Flowers

My back yard

Location : 528 8th St, West Des Moines, IA 50265,

Mountain Bike stunts

Took a miss on the tractor tire today rolled the front wheel right off the side.  Ouch maybe ill skip that for a while.  Its about time to try the large teeter totter again I think

Location : Des Moines Trails, Clive, IA 50325,

TransWisconsin Preparation

I always over think things and have a hard time deciding on what is best for a ride. This ride it is a little more important since I'll be hundreds of miles from home and riding over six hundred miles (seriously). The original plan was to ride the touring bike and take it slow however with a lot of other riders droping out I have re thought and believe I will be riding the 29" Mountain bike with a trunk bag a back pack and trying to attach the tent to the handle bars. I do believe I will purchase a set of tires that is way less aggressive than the Purgatorys though. So 620 miles and 25,000 feet of climbing will be AWESOME.

Trail Fairies

This year it looks like Squirrel is going to 'pass the torch' of trail care on to a new group of us (if that shows what he does at center trails every year that it takes a group) I am actually glad that I get to be included in the group.  I feel proud everytime I roll over my log fix i did on dirty connector and tonight i will be riding in with Dave to cut some of the junk out of denmans.  I just hope we can do as good a job and keep the dirt 'clean' for everyone.

Location : Des Moines Trails, Clive, IA 50325,

Summerset Shootout 2010 Video

I'm in here about the middle at "fullers drop"

Summerset Pictures (Stolen from Nick)

I was actually doing 25 as I crossed the finish line the photo makes it look easy

Good Times :)

Summerset Shootout 2010

I did the Cat2 race with the goal of finishing not last and with no broken parts. I finished a lap ahead of some people and everything still worked. Lap one started out slow waiting to pass some riders but the end of the lap came in good timed at 21.50 second lap was the best let the heart rate calm down at the beginning of the lap but I got everything together and was able to clean every hill on the course. That was the first time I ever have done that on banner. My lap time on the second lap was 22.60 so I only lost a minute. Lap 3 started strong too I cleaned almost everything and lap time was 23 and I didn't get the change on that one this also was the lap that Kevin lapped me. That was great to stay ahead of the Cat 1 race for 2+ laps. Lap 4 I don't remember much of but I do remember thinking I only have to do that one more time on a couple obstacles. Lap 5 I started to misplace my tire and miss stupid and easy hill climbs and the course seemed very greasy I also walked the last 2 hills, but in the end I hit the pavement and had enough left to crank it up to 25mph and blast across the finish line. I beat 2 hours (1:58) and had a great time!

Peanut :)

Bikeahol.

I have always had an addictive personality I don't think I'm really an alcoholic no matter how much everyone says I am. I do however enjoy a beer (or 10) on a daily basis but I do have an addiction to cycling. After Dave commented yesterday on my bikeaholism I started to think about it. When I am at work I am thinking about riding. When I am at home I am thinking about riding. When I am riding I am thinking about riding tomorrow. When I am enjoying one of those beers I am talking about riding, or riding while I'm drinking in which case I would be talking to myself. So here is the cure for bikeaholism :

MORE BIKES

See ya at handle bar happy hour tonight for the end of bike to work week.

Many Rides Yesterday

Started out the day yesterday riding to Jodan Creek with Anna for some breakfast and coffee. Then took monkey out for a 3 mile ride around the park. He is still wearing his bike jersey this morning. I hit one loop of Denmans on the Taco ride and proved once again that a Cyclocross bike is not a mountain bike. Then a fast ride downtown for the Ride of Silence followed by beers at Locust tap and El Bait Shop. Good day of riding 45 miles on the Knife.

Biked to breakfast at panera with Anna.

Double Metric I guess.

I started with a plan of sorts around 8:30 am yesterday. I was going to Jefferson and from there to Carrol until I hit 100 miles then turning around to come home. The ride out was great warm and sunny all day. I also had a nutrition plan I stopped in Adel and ate at 20 miles in then straight to Penora where I ate more Beef jerky and cheese. I drank a large v-8 (64oz) over the course of the trip out and had about 800 calories of food so about 1500 calories to replace the 4000 or so I burned in the first 5 hours. My pace was what I thought to be a little slow averaging 15 mile per hour on the way out. I did not consider the weight of the bike I was riding when I made any plans.

As I always have to remind myself that a fat tire 29" Mountain bike is 20% more work on the gravel than the 'skinny' tire touring bike. The touring bike with 25 lbs of bags (over 50lbs) and 35c tires is more work than the road bike with 23c tires. I was feeling okay when I got to Jefferson but my allergies had started to fill my lungs and my breathing was shallow, so I turned it around and figured I would se how I feel when I get to Des Moines. A long stop in Linden (40 miles from home) I found that I was only going to make it home and nothing more not really bonking but I couldn't breathe so home it was. The next 40 miles are all a blur but I do remember a

couple spots at 11 and 12 mph and laying on the bars thinking I'm going to die. I really need to carry an inhaler on long rides. I think the heat took its toll too. Oh well it was a great day for a long ride and hopefully next time I can push the milage up another 20 or 30 miles. Before I forget the best part the section of Racoon River Trail from Panora to Yale is closed to be repaved. As a mountain biker at heart I of course rode through the ditch and over the curb onto the closed section until I reached the workers who were pouring a section. The workers were very nice and tried to help with the "detour" for the trail "just get on 44 and go north for 6 miles to Yale" no thanks I'll hit the gravel road next to the trail with it's fresh sand. However the new pavement is long overdue there and should be nice when it is finished.

Double Century = fail.

I was a little short but made it to jefferson. I didn't bonk until 100 miles but there was no recovery. oh well next time. Awesome day!!!!!

Time for the milage!

Tomorrow it is suppose to be 75 and sunny and I happen to have the day off! So I couldn't decided camping, gravel, camping and gravel, blacktop, the rain shut down single track, but I have a conclusion now..... It's century time not just any century but I think I'll shoot for 2. rolling out early down the trail to Jefferson then connect gravel to Carrol and there is some sort of trail there to blackhawk lake I want to try then return trip home. I'm going smart and taking a multispeed bike (touring bike with light bags) then all day wednesday to recover....

Bike to work week

I guess I will be biking to work this week in honor of bike to work week (like thats anything new) I also will be biking many other places to check out all the events this week the first one is Monday at 7am. It appears that I have been chosen as commuter of the year so I will receive an award. I love getting awards for doing stuff that is fun. I may not be fast or win any races but at least my cold tolerance is awesome (no really some days I am in awe that I haven't froze to death) So get out your bike and join in the fun this week and well every week.

New Blogging program

Im trying "blogaway" so ill see how it goes it seems to upload photos well so here goes...

Location : Des Moines Trails, Clive, IA 50325,

Hump day

Everyone else is enjoying the start of the weekend but us retail jerks are on humpday. This is day 4 of 7 so 3 more days and I get a 'weekend' but I'm ready for some dirt after work tomorrow hillside till I puke then wash it down with some beers and back to work Sunday morning! Centuries Tuesday and Wednesday and or camping.

Quote of the day

I spend many day at work listening to people in my job and I hear a great deal of really good quotes. Usually stupid and hilarious so I decided to start writing the best ones down. I will exclude names unless it is one of my friends who wouldn't mind. I also will not use any of my quotes because no one wants to here the stupid stuff I say. So you can see them HERE.

Rain...

I did realize yesterday morning that even though it has rained every other day for the entire spring I have not once rode to work in the rain this year. I'm good with that. I am also so done with this cold crap isn't it time to hang the jackets? I want to go camping and not freeze. Well what ever I have 6 more days till I get a day off, but on the bright side I shouldn't have any more 12 hour days at least. I hope for next week to be a little warmer and maybe I can get some road miles in and ramp up the milage a little for the year. I always liked the ride out to jefferson on the trails/highways. I hope to do something like that. Speaking of rain I mention that becuase today will be the first day for rain pants and wet shoes on the way to work :( oh well it still beats a car!

Way too Busy

With the last week 6 straight days at work some of them 12+ hours and this next week 7 in a row and today promising 12+ hours I have no time for much. I did however get a 20 mile Fixie ride in with my brother on sunday morning, mothers day lunch, patricks bday party, a lap and a half at center trails and a couple beers before running out of gas like a 3 year old and falling asleep on the couch in the basement. Monday I was a Mercy hospital waiting with my mom for my dads hip replacement surgery. It went well. Now it's off to be crazy busy for a week again but I'm hoping for some nice weather on next Tuesday/Wednesday maybe I can get the touring bike out and actually get to camp somewhere.

On Tv.

I had a on air interview yesterday because of Carl's article on Car free. I think it was very positive and represented the rest of the riders around here very well. HERE is the link

Good?

Nice article about me

Low Car Diet

Thanks to

Carl Voss

Rainbow

this was the best shot I could get on my phone Monday night really need a good camera it was awesome!

Night Ride

Headed out after work for a couple laps of Denmans on the Mary SS. I almost forgot how almost spooky denmans is at night it's been a while. Rounded the first corner and found myself chasing some little animal probably a raccoon but you never know. A few minutes late rounded another corner and found half a dozen deer standing there like deer in the headlights. Somewhere around the firepit I hit something that burped almost all the air out of my back tire but it was still inflated enough and I pressed on. Once I got back to the pavement I realized that I had like 10 psi in the back tire and had to decide do I use a co2 and ride another lap or call it a night. So I decided go home and save my co2 turns out I did have 10 psi in the tire when I got home. So not bad for Stans notubes 4 miles or so on 10 psi with no issues put a little air in at home and it's all good.

Thunderstorm ride

rained out of the woods after only 10 miles. Good times sitting at the denmans entrance watching the storm :)

Took off the training wheels and he took off

first try :)

Gravel Metric #7

Yesterday was the seventh part for Cup-o-dirt I got 68 miles in 5.5 hours felt great at the end too even after riding in madison county for 5 hours. I took the Booneville road out to 105 then warren road up to Bevington which is a good stop for food and 31 miles then some roaming around till that area till I got my milage. I jumped on GWT at Orilla since there isn't much gravel north of there and dropped the hammer. 2.4" tires and 25 psi and I was still able to hold over 20 mph all the way to dirty connector. Hope to get another metric today in the woods...

Trailerless park ride

Perfect.

blue sky and warm