Let us ride.

It is 8:48 a.m. Sunday morning, I have sat around and drank coffee long enough. I am becoming irritable. That's OK, I know my medicine, and I am procrastination taking it. Ms. McLard'O my FatBike waits to go play in the dirt. My legs are feeling the effects of yesterday's Metric Century, they wanted to knock of the back half. Now they complain about riding another one . It is 50 degrees out all ready, warmer then I expected, not much clothing to pack along. Not sure exactly where I will travel, I will head out of town on city streets and out the highway and go where I go.
People at work, my co-workers, acquaintances, and friends, the vast majority of people I am in contact with  do not understand why I do what I do. I hear about it regularly. Those of us that do this, find pleasure in pushing ourselves, testing our limits, overcoming injuries, challenges, managing tight schedules, and beating that hidden lazy bone inside us all. We that do so, do not understand why others won't jump in and do the same...


BUT!!!!! It is  now 9:03 a.m. and Ms. McLard'O is leaning against the dining room table and says "Let us go!!!" So I know I must. I shall return.

This was the snow cover yesterday on the trail. I saw these bike tracks, Mountain bike tires, I followed.







 I was thinking someone was ahead of me and not yesterdays tracks because I didn't see any return tracks.  Not often I see another cyclist out here, especially with snow cover. I could tell he had good bicycling skills, by the way he weaved in and out of fallen trees with the snow cover with ice underneath. I figured he was a 'he' because of the size of the footprint in the snow. I did not know how much of a head start on me he had. We met at 31 miles out.
We exchanged small talk about bicycling, age, Iditarod and Triple D. I introduced myself, he replied, " I know, I read your blog" I think to myself, "Good Grief, anonymity has sure disappeared with the digital age." We parted ways and rode to our destinations.


Today all the snow was gone. Soon that will not be the case. Snow will soon come and stay and cover all of Iowa. It is the way Iowa winters always are. The 15-20 mph headwind was making my southwest travel much harder then my legs wanted it be. My pedaling engines were zapped. This was the 3rd gravel Metric in 4 days. I pushed to keep things moving. Slowing down on a FatBike means settling into a 'crawl' I didn't want this to take forever. I had a goal, and wanted to finish. I was bonking, it wasn't fun. Quiting now, without finishing would be more of a discomfort to me, then it was to keep going. I reached the turnaround point, the wind that had been my enemy, was now going to be my best friend, and helped me keep moving. I finished.

Miles from No Where.                                                      Sun meets earth.

I saw a cave entrance today in the side of a cliff. I will return and explore, I'll show you the pictures.

Thanks for visiting, and a shout out to you sir for riding your bike yesterday, snow and all.

Dave