Performance enhancement drugs

I have an confession to make. Somewhere between Graf and Epworth Iowa while riding my bicycle today I used performance enhancement drugs. Yes I did!! I had some sugar and caffeine. A.K.A. Pop tart (eaten raw) and a Mountain Dew. :-) Hazy day.

The trees were full of ice. While I was riding little ice flecks were falling off the branches. It felt like bugs hitting me in the face.

My bike thinks she is a Mountain Goat. I think not. Today was all grind. Five hours 25 miles. Snow was softer then yesterday with the slight warm up today. Rear tire would spin out, and I would move from side to side trying to find a good line to travel on. I didn't have to walk bike but the going was slow. I was going to venture off the trail up on a gravel road but what I thought was level ground was a 4 foot ditch that was full of snow. Down I went over the handle bars, buried in the snow.

I'm thinking I might not bike outside for 2 weeks now. Next weekend I will be in Minne-toada visiting Cole Little and family. My grand baby, daughter, and son and law. Not enough daylight and roads aren't very safe to ride with the ice in the dark. Well it's times like this is why I have bike rollers and weights and other self torture devices in the basement.

So peace and happy thoughts to you, and thanks for visiting.

Dave

Just riding around

Rode 40 miles out on trails today. I am woofing down a granola bar and I hear this buzzing noise behind me. Did not have to get off bike and push once today, nor did I fly off the bike. Snow was compacted nice, my tires did slip and slide a lot a Pugs would have rode faster. I maintained about 7 mph. My tires wasted a lot of energy spinning out. I am going to try my "Big Earl" tires instead of the studs tomorrow.

Got back in town before dark so I rode over to Ma and Pa's house to shoot the chit with em. Dad had to come out and look my bike over. He is 85 years old and up to a couple of years ago he was still bicycling. Now his joints tell him not to do that anymore.

Here is my papa, he is my hero, simply an incredible man, WWII marine vet. Always took time for us, all 5 of us kids. Just a wonderful father. He is in the kitchen learning to cook to help my mama out.

Below is my mama, mama doesn't feel good lately. Kidneys are not doing well. You never hear her complain. I know she has trouble getting up the stairs and doesn't move around a whole bunch any more. She is a sweet heart.

So sure enjoyed the day out on the trails. Have some work to do on bike yet. Tomorrow I am gonna get up and do er again.

Thanks for stopping in.

Dave

Tonight Beer, tomorrow Bike

So tomorrow is going to be in the upper 30s F. So the plans are to ride a bunch this weekend on trail or gravel roads. Wondering what bike to take. The snow will be wet and melting. I have three bikes with Nokian studded tires on them that work under different snow conditions. Below is my cyclecross Trek XO2, lightweight, with 35CC studded tires. Here is my full suspension Schwinn Rocket with the 3.1 Studded tires that I rode all last winter and she never complained or left me stranded out the middle of nowhere with a break down.

And laying here in the snow is my Trek 6700 Hardbutt. My EBAY buy. IPOD is loaded and will feed my ears.

I bought a pair of Ergon GC3 bar grips and ends. I would like to try them out. I can not figure a way to make them work with the "Bar Mitts" The Bar Mitts have really solved the cold hand problem, but might not need em with the warmer temps.

Me At Triple D

My butt side trying to move forward

A fella in da cella

I'm just a fella in da cella spinning my pedals around in circles going all kinds of places in my head.

Lifting some weighs.

Giving my knee one more day of rest, it is a bit sore yet. Probably all that bike pushing Saturday. So I had to do something. I took yesterday off, after Triple D, and ate, drank beer, and ate and drank beer some more. So lifting weights in my basement tonight after work, listening to rock and roll made body and soul feel good. In my basement there is a treadmill, speed bag, multiple weights, and a road bike on rollers. So there is plenty I can do. But currently nothing compares to bicycling outside. I am going to have to see about getting set up for outdoor riding after work using my new lighting system. I used to compete at Powerlifting that was until I had to have L4, and L5 fused to my tailbone in 1992 and lay in bed for 39 days. You talk about making a nut go nuts that came close. Picture below is a me at a deadlift competition way back around 1986, that was 500 lbs and gave me 1st place.

So thank you for stopping in.

Triple D

Lance Andre race director and competitor giving a prerace meeting.
A bunch of horses ready to run at the starting blocks with a minus 20 F wind chill. Getting myself ready for this race I have gained a lot of winter biking skills. I learned to look at the temp and wind and select very carefully what clothing to wear. Buying good winter biking shoes, bar mitts to cover the hands, using chemical warmers to keep my fluids from becoming solid ice, using very low tire pressure, all have made winter biking a fun and doable. I have purchased a very good bike lighting system which will now enable me to bike more after work on these shorter days. I flew off the bike a couple of times during this race when the front tire would slide out on me, I saw others doing the same thing. Once my bike landed upside down on the side of the trail in the ditch and filling my bar mitts full of snow. I lifted bike upside down and shook trying to get most the snow out, but later with my hands in the mitts melted the remaining snow hence wet hands. Wil I do this again? Well yes, of course, the Lord willing and my health allows, 'let's get er on'.
Lance on his way to an impressive victory.

Triple D a.k.a Death march from hell

Me at the start of Triple D, all ready got some eyesickles developing. It was around 2 below Fahrenheit at start. The cold temperature was no problem you just learn how to dress right. I would venture to guess that there were only 5 finishers. Race started out through town then out in deep snow and everybody pushing their bikes which was exhausting. After a few miles of that we were able to get on our bikes at the town of Sageville and pedal without extreme difficulty. THEN!!!! The snow machine came through, and pulled the snow back on the trail. Without a Pugs 50% of your time was spent pushing. I sagged after 6 hours, my butt was whipped. Thanks Derick and Scott for the company and sharing the pain. :-) More later.

The crash scene.

I mentioned a motorcycle accident in my previous blog that I was in back in 1969. Here is a picture of that event. A city bus ran the stop sign and we ran full blast into the side of the bus. A person in the car on the other side of the bus said he saw us because we bounced that high. This picture was on the front page of our Dubuque News paper. That is me laying in the street feeling my busted up jaw. That is my dad standing their next to me. I can't imagine his fear after he was notified and rushed to the crash scene and seeing perhaps a 100 people gathered around me. I thank God to this day that the spilt gas you see around the motor cycle did not ignite, my pants had plenty of gas on them. The other blanket was from the driver of the motorcycle, my friend Tim, took the full impact of the bus hit. I broke my jaw on Tim's back. Tim suffered lifetime problems from this. A real bad day.
But who ever would have thunk it, that a accident I had in high school would still come back at ya like this? Well losing two teeth isn't the end of the world. Well I am going to crash and try to soak up some energy and have a good day in the saddle tomorrow at Triple D. This may be the straw that breaks the camel back and I buy a Pugsley. If my tires just spin out tomorrow I'll probably rap it up early, and talk to Parrish about a Pugs, who knows, we'll see.

Thanks for stopping,
Peace and saddle up for happy rides.

Knock, knock. "come in and join my pity party"

Outside tonight with my snow blower.


Where the dog poops. I even made a little circle in the back yard so Pitty my Pit Bull can do her business.

It's cold out here.

Removing snow from my sidewalk. 170 feet of sidewalk makes a snow blower a good friend with a 56 year old back.
Ok enough jibber jabber. I haven't blogged since my ride last Sunday. Been sort of whining. Because umm well ya see last Sunday when trail riding I became increasing aware my front lower jaw was getting very sore. I stopped to eat a granola bar and had to break it into little pieces and chew them way in the back. My front lower teeth could hardly tolerate breathing air across them. That night it just got worse. I got called into work at 4:00 a.m for some emergency problems, feeling terrible. I told my boss when I got this problem straightened out I needed to see if I could get into my dentist. I was thinking I would end up at the oral surgeons. OK to make a increasing getting longer story shorten up here's the gist of it. In 1969 I broke my lower jaw bone in several pieces from an motor cycle accident. I have had 4 surgeries on it since. My pain now, was caused by a abscess that was under the roots from the previous bone damage. The dentist pulled two of my lower front teeth. He said the roots to those two teeth had cracked due to the jaw damage. So now all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. Will have to do something of course this will be anywhere from 3 to 6 grand. Good grief!! I have felt very weak all week. Legs are tired feeling. The infection has effected my throat and sinus now. Some guys at work are now calling me "meth mouth"

Now I would normally say "big deal" but in two days I am in the Triple D. I need energy.
Today I felt better. Today I did a 30 minute roller workout with a pushed pace. Today the legs felt better.
I think I'll be good.
One of the weather reports for Saturday is saying high of 0 degrees Fahrenheit. How I dress will be critical. I will have to think and dress exact for the frigid temps and bicycling. It is the make or break principle. We also have gotten a lot of snow. I hope my 2.3 mountain bike studs can hook up and move me forward. I have often ridden in situations where you just couldn't ride, tires would spin out with the ice snow combinations.
So Saturday I will give it my best shot. Here is the route, plus add 10 more miles because the turn around is in the town of Dyersville.

Well thanks for stopping, leave a comment, if you have a blog I would like to read it. Thanks.

Dave