Goals

My goals and actual miles in preparation for Trans Iowa:

January: Goal - 500 Actual - 560

February: Goal - 800 Actual - 560

March: Goal - 1000 Actual - 1030

Will plug some longer miles the next two weeks then taper off the week before trans iowa.

Hope to have around 2600-2800 miles before the race, am at 2150 so far.

Chin up and zipper down.

- JB

TW

TransWisconsin 2011 from jmeiser on Vimeo.

Any takers???

Trans Wisconsin

Black and White

Some awesome photos from my fav clothing company

Trans Iowa - George Vargas V5

I'm doing some studying for the Trans Iowa...some shots of what George Vargas went through in 2009 having never ridden gravel before....very amazing.

Have 240 miles this week...nearly a 1000 for the month, legs are feeling good.

Got dragged around by Mark Shea and Justin Armstead today up to Elkhart in the wind. 65 miles done for the day....now its time to watch some movies!

Don't let it loaf

Chin up and zipper down

- JB

Commuting is Training

Riding in short sleeves....what??? Warm weather has hit, 40-50 mile commutes are the usual complete with backpack and all. Revelate frame bag is doing awesome and the bike is running flawless. Approaching 2000 miles for the year. Ride your bikes! Be on the lookout for werewolves if you are in northern illinois.

- JB

Hannibal, MO Training

Rode with the racers to Hannibal, MO. Did 70 miles with crazy steep hills. The pace was moderate to fast all day and my legs felt pretty strong for early in the season. Glad to have ridden with some great friends and racers. The best part of the ride where Mark Shea looks over at me with a tailwind and says..."I feel like I'm in heaven!.....but that wouldn't be right, cause I wouldn't be there" haha. So far this week 35 tuesday, 45 wednesday, 70 thursday, 40 friday, and another 40 or 50 today. Hope you are enjoying the warmth!

- JB

Slender Blender Gravel Bender: Bonkfest 100

Mile 60, Lowden State Park over looking the river



Secret machine



Incredible mountain bike



Ari's tights were a little....worn?



Mike's custom Titus



The group shortly before departure



Mile 30-40 rest



B.B. and Ari as the nuclear plant looms in the background



The route

Enjoyed a good weekend of riding. Got out for the "pre-bonk" ride saturday morning with the NCC crew and HAC guys and single speed Eric for the strongest winds I've ever ridden in....the tangel bag acted as a fairing for the bike and I was riding at a 30 degree angle for the whole ride. The weather was bad...but I usually expect that when I ride up there. Accomplished 33 miles of riding. Went to my buddy Matt's wedding reception that evening and woke up with a mild hangover to start bonkfest out right. Rode over to Ari's house and met the group. Ari, B.B., Mike from huntley, and Mark from Princeton. We got cue sheets, talked about the ride, filled our bottles and departed. Less than a mile from Ari's we had our first mechanical incident with a corroded cable on Mikey's Titus. Then started the 60 mile trek into the headwind towards Oregon. We stopped for a moment of silence and a shot of whiskey at 9:11 to remember those in the twin towers and for the poor souls in Japan. Mark broke his chain shortly after and fixed it like a champ...he came very well prepared. It was good riding with Mark and realized he will be riding the Trans Iowa with us and also riding the Dirty Kanza 200 with me, so we had a lot to talk about with bike setup, training, nutrition....the usual preparation stuff. We took short breaks here and there and laughed our heads silly. The sun came out and warmed our bodies and the route turned out to be flawless. The gravel went from being frozen early in the day to thawing out a bit and becoming peanut buttery and very tacky which helped put a little sting on the legs. B.B. was riding very solidly and I am very proud that he has transformed into the rider he is today. Ari figured out that Adi (Eric's aka B.B. girlfriend) feeds him leche de Chupacabra before every ride to give him strength...we almost fell off of our bikes we laughed so hard at this. The random things that just spew out of your mouth while riding bikes is just priceless. We saw interesting looking shaped bushes towards oregon...and learned the 5 "stages" that accompany bonking. We ended up in Oregon around 1 pm and headed to Lowden state park to check out the huge statue there overlooking the river. Beautiful and hilly in that area. Head to 'Merica's favorite restaurant: Dairy Queen and bought two cheeseburgers for $2.22...added fuel for the way home. The tailwind was great on the way home, saw a bald eagle over by the river and took a whiskey shot with the sense of pride we felt for our country. Mike was not feeling great and may have even bonked...or got into a jam... He was picked up by a friend and we were relieved to find that he got home safely. The term "bonk" was used in about every context possible, and well over 500 times im guessing throughout the day. The Gunnar felt dialed in perfectly with my new Thomson stem on the bike, raised the front end up a little bit and now is totally perfect, ended the day with 106 miles and the legs felt great. Had a wonderful dinner and drinks prepared by the ladies of the slender fungus. Jamie had sandwiches and soup, Jill made oatmeal raisin bars, and Adi made brownies....what a treat. Thanks to Jamie for working her butt off to help feed our hungry souls and Jill and Adi for being so great! Had a wonderful day with my Slender Fungus brothers, meeting and riding with Mark and Mike, and actually feeling somewhat warm on the bike for once... Thought of our dear friend Hellmut down in the low country and wondered if he was bonking to thoughts of us riding together... More riding this week to come with rumors of a Hannibal, MO hill torture test on thursday. Will be posting more on this later...cheers, have a great week. Thanks to everyone again who was apart of this weekend.

Eric's photos

- JB

Some updates

Bonkfest this Sunday.....come bonk off with us





The new S-Works prevail helmet....220 grams...it feels like you dont have anything on your head its so light!



Wheel Fast is very busy....and needs more room



$8000 worth of Conti tires

Have a great weekend and get some riding in ya'll! Don't let that meat loaf!

- JB

L'Eroica

EROICA VA from Edouardi Sepulchro on Vimeo.

Awesome video...I LOVE this kind of stuff

Revelate

Starting to look like a gravel grinding beast

Got my revelate tangle bag in the mail the other day. Thanks to my great girlfriend for ordering this as an early birthday present for me! Will be riding this setup during the bonkfest100 this weekend to start training with all of the gear. Hope to see you there.

- JB

Thursday Riding 120

Wheel Fast adopt a homeless rider plan for 2011



Jumpin Jimmys

Headed out of the house at 7 am to meet up with the haltermaniac and gravemaker at the shop at 8 am. We headed south through auburn down to virden and further south to farmersville. Strong SE winds kept the pace at about 16 mph which was great as I was on the cross bike. We cruised back to Pawnee on black diamond road and laughed at stupid stuff as usual. John dipped out at 50 miles and the gravemaker and I went on to do 70 before stopping at the shop to refuel. I then completed 40 more miles solo, with the 10 from riding to the shop in the morning left me with a grand total of 120 miles for the day. The legs felt very fresh...and I could've kept riding if I had more food and water. If I felt as good as I did yesterday for Trans Iowa it should not be a problem to complete the race. Also, planning on a hard ride for the bonkfest100 and my fitness should be up to par for the gravel grinder. Successful week of riding with 235 miles in 4 days...35 monday, 40 tues and wed, 120 thursday...hopefully more to come before the end of the week. Get on your bike and go!

- JB

February

February goal: 800 miles



Actual February miles: 560



Brutal temperatures, blizzards, snow and ice prevented me from getting out on the bike as much as I would have liked. I hope March is better for temperature and overall riding.

Miles so far this year: 1120

Don't let that meat loaf

- JB

Randomness

Slender Fungus Bonkfest 100....Sycamore, IL...come ride with us







Apparently I'm getting good at this







Oh ya know...just a $5000 frame...







Commuting in progress



Few people realize that I belong to a secretive cycling society called the Slender Fungus Cycling Association. Headed up by Ari, the members are few and far between, riding is far from traditional, and antics are exceptional. We will be doing a gravel grinder from DeKalb/Sycamore on Sunday March, 13th...if anyone wants to join let me know. Been taking the long way home from work and consistently getting 40 mile round trip commutes. February was brutal to ride in but the I was still able to get some miles in. Cheers.



- JB