I am Zapped.

Good Grief, I am zapped. Did my 2nd dirt century for this year's cup. No tracks here from last weekend's snow. March 30th and all this snow!!!!

The wind was blowing so hard at times I was in my lowest gear, standing up on level ground. 30 Mph plus wind.

It said road closed, so I had to check it out.

This tank is in Dyersville, at the halfway point.

Today was a hard ride. Snow, mud and hard winds made the pedal a real grind. I averaged under 10 mph.

Gotta go.

Sunny, 37 degrees F. Day off work. Bike packed and ready to roll. Time to get going this way.

Something is just not right with me.

Well, work, work, and work. Still working lots of overtime trying to get the DCS system up and running. But my mind is on, hopefully I have this Monday off and I can ride 6 hours of bike through country trail. It is what us bikers do. Ride. It's snowing now. So the condition of the trail Monday is anybodies guess. It doesn't matter, the only choice is Mountain bike, or cyclecross. I am not putting the studs back on. There maybe soft snow left after this snowfall, but not expecting ice.

Dave

Work and Play

The Green scene is coming back.

Worked 13 hours yesterday, 10 today. Did get a ride in after work tonight. I was tired, but I knew if I got out and rode for awhile I would feel better, and remove the stress from work. I sure enjoyed the ride, tried to maintain a good pace. Sounds like maybe a lot of snow tomorrow. I will probably work both Saturday and Sunday so I am sorta indifferent to the weather. I hope to take Monday off, and ride a dirty century. Will see.

OOOOOPS

This guy was showing off to the girls, and he ends up landing on them. OUCH!!!

I had a good ride, rode the streets, though parks, had fun, rode fast. Was 39 degrees F, so the air was cool, but learning to dress just "right" is what 4 seasonal bicyclers learn well. We must, and even after all these years new tricks are still learned. This winter I sprayed Spam on the bottoms of my shoes and cleats, helped to prevent the snow and ice from building up. The next four days I am going to be at the mercy of a unpredictable work schedule. But I will "get er done"

Safe rides to all

Dave

Indoor rollers.

Dang, Lance broke his collarbone in race yesterday. Sounds like surgery is needed. Certainly jeopardises the Tour.

Made myself give the legs a break yesterday, wanted to ride, but I could tell my legs had lactic acid in them from 6 hours of hard trail peddling yesterday. Lifted upper body weights for awhile instead.

Today I rode the indoor rollers for an hour, due the torrential rains outdoors. Riding indoors for an hour has always been a mental chore for me. Using the heart monitor to keep my pace up helps, it doesn't lie. Good music helps, rock and roll is the genre. Hopeful that tomorrow I can hit to road after work.

Dirt Century

Bridge down, turn right go through corn field, and mud. Hop barb wire fence, head left on gravel road loop back on trail.

Bridge still destroyed from last year's flood damage. I had to carry bike down into the ravine, the log jam I walked across is partially floating and was moving around.

Didn't know how far I was going to ride today. Headed out on Heritage Trail
Realized early I was a bit under dressed. I thought I and the temperature would warm up more then we did. Then it rained, wasn't supposed to, but it did. I made a note to myself to pay more attention to the exact weather conditions in the future. The rain made me colder, and I wished I had my helmet cap to keep my head drier. I now had 20 miles in, and realized now my ride would be a minimum of 40 miles if I turned around now. I started giving consideration to a metric dirt century to start my quest for a half liter O dirt for the year.

Had to walk through last years corn field and hop a barbed wire fence due to a downed bridge. Rode gravel to the town of Dyersville. Stopped at the Mart and got one of those 5 hour energy drinks, two granola bars and a quart of water. I was at 32 miles now so the return trip would give me a dirt century.

Now I didn't know if it was psychosomatic or the 5 hour energy drink gave me the kick. Either way I didn't care I had good energy to push the pace. Some places the trail was sticky muddy, making it a hard pedal. Finished the ride I was really hungry, maybe from my metabolism being up to keep body heat, I think I ate twice as many calories that I burned when I got home but enjoyed everyone of em.

:-)

Enjoyed the ride and plan on many more.

A day made for bicycling

Rode down by the river, gorgeous day, glad to be part of it

This is a steep winding climb, I love it, about 4 times a week I ride it.

Riding pavement can be scenic too.


Look mom, one hand.

Well got my Trek XO2 out of the hospital. Finally have the problem solved of why it would slip when cranking hard. The Free hub was spinning out. Usually you think a worn chain or cassette is the culprit . Trek repaired and replaced for free. Tomorrow I fully anticipate a day on the trails. LQQKing so forward to that. I took the studded snow tires off the dirt bike, there might be a few patches of ice out there, but not enough to drag those heavy studs along tomorrow.

Pounding pavement

Staying on the pavement riding after work. Hope to hit the trails this weekend.

Statcounter

The world of Blog. See the graphical display of all the bloggers that have viewed this profile. Statcounter has a neat software that tracks blogger traffic. It leaves a pointer of anyone that views this blog, how long, and where from.

I rode the road after work on my Trek 1600. Worked the legs for an hour. Enjoyed the push. Would work the hills till the legs just burned out rest a bit and start it over again.

Afterwards rode my Trek XO2 to try to figure out why it is skipping gears when I crank hard. Parish from Bicycle World and I took the freehub apart Saturday trying to see if it was slipping. It did not appear to be doing so. The chain and cassette only have 1000 miles on them so I do not suspect they are wore out. Would like to get it figured out by this weekend to ride trail.

Happy rides and thanks for stopping in.

Dave

Another day

Sitting on my deck, drinking a beer, typing on my laptop, listening to Bruce Springsteen, thinking it's a good life. Riding about everyday now. On work days, due to shortage of time, I ride road bike on pavement for about 70 minutes. Typically on days off I try to ride country side. That makes for the best ride, no cars, beautiful scenery, and peace, lots of it.

Sunday Ride

Left from home, rode out through town, on to paved trail and out to Sageville, rode dirt trail to Durango, out near Asbury. There was patches of ice that kept me on my toes. Was the last ride until next winter with my studded snow tires. They make for a heavy ride but kept me from going on my ass. Trail was "sticky" clay mud in places, made for a hard pedal in areas.

Thought about trying to carry my bike across the the logs over the broken bridge, decided not. Just didn't have a good feel about it. My legs are toast tonight, the feeling is good.

Mud Run

Today did a fast ride on pavement. Bring on tomorrow. No work tomorrow. Plan on a day of play. Will go out and ride dirt. Lots of mud I suspect. I'm thinking I will leave the studs on the Trek XO2. They make for a heavy tire, but suspect ice out there.

Yabba-dabba-doo

Back on the road again. Glad the hiatus from bike riding is over due to long days at work. Enough is enough. Rode the last 7 days, and plan on continuing to do so. On the road bike today after work. Ran into Ken, a.k.a. Road Warrior and Dave Goetzinger who has logged in 22,000 mile years and has 500 races under his belt. Glad to see the biking brethren out there. Well they were about doing two of my three favorite things, biking and drinking beer. They wanted me to stop at a bar we passed, but I needed more miles, maybe next time. Here is a picture of spring riding from 08, will ride dirt this weekend. Yabba-dabba-doo

On the road again.

Busy day, before work Joshua my son called and said his car overheated on the way to work. So I pack up three gallons of antifreeze/water mix and head there. Car wasn't low on fluid but temperature was pegged. So we decided to look at this later and I took him to work and then I headed to work. Go, go go, all day, worked through my lunch to get everything done. I so wanted to get off in time to go rid'n. Sure glad I did. Rode my Trek 1600 on pavement. It has been since sometime last December that I have rode a road bike on pavement. Enjoyed the speed that comes with pavement and a light weight road. bike. Took on a couple of long hills Dubuque is well known for, legs felt good. Good bye winter hello spring.

Rain, Rain and more Rain

So today I will spin the rollers indoors for a hour ride, lift weights, and forage in the kitchen for various assortments of treats.

Lots of rain AGAIN!!!!

Raining in Dubuque

Looks like lots of rain in Dubuque today. One way or the other I am going to pedal a bike today. Not sure if it will be outdoor or indoor. Need to lift some weights and would like to buy a car also. So I better get my ass in gear.

Ok Post script, lifted weights, rode indoor rollers, and purchased a 07 Malibu. Hit the rollers hard, IPOD and heart monitor make a good workout for indoor biking. Tomorrow hoping for some pavement, on my Trek 1600.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and a Broken Bridge

Started out ride on my Trek XO2, until my rear deraileur decided to try and wrap it's self around my rear hub. DAMN!!! Walked about 5 miles pushing bike. And saddled up old faithful, (Schwinn Rocket mountain bike) and went back to riding. Had to. was the plan. I had studded tires on both bikes, there were times when that was needed as evidenced by the ice picture.

Bill's repaired Bridge is starting to move towards the river.

The Good, (beautiful trail ride)

The Bad, (see rear deraileur rapped around wheel. Not sure how it happened. I think maybe a stick got in the chain and stuck on the deraileur gear. Stopped at Bicycle World, and Parrish is going to order a new rear deraileur.

and the Ugly. (Me)

She says she's ready to ride me, we'll see.

Here's the deal

Oh here is a picture of my whole Famn Damily. We are all up at Eagle Point Park. I swear my mama is shrinking. I am looking spaced and in the black T-shirt. I remember that day, I had rode a dirt century, and that kept me buzzed most of the day. My little bro Al is next to me. Brother Mark on the end. My sister Amy and Sister Dawn, and last but most significant my Ma and Pa.



Well I am supposed to have tomorrow off!!!!. I have never in my life worked so many days in a row, and I have never in a long long time been with out mucho bike riding. So my plans tomorrow are to ride. I will explore the still flood damaged Heritage Trail. I figure there will be much of the trail with patches of hard packed ice mixed with mud. I will ride my Trek XO2 with studded snows. That bike rocks. My plans this year are to ride 24 centuries in the dirt. I also want to ride a dirt century with every bike in the garage, and their are some "jal0pies" out there. So it should be fun. Later and happy rides to you.

Monday

Here is a picture of some of last year spring's MUD. LQQK'n forward to some more this year.

Aren't they cute. These triplets were in the local newspaper awhile back.

Good grief, "only" worked 8 hours today and yesterday which gave me time to indoor spin and lift weights, I am going to bounce back quick I believe and start getting some quality outdoor miles in.