Cyclocrossing

With the break in the weather we had yesterday, there was no doubt that a bike ride was going to be in order. It has been crappy and raining and I haven't been as motivated as some to get out and ride in it. So it had been a few days since I had last ridden. I was contemplating where to ride when one of the Brians text messaged me. He was also looking to get out and ride as well. We hatched a plan to meet at The Shop and ride from there. After a brief turn around to grab the forgotten gloves and some heckling by the other Brian, we were off.

We rolled out to Raccoon River Park and looped around the lake. I had never ridden on the gravel path around the lake. I really liked the crushed rock that the path is covered in. It was very comfortable and pretty fast. Next we headed north on Grand and ran into road construction. We decided to "adventure" through the housing development and see if it would lead us to the west side of town. But the road just turned us around and led us back to Grand. We ended up looping around the lake again trying to decide where to go. We decided to head over and check out Denmans.

We cruised over there and rolled dirty express to squirrels nest. Denmans was wet in spots but not as bad as I thought it would be. Some standing water where you would expect it, but water wasn't everywhere. We crossed the railroad tracks to have a look at squirrels nest and rhythm. We didn't get much past the turn off for squirrels nest the trail turned to mud. It didn't look like a long section of mud so I went for it. It wasn't long before I realized what a bad idea that was. I turned around and about that time my bike was completely covered in mud. We had to stop at the tracks for a safety break and so I could clean my bike enough to make it ridable.

With my bike full of mud and the sun setting we decided to head for the cars. It was really an nice night for a ride. The temperature was comfortable and it wasn't too windy. And it was dry. We even made it over to Gif's for post ride tacos. Hopefully the rain will hold off(or at least we won't get another 5 inches) and the trails will dry out some. It will be an awfully muddy work day otherwise.

Night Rider

It's officially time for another update. I haven't been blogging much lately and I'm not sure why. I'll blame it on being too busy, but it might just be that I'm too lazy. At least I'm not loquacious(means wordy). It was a busy and rainy Saturday this past weekend. I was running errands and working around the house and getting things accomplished. One thing I didn't get done was a bike ride. When things finally settled down around 9:45pm I decided that it was time. I had charged my headlight during the day in anticipation of not being able to get out until after dark. I geared up and hit the road a little after ten. I rode over to the Great Western Trail and followed it into town. I grabbed the camera on my way out to see if I could get any decent night shots. First picture stop was at the Grays Lake bridge. It turns out I'm not very good at working the camera at night. I took some pictures anyways and continued on. It happened to be opening night for the Iowa Cubs. I rolled up to the stadium about eleven. It was empty but the lights were on and the grounds crew was busy. I snapped a few pics and thought it was about time to head for home. As I was rolling around the stadium I decided to head over and try to get a good shot of the converted railroad bridge. I got a few pics there too then it was off toward home. As I was heading home I noticed lightening off to the west. I was really hoping to not get soaked. The rain stayed away and I ended the ride with just over 25 miles. I had forgotten how nice riding at night can be. Some of the pictures turned out ok. The little 3 inch screen on the camera doesn't really do a picture justice like my 19" monitor. Here are a few of my favorites.






Here is a link the complete Gallery

Time really flies....

Has it really been 3 weeks since I updated my blog? Really? Wow. Time can really fly sometimes. I suppose I have lots to talk about, but I don't know if I really feel like typing that much. We'll see how far I get.

It is Wednesday and should be time for a gauntlet update. But the thing is, I'm pretty sure the gauntlet challenge is over. Brian and I never discussed an official end date. But I think it was only slated to go through the Womble trip. My ending (and still current) weight was 219, for a total loss of 12.5 pounds. I think thats pretty good for a spring warm up. I'd still like to get down to 210, so I will have to come up with a challenge to keep myself going. It will be much harder now though for reasons I can't yet explain.

The Womble Trip was a huge success. It was the hardest and most fun trail I've ever been on. We rode Saturday, Sunday and Monday an average of 24 miles each day and somewhere between 3,000-4,000 feet of climbing each day. That's a ton of climbing coming from the flat terrain of central Iowa. I can't say enough about the group of riders I went with. I was the new guy to the group and not quite sure what to expect. But everyone got along great and no one complained when the trailed started going up. We also got along quite well after the days riding when we popped a beer or two and told lies around the camp fire. I'll definitely be trying to hook up with these guys again for another mtb trip. For a more detailed account of what went on down in Arkansas see Brians Blog. See pictures of the trip here.

That's all for now.