TREES

 

I often wonder how old this tree is, or the things that it has seen. Or what it would say to me if I would just learn to hear.

FATURDAY

Today, December 1st was the first global Fat Bike ride. I çan't say I am amazed at how the "Fat" ride has caught on because when a cyclist rides a Fat Tire bike it becomes a whole new world of fun for cycling. This will be my 3rd winter of riding the Fat Tires, and still loving it. I ride the big tires all year, but when then snow falls and snow mobile trails pop up all over the country side Fat Bike riding enters a world all its own.  

The weather people said drizzle and rain would be coming around 5:00 p.m. today so I figured I could ride 50 miles and be home before this was going to happen and didn't pack for getting wet. They lied to me. Rolled out at 11:30 and by 1:00 I was soaked, cold, and riding in temps in the 40 degrees department and dropping. I thought to myself to plan better the next time. Seems riding year round day or night requires a continuing development of skills. 

I hear a series of shut gun blasts. Deer hunting season opened today in Iowa for shut guns. I try to tell myself they know this is a bike trail and won't shoot this way. I don't believe that and pedal faster to get out of the area.

You reach a point when riding in a drizzling rain where you can't get any wetter. You just slowly get colder. My hands were starting to freeze. I do pack chemical warmers this time of year for emergencies. I thought about sticking one in each glove, and I was wondering if the soaked gloves would smother the chemical heating process. I decided to push on with out them. Music from my IPOD distracted me from the cold that was starting to penetrate my bones. I was watching the tempss continue to drop on my Garmin and I knew turning around now would bother me more than this chill was. So I rode on, on this gravel trail, keeping the pace up in an attempt to stay warm and completed my ride. Tomorrow brings more of the same minus the rain if the weather folks are telling the truth.  

 

Everybody is drying out now, including me.

 

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your week end.
Dave

TRIPLE D IS COMING

On Dec 1^st 2007 Lance Andre said this.

Winter Race Anybody?   I'm contemplating hosting a ~60 mile winter race (from Dubuque Iowa to Dyersville and back) on January 12th or 19^th

If you’re interested in participating in this crazy winter bike race please send me an email with the first line being something like “ABSOLUTLY”, or “MAYBE”. Please don’t email “ARE YOU CRAZY” and “NO #&@*’N WAY”.

And Triple D was born. Now in it’s 6^th run Triple D has become one of the funnest, bestest, well run races  in the Midwest. 

 

TRIPLE D IS NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION

 

This will be my 4th round at Triple D. I don't like the lack of shape I find myself in. Injuries  this year kept me off the bike way more then I would have liked. I have had a bit of a weight gain as you can see by the picture below along with the 3 previous Triple D pictures of me. But I got 8 weeks and it is time to hit it. I did get out on the Fat Tire Bike 6 of the last 8 days. Not high mileage 30-50 miles each time, but good enough, with hills included.

 

 

 

 

So I shall see you there. More training info on my lard removal to follow.

Dave

 

THANKSGIVING AND THE DAY AFTER

THANKSGIVING

 

 

 

 

 

He is 89 years old. After living through the depression, he then spent his 21st birthday as a Marine in the hell hole of WWII on the island of Guam, preparing for the worst. Watched his business that his grandfather started, falter, and fizzle and became jobless in his 50s. Found employment again from selling tombstones to painting church steeples not wanting to rely on handouts. Lost his woman, his sweetheart, my mother, who he raised 5 kids with, awhile back. Has dealt with and is dealing with Cancer, boldly, without fear, without backing down. Today he is grateful, today he is thankful, like he was yesterday, and will be tomorrow. He says life has been good to him, he has no complaints. He is my father.

 

 

THE DAY AFTER

 

 

Some days in life we find ourselves in situations where we have extremely difficult decisions to make. Today was not one of those days. It was a no brainer. I choose door #2.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Four Score and Seven Years ago...

Abraham Lincoln boarded a train on Wednesday  November 18th 1863 to travel from Washington D.C. to Gettysburg Pennsylvania. The location of a horrific battle where Americans slaughtered Americans for 3 days straight earlier in July. There were 51,000 Civil war casualties,  American men, women, and children from both sides of the fence each believing they were right in what they were doing.

This tore this man apart; he was deeply saddened seeing his country that he loved more than life itself destroying itself from the inside out.

His words that day still ring true today, as he began one of the greatest speeches that human ears have ever heard. It lasted slightly longer than 2 minutes. It was not intended to be the message for that day. There was a hired professional for that purpose. Abe would go on to say......

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure”

Fellow Americans whoever wins Tuesday's election we've got to get back together to work out our problems together, collectively.  Left wingers, right wingers, liberals, conservatives  capitalists, and socialists. I suspect we were often a joke to many of those that have made it their life's goal to see this country fail as we fought each other, slung mud, and pontificated to prove our point. Just like us who ever is elected to be our president on Tuesday will sometimes make wrong choices. We have the freedome of speech, to speak out, with the right motives, to keep and open mind to want what is best for us and the rest of America. 

Let’s now move forward to get this country back so again we can be the greatest nation on earth and an example to the rest of the world and that freedom wins. It can be done. Stop looking for faults and start looking for solutions.

"that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Abraham Lincoln.

 

 

 

 

 

Returning

Roadies are hard to keep up with they like to give er the gas....

 

 

Don't say I didn't warn you...

 

 

Man's best friend....

The plan was to take today off from work and ride a Metric Century on Gravel. Seems I collect Metrics and consequently collect more ‘Cup O Dirt’ coffee cups. I wanted to make this a good work out and would ride the harder ride of grown over snow mobile trails and the hilly gravel or North East Iowa countryside.

I didn’t sleep well, sometimes insomnia just shows up unplanned, and uninvited. So I was slow getting out the door and getting my ride started with sluggish blood. I thought I would stay with the plan and let the over grown trails, and rolling gravel hills show me no mercy.

After 20 some miles of grinding I stopped at Graf Iowa’s park. Felt exhausted, and felt like I could lie down and fall asleep. I stretched out on a picnic table and went shortly into dream land. The last thing I remember thinking was I wish I had a pillow.  Thirty minutes later I wake up, face stuck to the picnic table in a town of 75 people that were not making a sound.

So not even half done with my ride goal I head northwest of Graf to the rolling gravel hills that geologists say are there because the last glacier that came across the Midwest forgot to visit this area and flatten the countryside.
The short nap did refresh me.

I am heading past the farm where last weekend a sheep dog tried for quite some time to get a chunk of my calf muscle for a snack. I understand out here on these farms dogs roam. What was disturbing about this attack was the owners watched while I dismounted my bike and used it as a shield to keep from getting bit. I walked the bike for 150 yards and shouted to keep the dog away as it would retreat slightly and then charge over and over again. The owners never called out to the dog or said a word.

The next day I talked to the sheriff’s department to see if they could ask the owners to be more mindful. My taxes help pay for that road too.  They wanted me to call them after I got off work and go with them to talk to the owners. My schedule that evening would no allow and somehow I did not feel good about where this was heading.

Today I am happy to report as I rode past the dog he stood up and I asked him loudly where he thought he was going. There were no owners in sight and he did not attack at all. It must have been my charm. Maybe we can all get along.

Riding along and needing fluids I swing towards the town of Farley, buying 3 pops from a sidewalk vending machine on this warm day for only 75 cents apiece.

Took around about way to get home making sure I would get 62 miles in to chalk up another metric gravel century.  

Can't wait to do this again, what can I say....

Cheers and thanks for the visit.

Dave

a

..and then we rode.

Nick, from way over in Ames Iowa, almost 200 miles from here had been contacting me via Email about coming to my town and riding a century together on dusty roads. Nick runs the Cup O Dirt Web site where a coffee mug is given out for every 12 gravel centuries the contestants do in a given year. Plus Nick also wanted to deliver my mugs from previous rides. Now I had only met Nick once, briefly, right before a  race we were both in a couple of years ago. He had been visiting this blog and introduced himself to me while I was doing the nervous fidgeting with my bike most go through shortly before the start gun fires. Then he was gone, well ahead of me, being a veteran and finisher of many prestigious snow races. Me just an old guy that does a lot of riding drifted backwards from the front runners.

Nick arrives at my front door Sunday, early afternoon, along with his sweetheart and lady Caitlin with the goods.

Here I am accepting my awards, asking the crowd to keep the applause down to after my acceptance speech. Creepy Baby had ring side seat.

We all changed into the riding garb that any serious cyclist would only consider wearing and most the world rolls theirs eyes when a man almost 60 is in spandex and tight jersey. All I can say is try to  ride 100 miles on a hot summer day over gravel roads wearing anything else.

So we all saddle up, ride out of town together and feel so at home on our bikes. Caitlin rode with us to the first small town and bid us farewell and let us go.

Nick and I, we rode on, we talked, we laughed, we enjoyed. For the most part strangers an hour ago we are now chattering like we've been best friends for life. Such is cycling, we are all birds of a feather. Averaging around 16 mph on trail, fast enough to enjoy the workout, slow enough to be able to talk, we rode on, getting lost in the very small town of Dyersville looking for a mart for fluid replacement.

This picture shows Nick trying to pass me after resting in my draft. Well he doesn't know about my Cavendish afterburners that I had ready to kick in.

Returning home, it was a good ride and I have a bunch of neat coffee mugs. Nick and Caitlin headed to Swiss Valley Campgrounds for beers, food, and campfire, a perfect way to end a day spent in the saddle.


THANKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SIR NICK AND MS CAITLIN.

The "Cups" are in a good home. Well actually the "Cups" became a good home for some of these wayward creatures.

Cheers
Thanks for the visit.
Dave

Oh I have the day off tomorrow, my FatBike is in the dining room waiting and we are headed down dusty roads all day........tomorrow...

Pitty and the Creeps new Blog.

Pitty and Creepy Baby reporting in.

We are not giving him his blog back, we changed the Pass Word!!!! He left this morning on his FatBike to go riding in the rain. Seems he doesn't mind the rain, oddly enough, I think he likes it.

We hope he returns but we have no control over what he does. As you may recall if you read the previous post Dave was missing for some time and we found him living in the woods and we coaxed him into coming back home

We found some more pictures when he was living out in the woods, apparently he had been living on a diet of worms, deer ribs, decaptivated deer and giant fungus balls.

A man gone crazy......we'd say.
Oh oh, he's home, he was out riding all day. Now he's yelling at us, and he want's his blog back,,,,,,,,

OUCH!!!!!! Put me down!!!!

Dave here. Ok I got my Blog back. I will be reporting on what really happened out there now that those two nincompoops don't know my changed pass word. Stay tuned.

Cheers and thanks for stopping in. MrDaveyGie.

We've been wondering........

We don't know where he's been. We found his camera and it was full of riding pictures so he's been out there riding. So being Mr. Davey Gie hasn't been posting anything lately we took over his blog and posted some pictures from his camera....

POST POST NOTE.

OMG WE FOUND HIM !!!

Living in small tree that is shaped like a Tee Pee. He was disoriented and mumbling to himself. We coaxed him into coming out.

....and then we coaxed him into coming home.

We are so very grateful he is home. The mumbling and dribbling on his chin is becoming less and less everyday.
We suspect there will soon be a post about his  experiences and spiritual growth while spending this time with himself. Perhaps even some of the mysteries of the universe that he solved in his hiatus from Blogdom. We can only wait and see.




CHEERS AND THANKS FOR STOPPING BY,
YOURS TRULY
CREEPY BABY AND PITTY.