Memorial Day things.

Took ma-pa to the Memorial Day Parade. My dad is a WWII Vet. 20 years old and on the island of Guam outside of Japan. They were preparing for a death march into Japan one inch at a time. He also served in the Korean War and left the Marine Corps as a Sargent. I salute and thank you papa, for putting your life on the line for our freedom.


Here is my mama and papa and my fat head.

Well if you've been reading this blog you know that my mama is chair bound and papa is headed for some cancer surgery. So we divided up the feed the parent duties and other responsibilities amongst us siblings. I got this thing all figured out. "TAKE OUT". So afterwards I pedaled back over to ma-pa's house and picked up the left overs, dropped them off at home and went for a two hour evening bike ride.

Pulled up along side this fellow pedaling down by the river. I asked him if I could take some pictures? He said sure, I'll pull over and I said no keep pedaling I'll pedal along with ya and take some pictures.

Following my shadow home. Had fun riding through town and in parks, and all over.

Well back to work tomorrow, well it pays for the bike parts. :-)

Thanks for stopping, over and out.

Dave

Grueling gravels. To be song to the tune of "dueling banjos"

Oh man, I am burnt toast tonight, legs are totally fried. 4 days and 3 metric century gravel rides, close to 90 degrees each day, and pushing the pace. Drinking from 10-15 lbs of fluids per ride.

I saw more riders today then I have in a long time. Some were rabbits and some were turtles, I had the silent/secret race with one rider we flew wide open for 15 miles on gravel, he passed me first, I followed for aways, and passed him when he fiddled with his water bottle, kept the lead, I couldn't even grab water. Then we went different ways. That was well with me because I was close to blowing up, is that crazy or what? EGO.

Perhaps a lot of those riders were getting some miles in for RAGBRAI training.

I wanted to get a good ride in today because I am not sure how much my schedule is going to let me ride the rest of the week. Tomorrow I take ma and pa to the Memorial Day parade and then it's my watch, to help ma and pa out for the rest of the day.

This the baby morning dove from their nest on my front porch guarding my son's bike. Every year ma and pa morning dove come back and raise a couple kids. Dad sits on the nest too. They have a solid relationship, and come back year after year. There is another couple on the back deck, same thing, raise a couple of babies every year. We humans could stand to learn something from them.

Good ole Iowa Country side.

This is a happy ending to hot day on the bike.

I have decided to come out of the closet.

Saw this gi-normous snapping turtle brute before I got past the city limits. She was laying eggs. I made her deal, I would not bother her, and she would not remove my fingers.




















As Jimmy Buffett would sing, "I'm just a cheeseburger in paradise"






















Today was a warm one. I drank 200 oz's of fluids, Still felt woozy towards the end. Rode 65 miles of gravel travel. I hope I can fully recover and do her again tomorrow. It is supposed to be 90 tomorrow. Seems I am still getting used to the heat and am effected by it more then I would like to be. Had good energy, pushed the pedals hard up to the last 10 miles and then my zip got zapped.



























Open letter to Mr. Floyd Landis.

Dear Floyd,
I have decided to come clean today. After 30 miles saddle time in today, 100 oz's of water, and lots of gravel dust, I spiked my Mountain Dew with a 5 hour energy boost, and I doubt if I am peeing clean right now, with my caffeine levels being so high. Thank you for giving me the courage to come out of the "closet"
Your biking brotha,
Dave

Sea of human madness

Yes, I was in that sea of human madness. Now sleep, because tomorrow LQQKs ridelious.

Miles and smiles.

After a brief visit to "my library" this morning I got on the road to bikeheaven. Enjoyed every one of the 15,000 pedal revolutions too. Was one of those days where bicycing felt like flying. Flew across dirt paths, trails and gravel roads for 65 miles. Never seemed like an effort, high heart rates and good mph came easy.

A long drink on a warm day. Packing 32 oz fluid jugs on days like these.

First time on this road. Mucky pond to my left.

Lots of fluids down the hatch.

Saw this person who lost their middles on my way back home.

Gonna go down and see the Love Monkeys tomorrow night. They are rocking outside under the town clock. These guys put on a great show.

Well thanks for stopping.

Over and Out.

Dave

Things.

In some strange and twisted way, I miss that sub zero biking. I'm just saying. :-)

Met with the children of my parents tonight. Oh wait, that's me too. My mama can't be left alone any more. She has fallen several times, and cracked vertebrae. For now she is at home and pretty much chair bound. So the four of us picked evenings, and daytime, and meal plans, and house cleaning plans, and it'll work.

My upper back has been not behaving, for some time, I miss not lifting weights the last 12 weeks due to this. 10 years of competitive powerlifting didn't help. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't. Today I made an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon today who has knifed me a few times. I know I have a few disks that might be looking for a fusion, I've been there before. I'll just have to see. Motrin do your thing, biking is the game plan tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a vacation day. Seems I take my 5 weeks vacation one day at a time. The reason being, I follow the weather, and pick bicycling days, and tomorrow is sunny and bicycling all day. :-)

There are two men, Bill and Todd headed towards a ride with purpose. Follow the Freedom Tour I met Bill through this blogging world, a place where I have met many others like you and me, bicycling nutters. Birds of a feather, you could say. Bill has always been a encouragement. He's a biker enduro freak of nature. He has 1000s and 1000s of miles to go yet, this is one of those journeys. Meet the two, LQQK below.

Glad you visited.
Dave

Riding the storm out.

Today it rained like Holy Cow, I don't know what that means but some places around here got 3 inches of rain in a few hours. However, the rain was nice enough to stop for awhile after I got home from work so I go out and jam it on the bicycle.

I was surprised the legs had good pep in them. Grateful that the body can recover after heating it up like I did yesterday. Rode around the north end town through hills, park, and river front.

Pushed my legs hard, got a good burn.
I was riding along the river front and came upon two ladies standing over this turtle that was in the road. So I stopped. They said the poor thing was wounded and they wanted to get Mr Turtle out of the road. So one of em reached down to pick him up and the turtle hissed and swung around to take one of her fingers off. I told her you better be careful that is a snapper. So I grabbed him from the rear and pulled him out of the road and up on the grass. Seemed now he had a sense of where the river was and started to head that way. So I was the turtle savor.

Barge traffic on the river. Probably coal on it's way up to Lansing Iowa for the power plant.

My tomatoes and green peppers are looking healthy after all that rain.

Well tomorrow I meet with one of my brothers and two sisters and see if we can come up with plan on taking care of mama. She's pretty much chair bound. I rode my bike up there yesterday after my hot century, and my 87 year old dad said. "Oh good Dave, glad your here, now I can go for a walk" and off he went. :-)

Well thanks for stopping, and happy ride to ya.

Dave

HOT HOT HOT.

Been a long time since I have been tested to ride in this kind of heat. Was 93 degrees and humid and road 100k on gravel. Made a beginner mistake. Started ride a bit dehydrated. The weekend left me such, with travel and not drinking water, seems all I remember drinking is coffee, pop, or beer. All somewhat diuretic. I should have drank 2 qts of water last night and 2 qts this morning, instead I had two cups of coffee before riding.

After my first 20 miles I had drank everything I had. 100 oz's of water and 24 oz's of pop. I knew I could not go the 11 more miles of my usual route to stock up again on fluids. I was sweating like mad. So took a different flight plan and ended up in Farley Iowa at the gas mart buying 2 jugs of Gatorade, and 2 jugs of water. My throat was parched and my stomach could not hold any more water, my stomach was swelled from all the fluids I drank and I was still thirsty. I think if you get behind on your hydration in this heat and your working out, your body can not absorb the water at the rate you need it.

I'm sitting here now a little dizzy but rehydrating.

Found this in my diary dated 6/23/95

"HOT 91 High humidity, rode trail, like bike shorts, and clipless pedals, Drank 17 lbs of fluid Legs felt good started at 5:45 a.m. Rode 101.5 miles."

On the highway here taking a detour to Farley for fluids. Notice the nice wide bicycling path on the side of highway. Bravo.

Ghost rider.

Arrived back in town around 5:00 p.m., don't know why but I sure felt zapped. Perhaps just the go, go, go of the weekend. But I had a good time in Minnesota with the "kids"


So almost had to force myself to get on a bike tonight, but bike I did. I knew I needed too, I didn't ride yesterday and needed to test the legs out, and not let how I felt at the moment make the decision. It was 90 out and humid, but riding around town was fun, just didn't have full throttle available. That's all right you gotta accept the low energy days too. Tomorrow is a vacation day, so tomorrow is a "ride day" and want to put in some high gravel miles. So we will see how it goes with the 92 degrees and humid forecast. Heat and humidity in the past didn't hinder me for riding, but the old grey mare ain't what she used to be either. I find the older I get, the better I used to be.





Oh and I saw this bike on Ebay, I didn't need another full suspension but the price was right. The only problem it's just so tiny I can't adjust the seat high enough.



























So the weekend is over, hope you had fun,
Over and out.
Dave

Sir Cole

A early birthday party for baby Cole, my grandson, we are having up in Lakeville Mn. That Cole scoots all over the place, in a blink of an eye he is in another room. Oh and did I mention my son in law makes great home made beer. :-)

Headed North

My daughter's FaceBook comment. Warms a father's heart.

"Melissa Hunter is excited to see her dad this weekend!! It's been way too long!"



So I took a half day off of work so I could ride a bike. I won't ride this weekend due to driving up to Lakeville Mn. for chill'n with the baby Cole.

Grabbed the skinnie tired bike and was headed for a some pavement riding. Before I got to the curb I realized my rear tire was flat. Ahhhhhhhggggggg!!!!! I did not say a bad word, replaced both the tire and tube, the tire had seen better miles. Down the street I went again, realizing that a storm is cooking so I hurried. Guess what? My tire went flat again, I must have pinched the tube when I replaced it. %$#@! $%^&%*. Yes I said that!!! Sorry. I replaced that tube again and away I went. Was a good ride. Pushed myself hard for 1.5 hours, felt good. Traffic was crazy, Friday midday madness. I had to crank as hard as I could and ride with the traffic because there was no room for me on the side. After a few miles I was able to find lesser traveled roads.


Now time to chill and catch some outdoor music. My lady and I went downtown where several bands were going to play outside this weekend. The music is great in this town just about every weekend there is bands playing outside, with almost always no cover.


Who is that guy with my girl? Oh that's is my friend Fred. I told him I was going to put him in my blog and he said "What is a blog?" Duh!!!! Fred is a Arteeest. Paints some neat stuff


So I explained an he said ok let em know I am single, and looking for a German girl. So I honored his request. Wallla.

This is one of the bands that played tonight. They rocked.

Ok time to go home, she's waiting.

Hope you had as much today as I did.

Over and out. Dave

Aliens have taken over my blog.

If you are looking for Dave he is not here right now. He is sitting on the couch eating Doritos, drinking a beer waiting for the pizza to get done. While he is doing this he is changing into a Alien due to a chip we implanted in him from our chance encounter that we had with Dave last week. Most did not believe him regarding this. If you have viewed this blog we have also implanted a chip in you too through special Ethernet technology. Don't be alarmed you can trade your old bike helmet in for our special ones that will accommodate your new green antennas.

Dang Nabbit

Don't ya hate it when you have the day off, it's sunny, and you want to get ride'n and you can't find your sunglasses.

Actually that was true this morning, looking for my shades, but lo and behold I had a revelation and found em. I think a product of to many coffees.

Got on my bike and headed out to the country side. For about 20 miles I was moving out pretty fast and felt charged. Then I think my gas tank ran out. Perhaps 250 miles in the last 5 days most of it on gravel was now taking it's tow on this old carcass. So I put my legs in low gear and just cruised for 65 miles. It was warm out, drank 10 lbs of fluids.

Well, I think it's time to put away the winter Sidi's. Had to cool the feet a bit. These shoes just fit so well and transfer the pedaling energy well. Heck they oughtta, for 3 BEN$ and then some. I have a couple of summer biking shoes but I am thinking of getting a low cut Sidi, it's a good shoe.






Even my bike was tired and had trouble getting up and get er going after stopping. She felt like I did.

This is a film clip I took this morning of how much street I need to ride to get on trails that take me out of town. Parked cars, cars at intersections, cars passing, all make caution a good thing to heed.

So thanks for stopping, hope all is well in your home.

Dave

Riding around.

Pedaling up down the rolling hills here in town after work. Sure enjoyed the pavement ride. Put a flat spot in my tire when a young fellow shot right in front of me on his bicycle. My bike was sliding sideways when I locked up the brakes, didn't put her down and my elbows and knees were happy not to lose their hide. I said, "HEY DUDE" "Watch where your going."

Hectic at work, glad to get on the bike and find my "happy place" That moment when I no longer have to be a serious adult, and simply enjoy the moment, bicycling where ever my heart desires. I think bicycling is as close to flying as I can get. My legs were tired, but pushing myself as hard as I could pump up the hills was the best part of my day. Sometimes I am asked, why? Why would I do that? I would have to answer like Louie Armstrong did when asked how he could play jazz all day, and my answer would be the same, "if you don't know, I can't tell ya"

Now tomorrow the weatherguy is saying light winds, sunny and 80. Sooooooooooooooooo, I took a vacation day tomorrow. That can mean only one thing. Gravel travel explorations. My body and soul will be well pleased.

On the road again.

Had a blast riding pavement along the river and up through Eagle Point Park tonight. Road bike always feels zippy especially after a weekend of gravel travels. Enjoyed the ride, kept it low key, just spinning the legs out from all the riding this weekend. Lots of folks were in the park, I think they were having a ribbon cutting ceremony for the bike trail that was finished last year that now lets you ride from the bottom almost to the top with out the threat of rolling metal monsters on wheels. I saw people in suits and city council members wandering around the trail as I weaved in and out of them riding by.
This train got in my way, and then stoped I said get out of my way buddy or I will knock your block off. Train called my bluff and didn't budge. So I cruised another route.

Did you see "cav" the human cannon ball win the the first stage of Tour de California? What a rocket. So specialized. Typically the boys with more endurance base gradually wear him down as the race goes on, but if he is anywhere near the front near the finish line, LOOK OUT.

Well Monday has just about come and gone, hope your day went well
Over and out.
Dave

"just another day in paradise"

As the late, great, and wonderful Mr Bob Breedlove use to say, "just another day in paradise"
Bob was an amazing man, and an amazing bicyclist.
Now back to "paradise" today's ride was a beauty. Rode 65 miles of trail and gravel country side.

Green trail starting to grow shut. This is scheduled to become a blacktop trail. I would prefer it doesn't change from this.

Worms that will someday become flying trail snacks. Down the hatch.

Pulled into a small town looking for something to drink, I had 30 miles to go and my water bottles were empty. I saw a gas station mart with swarms of people and a line at the cashier and I did not feel like standing in line. I looked across the street and there she was, beckoning, a pop machine. So for three bucks a deal was made, and off I went.

The strong winds on the return trip had me at times standing on the pedals and maxing out at 8 mph. Legs are tired but a "good tired feeling"

So being I spent a good part of my weekend free time on a bicycle, I need to get some house chores done. Gotz ta go.

Hope your day was good one.

Dave

On the road again

A good day on the pedals. Wandering around the gravel roads in North East Iowa for 65 miles worth. Had plenty of pedaling pep. Rode hard the whole way. Perhaps not riding for three of the last 5 days had something to do with that.



















Made my usual stop at the "Cement Slab Cafe" Their menu was sparse again. They had "health food" this time. I had a Kashi bar and mineral water. However when you've been pedaling for several hours and feeling a "bonk" you want something like the largest Snicker Bar manufactured on earth and a high octane Mountain Dew. Oh well you gotta suck it up when your rough'n it, right?
There was plenty of bugs to sample. Several made their way into my mouth. Nothing like your mouth wide open sucking air, and a bug goes in. Sometimes you can catch them before they go past the point of no return and spit them out. Otherwise you try to work them back out, and when that fails try to swallow them into a stomach acid death. Ewwwwwwwwwww!!!! Well it's part of the outdoor riding thing.





















My camera's battery stopped working, shame too because of what I saw, and couldn't take a picture. I had a 10 foot alligator chase me for several miles and a alien space ship land in front of me and try to take me back to their planet, Zeon, for a full examination. Good thing I could out pedal them, and not be captured.
Oh don't worry I'm not nuts, it's just the voices in my head that are. :-)

Well back on the bicycling road tomorrow.
I'm watching the DVD "Bicycling Dreams" again, if you have not seen it, I highly recommend. It is a film of the RAAM race across America. The riders are incredible, and an inspiration to me.

Way back when, me and the little buggers

Oh and I have a serious confession to make. I did not ride a bike tonight. I do not know if I was zapped for enthusiasm because I rode as hard as I could for an hour yesterday or what the deal was. Could not sit still however worked in the yard most of the daylight hours after work.

Tomorrow I totally attack the gravel roads, weather person says it's going to be a great day for the race, human race that is.

Over and out.

Me