06:00

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.

2010-01-01T09:32:00.001-06:00

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

2009-12-31T07:45:00.001-06:00

View Full Album

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!

2009-10-20T08:56:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-09-22T17:04:00.001-05:00

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

2009-09-19T07:05:00.001-05:00

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

2009-09-08T08:48:00.001-05:00

One pic says it all.

Sean Walker Wins the Iowa Cup AGAIN!

2009-09-01T10:49:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-08-27T15:06:00.001-05:00

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

2009-08-22T11:32:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-08-16T07:41:00.001-05:00

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

2009-08-15T12:47:00.001-05:00

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

2009-08-04T14:41:00.001-05:00

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

2009-08-02T06:56:00.001-05:00

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

2009-08-01T07:14:00.001-05:00

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

2009-07-28T20:59:00.001-05:00

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

2009-07-28T17:50:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-07-28T09:37:00.001-05:00

Pic is worth a thousand words.

Long time no post

2009-07-28T08:51:00.001-05:00

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

2009-07-11T12:23:00.001-05:00

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

2009-07-10T10:12:00.001-05:00

Keep track of the race

A trip to the Hospital

2009-07-09T07:59:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-07-07T17:05:00.001-05:00

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!?!

2009-06-30T18:18:00.001-05:00

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

Post ride report

2009-06-25T11:58:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-06-22T07:21:00.001-05:00

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

2009-06-17T21:49:00.001-05:00

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

2009-06-15T09:04:00.000-05:00

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Ouch!!

2009-06-15T04:52:00.001-05:00

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

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Our host.

2009-06-13T20:36:00.000-05:00

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

2009-06-13T15:56:00.000-05:00

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

2009-06-09T17:11:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-06-07T17:03:00.000-05:00

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!!

2009-06-03T13:45:00.005-05:00

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

2009-05-30T18:40:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-05-24T07:43:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-21T08:21:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-16T13:14:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-16T05:15:00.001-05:00

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.

2009-05-15T17:51:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-15T07:29:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-13T10:57:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-11T07:46:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-03T07:47:00.003-05:00

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.

2009-05-03T07:23:00.001-05:00

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

2009-05-02T10:41:00.000-05:00

Sherry getting fitted for her road bike. Yay.
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Wow. This guy is amazing

2009-04-27T10:56:00.004-05:00

Well I survived a weekend of ancient Philospy class. Lets see...Hmm...14 hours of ancient philosophy class in two days. Yikes..it was nice to come out of Plato's Cave alive!!! Here is an amazing vidoe of a bike guy doing things that are seemingly impossible.

TOMRV

2009-04-21T08:09:00.001-05:00

I have officially signed up for TOMRV. It is roughly back to back centuries. One day is 106 the other day is 86. I probably will rides around on the second day to tick over the 100 miles. I have never done TOMRV. A friend of mine who is an avid cyclist has. He tells me that TOMRV is not for the faint hearted. LOTS of climbing involved. Especially on the 106 mile day. I am riding with a relatively experienced group of racers and endurance cyclists. There are two guys going with us that own bike shops. Pretty impressive for them to peel away from a busy June weekend to actually go on an organized ride. I know one of them never has time to actually go on such events himself. I am a little nervous cause there are a few from our group who are fairly accomplished racers. It will be fun. I have been riding every day for extended distances. I have also been riding at a brisk pace (for me) at around 20-21 MPH for the course of my rides. Sunday morning I redlined it for most of the ride. I just want to be ready for this ride come June. Click on the picture below to check out TOMRV.

Emails

2009-04-20T04:56:00.002-05:00

Rode 23 today before church left at 7 AM. Sorta foggy. Started out on the bike trail but got yelled off again by a pedestrian with their dog. (Gee I wonder if they got a poison ink email from an angry baby boomer) I rode adjacent to the trail and rode around the circle at the beach and around the upper campground. I THink I have a good route.

(Hey Andy, do your remember your comment you made to me over spring break about people sending nasty emails? I guess I get your drift. Its amazing the gall of some people who think they know you well enough to send assinine emails. There is so much anger in this world you can almost feel it. Thank god for block sender functions on outlook express.)

Whoa! A ride in the rain and a rant.

2009-04-18T15:03:00.002-05:00

Rode round 60 miles today through the rock creek watershed and on past a little hamlet called Kellogg and on towards Lynnville after doing some back tracking on hwy 6. I got absolutely dumped by rain on the way back. I got a few thousand feet of climbing as the route is mostly hills a few of them around 8-9 % but not terribly long. It was nice to get out and ride for some much needed crank turning. Which brings me to my second point.

As many of you may know I have a life. BY this I mean I have a wonderful wife and 4 awesome children ranging in ages from pre-school to Junior High age. In our hectic world it is often difficult to cram all of the things that happen in the life of a family similar to mine. Aside from Band Concerts, softball games and practices, 4H meetings and projects, to band competitions, grade-school fun nights, neighborhood potluck dinners,to soccer practice, to all state junior girls concerts in Des Moines, to Catechism classes on Wednesday nights, Prison ministry on Thursdays, church meetings throughout the week often and the various other 1000 things that happen in a busy household (Gee I can't wait until kids are grown and I retire. I will have ample time to donate back to my community). It is very difficult to find time to go for extended rides. Today my wife and daughters had a youth Choir concert in Des Moines. My Sons decided they didn’t want to go so I was to stay home with them today and pick up around the house. My wife gave me the nod this morning that I had about 3 hours to go on a ride. So I gussied up and took off. I rode east of town and turned around heading west I decided I was going to ride adjacent to the bike trail today on the first leg of my ride. Little did I know today was trail cleanup. I had forgotten about this. I waved a hello to my LBS guy and rode on. Seeing some others wave and smile was nice. Its too bad today didn’t line up for me and my family to ride the bike trail. Those of you who know what it is like to raise a family know how hard pressed time is. Those of you who don’t can act like blundering maniacs when you scream at passing cyclists while you are sweeping the trail. Our world is a crazy place. Perhaps some of us need to stop screaming and smell the roses. Do something crazy like become involved in your church or lions club. The bike trails of life will always be there for sweeping. Unwind a little and stop screaming at fellow cyclists.

During today’s ride I had to fight off some brief anger from a meddling trail working. It gave me a great energy boost. Even though I don’t ride on the bike trail a big ole thank you to those of your who volunteer to do it. Its nice that some of you have the character to smile at passing cyclists.

Been Awhile

2009-04-11T07:43:00.001-05:00

Sorry for not posting in so long . The last 2+ weeks have been very busy. Some riding complete but the weather has been very poor. Winter has refused to let go and the temps and wind have been unfavorable for cycling. I went out a few days last week where I should have stayed inside. I nearly froze on one afternoon ride. Today is supposed to be a GLORIOUS 61 degrees so I will most likely be taking a long turn on the cranks later this morning.

Weather is bad AGAIN

2009-03-28T08:32:00.001-05:00

Sleet this morning. Cold at 32 degrees. I may buck it up and ride anyway. It is no fun having this crappy of weather in late March. I need to ride. There is a chance that I may be heading out to the Kent Park races in the morning. All depends on what the family plans are. I believe it is the first race of the year for the Bikes to you team. Their new team kit is in and they have a new team sponsor. Craig has teamed up with World of Bikes in Iowa City to better support the team. Their new team kits are really really nice. I plan on getting one. NOT the skin suit though. Arghh! I don’t want to make some people sick.

Get out there and RIDE!!

Riding In Texas some comments

2009-03-23T09:39:00.001-05:00

Well we are on day 4 of our trip down to the Dallas area. Some things about urban riding. It isn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. In this area bikes seem to be held to a high level of respect. Traffic was busy but the wide and smooth roads down in this part of Dallas have ample room for motorists to go around cyclists. On Saturday I rode with the Coppell, Tx cycling club. there were only 7 of us in my group. Our average pace was a brisk 22-23 MPH with some very small climbs and some flat out speed. Its fun to ride in a group. One of the guys was from Des Moines and has lived in TX since 1980. He was the strongest of the bunch and he and I dropped the rest of the group the last 5 miles. The final mile back we regrouped on a beautiful boulevard called parkway blvd. All in all I am not sure but we rode somewhere between 40 and 50 miles my GPS unit was off half of the time so I don’t know how far we went. I wish my brother could have ridden with us. Both Friday and Sunday my brother and I rode together. I believe we rode 25 – 30 on Friday and around 17 on Sunday. The Sunday ride took me 12-13 miles to get warmed up. My brother was strong from the get go so we rode at a fairly brisk pace. It is nice to ride with my brother. He takes his rides with some seriousness so its good to ride with him to get a workout. I will miss not being able to ride in groups often when I return home. Today is a day off the bike. Some packing and hanging out then back to Iowa VERY early in the morning. The wind is 25-35 MPH down here right now anyway. I have taken very few pictures down here. Non of which are cycling related.

2009-03-21T11:50:00.001-05:00

Rode 40 with coppell TX 22-23 ave good brisk ride. Now headed out shoot clay pigeons with my brother and kids.
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On way to Texas

2009-03-19T10:01:00.000-05:00

Headed down to Texas! This pic taken somewhere in Kansas.
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Great Day for a LEG cooker

2009-03-15T16:24:00.001-05:00

Took off today is upper 50s weather. Today I decided to run about 85% the entire ride with a HIGH cadence. Rode 90-100 RPMS for 25 miles today. Felt great for early season. It seems like these early spring rides cause body chilling when getting home. I have talked to lots of people about this and we all have the same results. When weather is in the 50s it seems like we cannot warm up when we get home. It is because all of our blood is being shunted to our legs. (read it in a book) Today I am extra cold at home but I absolutely FRIED my legs today with an intense high cadence workout.

FELT GREAT!!

47 when I left 30 when I get home

2009-03-10T20:50:00.001-05:00

So I ride today. Starting out in the fog and drizzle. Just when I get out in the middle of nowhere the wind picks up and the temp plummets 15 degrees. I rode to the bike shop looking like a tired, wet and muddy puppy. I still feel good about giving it a go. But I nearly froze me arse off.

No Pictures. It was too cold and wet to even think. The wind was at least 25 MPH. Bet the wind-chill was in the teens.

Fog and Sog.

2009-03-10T09:11:00.001-05:00

I am sad, see my frown. Why? Cause its raining. Like the ham hocks? Neither did I so I shaved them off.

That’s the title of the day dreary and Foggy with wet roads and intermittent rain. This whole week doesn’t look good for riding. I may just buck it up and ride anyway. I have two bikes now. I have a cycling friend who used frame-saver on his bike recently. He has a Surley steel bike and I have a Burley steel bike. Surley makes pretty quality frames steel frames as does Burley.

On a side note. I accepted delivery on my dell exactly one week ago today. I decided I needed a computer and Macs were just too pricey. After spending the better part of a day updating the computer to the latest utilities and version of OS, I have to admit it runs pretty nicely. I have come to accept Vista and wonder what the fuss is about. The default settings on Vista are annoying as hell. But once the bells and whistles are turned off and the system is configured Vista is a pretty good OS. Yes it is more intuitive. Yes it wants control of some things. After fighting the temptation to be in complete control of my computer I have decided to let go and let vista do its thing, which isn’t really much. I love the fact that my computer can wake itself up at night from being off and do updates. Its all configurable anyway. My PC does updates at 3 Am and this includes scan disk/defrag/virus scan/virus update etc.

I am convinced the animosity towards Vista comes from the business world. Vista is a media based OS. It is for the home user who wants to do media stuff like music, videos and photo editing. Vista is just fine for me and it isn’t any slower (for me) than XP. In fact I think it is a little faster but that may be due to the hardware. My favorite utility on Vista is Windows Live writer. I am using it now to update this blog. Live writer streamlines blogging and makes it significantly less work to post to blogs. It allows one to post in blog format so one doesn’t have to “preview”. I can see what my post is going to look like as I type. Also it has a spell checker.

Adios for now. Get out there and ride!

Yay! I have so much to look forward to.

2009-03-08T10:39:00.001-05:00

As you can see the radar is showing LOTs of rain. Wasted weekend. I am glad I rode on Friday otherwise I would really be bummed out.

Wasted day.

2009-03-07T23:27:00.001-06:00

So this is where my bike sat all day…on top of LOTS of papers that I need to finish up on. WHY? CAUSE IT RAINED ALL DAY. NO RIDE TODAY.

Well I rode 29.9 Yesterday.

2009-03-07T08:31:00.001-06:00

A few tips for us all.

1) If you plan on going for a ride but at the last minute have the urge to blow it off and NOT ride, FORCE yourself to ride. Every time I have followed this advice I have had an awesome workout.

2) If you have the time wait to ride in the afternoon or even in the evening. I have heard a cyclist (Cat 1 racer and a former member of the US 23 and under team) tell me that our cycling legs are best at the end of the day. So those of us who work late into the afternoon should consider that riding after work produces the best workouts. For years I was always bewildered by how good I felt on late afternoon rides after working 12-13 hours at work. Those were always the sessions that I cooked my legs on.

Nice ride in 70 degree weather

2009-03-05T20:54:00.002-06:00

Oh what fun it is to ride in 70 degree weather. I have no idea how warm it really was but I am guessing 65-70. A stiff SW wind at about 20 gave me some tired legs but I felt GOOOOOOOOOD. rode around 70 miles on a 3 county loop. I took some pics but they are damn boring. One pic is of a brown pasture and the other pic is of a brown ditch. Sorry folks you are just gonna have to suffer on this one...I aint sharing the pics. I rode on part of the RAGBRAI 2007 route. The same route that Lance rode on from Newton to Marengo. I did about a miles worth of elevation work which is some good climbing. ROlling hills in the rock creek watershed make for some tire legs. Went to my kiddos parent teacher conf. He got a B and the rest As...He takes after his mom.

Bye Bye and get out there and RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is Todays ROUTE it is going to be WARM!

2009-03-05T09:00:00.003-06:00

Riding a trusted Loop Today. around 75 miles. Gonna Be GREAT!

8-7-2008
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Cold and nice dogs

2009-02-27T15:02:00.000-06:00

So I rode in the freezing cold today. I met up with this sweet chocolate lab in the country. She was a good doggie stayed right at the edge of her yard when I rode off.
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Slooooooooowww compuuuuuuuters.

2009-02-26T10:19:00.002-06:00

Ok gang I have had with DELL. Here is the story. Last Friday one of my children (the one whos name is "Not Me") spilled several thousands of gallons of water on my laptop. Unfortunately I didn't get the thousands of gallons of water flood proof version of Dell inspiron and the dern thing is fried. Anyways I quicklike order a new one from Dell. I order the stock laptop with NO bells and whistles (not even the thousands of gallons flood proof version). After completing the order I notice my ship date is like way way way in the distant future. Like way off into March. March 16th to be exact. So I called customer service (in India) and get "kevin" (yeah right like kevin is such a common name in india) and proceed to tell him that a month is way way way too long to wait. He gives me some mumbo jumbo about parts on back order. So I tell "kevin" that I want to cancel my order so I can buy a Mac. (even one with thousands of gallons flood proofedness). "Kevin" tells me that I cannot cancel my order because it is already in production. I let "Kevin" know what I think of him and WILL promptly ship my Dell back to them when it arrives. Thats it folks I AM GOING MAC!!!!!

Oh on a side note. I have been riding like a mainiac the last 4 days. 40 on Monday 40 On tuesday and 25 yesterday. I am heading out in a few minutes to ride in 30 degree weather. YUCK!

Lance is the MAN

2009-02-19T20:57:00.002-06:00

OK today I read Lances Twitter. He said, and I quote " Random thought I sure am going to miss RAGBRAI this summer"... Well Lance we sure as Hell are going to miss you too. Perhaps you can arrange for Bon Iver to show up and ride.

On a side not I have some video of my cycling buddy chatting with Lance on RAGBRAI a few years back. You can even pick up the audio. My pal asked Lance if he feared old guys. Its a long long old joke about a faux Magazine cover that I did about velonews and my buddy on the cover.

I tell you one thing Lance would have one HELL of a time with us on the RAG...I can guarantee we are the wildest (and I mean RUGBY wild) bunch of avid cyclists. Too bad he is going to have to spend his time with a bunch of weenies in france while we drink shiner and stay up an entire week.

AS A NURSE WHO HAS TAKEN CARE OF HUNDREDS OF CANCER PTS IN MY CAREER, I RESPECT LANCE TO THE FULLEST. WHAT A GREAT MAN. I bet I could drink him under the table though.

New RIg

2009-02-19T16:54:00.003-06:00

Picked up my new rig yesterday. Giant TCR c1 nice bike but I don't like the wheelset. I will be using eason circuits on it.

Parkersburg Anvil

2009-02-15T06:08:00.005-06:00

I was sorting through some old pics. This anvil cloud is from the supercell that produced the Parkersburg tornado. I took the picture because at the time I couldn't believe how big it was. This photo is taken from the south edge of Grinnell. Grinnell is 80 miles south of parkersburg. Also included is a video clip from a banks drive through camera. Those of you who don't know this tornado was an F5 and destroyed the better portion of a town. The anvil cloud in the top picture is the biggest anvil I had ever seen. The picture doesn't really give an idea of how big it was. Simply huge.

Ragbrai is Great. I rode 25 today

2009-02-10T18:32:00.002-06:00

I am going to put Ragbrai in the title of all my posts just to keep my friends RAGBRAI charter ad on my page. Rode 25 today. Climbed a big hill in last 5 miles. Felt pretty good. Way WAY better than riding those damn rollers. It was just an awesome day for temps. I am not sure if I have ever in the past, but I wore shorts today out there. Didn't even feel cool. Probably didn't look cool either.

Rollers Roller and more ROllers

2009-02-09T20:59:00.003-06:00

Rode the rollers AGAIN! Man this is getting old.

This year so far.

2009-02-09T04:35:00.002-06:00

So Far I have one thing to admit. I am NOT going to get 1000 on the rollers. Even though I can spend several consecutive hours riding outside I can only stand 45 minutes to an hour on the rollers. If I do the math correctly there is no way that will happen. I am likely going to be outside full time in another month provided there isn't snow cover. Putting 250 miles in a week on rollers would translate to about 2.5 hours per day on them. NO THANK YOU. The tour of California is coming up this next week and there is a very interesting story about one of the racers. His story is HERE.

Ahh biking in iowa

2009-02-07T15:07:00.001-06:00

Out for a spin what a joyous time felt great and I felt strong I only rode 29 miles. Stopped down to BIKES TO YOU and talked to coop. A few other guys a (a racer and a guy who should be a racer) had just gotten back from an 80 mile ride. I felt like a putz. Average was 16 it was cold and windy in the country. After coop closed the shop we went to the voodoo lounge for a few beers and some pool.

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This is soooooo cool

2009-02-06T04:57:00.000-06:00

Got this from cyclist Dave Zabriski's twitter page. (yes I monitor his conversations with Lance...call me pathetic).

CHECK IT OUT HERE.

BIG NEWS FOR MY TOWN

2009-02-06T04:46:00.004-06:00

Talked with CRAIG down at BIKES TO YOU. He is planning a sanctioned crit. He is working with the city and the Iowa cycling cup to hold this race in August. I will be volunteering my time to help with the race. Unfortunately I will be out of town the day of the race but that wont keep me from helping in the planning stages. This has me so stoked I rode the rollers for an hour. (I hate rollers)

Weather looks good this weekend. Supposed to get up to 49 tomorrow so I will be taking the bike outside for some REAL riding.

Funny bunny

2009-02-01T10:02:00.001-06:00

Just thought this little pic is a hoot.
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BIKES to You RAGBRAI CHARTER

2009-01-31T09:36:00.003-06:00

If any of you are interested in going on RAGBRAI this year. I highly suggest you go with the BIKES 2 YOU charter. Craig is highly respected in the Iowa cycling community. In fact he is an ICON in the cycling community of our state. His Charter is far and away the best charter.

At the top of his website is the link to his charter.

THE ROUTE IS OUT

2009-01-30T13:04:00.002-06:00

Been there Done that. EASY. Don't believe the "hills galore" lie.

BIKING BUDDIES

2009-01-29T06:36:00.004-06:00

I have spent LOTS of saddle time with these two guys. Each July we spend a week and ride 500 miles together. The feller on the right is Bruce O and the guys sitting wearing the UGLY jersey is Jeff B. Both are very strong cyclists. I hope to ride TOMRV with Bruce. When both of us are on form and in shape its hard to keep up with us. Unless you are Bruce's son and daughter in law...they are Category rated racers...I am not sure but I am certain they are at least Cat 3 or lower. Cat 3 racers are capable of doing things like hanging with Lance on training rides. Guys like me can't do that. We do have a Cat 1 racer here in Grinnell. I have ridden with him and hung with him for the better part of 20 miles....then he got "warmed up" and disappeared on the horizon in front of me rather quickly.

Another reason for a 41 year old to enjoy the bike

2009-01-29T06:24:00.002-06:00

I ride my bike to work year round. Even through deep snow and extreme cold. I have ridden through 9 inch snowfalls (you would be surprised at how easy it is) and -20s temps. The city (town) I live in is a fairly progressive community thanks to the local prestigious College (grinnell collge). Year round biking is not out of the ordinary. There are a handful of us year round commuters here and we wave at each other when we cross paths. Our family has a "work" car and a "good" car. Riding my bike has allowed me to save on fuel and wear and tear (especially in winter months).

A few weeks ago we sold the "work" car. In order for it to be driven off I had to put gas in it. The Car's previous trip to the Gas Station was in 2003. That is a long long time. I was a little worried about the gas being old but it started Ok and is now being used by someone who needs. It. I have a diesel Mecrcedes now as my work car. Unfortunately I cannot let the Fuel sit in this car for as long. I drive the Mercedes Onces per month to the prison for ministry. By the way the Mercedes has 440,000 miles on it.

OK BIKERS TIME FOR YOUR ANNUAL SERVICE

2009-01-29T06:16:00.002-06:00

Those of you who are going to ride this year. Whether it be RAGBRAI or somthing a little more challenging OR just for fun here is my tip of the week.

Take your bike in TODAY for its annual service. The sooner or the better. I have a good friend who owns a bike shop and he will be the first to say that his wrenching time shoots through the roof at the end of FEB beginning of March.

Also if you are going to ride a bike and want the newest rig..then NOW is the time. The 2009 bikes are in most shops NOW and are assembled. (I know my guy has put LOTS of bikes together as of late).

If you can wait to buy a bike then continue on your bike and wait until end of season which in iowa begins in mid august and runs through the 1st of the year. Best time of year to buy a bike is sep to oct.

Rollers and Carbon

2009-01-27T09:54:00.009-06:00

So lance twitters me today asking me if I was still riding steel and commuting on the dinosaur. I assured him yes on both. However an era is coming to a close. Today I head down to Craig Cooper, owner of Bikes to you racing and talk to him about a new rig. Yup I'm goin Carbon...Leaving steel makes me nervous. Hope the shakes ain't too bad.

The new rig will be a Giant Team TCR. The B2Y team issue bike. Certainly the nicest ride I will ever own...bikewise...uhum eh .... Similar to the bike that Jan Ullrich mounted on his last Tour de France.

Many of you have asked what type of steel I was riding. I have a custom Paint Burley fox hollow. 6000 miles on it this year and between 15-20,000 miles total. Ultegra group. Many of you have also asked me what dinosaur looks like. The last pic is of him in all his glory parked ready to "roar".

Some of yo have asked about our tandem. Custom built C0-Motion. A very very very sweet and extremely fast ride. This is the bike that Bruce O and I got up to 40 on the flat...IN TOWN!

The really great thing about the new ride is that it is in Black and gold. Yay another Hawkeye bike.

Roller race

2009-01-25T12:26:00.000-06:00

The LBS is having something called Roller Race championships uptown. I am headed up there to day. Iowa Cup Racer and points winner Sean Walker will be riding in it today. I may take a spin on the rollers as well.

2009-01-24T09:19:00.001-06:00

I Am going to Join the UMCA. Clydes like myself are built for distance not speed.

Some things I will not be doing this year on the Bike

2009-01-21T09:25:00.004-06:00

Almost every year for the last 10 years or so I have ridden my bike up to Iowa Falls for the day. Strangely, I have never ridden from Iowa Falls home. One year I did it twice. The day ends up being close to a 100 mile day. I usually ride around Iowa Falls until the odometer turns over to 100. A few years back I rode to Iowa Falls and then rode on the Bill Riley family bike ride. That year ended up being around 140 miles. In the year 2000 (when I was in unbelievable shape) I left Grinnell at 5:30 AM and got to Iowa falls at exactly 10:35 AM. I remember that year I only got off the bike in steamboat rock Iowa to get 1 bottle of water. I think it may be the longest I had ever been on the saddle at one sitting. Somthing like 4 hours straight. There have been a few years where Super Tuned bunch in Iowa Falls ride to my place. This event is known as the Johnny Ride. I don't ride the Johnny Ride. I provide support. This year I am not going to make the trip and here are the reasons why.

1) HWY 146 between Gilman and LeGrand is 9 miles of terror. Way too much auto traffic.
2) 1 mile east of Conrad there is a Farm with a vicious CHow dog. A very dangerous dog.
3) The road between HWY 20 overpass and Ackley is in HORRIBLE shape. It is a real spokebuster

I will contiune my ride to IOWA CITY though it is the same distance and has two roadside taverns along the way. I rode that route so much 3 years ago that the bartender didn't need to ask em what I wanted when I walked in. (budweiser of course)

Thoughts from yesteryear.

2009-01-19T15:12:00.006-06:00

Outside of writing a riveting paper on modern Thomistic Philosophy, I have been contemplating rides from yesteryear. Here is a list of the Top 10 things I remember from daily training rides.

10) In June of 1992 I ran over a LIVE squirrel 4 miles west of union Iowa

9) May 1992 3 miles south of Steamboat rock I rode through a plume of aerosolized
Hogshit and got sicker than a pig. (pun intended)

8) Faceplanting into a stream in dolliver state park on the 1996 RAGBRAI...I did
this in front of 100 people and got applause.

7) July 2001 Ragbrai coming upon arrival at 12:30 AM into our overnight stay of
Alantic Iowa I decided to ride a wheelie down main street in front of throngs
of people...I pushed too hard on the pedals and pulled too hard on the bars
I flipped and landed right on my head I recieved applause again this time.

6) September 2007. Southwest of Grinnell I saw a python sized bullsnake.

5) Jun of 2006 South of Grinnell I rode through an electrical storm. More than once
did my hair stand on end. I thought I was going to die that day.

4) August 2008. meeting up with some people who are Cat 1 and 2 racers for a
"light" training ride at 5 PM. When we got back I had ridden 50 miles in just
2 hours. I was very very ill that night.

3) Witnessing Bruce O, Jeff B, Rod R and Tyler D along with Sherry and I (tandem)
miss a hairpin turn on the Root River trail Minnesota while traveling at a high
rate of speed.

2) June 2000 Finding several routes from Grinnell To Iowa Falls closed on my ride to
visit my mom. I had 7 dollars, 1 water bottle and rode 135 miles that day. SOME
on Gravel..It took 14 hours

1) Bonking in 103 degree weather on the Tandem between manning Iowa and Atlantic
(Years after the Atlantic wheelie incident) I was also dehydrated and very ill.
I didn't pee for 2 days after that and I have never cramped like that in my life.

And Finally even though it is an Off the bike moment. RAGBRAI 1993 riding into Emmetsburg Iowa..dropping a duece off of a footbridge with my brother when we just couldn't find anything better to do. He calls it the hanging moon off the bridge....I call it too much corn on the cob.

Dear Diary- I am STOKED biking this year

2009-01-18T18:13:00.002-06:00

I got the rollers out today and rode awhile. I am so stoked about biking this year. I plan on heading up to I.F. this year to ride some rides on the Pancake flat Hardin county. SOrry Hardin Co. people but there isn't at hill anywhere up there..WEll I guess that little Mosquito bump between Union and Gifford may qualify as a "hill".

I used to think Evermans on river road was a hill until I moved to East Central Iowa. Those of you who rode the Johnny ride in 07 and the Human Bike in in 08 Know what hills are like around here. Anyways pace lines can get smokin up there. the 4th of July last year I remember 26-27 as a group.