Windy Weekend

Why temporary??

Went riding with Ari and Tobias on Friday morning. With the 30-40 mph wind gusts, my guess is that the temperature was below zero. Ari and I made 20 miles for the morning and hit some ideal gravel on the way home with a tailwind. Due to the cold temperatures my camera did not work so no pics from that. Sunday got up with intent to do a long ride. Started the ride with the Mack and Wheel Fast team members. Was riding the 26 lb monster casseroll. This might have been its last ride seeing as the new gunnar is coming and I am swapping parts for the Trans Iowa bike, so I had to take the salsa on a final long goodbye ride (it will be built up again next year as a touring bike). All the while riding I was singing...last dance with mary jane for the casserolls last long ride of this year. Also, bone thugs'n harmony kept repeating in my head and kept my legs moving. Rode to Virden area with the racers and as they turned I kept going south. The wind was 15-25 mph gusts out of the south, so having the racers to draft off of was nice but now I was on my own. I finished 17 more miles in the headwind to Raymond. This was 47 miles into a headwind for the day. I got some beef jerky, paydays, and gatorade at the gas station to refuel. Apparently the payday candy bar is the new nutrition for the slender fungus so I had to try it out. Rode back with an amazing tailwind and enjoyed the quiet and peaceful countryside. Saw a very cool cemetery dated to 1830 and also saw many country signs that were graffiti-ed, and a few hunters. Rarely passed by cars on the way home it was a nice ride. I finished the day in Washington park and did 5, 2-mile loops to add 10 miles to the ride. Overall, 100 miles for the day, legs felt great...heavy bike was awesome. Look forward to doing it again next weekend. Hope you enjoyed the 45 degree hot spell and got some riding in!

- JB

Food For Thought

So I was thinking the other day... yes, occaisionally that does happen and some normal, non-sexual, most likely bike related thought passes through my head. Talking with a friend about riding, she said "you ride so much, you don't really think of it as exercise anymore do you?". I was thinking about this question yesterday as I was spinning home in the 30 degree cold after a day of work. Many people ride bikes to lose weight and stay in shape. For the serious cyclist there is a point of transition, where no longer is there anything involved with losing weight or staying in shape, more of just enjoying riding and loving it and if you happen to reap the benefits of cycling its an added bonus. Personally, I was thinking if I ever started riding a bike to stay in shape....nope. I have always ridden a bike for the pure joy of being on two wheels and loving every minute of it, as a side product, I've always been in shape. For me there is nothing better than cruising 15 mph laughing your ass off cracking jokes with friends, training for a hard race, going over 40 mph on a bicycle, building a bike from the frame up, building a wheel...the list goes on. I have an addicition. Its a serious problem, but a good problem, and one that I never plan on losing. A lot of my posts end with...GO RIDE YOUR BIKE, so whether you cycle to lose weight, commute to work, race, whatever it may be...in the words of LL Cool J, keep doin it, and doin it, and doin it well...yea I went there. Have a great Thanksgiving!

- JB

Riding

A quick update for the week. Feel like I have a pinched nerve or slipped disc or something in my back and been stretching the IT band on the right side. Did some light riding on wednesday with 20 miles, 25 mile commute thursday and friday, Rode to work on Saturday and did 40 miles in the dark with the lights after work for a total of 50, did a fast metric with the racers on Sunday. I vowed that this would be my last "fast" ride of the year in order to start slowing my roll for the trans iowa training. We made it count as we hit top speeds of 41 mph on the flats. Winds on Sunday were 25 mph and made riding miserable. Hope to squeeze a few miles in this week before the holiday festivities begin.

- JB

Some stuff ya know.....

Just some stuff in my workbench at the shop....getting ready for the swap of the casseroll to the gunnar...as soon as it is ready that is! Long ride tomorrow in the wind, should be good.

- JB

Horrors

Stevens Fail



Death and Rebirth



Shark finnery



Are these pulleys??

Just another day in the shop...

Everyone Should Watch This

Trans Iowa

What have I gotten myself into. Read Guitar Ted's post for a little piece of the pie. Trans Iowa is a 300+ mile race on the gravel b-roads of Iowa. This race is very hilly. This race is very long. There are 100 people starting this year and only a handful will finish. Conditions are unpredictable come mid april so you never know if its going to be a mud pit or just wet gravel. I am riding with two veterans who have ridden this race going on 4 times now...Ari (his background is a hill much like T.I. will have) and Dr. Giggles from upstate NYC. Also, a friend of theirs Pizza Dan from Chicago has made the roster, as well as my buddy Russcle (hellmut) who is doing this race for the second time and resides in the old country of DeKalb. My good friend Richard has also signed on for support and driving our sorry asses to the race and back home, and helping with ideas on bike setup, motivation, alcohol, good music, etc. So, 5 of us will spend the winter months training our frozen asses and cocksickles off and talking about bike setup, tires, gear ratios....etc. I will be recieving my Gunnar Crosshairs soon and start training madly on hills and as much gravel as I can find in central Illinois. I plan on doing back to back century rides, riding off hours of the night aka starting my ride at 2 am or 3 am to get a feel for being on the bike in the dark (trans iowa finishers usually spend 30 hours in the saddle), doing a long 200 mile ride from here to DeKalb, and other crazy shit like that. Speaking with Ari last night...this is a goal of his, and a goal of mine. A new challenge to put all of my mind and effort into...this is my new dream, to finish the trans iowa. Also, a side note....I will be turning 26 years old immediately after this ride, it takes place on my birthday weekend. Can anyone else think of a better birthday present?? Many more posts to come on bike setup, the new bike, training rides, random thoughts....yada, yada. Keep reading, and more importantly...KEEP RIDING!

- JB