Hot and Windy


Did I mention windy. Because that pretty much discribes my ride yesterday. On occasion I ride to my in-laws house for special occasions. The ride is a long 160 miles. I think my best time is a little over 8 hours? Well my fitness this spring has been really good and I thought so what if the wind is blowing 20mph out of the southeast (which is the direction I have to ride to). Well after 55miles I started thinking this ride could take over 9 hours. By the time I got to the half way it was more like a ten hour day. At that point I called Kathleen my better half and said I'm gonna need a ride but not right away because I figured I could get at least a hundred miles. I got a slight reprieve from the 20mph headwind. It was a 10mph crosswind. When I reached the century mark I called again and said I think I can make it to Washington. That is around a 130 miles. I caught a draft off of a pick-up truck towing ammonia. It was going about 30mph and I needed a break from the constant wind. It only lasted for 3-4 miles but that was the best part of the ride. When I reached the 125 mark I was exhausted and just pulled over until Kathleen found me. I was bummed that I couldn't go any farther but the body said enough. Kathleen did buy me a strawberry malt which was very tasty.

Today was a different story. I was fairly recovered from yesterdays ride. Did get a little red on my arms. Wind burn? The wind was still blowing out of the east so most of the ride was tail wind. I still had to go up all of the hills. Not quite as far either. I drove most of the way home and got out of the van around Grinnell.

Tomorrow I'm going fishing with my daughter and getting a massage. Hopefully I will be recovered for the TNWC. No Wes this time but the ride will still be fast.

The Return of Wes Hartman to TNWC


It was just a couple of summers ago I was giving Wes a hard time because he said "I want to be a pro cyclist." The reason I was giving him the hard time was he always got dropped on the Tuesday ride.
Well things have changed. Wes not only became a pro cyclist he showed up to the Tuesday ride and dropped all of us several times. When he wasn't dropping us he was riding fast enough that nobody would pull through. I think he'll have a great ride in the Tour of Georgia.

Day Light Saving and The Tuesday Night World Championship

I love DLS. That extra hour of light is the best thing since sliced bread. And of course that means we start the weekly TNWC. I can remeber 10 years ago having to goto Ames to get a hard ride in on a Tuesday. But in the last 5-6 years the DM ride has become harder than many races. As race entries keep getting higher I guess I can always just race the TNWC. Its still a free ride that always leaves at 5:30.

Yesterday must have been a day off for parenting. I had two near collisions with kids running out from between parked cars and into the road at Water Works. What are these parents thinking? Any road a car can drive on is dangerous to children. Then on the way home I get hit by a football being passed into the street. Where is the common sense today. Why would you play catch on a busy street. The High School was a block away with a huge open field. Lazyness and stupidity of the youth.

Things You Find In The Road.

I was out riding with the DCorn on Saturday. He was checking out a used car for his daughter. On the way back in to town we found a cell phone lying on the shoulder of the road. I turned around to see if it was in working order and sure enough it was. This is the third phone I have found while riding my bike.

I called the first person on the list, Chris. Chris turned out to be Bill's daughter in-law. Bill turned out to be the owner of the phone. Of course this really led to some confusion for Chris since she lives in a small town 50 miles away and so does Bill.
How the phone got there and where was Bill? I will never know but another daughter in-law came by and picked up the phone.

Started the racing season on Sunday. Not the best course for me, with all of the up and down hills and twisting roads. Oh well, there is always next week.

Not even rain , nor sleet or cold weather .......


Whatever that old postman saying was that was todays ride. The weather channel and the weather chic said no rain until this afternoon. Boy were they wrong!

We, as in Kurt, Ryan and myself started out at 10 this morning. The weather had already started to show signs that it could get ugly. By the time we rode 5 miles it was raining with some sleet. Ryan decided to pack it in and go back home.

ACorn meets up with us 15 min later and DCorn shows up about a half hour after that. We headed East and South into the meaty part of the storm. It doesn't take long to see I'm having a bad day with no legs and my enthusiasm is really low. By the time I got home my hands were so cold that I had to try three times to get my gloves off. The helmet buckle and the zippers on the booties were even harder to get off.

The good news for today was that after a warm bath I could sit on the couch and watch the Iowa Hawkeyes beat OSU.

Crazy Weather in Iowa

Sunday I'm freezing and today I'm riding in shorts. I still had to wear two jerseys, arm warmers and before the ride was over I ended up puting on gloves and a jacket. I'm not complaining because I got to wear shorts for the second time this year. Our team is sponsored by Greyhound Juice. They make a warming oil to put on your legs to keep you warm. I don't notice it too much during the ride but when I get home that stuff just lights up a fire on my legs. It gets even hotter when you try to wash it off. Like some E.T. trying to fight back because your trying to kill it as it is trying to kill you.

Ice Cream headache without the Ice Cream

This weekend was cold. 20 degrees cold with a northwest wind blowing around 15 - 20 mph. Both days I talked Ryan into riding with me. I seemed to stay warm as long as we stayed out of direct wind but when the wind blew across the lake or open fields I got an ice cream headache. The strange part of the ride is when we come apon someone riding a hybrid bike for recreation. I'm outside because I have to be to put in the miles but if I was just wanting exersise I wouldn't even consider going out when it was below freezing. Oh well hopefully we have seen the last of the cold weather and the annoyance of freezing waterbottles that come with it.