You never know when they will slam on their brakes.
I would never live in California. I don't know that this is California so I will just rely on preconceived stereotypes to guide my judgement.
Never once did it occur to her that maybe she should not have slammed on her brakes in the middle of the trail. Its not like she wasn't wearing enough equipment to drown Michael Phelps.
I felt bad for the guy that ran into her. He just kept taking her verbal abuse. I would have loved to see John Waller deal with this situation.
I am gonna go hunt some morels with Brutus and the little man. If some little ol' Chinese lady starts creeping on my mushroom territory I will scream and throw my bike at her.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Mammoth Gravel Classic
That ride was reminiscent of when I was in high school when I got nominated to participate in a game of "donkey basketball" as a fundraiser for our high school Ag program (I am pretty sure that this fundraising practice is outlawed nowadays) It consisted of careening out of control, almost getting bucked off (don't doubt my ability to cover some hide), dragging a recalcitrant animal around, and getting the poop kicked out of me, repeatedly while trying to shoot hoops in the gym. It was incredibly fun, had a ton of laughs, and I was wore slap out when it was all said and done. The Mammoth Gravel Classic had all of these hallmarks (minus the donkey kicks).
When I rolled into the Cyclova XC shop in downtown Saint Croix Falls, I immediately saw several friendly faces as we got signed in, picked up Gandy Dancer Trail Passes, and shot the bull with Frank and Ben, the proprietors of Cyclova XC. Got to visit with Wooly Race Organizer Matt Fisk, who was leading us out of town in a Chevy Volt. Thought that was a nice touch.
Once we we hit River Road it was all business as a ton of people surged to the front, and the group was really zipping along at 22 mph. Saw multiple Tandems, including the Salsa Prototype Tandem that was captained by Joe Meiser and powered by Jason Gaikowski. I was really impressed with how Salsa spec'ed it. I also was please to see that instead of using a tandem specific crankset, they ran the timing chain on the drive side on the granny rings. I saw a tandem at NAHMB that was set up the same way, and thought it was a great idea as there are so few decent, modern tandem cranks.
Once we hit Wolf Creek it was time to move up as the soft sand was making things pretty sketch. Managed to stay in the top 30 until we hit 310th Ave when the blow sand really started to pull the group apart. I managed to stay clear and found myself in the top 5 with Jesse Rients trying to chase down the couple of mountain bikers that got away. After a couple minutes of watching Jesse ride away, I heard Chad Sova and Barry Tungseth roll up behind me, and we started to give chase. At the 25 mile mark I stopped for a PBR at the aid station that they so graciously provided. That meant that Chad and Barry got away, but I had a PBR to keep me company.
Being on the SS leaves me under no illusions about my place in the world.....or at least the peleton.
I managed to catch back up to Barry a mile or two later. Sova was gone. Barry and I traded pulls on County Rd O until we got overtaken by the train that Ted Loosen was driving. Barry and I tagged along for about 7 miles before I popped. We had just made contact with Sova, but I just was not able to keep up the mad spinning that it took to compensate for the surging as guys were pulling through. Barry was kind enough to fall of the back with me, and we pretty much occupied no mans land for the rest of the ride.
My thighs we starting to cramp pretty bad by the time we started to hit the climbs right before Luck. I tried to walk up one of the climbs, but that did not really help. I was able to spin it out once we hit the Gandy Dancer. We rode with Jesse for a little while on the Gandy, as he was the only one from the lead group to stop for coffee at Cafe Wren, but we fell back about 6 miles from the finish. With about 3 miles to go I whipped out the PBR that I picked up about 40 miles earlier, and split it with Barry. Was a good way to finish the ride.
Was great route that was well marked, and I thought that it was a excellent way for Cyclova XC to highlight the great routes around that area. Many thanks to all the people that put in the time and effort to make this awesome event happen.
When I rolled into the Cyclova XC shop in downtown Saint Croix Falls, I immediately saw several friendly faces as we got signed in, picked up Gandy Dancer Trail Passes, and shot the bull with Frank and Ben, the proprietors of Cyclova XC. Got to visit with Wooly Race Organizer Matt Fisk, who was leading us out of town in a Chevy Volt. Thought that was a nice touch.
Once we we hit River Road it was all business as a ton of people surged to the front, and the group was really zipping along at 22 mph. Saw multiple Tandems, including the Salsa Prototype Tandem that was captained by Joe Meiser and powered by Jason Gaikowski. I was really impressed with how Salsa spec'ed it. I also was please to see that instead of using a tandem specific crankset, they ran the timing chain on the drive side on the granny rings. I saw a tandem at NAHMB that was set up the same way, and thought it was a great idea as there are so few decent, modern tandem cranks.
Once we hit Wolf Creek it was time to move up as the soft sand was making things pretty sketch. Managed to stay in the top 30 until we hit 310th Ave when the blow sand really started to pull the group apart. I managed to stay clear and found myself in the top 5 with Jesse Rients trying to chase down the couple of mountain bikers that got away. After a couple minutes of watching Jesse ride away, I heard Chad Sova and Barry Tungseth roll up behind me, and we started to give chase. At the 25 mile mark I stopped for a PBR at the aid station that they so graciously provided. That meant that Chad and Barry got away, but I had a PBR to keep me company.
Being on the SS leaves me under no illusions about my place in the world.....or at least the peleton.
I managed to catch back up to Barry a mile or two later. Sova was gone. Barry and I traded pulls on County Rd O until we got overtaken by the train that Ted Loosen was driving. Barry and I tagged along for about 7 miles before I popped. We had just made contact with Sova, but I just was not able to keep up the mad spinning that it took to compensate for the surging as guys were pulling through. Barry was kind enough to fall of the back with me, and we pretty much occupied no mans land for the rest of the ride.
My thighs we starting to cramp pretty bad by the time we started to hit the climbs right before Luck. I tried to walk up one of the climbs, but that did not really help. I was able to spin it out once we hit the Gandy Dancer. We rode with Jesse for a little while on the Gandy, as he was the only one from the lead group to stop for coffee at Cafe Wren, but we fell back about 6 miles from the finish. With about 3 miles to go I whipped out the PBR that I picked up about 40 miles earlier, and split it with Barry. Was a good way to finish the ride.
Was great route that was well marked, and I thought that it was a excellent way for Cyclova XC to highlight the great routes around that area. Many thanks to all the people that put in the time and effort to make this awesome event happen.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
I am not a important person
But it seems like my time is getting pretty valuable. Not enough of it to put my thoughts down on the interwebs.
Made Cookies though.
The right woman would throw herself at you if you have a bucket of these and a half gallon of 2%.
You cant see it below but butch is eating a donut the size of his head.....while riding with a 25 mph tailwind, on a perfect MN day. Happy Easter.
We should have donut hunts on Easter. (Filched from Butches twitter Acct)
God knows about these donuts, he can see them from space.
Katie told Butch she wanted a new back door. We made it happen.
Prepping the new base for the sill plate.
It took us a few hours, mostly due to my OCD and over analysis, but we got it hung.
Made Cookies though.
The right woman would throw herself at you if you have a bucket of these and a half gallon of 2%.
You cant see it below but butch is eating a donut the size of his head.....while riding with a 25 mph tailwind, on a perfect MN day. Happy Easter.
We should have donut hunts on Easter. (Filched from Butches twitter Acct)
God knows about these donuts, he can see them from space.
Katie told Butch she wanted a new back door. We made it happen.
Prepping the new base for the sill plate.
It took us a few hours, mostly due to my OCD and over analysis, but we got it hung.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Big Miles
Took a "new" cyclist on his first hundred miler on Saturday. Headed to St Croix Falls via the Gateway trail then hooked it up with some sweet dirt roads cutting across the countryside until we hit Hwy 8 near Scheafer, MN. Ray was a trooper about the dirt, as he was on his road bike with 23c tires. I pulled the whole way there since there was a little head wind and I was on my SS and could be super consistent about speed. We worked on basic tricks of the trade like how to slip in and out of the draft to control your speed and how life is better in the little ring (his pride did not want to hear that). We also crushed it. Average speed was 17.7 mph on the way there.
Ray was feeling pretty bushed once we got to St Croix Falls, WI, so we stopped into Cyclova XC shop so I could pickup a new multi tool and Ray got some goodies. They were also kind enough to let us leave our bikes in the shop while we ate lunch.
On the ride Back to the cities we went south on 240th for like 20 miles. Its a sweet road that has several climbs but nothing steep. It was also a bluebird afternoon. sunny and 70. Ray could easily keep up with my normal pace on the ride home, so we were going two wide since there was no traffic on that road. In Somerset, we stopped for a gallon of water and delectable gas station fare. I got a apple fritter and kettle chips.
I almost died. I had the worst gas pains within 20 minutes. I think Jeremy Powers refers to this as cross gut.
Whatever, it sucked. We took Rustic Road into Hudson, WI, and then crossed the River on the I-94 bridge. Then it was 14 miles back to the house for some Grainbelt and front stoop sitting. Now granted this whole time I am in pretty severe discomfort, feeling bloated and irritable, but considering how fast and how far we went my legs felt great. The second I walked into the house I took some Simethecone and felt better in 5 minutes. I am gonna have to start carrying a few packets in my saddle bag.
I think Ray had a good time, and it a pretty rewarding experience sharing a sport that you are passionate about with folks that are new to it.
Headed up the North Shore over Easter weekend to pre-ride the Gravel Conspiracy course. That will be a 300 mile weekend. Singletrack was dry today, so I took the SS over to River Falls, WI. Definitely took some time to get back on the mountain bike rhythm, and 34:17 was not kind to my knees after yesterdays shenanigans.
Ray was feeling pretty bushed once we got to St Croix Falls, WI, so we stopped into Cyclova XC shop so I could pickup a new multi tool and Ray got some goodies. They were also kind enough to let us leave our bikes in the shop while we ate lunch.
On the ride Back to the cities we went south on 240th for like 20 miles. Its a sweet road that has several climbs but nothing steep. It was also a bluebird afternoon. sunny and 70. Ray could easily keep up with my normal pace on the ride home, so we were going two wide since there was no traffic on that road. In Somerset, we stopped for a gallon of water and delectable gas station fare. I got a apple fritter and kettle chips.
I almost died. I had the worst gas pains within 20 minutes. I think Jeremy Powers refers to this as cross gut.
Whatever, it sucked. We took Rustic Road into Hudson, WI, and then crossed the River on the I-94 bridge. Then it was 14 miles back to the house for some Grainbelt and front stoop sitting. Now granted this whole time I am in pretty severe discomfort, feeling bloated and irritable, but considering how fast and how far we went my legs felt great. The second I walked into the house I took some Simethecone and felt better in 5 minutes. I am gonna have to start carrying a few packets in my saddle bag.I think Ray had a good time, and it a pretty rewarding experience sharing a sport that you are passionate about with folks that are new to it.
Headed up the North Shore over Easter weekend to pre-ride the Gravel Conspiracy course. That will be a 300 mile weekend. Singletrack was dry today, so I took the SS over to River Falls, WI. Definitely took some time to get back on the mountain bike rhythm, and 34:17 was not kind to my knees after yesterdays shenanigans.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Being a hardman
I was going to title this post, "I used to be a Pansy" and then launch into about how living in the plains or northern midwest will turn you into a hard ass. This all came about after reading accounts of winter riding in the old country (SE US). Its tough for me to imagine that 6 years ago I have never seen temps below -2 F and wind never really figured into my daily planning. Weather does some really strange things to you mentally.
I remember my first summer in KS, it started to drive me mad because we had a string of 12 cloudless days. I just was not prepared for that sort of crap. That much sunshine will drive you crazy.
In western NC we get about 55 inches of rain per year, and it is spread out evenly throught the entire year. so you can count on at least 1 day a week is going to be cloudy and rainy. There is a lot of comfort in knowing that.
But you never know what is going to happen out here. Which leads me into another rickety segue, I had a dream (nightmare) last night that I was trying to outrun a tornado and ended up having to share a tornado shelter with Lady Gaga. If only Gwar had made a cameo appearance, could that dream been any creepier.
....er...right...weather.
So bottomline, I feel that I have matured as a person since learning to live on the plains, just don't let lady Gaga near me.
I remember my first summer in KS, it started to drive me mad because we had a string of 12 cloudless days. I just was not prepared for that sort of crap. That much sunshine will drive you crazy.
In western NC we get about 55 inches of rain per year, and it is spread out evenly throught the entire year. so you can count on at least 1 day a week is going to be cloudy and rainy. There is a lot of comfort in knowing that.
But you never know what is going to happen out here. Which leads me into another rickety segue, I had a dream (nightmare) last night that I was trying to outrun a tornado and ended up having to share a tornado shelter with Lady Gaga. If only Gwar had made a cameo appearance, could that dream been any creepier.
....er...right...weather.
So bottomline, I feel that I have matured as a person since learning to live on the plains, just don't let lady Gaga near me.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Bought a tickethttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Over the last few years I have dumped some serious cheddar into traveling to mountain bike races. But rarely did I really get to enjoy that terrain of the event, and mingle amongst the common folk.
This past November, I made it to the Appalachian Mountain Bike Clubs fall get together. I got to ride new trails, meet fun people, and ride bikes. It got me to thinking.
I should try to get to events that showcase trails, so when I was up late one night I saw that Dirt Rag was hosting a long weekend of trails at their annual DirtFest, I knew that I needed to go.
I have also been trying to capitalize on the fact that Southwest Airlines has a major hub here in the Twin cities.
So I got a roundtrip flight to Pittsburgh for $220.
I am looking forward to this immensely.
Ask me about the 33rd annual Eelpout Festival. It was all the culture I could stand.
This past November, I made it to the Appalachian Mountain Bike Clubs fall get together. I got to ride new trails, meet fun people, and ride bikes. It got me to thinking.
I should try to get to events that showcase trails, so when I was up late one night I saw that Dirt Rag was hosting a long weekend of trails at their annual DirtFest, I knew that I needed to go.
I have also been trying to capitalize on the fact that Southwest Airlines has a major hub here in the Twin cities.
So I got a roundtrip flight to Pittsburgh for $220.
I am looking forward to this immensely.
Ask me about the 33rd annual Eelpout Festival. It was all the culture I could stand.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Attn: Navigational Zen Masters
Ok, I will come clean.
There is a new Gravel Conspiracy race in the works.
Its a stage race....up north.
3 days, 330 miles. It will be free, but entry will be limited to 75.
The website will go live later this month.
In the mean time, I have created routes, and would like to take the .gpx files that I created from gmaps pedometer and turn them into cue sheets. I then intend to laminate the cue sheets onto the back of the number plate (think Psycowpath plates) that you would mount to your handlebar. This would eliminate the soggy cue sheet phenomenon, and would allow the riders to flip the plate up to navigate or leave it down for ID purposes.
Bikely software is being wonky, and the googlemap cuesheet hack will not read my .gpx files (and its pissing me off).
I would also like to have the .gpx file openly available for riders that would like to navigate to course with a GPS, but there is something I am missing.
You help me iron it out the cue sheets and formatting, and I will guarantee your entry, and cover your lodging costs. I will even pick you up at the MPLS airport if you want to fly in for the race.
There is a new Gravel Conspiracy race in the works.
Its a stage race....up north.
3 days, 330 miles. It will be free, but entry will be limited to 75.
The website will go live later this month.
In the mean time, I have created routes, and would like to take the .gpx files that I created from gmaps pedometer and turn them into cue sheets. I then intend to laminate the cue sheets onto the back of the number plate (think Psycowpath plates) that you would mount to your handlebar. This would eliminate the soggy cue sheet phenomenon, and would allow the riders to flip the plate up to navigate or leave it down for ID purposes.
Bikely software is being wonky, and the googlemap cuesheet hack will not read my .gpx files (and its pissing me off).
I would also like to have the .gpx file openly available for riders that would like to navigate to course with a GPS, but there is something I am missing.
You help me iron it out the cue sheets and formatting, and I will guarantee your entry, and cover your lodging costs. I will even pick you up at the MPLS airport if you want to fly in for the race.
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