wow.

click here. stole this cause it deserves to be shared. see if you can watch this and not cry.

NEW YEAR'S DAY RIDE!

don't forget, 10a.m. new year's day leaving from decorah bicycles. 15 miles of no-matter-what-the-weather-gravels out to bluffton with plenty of hair of the dog on the way. hang out in bluffton til we forget how to get back, then see how long a 15 mile gravel derby takes on the return trip. actual details may vary but that's about how it went last year.

triple d training

loaded the jabber and headed down to iowa city on sunday and met up with adam blake and aaron robnett for some gravel goodness that ended up more closely resembling triple d than i would have expected. after some chastising along the route i've decided to provide adam with this half-assed attempt at a post-ride recap. the temps were somewhere in the low to mid 20's and very mild, wind was noticeable but not devastating by any means. we started in the midst of a gorgeous snowfall that was making driving somewhat tricky but simply added to the aesthectics of a mid-december gravel ride. in order to keep this some what concise, here is a list of the things i learned on this ride:
-otter creek is the only gravel road around iowa city that is not 100% straight
-b roads, when rideable, can be tricky
-sometimes i sound like i'm dying when i crash
-adam can ride a bike sideways
-aaron can ride a bike while hopping on one foot
-sometimes its better to ride in the neighboring cornfield rather than the impassable b road you're walking
-ice-filled beards will always look funny
-walking miles of knee deep snow while pushing a bike isn't for everyone so choose your company wisely
-BACON!!!!!! bacon is my new favorite endurance ride food. pre-cooked and edible straight from the package. doesn't get all frozen and hard to eat cause there's just too much glorious fat.
-fenders...when riding through iowa city in the snow a fender is a good idea
-total ride was around 50 miles and about 5 hours. think we hiked probably 2-3 miles of the maybe 5 or 6 b roads that we ventured on to. snowed at the start, turned to sleet, ice under the snow was fun.
-between the walking, ice, snow, bonks, pizza and beer this definitely qualified as triple d training. thanks to adam and aaron for an awesome day.
-no pictures cause i suck and forgot my camera

one of those days

actually its more like that time of year. yesterday on the fisty around zero degrees and today on the jabber with a windchill around -10. i'm gonna be looking like this a lot for the next few months.

arrowhead 2011?

after much harassing by the likes of mr. charlie farrow regarding arrowhead and spending way too much time around people that own pugsley's, i finally broke down and ordered one. rig will be ebayed after donating a few parts to the new bike and will leave me with a suspension fork and backup wheelset for the jabber, which is the only reason i got the rig in the first place so seems to make sense. should have the frame any day then figuring out how to come up with the cash for wheels. so, winter training will have a new element, triple d sounds like fun again (for now) and i might start making plans to take a stab at the arrowhead 135 in 2011. my goal is to learn how to pack a little lighter than dennis before my first shot at arrowhead.

dennis at the arrowhead in 2009

beefy