I woke up to a good inch of snow on the ground this morning. Wow. I can't remember it snowing this late in the year, but I am sure it has.
Went to the gym today with Tammy. I rode the exercise bike for an hour and ran for 35 minutes. I hadn't run for a long time and it felt great. I started slow (9 min pace), but kept jacking it up every 2-5 minutes and ended at 6:45 pace. Man, I love to run. Like cycling, I am not fast, but I sure love it.
So, today I want to do some research on some good single track races. I am not really a XC type of guy, but I would do one or two. I would really like to do some 6hr and 12 hr or century races. Any suggestions? Anyone do the Laramie Enduro?
Happy training.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Just not for me!
This past week the weather has been absolutely shitty or I have been busy (mom had surgery on Wednesday!). So, no riding for me. While I could be out riding in 30 mph winds with a driving rain, I have thought better of it. I have done it before and it has cost me brakes on a century ride and $100 worth of drive train parts in the past. Not doing it this close to TI.
I am REALLY looking forward to TI. It will be a great challenge and I am very excited for it! And, in all honestly, even though I have been a crab this year, I really think I have what it is going to take. I have gotten stronger, even though I am still weak!, and I have most of all gotten smarter about all of this stuff. My plan is still to go lightweight. It will depend on the cue sheets we get on Friday night and the weather, but I will be carrying two 24 ounce bottles and two 32 ounce bottles, a Mountainsmith lumbar pack with a coat, arm and leg warmers and a pair of wind and waterproof socks, and food. I am not going to bring a bunch of clothes and I am only going to be carrying about 60 ounces of fluid with me except when the distance to the next stop is 60 miles or further. I drink just over 1 oz per mile while riding gravel during cooler weather so I will plan on stopping for a refill every 50 or so miles when I can. At night, I will fill up the bottles, and go.
I also have a frame bag (AWESOME!) and a stem bag for food. I have found that this is the way to go! It is so nice just to have everything right there. I will also have my cell phone and camera in the frame bag.
I am going as light as I can. I will have to weigh my bike, but I am guessing it is around 24-25 pounds with my barends on. As some of you know, I run my barends on the center of my handlebars. They act much like aerobars, but do not have the elbow pads. When going into the wind, these REALLY help. They have been a great addition.
If only my dad still had his Puch. I would ride that for TI!
BTW, I got an email today from a guy that whizzed by me at Dirty Kanza last year and he will also be up in Decorah for Trans Iowa. He actually thanked me for writing this blog. I had a good laugh. Thanks though.
I am REALLY looking forward to TI. It will be a great challenge and I am very excited for it! And, in all honestly, even though I have been a crab this year, I really think I have what it is going to take. I have gotten stronger, even though I am still weak!, and I have most of all gotten smarter about all of this stuff. My plan is still to go lightweight. It will depend on the cue sheets we get on Friday night and the weather, but I will be carrying two 24 ounce bottles and two 32 ounce bottles, a Mountainsmith lumbar pack with a coat, arm and leg warmers and a pair of wind and waterproof socks, and food. I am not going to bring a bunch of clothes and I am only going to be carrying about 60 ounces of fluid with me except when the distance to the next stop is 60 miles or further. I drink just over 1 oz per mile while riding gravel during cooler weather so I will plan on stopping for a refill every 50 or so miles when I can. At night, I will fill up the bottles, and go.
I also have a frame bag (AWESOME!) and a stem bag for food. I have found that this is the way to go! It is so nice just to have everything right there. I will also have my cell phone and camera in the frame bag.
I am going as light as I can. I will have to weigh my bike, but I am guessing it is around 24-25 pounds with my barends on. As some of you know, I run my barends on the center of my handlebars. They act much like aerobars, but do not have the elbow pads. When going into the wind, these REALLY help. They have been a great addition.
If only my dad still had his Puch. I would ride that for TI!
BTW, I got an email today from a guy that whizzed by me at Dirty Kanza last year and he will also be up in Decorah for Trans Iowa. He actually thanked me for writing this blog. I had a good laugh. Thanks though.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Trans Iowa
Yes, Trans Iowa is hard, but more on that later!
Some great things about Trans Iowa this year:
1. Lots of hills means tons of fun! I would much rather be doing some climbing than riding 300 miles of flatness. BORING!
2. The friends! Blogging and riding have been great avenues in meeting wonderful people. Friday night will be a great time.
3. 345 miles of gravelly goodness. Plus, TI has been longer than stated every year (well, who knows about v.2) so this has to be the year that it is actually shorter than stated! Yeah right.
4. So far, we have had a pretty dry spring (until this week)! Let's hope it stays that way!
5. Hardly any 24 hour gas stations. No wasting time this year means lots of time on the bike!
6. One of the best things about TI this year? TWO CHECK POINTS! This will really help! This year the first check point is the shortest distance from the start ever! Then, just a lowly 102 miles later is check point two! This will be HUGE this year. For me, to put this race into three segments will help me, and I am sure a lot of riders, to keep things into prospective. We won't have to focus on the 200 miles to go from the check point (V.3!)
Happy training!
Some great things about Trans Iowa this year:
1. Lots of hills means tons of fun! I would much rather be doing some climbing than riding 300 miles of flatness. BORING!
2. The friends! Blogging and riding have been great avenues in meeting wonderful people. Friday night will be a great time.
3. 345 miles of gravelly goodness. Plus, TI has been longer than stated every year (well, who knows about v.2) so this has to be the year that it is actually shorter than stated! Yeah right.
4. So far, we have had a pretty dry spring (until this week)! Let's hope it stays that way!
5. Hardly any 24 hour gas stations. No wasting time this year means lots of time on the bike!
6. One of the best things about TI this year? TWO CHECK POINTS! This will really help! This year the first check point is the shortest distance from the start ever! Then, just a lowly 102 miles later is check point two! This will be HUGE this year. For me, to put this race into three segments will help me, and I am sure a lot of riders, to keep things into prospective. We won't have to focus on the 200 miles to go from the check point (V.3!)
Happy training!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Saturday's ride
I plan on doing the following loop and hope to do it under 4 hours. If so, I will be happy. If you want to join me I will likely be leaving around 7 on Saturday morning from my house. I know it is a bit early, but I have a busy day planned!
I switched to Bikely instead of Routeslip and it rocks!
I switched to Bikely instead of Routeslip and it rocks!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Basketball Shape? I think not!
I went back to Forest City this weekend to play in the annual alumni basketball tournament. I hadn't played for the last two years as I didn't want to risk getting injured before Trans Iowa. Well, this year I decided to play. It had been three years since I had played basketball. While my heart and lungs are in good shape, my legs are wasted. I have felt better after running a marathon. I can barely walk after 4 games of basketball on Saturday. Talk about a kick in the junk. I guess biking shape is a bit (a lot!) different than basketball shape.
Speaking of having a kick in the junk. Paddy Humenny used to have a quote under his sign in name on mtbr.com that said, "Ask me about kicking you in the junk!" or something to that effect. Well, on Friday I had to give myself a heapful of Paddy's prescription! I will admit, when reading GT's info on Trans Iowa came out about it being the longest and hardest Trans Iowa yet I was more than upset. Personally I looked at what was expected in order to make the cut off's, fulling knowing Iowa weather, and realized very quickly that this would be on the very edge of my ability, if that. So, I was pretty angry, but then again, I am probably one of the slowest guys that will be at TI so I guess I probably am not fit for this race, but after Paddy's prescription I feel a lot better! %^)
So, I have a better attitude. Hey, who doesn't want to say that they finished the longest and hardest TI yet? Well, I do. I don't want some dumb down version do I (maybe? %^) So, I am going after making those cut offs! It may be a bit risky, but I am going for broke. I am going to go as lightweight as I can, given the conditions, and will do my best to stay on the bike as much as possible. Time off the bike will absolutely kill my chances of making the cut offs so I will have to push!
Watch for my next installment of what makes Trans Iowa so hard. One thing that I will say is the mental side of it. Even before the start date comes! GT is well known for changing his mind continually of what is expected and this version certainly isn't an exception. First he says 10 mph average will be expected and then changes it to 11. Well, for the average Joe like me, that is a huge freaking difference, BUT, I am going for it! Again, I just need to make sure I am not spending much time off the bike!
Happy training.
Speaking of having a kick in the junk. Paddy Humenny used to have a quote under his sign in name on mtbr.com that said, "Ask me about kicking you in the junk!" or something to that effect. Well, on Friday I had to give myself a heapful of Paddy's prescription! I will admit, when reading GT's info on Trans Iowa came out about it being the longest and hardest Trans Iowa yet I was more than upset. Personally I looked at what was expected in order to make the cut off's, fulling knowing Iowa weather, and realized very quickly that this would be on the very edge of my ability, if that. So, I was pretty angry, but then again, I am probably one of the slowest guys that will be at TI so I guess I probably am not fit for this race, but after Paddy's prescription I feel a lot better! %^)
So, I have a better attitude. Hey, who doesn't want to say that they finished the longest and hardest TI yet? Well, I do. I don't want some dumb down version do I (maybe? %^) So, I am going after making those cut offs! It may be a bit risky, but I am going for broke. I am going to go as lightweight as I can, given the conditions, and will do my best to stay on the bike as much as possible. Time off the bike will absolutely kill my chances of making the cut offs so I will have to push!
Watch for my next installment of what makes Trans Iowa so hard. One thing that I will say is the mental side of it. Even before the start date comes! GT is well known for changing his mind continually of what is expected and this version certainly isn't an exception. First he says 10 mph average will be expected and then changes it to 11. Well, for the average Joe like me, that is a huge freaking difference, BUT, I am going for it! Again, I just need to make sure I am not spending much time off the bike!
Happy training.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
THE GRAID REPORT
Sorry for the delay. I just got out of bed! No seriously, I think I came down with something as I wasn't feeling good at all yesterday. I am feeling much better now! So here is the report.
Matt and I drove down to Steve Fuller's to get picked up by Dennis and his parents. We put our bikes in Dennis' awesome trailer and were headed down the road. We got to the hotel and then ate "The Best Pizza in Iowa" in Lamoni! We hit the sack pretty quickly after eating. Our plans were to eat at 6:30 in the morning and then take off.
This started our epic adventure. We were ready to go eat, but the restaurant didn't open at 6:30, but at 7:00. I had called the restaurant on Thursday and they told me 6:30. I guess locals never know anything about their own town! So, we asked the nice couple and the hotel manager about the restaurant uptown. They said it opened at 6:00. We road the mile and a half into town to find that the restaurant was for sale and not even open for business! Damn. I was pretty pissed as I am a pretty detail orientated person and here I was messing up and we hadn't even started! So, we decided on riding to the Iowa/Missouri border and then eating at the restaurant that opened at 7:00. Down the road we went to get to the border!
After leaving the border in 4 short miles we were back at the restaurant and we all had a great breakfast! I think we left the restaurant around 8:15-8:30. Looking back I wish we could have eaten at 6:00 and been on the road by 6:30. That could have made a big difference in our future plans. Anyway, we took off down the road and it wasn't more than 4 miles and we missed a turn. WARNING! DO NOT TRUST WWW.ROUTESLIP.COM! Seriously, routeslip is awesome, but it doesn't tell you what the road signs really say! So we missed a turn here or there. Yes, I felt like the dumbass of the month, but we probably only went an extra 5-7 miles overall. Not so bad, but bad enough that it still pisses me off a bit. Like Dennis said, "That is why they call it being on an adventure!" We made Murray within 2.5 hours or so and I was already hungry again. So, we stopped for a bit and ate. Yes, all of us ate!
We then cruised the 40 or so miles to Winterset. We were really in a groove during this section and flying pretty good. We made the 80 miles to Winterset in a little over 7 hours total I believe. We headed out of Winterset and made it to Adel, but decided to keep riding to Dallas Center. It was here that Steve told me that he was done. I was totally shocked as he had been riding strong all day. BUT, I also understand how that feeling can creep up on a person as well. He had about 15-20 miles to ride home against the wind. It was great having Steve along and I wouldn't doubt he will give this ride another go down the road! Thanks Steve for everything.
We donned our lights (with some help of some zip ties! Thanks Matt!)
BTW, I love the Princeton Tec Apex light. Thanks Dave!
So, we headed north on the flat roads of central Iowa! The only problem was the 15 or so miles into the wind that was coming up! I had been dreading this all day! We finally got to the pavement and I got on Dennis' wheel. He was pushing and I wasn't exactly in his draft as I would have had to ride out in the middle of the lane at night so I just stayed on the white line. Dennis is much more powerful than me so it was hard staying with him for these few miles until one of the climbs out of the Des Moines River valley where I let him go. My achilles tendons were on fire and I had to take it easy. We headed north for a few miles to Ledges State Park where we took a bit of a break knowing the the next 11 miles were going to be hell going into the 20-25 mph winds. We took off within 10 minutes. I had told Dennis that I had to pace myself during this time as I didn't want to fry my achilles. I stayed within a half of a mile of him, but I am sure he was going easy. I think I was going 9-10 mph down the gravel. We finally made State Street in Ames.
This is where we (I) ultimately made some mistakes that led to our decision not to finish the ride. I learned a lot in Ames that I will NOT repeat at TI. First off, we stopped at Matt's house and put away the bikes and then walked about a 1/2 mile to Pizza Pit. We ate and took our time and then walked back. We loaded up the food, etc and then took off from Matt's. We made it to Ames at around the 145-150 mile mark by 10:20 (about 14 hours after the start)so in my mind we were making good time even with all of our stops. Dennis and I did very little talking during this time. It was like I was just pushing the pedals and was tired. We hit the three miles of gravel that connects Ames and Gilbert and it was pretty soft. This sucked. I couldn't get the thought out of my head of what the gravel north of Gilbert must have been like with 6 inches of snow just two days before followed by 50 degree temps. I am sure it would have been pretty soft and possibly muddy.
We rolled into Gilbert and I asked Dennis how he was feeling. He told me that he had plenty of energy, but was very sleepy. I was as well. It was just before 1:00am at this time. We had been biking for over 18 hours. Dennis refused to make the call so I did. I wanted to take a hot shower and to sleep with my wife. I am sure Dennis wanted a bed as well! So, we left 115 or so miles on the map to be done on another day. Could we have finished, no doubt about it. I had the energy and if I did Dennis surely did. But, sometimes it is just smarter to sleep! I think we finished with about 157 miles including the ride down to the border, in an estimated 16 hours. Not bad for the breaks we took!
We will see what happens at Trans Iowa this year!
Check out the route here and pictures here. Make sure to check out Dennis's page and Steve's page.
Happy training!
Matt and I drove down to Steve Fuller's to get picked up by Dennis and his parents. We put our bikes in Dennis' awesome trailer and were headed down the road. We got to the hotel and then ate "The Best Pizza in Iowa" in Lamoni! We hit the sack pretty quickly after eating. Our plans were to eat at 6:30 in the morning and then take off.
This started our epic adventure. We were ready to go eat, but the restaurant didn't open at 6:30, but at 7:00. I had called the restaurant on Thursday and they told me 6:30. I guess locals never know anything about their own town! So, we asked the nice couple and the hotel manager about the restaurant uptown. They said it opened at 6:00. We road the mile and a half into town to find that the restaurant was for sale and not even open for business! Damn. I was pretty pissed as I am a pretty detail orientated person and here I was messing up and we hadn't even started! So, we decided on riding to the Iowa/Missouri border and then eating at the restaurant that opened at 7:00. Down the road we went to get to the border!
After leaving the border in 4 short miles we were back at the restaurant and we all had a great breakfast! I think we left the restaurant around 8:15-8:30. Looking back I wish we could have eaten at 6:00 and been on the road by 6:30. That could have made a big difference in our future plans. Anyway, we took off down the road and it wasn't more than 4 miles and we missed a turn. WARNING! DO NOT TRUST WWW.ROUTESLIP.COM! Seriously, routeslip is awesome, but it doesn't tell you what the road signs really say! So we missed a turn here or there. Yes, I felt like the dumbass of the month, but we probably only went an extra 5-7 miles overall. Not so bad, but bad enough that it still pisses me off a bit. Like Dennis said, "That is why they call it being on an adventure!" We made Murray within 2.5 hours or so and I was already hungry again. So, we stopped for a bit and ate. Yes, all of us ate!
We then cruised the 40 or so miles to Winterset. We were really in a groove during this section and flying pretty good. We made the 80 miles to Winterset in a little over 7 hours total I believe. We headed out of Winterset and made it to Adel, but decided to keep riding to Dallas Center. It was here that Steve told me that he was done. I was totally shocked as he had been riding strong all day. BUT, I also understand how that feeling can creep up on a person as well. He had about 15-20 miles to ride home against the wind. It was great having Steve along and I wouldn't doubt he will give this ride another go down the road! Thanks Steve for everything.
We donned our lights (with some help of some zip ties! Thanks Matt!)
BTW, I love the Princeton Tec Apex light. Thanks Dave!
So, we headed north on the flat roads of central Iowa! The only problem was the 15 or so miles into the wind that was coming up! I had been dreading this all day! We finally got to the pavement and I got on Dennis' wheel. He was pushing and I wasn't exactly in his draft as I would have had to ride out in the middle of the lane at night so I just stayed on the white line. Dennis is much more powerful than me so it was hard staying with him for these few miles until one of the climbs out of the Des Moines River valley where I let him go. My achilles tendons were on fire and I had to take it easy. We headed north for a few miles to Ledges State Park where we took a bit of a break knowing the the next 11 miles were going to be hell going into the 20-25 mph winds. We took off within 10 minutes. I had told Dennis that I had to pace myself during this time as I didn't want to fry my achilles. I stayed within a half of a mile of him, but I am sure he was going easy. I think I was going 9-10 mph down the gravel. We finally made State Street in Ames.
This is where we (I) ultimately made some mistakes that led to our decision not to finish the ride. I learned a lot in Ames that I will NOT repeat at TI. First off, we stopped at Matt's house and put away the bikes and then walked about a 1/2 mile to Pizza Pit. We ate and took our time and then walked back. We loaded up the food, etc and then took off from Matt's. We made it to Ames at around the 145-150 mile mark by 10:20 (about 14 hours after the start)so in my mind we were making good time even with all of our stops. Dennis and I did very little talking during this time. It was like I was just pushing the pedals and was tired. We hit the three miles of gravel that connects Ames and Gilbert and it was pretty soft. This sucked. I couldn't get the thought out of my head of what the gravel north of Gilbert must have been like with 6 inches of snow just two days before followed by 50 degree temps. I am sure it would have been pretty soft and possibly muddy.
We rolled into Gilbert and I asked Dennis how he was feeling. He told me that he had plenty of energy, but was very sleepy. I was as well. It was just before 1:00am at this time. We had been biking for over 18 hours. Dennis refused to make the call so I did. I wanted to take a hot shower and to sleep with my wife. I am sure Dennis wanted a bed as well! So, we left 115 or so miles on the map to be done on another day. Could we have finished, no doubt about it. I had the energy and if I did Dennis surely did. But, sometimes it is just smarter to sleep! I think we finished with about 157 miles including the ride down to the border, in an estimated 16 hours. Not bad for the breaks we took!
We will see what happens at Trans Iowa this year!
Check out the route here and pictures here. Make sure to check out Dennis's page and Steve's page.
Happy training!
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