BB's 29 Cent Lemonade Stand

The School for Lovers...

2012-02-07T06:56:00.000-08:00

Today is the 48th day of Winter and this week is floating along around 30 degrees which is more in the "norm" for this time of year here in Iowa. The snow we received on Saturday has melted off of the streets and sidewalks, but a few inches on the ground at least finally gives us the appearance that it is winter.

Riding has moved inside as of this weekend with rides on the C7i while watching television.

OPERA

I am swamped with directing Mozart's Cosi fan tutte (or the subtitle of The School for Lovers) at Simpson College. I get home about 11, fall in bed and get up and repeat it all the next day. 10 more days of that and then the performances begin on the same exact dates and weekend as Cosi was performed 6 years ago at Simpson.

That production was a modern setting of Cosi and performed in the basement little theater of Pote on the Simpson Campus. This production is set in Naples, Italy in a hotel in the time frame of mid-20th Century. We will be performing this in Lekberg Hall in the music building at Simpson. Rather than "fight the space", we have decided to embrace the architecture of Lekberg Hall and center the production around utilizing what Lekberg is, rather than what Lekberg is not. Our set designer studied the space and came up with an abstract design that blends with and utilizes the Lekberg Hall space as it is.

This is really the continuation of a break through for Simpson Opera performing in Lekberg that we first started with The Magic Flute last year when the designer and I decided not to fight the smallness of the space, but simplify things and embrace it. The problem before that in the few productions that we did in Lekberg (Falstaff, Prima Donna, Il Campanello) was the set overwhelmed the stage and playing space and looked as well as felt crammed in there in an attempt to turn it into the same as a larger performing space such as Pote.

I spent a lot of time discussing things with the designer and we agreed on the symmetrical aspects of Cosi - dramatically and musically. Sometimes that symmetry is lost in a production of Cosi, but here we point it out in color, staging, and design. I have been striving to use the space with the dramatic staging and playing of the opera to utilize the space in the best harmonious manner so that we are not ignoring our surroundings at all, but embracing them and including the audience in the experience.

We have opened up some traditional cuts, and altered others in our hopes of telling the story as clearly as we can. The translation is a British version and although filled with sayings and vocabulary that may not resonate with American audiences (words like "barmy") as some other translations, I have paid attention to utilizing it at every turn.

Tonight, we enter into the final polishing rehearsals of the dramatic and musical flow as we start running the two Acts each night while working our way to the weekend's technical rehearsals and addition of costumes. It promises to be a very charming chamber performance of the work. We will be using a woodwind quintet, a string bass, and piano for the chamber orchestra. The chorus acts as both hotel staff and hotel guests and play the pivotal role of changing the scenery as we move from location to location within the hotel.

Did you see your shadow?

2012-02-02T06:33:00.000-08:00

It's official. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and signaled that we have 6 more weeks of winter.

Talk about a rotund critter!

Hell, I'd see my shadow at that weight as well and want to crawl back in my hole to hibernate while sleeping off that kind of a serious food coma he's still mired in...

65 degrees on Tuesday, 58 degrees Wednesday, 57 degrees today...

Sure, I could handle 6 more weeks of that. ;-]

However, it won't be that way. We'll see snow this weekend and temperatures down in the 30's which is more February like before next week warms up a bit.

Last chance for a nice sunny ride this morning outside before the winter weather returns and pushes me back in the basement on the trainer. One more cup of coffee and off I go before heading to work.

60 Degrees sets a record for today!

2012-02-01T16:50:00.001-08:00

I took advantage of the weather and did a 2 hour ride before work today. Hard to imagine that February 1st had the thermometer hit 60 degrees today, but it did.

I took the dogs for their morning walk, then headed to Carlisle and back on the Summerset Trail for a nice base building ride. I'm making up for last week's dismal training and have managed 5 hours, 20 minutes so far this week on the bike. All but 25 minutes of it outside.

Tomorrow's Groundhog Day looks to be equally nice weather-wise before some winter snow passes through this SuperBowl weekend. I'll see if I can get a pair of hours in before work - or at least an hour.

Enjoy the weather!

Spring? Again?

2012-01-30T21:34:00.000-08:00

65 today with full sunshine and all I could manage was 20 minutes of recovery riding due to my work schedule. However, that was fine considering the pounding I dished out for myself on yesterday's 2 1/2 hour training ride. Seems like my body needed a recovery day today, so I rewarded it with one.

In spite of that - what a gorgeous final two days of January we have lined up!!! 65 today and tomorrow looks to be 55+. Not bad for the 39th and 40th day of Winter.

I am hoping to sneak in a little bike time tomorrow morning before work to enjoy the weather and fire up the metabolism.

Enjoy the great weather everyone.

Winter continues - NOT!!!!

2012-01-28T16:11:00.000-08:00

46 yesterday, 42 today. 58 on Monday, 48 - 54 forecast for most of the rest of the coming week. Ho-hum, such is the "winter" of 2012. Today is the 38th day of the winter season and I didn't even wear a jacket to rehearsal and set construction this fine Saturday. Unfortunately, due to being the stage director for Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at Simpson College, I am working 8 am to 11 pm every day and night which means I am not able to enjoy the outside very much - except for the dog walks.

Look at this Ho-Hum Winter week of weather...

Tomorrow I am going for a 2+ hour bike ride to make up for it. I only managed about 2 1/2 hours of training this entire past week - which is not good at all for me, but work supersedes training at the moment. I usually try to shoot for 3-4 hours on the bike as an "off week" during winter, but this week was pathetic. The coming week will pretty much be the same as all of my free time is spent preparing for each rehearsal. Act I down, Act II to go. After this coming week, I should be able to up my miles to the 6-8 hour + range to continue my base building. The good news is the work schedule and stress of directing an opera leaves me little time to eat, so I am dropping weight faster than I expected.

Other things....

Final revision of our Team Kits for BikeIowa.com 2012 look like this:

I have yet to see any drawing or rendering of the bibs, but I'm still stoked with the new design. It's very unique for a bike kit.

On tap for tonight - it's off to the Show Choir Dinner Show called "Cabaret". Rehearsal and set building all day tomorrow. No weekend for me until the last weekend in February...

On the good news front...

A former student of mine won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Audition in the San Antonio district and advanced to the Southwest Regionals where she took 2nd Place!!! She is in the semi-finals for the Houston Grand Opera Studio this weekend. Congrats to Sarah Larsen from Roseville, MN for this. Two of my high school voice students won 1st place male and 1st place female sololist at the Johnston Show Choir solo competition last weekend. Congrats to Zachary Jones and Kaitlin Moews for that. All 3 are very talented and it has been a pleasure to teach all of them.

2012 Team Kits & Winter seems to have arrived...

2012-01-18T03:47:00.000-08:00

BikeIowa.com's fearless leaders - Rob Versteegh and Scott Sumpter - have been working very hard on the design of our new cycling team kits for 2012. VERGE was the company we used for our 1st generation of BikeIowa.com kits. Rob and Scott's search this time around for the 2nd generation has led to PRIMAL emerging as the company willing to go the extra mile. They also came in with a very competitive pricing plan which we all approved.

The process has involved a lot of inspiration, back and forth emailing and telephoning with the company for Rob and Scott. Maybe there was a dose of perseverance from everyone as well to iron out a very unique design. Scott had the rather intriguing idea of using a Sharpie design and found some inspiration from this photo of a Ducati decked out with Sharpie art work...

Pretty cool - and it stoked everyone's excitement.

PRIMAL sent a fitting kit to the BikeIowa.com team in early January. We had a gathering at the Royal Mile in downtown Des Moines 2 weeks ago to try all of the bibs, jerseys, skin suits, etc... on to nail down exactly what sizes we wanted. I decided to go with 2 bibs, 2 jerseys, and 1 jacket - the same as I have with the old BikeIowa kit.

Rob sent us the rough draft sketch of the Sharpie design from PRIMAL - and we are all pretty fired up about it...

Hats off to Rob, Scott and the PRIMAL crew on bringing this unique kit design to life for us. I think the expected time of arrival to receive the finished bibs, jerseys, jackets, etc... is early April in time for racing season.

Now if I could only find a helmet with a Sharpie design on it...

Winter rolled in yesterday and dropped about an inch of snow in the early morning hours along with providing some howling winds to make us feel right at home for the season. I actually had to shovel a few spots, but most of the white stuff had blown off the driveway and sidewalks by 9 am. We hit the coldest mark on the thermometer for the season early this morning - on this 28th day of winter - with the mercury dropping down to 2 degrees...

Ma Nature just might have plans up her sleeve for the continuation of confusing us. It seems temperatures for the weekend will raise the mercury back up into the 40's.

I will be taking Tara to the Des Moines International Airport at noon. She is flying home to San Francisco to help with some urgent family matters. And today is Tara's Birthday!! I had reservations and a plan for this evening, but the urgency of her trip trumps the celebration. We will celebrate when she comes back from California. Oh well, at least she gets to leave winter for a few days and will return when it is back in the 40's on Sunday. Good, maybe I can turn up the thermostat in the house while she is gone... ;-]

Can a weekend be any more productive?

2012-01-16T03:55:00.000-08:00

Wow, that was a productive weekend. I got a lot done, but I feel bushed and in need of some down time. No chance, back to work today.

Friday morning started with a nice hour long, easy bike ride out at Banner Pits before work. There was a light dusting of snow from Thursday and Friday morning as well. I was able to hit Riverside 2 times, as well as Nude Beach and Corner Pocket before loading up and heading back to work. Temps were 13 degrees before factoring in the windchill. My new Spyder ski gloves were very warm and toasty...

I got to lay some fresh tracks thanks to the Thursday and Friday dusting...

There wasn't that much snow and the 45-49mph winds on Thursday had pretty much blown it all around...

I was cautious on the trail as the frozen dirt with the fresh dusting on top kept me from going full bore. Still, everything seemed good to go for riding which meant Sunday's planned group ride would happen.

Saturday was a full day of building set pieces in the Simpson theater scene shop under the supervision of Rick Goetz. We started at 9 and finished at 4:30. On tap for the day was to cut and assemble 12 modules that were 27" x 17" x 12" and one bar that was 40" x 40" x 12" with a shelf. We needed framing inside which we decided to rip 2 x 4's to use as framing. Off to the lumberyard to get the 8 sheets of plywood and 2 x 4's, along with glue, screws and paint. A big thanks to Alicia, Lucas, Kenzie, Marina, Jake, Tyler, and Trevor who worked really hard all day and allowed us to accomplish round #1 of work call for the Cosi fan tutte set.

I took our set designer who had flown in for the weekend from Seattle to Centro for dinner on Saturday night where we talked Greek mythology, the Age of Enlightenment, Strauss, Berlioz and all matters art. It was a fun evening with good conversation and excellent food.

Sunday began with our first official Banner Pits gathering entitled a "Pancake Ride". Temperatures were below freezing and we met at 9 am for 2 laps to catch the singletrack before it thawed. 8 of us cycling NUTZ gathered in our winter/spring gear and hit the trails. Lap one was nice and frozen and fast. I went down hard on the pavement after Nude Beach when I hit black ice as I turned into the next section of singletrack. Luckily, I didn't bounce - but just slid along the ice on the pavement. Things started to thaw out during lap two and I finally got 'mad' in lap two and pushed my body out of winter hiatus to start attacking the trail like a race. What a difference! I finally started to ride better than an out of shape old man. Things were sloppy enough in lap two that our bikes picked up a lot of sand and dirt. We all felt/heard grinding from our drivetrains.

We packed up our bikes, formed a wind shield with our cars while Squirrel (Brian Pottorff) started the open pit fire to keep us warm and give us that camp smell of wood smoke. The rest of us set up the food portion of the camp to do our cooking. Here we are cooking bacon (that's me flipping the bacon), sausage, pancakes and enjoying the temperatures that quickly shot up to 50 degrees...

What's a pancake breakfast without a keg? Hats off to Squirrel from rolling that bad boy out of the trunk. I joked we should do this once a year during the winter and everyone chimed in "how about every Sunday!!!". Well, it looks like this coming weekend we will see Saturday hit the mid 40's and Sunday is going to be 50+ degrees as well, so maybe....

After the nice ride and pancake breakfast was over, I headed back to Simpson where I met Kenzie, Marina and our set designer Byron at Pote Theater to sand the set pieces we had built on Saturday and haul them over to Lekberg to store them for the opera. That took about an hour to sand them all and haul them across campus.

Finally it was time to shower and catch a bit of football. I wrapped up the day with homemade spaghetti sauce (everything from our garden), meatballs and an evening meeting with the set designer and costume designer to make sure we were all in agreement and headed down the right path with the costumes, lights, etc... . That ended at 9:30 and after I cleaned up the kitchen - I was out by 10:20 for a much needed night of sleep.

All in all, a very productive weekend.

I can't do my planned singletrack ride this morning as it's in the 30's already at 8 am. Good day for some recovery, maybe a spin after work.

Happy Friday the 13th!!!

2012-01-13T05:19:00.000-08:00

My daughter usually loves the number 13, however she has had a string of bad luck on previous Friday the 13th's. One year she dislocated her knee and had to be rushed to the hospital. Another, she woke up with a bad fever and ended up having to have her appendix taken out later that day on a Friday the 13th. Last year, we only had one Friday the 13th. This year there will be three and they are all 13 weeks apart. Coolio! Here's to a less eventful Friday the 13th for her (and all of us) today.

Yesterday was close to providing Friday the 13th excitement. The phone rang at 7 am and it was a call from my son. My son's college roommate had been throwing up all night and my son wanted to know what to do. We told him to take his roommate to the new ER here in town. His roommate had to be taken to Des Moines by ambulance shortly after checking in and the bottom line is, he passed 2 kidney stones later in the day. Heck of a 24 hours for my son's roommate to say the least.

Winter?

I walked to lunch at Subway on Wednesday about 12:15 (it's 3 blocks away from the music building at Simpson). The sun was shining, I was wearing a sweater and no jacket as it was probably in the upper 40's. I had my sub and when I went outside to walk back to school, it was gray and the wind was a gale force (turns out the wind speed was 48mph) and the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees. That was a quick walk back to the music building - let me tell you!!! So, on the 21st day of winter, it (winter that is) finally rolled in and we got a whisp of snow in the evening (maybe 1/8th of an inch if you gathered some of it together in a corner). Thursday was another day of howling winds blowing in the 44-49mph range. I had to drive up to Ames to judge their concerto/aria voice contestants and it was hard to hold the red box Element in the lane on I-35. They had a bit more snow up in Ames - maybe 1/2" in spots, but the wind had blown it all away.

We'll be back up in the upper 30's tomorrow and in the mid 40's on Sunday, so winter is trying to bounce in here on us as we hit mid January. Today is the 23rd day of winter. 66 more days of it to go. Can't complain about the first 1/4 of winter, that's for sure. Now I get to use my cold weather gear that I bought. I tried the new ski gloves yesterday on the dog walks and wore my skiing jumpsuit along with the new face balaclava and Shimano winter shoes. I was warm and toasty in spite of the nearly 50 mph winds. The dogs seem to love the cold and are begging to go for walks as of late.

I'll be heading to a voice recital tonight by my colleague at Simpson, and building part of the Cosi fan tutte opera set tomorrow from 9-5 with the set designer and a select group of students. Sunday morning is the 1st attempt at a pancake breakfast ride at Banner Pits. The plan is to ride a couple of laps at 9 am while the ground is still frozen, and then we'll follow up with a tailgate party that will include gas stoves, some cast iron skillets, various batters, and we'll make pancakes for a post ride winter feast. Should be fun - maybe it will even become a new winter gathering tradition. A little more dusting of snow is expected Saturday morning before temps warm up into the mid 30's and sunshine in the afternoon. That should melt any dusting that does take place before the ground freezes up again during the night as temps drop to 21 on Saturday night.

Ah....it's Friday the 13th and exactly 13 degrees outside. I'm taking the dogs for the morning ride/walk. Wish me luck... ;-}

King Freeze meet Queen Thaw!!!

2012-01-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

I headed out to Banner Pits this morning about 8:30 for some more punishment and to take advantage of the frozen trails. King Freeze hit last night with temperatures dropping into the 20's to freeze the singletrack which makes for conditions worth riding.

Things were frosty when I arrived...

I buzzed along on the JET during lap one feeling pretty good. By the time I reached the newest section called Corner Pocket, certain corners were suddenly feeling the effect of good ole Queen Thaw as she tickled the trail with direct sunlight. That meant it was time to pull the plug on my ride at the end of lap 1. I rolled over to the car and took a picture of how much soft dirt/mud had collected on my tires in the last few minutes of my loop...

Still wanting to ride, I hit the paved trail and rode to Carlisle and back before heading home after banking 2 hours of bike time.

CITA and those of us riding Sunday morning were talking about the freeze/thaw and what kind of ruts we are starting to see out on the trail. Here's an example of some footprints where somebody walked in the afternoon, and then it froze overnight. This was right next to where I parked the car...

There are signs at the entrance to Riverside (on both sides) with the rules about using the trail...

Here's a close up of the sign where you can see Rule #1...

1. Stay Off Trail When Wet. If your feet or tires are leaving a mark, do not use the trail. Using the trails while they are muddy will damage the trail and surrounding environment.

In the spring and summer after big rains, it's really impossible to ride around central Iowa as the clay mud builds up so fast and furious on the side of your tires that the wheels won't even rotate a few feet or yards into the trail system. It's a no brainer to stop and get out in those conditions. However, the confusion for many during this warm December/January time frame has been the kind of mud that you actually can ride through without too much build up on the side of the tires and the frame, yet the tires and feet are leaving big ruts and footprints in the trail. Not every day, but obviously on some days in the past couple of weeks. I know I got caught out on Riverside one day last week where I hit a stretch that was too muddy to ride. So I picked up my bike and walked through the weeds and timber to get out of there. It was simply not a day to ride the trails, and I took to the pavement instead. Regardless of the season or type of mud, Rule #1 still applies. Mud is mud. Wet is wet. I think things will be much better very soon as some deep freezes are due to hit in a couple of days.

I am not too worried that the current damage is going to be permanent (most of it in Riverside). Once things get tacky yet are still rideable, a few passes will smooth things out in the few rough spots that have developed - especially if some of the fat tire boys get out there on their balloons. There are some pretty deep ruts that have been created in the past couple of days in some spots that are now bordering on trail repair being needed to address those few areas.

Matt mentioned that we should put some extra signs about 100 feet of so into each trail entrance that simply has Rule #1 on it or something that states "If it is muddy, turn back and stay off the trail!" I think that would be beneficial and is needed as the signage I showed above for Riverside entrance is a lot to read and most just cruise past the sign going full tilt without reading. But a specific "keep off if muddy" sign that one encounters after being on the trail for a bit might get a better response - or one would hope. It would take time to get a permanent sign, but maybe a paper plate on a wooden stake would suffice for now to stop the bedlam.

King Freeze and Queen Thaw will continue to rule according to the weather forecast for the next 10 days or so - so it is advisable to pay attention to the temps and don't plan on riding if it is above freezing.

Weekend meanderings...

2012-01-08T09:13:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to my daughter, Alexa Brown, and her debate partner, Selena Kraus on their winning of the State Debate Championship yesterday at Ankeny. Way to go girls!!!! Zack and his partner were State Champs last year, so now Alexa gets to wear the crown this year. No wonder I never win an argument here at home!

I took Saturday off the bike (outside of the normal morning and evening dog walks in the neighborhood) after riding for 9+ hours this past week (Sunday to Friday with Saturday being a rest day). Today was the 1st day of "this current week" and I got up early to head out to Banner Pits to join the group ride loops at Banner from 8-10. The ride is that early so we make sure to ride while the ground is still frozen. If you wait too long after that, things start to soften up enough due to the freeze/thaw cycle and that causes trail damage by leaving big tire ruts in the singletrack.

Today was perfect for a morning ride. Temperatures were about 25-30 and the dirt was frozen solid which made for quick riding. About 7 or 8 of us NUTZ showed up to ride bikes early on a weekend morning. My only worry about doing group rides is that the speed can end up being closer to racing if you have the right mix of people. I love to race, but it's a quicker pace than I want to go at this stage of the year in the off season. And sure enough, we were rockin' as Rick Blackford led the pace. My legs gave out in the middle of lap 2 and I had to back off the pace and crawl up the power climbs by the end. It was a good reminder of how out of shape I am for the harder effort riding at the moment. But, fun nonetheless. A good effort like that is not a bad thing every now and then in the middle of base training, but this old man got cooked. I earned my Casey's donut that Matt brought for all of us. And I skipped the post ride beer as it was only 10 am....

I am heading off this afternoon to hear baritone Todd Thomas sing his concert in Des Moines for the Des Moines Metro Opera Guild and then we have a masterclass tonight at Simpson with Gayletha Nichols from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Congrats to Simpsom Alum Abby Rethwisch, who graduated last month from Simpson, and Shannon Prickett, ’09, who both won the Iowa Metropolitan Opera Auditions yesterday in Ames. Both ladies advance to the regional competition.

Ta for now.

Final Weekend of Vacation...

2012-01-06T14:17:00.001-08:00

Work starts up in earnest on Monday after the holiday break between semesters. I've been way too much of an internet junkie during this holiday. That will stop in a few days for sure as the wheel starts to grind again. The students arrive back on campus this weekend and now that Zack has eaten us out of house and home, our grocery shopping can cool down a bit. ;-]

I took advantage of the weather the past 2 weeks with riding my bike outside on the trail and on the dirt (well, mud on some days). We broke a record weather-wise yesterday with a high of 65 (normal average temps for yesterday are around 31 degrees). I didn't know if I should go play golf or ride my bike. I rode my bike - in shorts!!! And there were a lot of people on the trail walking, jogging and riding. I wasn't the only one wearing shorts. Today was "only" 54, but I got another 2 hour ride in which brings the total this week to 9 hours, 25 minutes on the bike. Last week was 8 hours, 15 minutes. Not too shabby for the end of December and start of January in Iowa. I think I'll take tomorrow off the bike and hit the weights. Planning on riding Banner at 8 am on Sunday to take advantage of the frozen trails before it warms up and the legs need a rest.

Happy BarMitts-VAH!

2012-01-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

That's right.

Yesterday I picked up my Bar Mitts from Rassy's...

Hence - my BarMittsVAH has taken place. I am now an official winter NUT who can ride a bike in the elements with toasty digits along with the rest of the NUTZ in Iowa.

Of course, a true Barmitzvah means one of the commandments in the Jewish coming of age (bar for boy, bat for girl). And yes, we will be celebrating not one, but TWO Bat Mitzvahs in May of this year (Tara and Alexa).

When riding bikes outside in Iowa during the winter, my Bar Mitts have now allowed me to come of age for winter riding. Or at least follow one of the commandments for winter Iowa riding: keep thy hands warm. ;-]

I rounded out my winter riding shopping yesterday with a few other purchases...

From left to right.

First, we have Wigwam wool socks which feel "oh so nice and toasty" in my Shimano winter cycling shoes.

Second, we have the Pearl Izumi wind/water guard warm winter gloves with gel padding in the palms. P.I. has stepped up their game in recent years as these replace my old worn out lobster gloves that were not as warm as these. I got about a decade out of those, so here's hoping that these new gloves will last me a big 10. These have nice reflector points built in as well to help me be visible in the dark hours.

Third, we have the Bar Mitts for Mountain Bikes. I have yet to try them as it will need to get colder before I pull them out. As usual - as soon as I buy warm winter gear - you know what happens. Yup. The temperature climbs up to 40 yesterday and will hit 60 tomorrow. I can pretty much guarantee we will see some colder weather at some point this winter. Today is only day 14 of winter, so I know it is coming. Although, I am not complaining of the winter weather thus far which has allowed me to ride outside a lot more (like every day!!!) than I had ever dreamed I would at this time of year.

Fourth, the little AnkleBiter pants band that is pictured above the Bar Mitts. I love the reflector strip as well to help with safety/visibility. I've been using a rubber band for so many years, I thought I would treat myself the $2.99 price for a Velcro ankle doo-dad to cinch up my right pants leg so it doesn't get caught in the chain.

And lastly, we have a new pair of Spyder winter ski gloves. My old ski gloves have been sewn together so many times (they lasted a decade), it was time to take advantage of the sale (that would be the "lack of snow ski/snowboard gear sale" that I stumbled opon yesterday).

These items give me plenty of options for the hands and adds to my collection of gear to face the elements.

A shout out to my sister-in-law who had a cycling accident on New Year's Eve. Thinking of you, Holly. She was out on her road bike in California and got caught out in the dark trying to make her way home as the sun was setting. From those that saw her wreck, they say she hit a pot hole and went head over the bars. She landed on her head and initially got up, but then had to quickly get back on the ground. Some bystanders called 911 and she was taken by ambulance to the hospital where she remained for 2 nights. The initial x-rays show fractures in one or two vertebrae in the neck (I can't remember if it was one or two) and a torn ligament. Frankly, she's very, very lucky. She will be in a neck brace and no driving for 6 weeks. Possible surgery on the vertebrae to follow, but no paralysis thank goodness. It could have been a lot worse!

Be careful out there.

Happy New Year!!!....and the past year in review....

2012-01-01T09:04:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012 to everyone!

This year was ushered in with us going to a party in shirt sleeves it was so warm here in Iowa at 6 pm. Coming out of the party, the winds were blowing 50 miles per hour and the temperatures had dropped into "We need winter parkas!!" territory.

A recap of 2011 which was all about friends, family, food, and travel.

We started 2011 off with a bang by celebrating in Vienna - not to mention a sleepness night considering the kids didn't get back to the apartment until breakfast time!

In spite of that small curfew breach, we had fun visiting friends in Vienna for Christmas and New Years. It was nice to get back to the opera house in Vienna and catch up with some old colleagues and friends. The trip was also Zack's senior present that he wanted. Hänsel und Gretel, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Beethoven's 9th, all of our old favorite restaurants and some new, shopping, visiting, etc.... - it was a great way to usher in 2011.

Back home in Iowa, the snow was at record levels for the winter and I was glad to have Dad's old snow blower to help me take on the inches and inches of white stuff that kept falling. In spite of all the snow, I didn't stop taking the dogs for their daily morning and evening walks. I did, however, outfit the Surly with the Ardent 2.4's and used it as my "Snow Monkey" for the walk/rides. They salt and sand the streets so much here that anything else gets ruined - so the Monkey gets winter duties from now on because I don't care if it gets trashed...

As January unfolded, the kids had some dressing up to do for the annual school sports dance event, so they posed in their outfits before going...

We had 2 Birthdays to start off the year - Tara's in January and Zack's in February. Zack turned the milestone of 18 and we celebrated at the Japanese Steak House before going back home for cake and the post meal party...

The month of March was an emotional month as my colleague and Music Department Chair - Maria DiPalma - passed away after an 8 year battle with cancer...

We celebrated her life in a glorious way with two events at Simpson that meant a lot to everyone involved. We still miss Maria and it is very visible in terms of the void she left.

April approached (got my taxes done in time this year!!!) and Zack got his senior pictures taken...

After a long and cold winter with not ideal base training, I started the 2011 XC Racing Season in April with a bit more girth than I have been in previous years. Chunk City for sure!!!! I had 3 events in a row to pedal away the chunk - a race across the river in Nebraska, a race across the other river at Sylvan Island in Illinois, and a race called the Bone Bender in Kansas.

April also brought the kids high school prom which meant more pictures...

On Easter Sunday, our good friend, Gayla Tighe, was featured in the Des Moines Register and on their website about her accident in the tornado and subsequent recovery.

This is what April was pretty much like in Iowa as the once every 50 years or once every 100 years rains pounded us week after week...

I did manage to perfect my abilities of making pastrami and brisket on the Big Green Egg in 2011...

The month of May was a fun one for me as I went along to Italy with the Madrigal Trip as a Chaperone for the Simpson College students...

Waiting for the Pope's morning address and blessing.

Trying to drum up an audience for one of the evening's Madrigal Concerts. Standing on a corner passing out pamphlets and trying to sell the concert to anyone who would listen became a routine between our tour guide and myself. Sometimes, we were fortunate enough to draw quite a crowd. Other times, we managed to only convince a few people to come in and listen. The kids sang well regardless...

Students Lydia Schettler, Jessica Mallow and I in Sorrento before we went out for a night on the town...Sorrento style.

Sampling Limoncello with some of the students (this is Aimee Allen) in Rome...

Goofing around with Lydia and the white pigeons...

Listening to Christine Dunn's report in Florence...

Resting my tired legs in Italy when Marcus Simpson snapped a photograph of me. I think we all walked dozens of miles per day while there...

The downside of traveling to Italy during May was that I had to miss my son's high school graduation. I missed it by 1 day!! Grandpa Brown and Aunt Becky made it out for the special event. I was, however, home in time for the post graduation party we hosted in the back yard.

Here's what I missed and can only relive it in photographs and stories...

Dad and my sis at the house on the morning of the graduation...

Congratulating Natalie Nielsen at Simpson's Graduation along with her teacher, Dave Camwell. We had like 25+ music majors graduate in May which is a pretty significant number compared to other years.

Later that day, I went over to the Lickiss household to celebrate former high school and undergrad student of mine, Erik Lickiss' graduation from grad school at the University of Tennessee Knoxville...

The month of May was over, and June brought my XC bike racing to the fore again. I got the JET all ready for the crux of the XC season...

And I monster truck tired the Dos Niner for XC racing as well...

Ah, if you've seen one race, you've seen 'em all, right? Well, here's a bunch from Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois...

I passed this sculpture/creature out in the woods at a race in Manysoda...

Climbing off the beaten path in Wisconsin after being "pushed" over across a drainage ditch...

I even wore the old MOB kit at a couple of races due to me forgetting to wash the BikeIowa.com kit, or forgetting to pack it...

At a muddy race in Duluth...

Monster Truck Tires roll...

Border Battle WORS finish line...

I blew my rear hub on the Cyclocross Climb at Sugarbottom right at this moment...

I had to DNF, but Sterling was able to rebuild my rear hub at Rassy's, so it's golden for a few more years!

The summer continued and we had the most organized garden that I can remember...

Unfortunately, the rains wiped us out yet again taking the basement. That's 4 floods in 5 years, so it was time for a permanent solution. That involved jack hammers, major construction, addition of an internal drainage system, additional pair of sump pumps, digging up the yard and a refinance of our mortgage to pay for it all. Basement under construction was a nasty mess...

It's all done now and we should be flood free going forward from the heavy 50 and 100 year rains that seem to be coming every year now.

Summer brought fun as well as a torn up basement. Alexa and the gals had a "girls night out" for her 16th birthday which began with non-alcoholic mimosas at our house...

I hit some RAGBRAI in July to take on the day with 66 hills...

Talk about a great crowd this year...

I found myself in the driveway once a week doing what seemed like non stop bike cleaning from all the muddy racing...

One that wasn't too muddy...

Alexa posing this summer before going out on a date...

Summer gave way to fall and the school year started at Indianola as well as Simpson. So our household was back to the usual academic routine. Zack entered Simpson as a freshmen voice major. The fall opera was cast for Die Fledermaus and Zack was cast as Frank. Tara began new speech therapy school assignments with A.E.A by working in Indianola and Milo (as opposed to Indianola and Truro).

At the conclusion of one weekend's choreography rehearsal for Die Fledermaus in late September, I had not bothered to shower as I was going over to Joel Hade's for a guy's night of grilling and drinking. The wives were all headed to Des Moines for dinner. Or so I thought. Instead, it was a well kept secret 50th Birthday Party for me and I was clueless it was being planned. Everyone else in town knew, including my students and colleagues, but me. Well done Tara, kids and everyone involved!!! I remain surprised to this day.

Live music, as well as my voice students were there and did a skit/parody, my colleagues, my neighbors, my friends, etc... all joined in for a night of fun at Joel and Deb's house. Thanks Joel and Deb for hosting!!! Everyone was dressed up, but me. The one day in the year I chose not to take a shower, and it's a party for me. That's why I'm there in a ball cap!!!

My colleague, Jamie, and his band provided the music...

It was a great evening of food, fun and fellowship to mark the big Five-0! Thanks to all for such a great surprise.

Next up was my hosting of the Lake Ahquabi bike race dubbed The Mullet Fall Classic. We had a record turnout of 155 racers this year and fun was had by all in the perfect 80 degree temps in October. This picture is me handing out 1st Prize to the 3 hour Marathon winner, Eric Brunt from Kneebraska.

CITA teamed up with me and really did a great job of trail work, hosting the beer garden and providing post race food. It was a perfect year-end party for the Iowa XC Mountain Bike racing scene. I hope I can whip up some nice weather on October 7th this year as well....!!!!

I convinced, forced, coerced my daughter Alexa into doing the Des Moines Dirty Du with me. I thought a father-daughter event would be fun. She thought otherwise. She did the run portion and I did the bike ride. Due to opera rehearsals, we had to do the beginner race earlier in the morning and since it was Alexa's first, we qualified (sort of). She was not happy, but did it for her old man's sake (with a little convincing from Tara)...

Hey, we won 1st place in the Duo category and came in 2nd place overall. That changed my daughter's attitude and she was astounded. Hopefully she will do the event with me again next year now that she has the bug.

Alexa and the girls for homecoming 2011...

It was back to staging rehearsals and the performances of Die Fledermaus which went off really well in Pote Theater. The entire cast and crew did a marvelous job and along with my new colleague, Bernard McDonald, opera at Simpson was taken to an entirely new level. We plan to keep it there.

Here I am posing with one of my favorite student singing actresses out in the lobby - Alicia Suschena - after one of the performances. Alicia played the role of Adele and was really funny. Everyone did a great job!

We flew out to San Francisco for Thanksgiving and had a blast with the inlaws. The kids and I saw Carmen at San Francisco Opera and had a fun night out on the town. We had a big family get together Thanksgiving Dinner in Burlingame (at the home of Tara's Aunt). All the cousins were there and it was a really meaningful evening to hold for the sake of tradition. I think it will continue as my generation and our kids all want it to continue.

I rented a Cannondale Jekyll for some biking in the East Bay (Diablo and Briones). I had a bit of a hard time keeping the front wheel down on climbs since the bike was too small for me and had a super short stem...

It was a fun bike, but I needed about a 130mm stem instead of a short 50mm stem.

I scored some Specialize Roval wheels just before Thanksgiving. Once the Rovals arrived, they went on my RIP to change the performance of that bike to a more XC speed machine...

This bike is going to be fun to run at some races in 2012!!

The semester wound down and a much welcomed "recharge the batteries" vacation took place after a very busy fall semester. We drove out to Rapid City on the 22nd of December for my nephew's wedding, my Dad's 85th, and Christmas.

Zack, Alexa and I hit Terry Peak for two days of skiing on actually very good snow...

I had a very productive few days at the end of year as I prepare to direct Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. I've been studying the translation we are using and coming up with staging ideas for the opera.

In addition, we hit the basement store room for a cleaning and reorganization. Most everything had been jammed in there after the flood this summer, so it was time to clean it up and get some organization back like it was. I simply didn't have time this fall to take it on, so now it is done and we enter 2012 with a clean slate. All the "honey do list items" for 2011 were completed (except I never got the garden tilled under due to fall rains). Oh well...

Temperatures have been warm this past week. Because of that, I ended up getting 8+ hours out on the bike on dirt and pavement. Days with temperatures of 61 degrees, 49, 52, 54 - unbelievable!!!

New Year's Eve 2011 had me puttering with bikes in the garage since it was in the upper 50's. I swapped out the Maxxis Ikon's on my I9 wheels to a 2.25 Ardent LUST up front and a Raven 2.2 in the rear to use for racing. Normally, I change tires so often I don't ever get Goobers in my tires from the sealant. The Ikons, however, had been mounted for months and months. So when I took them off yesterday, I ended my year with quite a pair of Goobers that had formed to show off...

The CD case, along with me holding the goobers in my hand help show the scale of these suckers!!

We went over to Nancy and Hugh's last night for homemade pizza (made by Chuck Tighe) and had fun visiting with Gayla, Chuck, Nancy and Hugh to end the 2011 year. We actually were awake through Midnight. Of course, the kids came home from their celebrations after midnight and I don't think we got to sleep until 2 a.m. .

All in all, a fun 2011 filled with travel, food, family, friends and moving forward in life.

All the best to everyone for 2012.

22 Years and Counting...

2011-12-30T07:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Anniversary to my lovely wife whom I married 22 years ago today in Lafayette, California!!! We are celebrating by doing a joint "2 chefs in the kitchen" big meal tonight with a wonderful piece of prime we ordered from the butcher last week. The plan is to do a horseradish crust on it. Yummy!

Here we are on the 9th day of Winter 2011-2012, and Ma Nature has yet to show us the season has actually arrived. It was 61 yesterday and should hit 47-49 today before marching back up into the upper 50's again tomorrow for New Year's Eve.

What to do in this confusing weather in terms of riding the bike? Ride, I guess.

Well, even though this is still my low point month training and fitness wise, I simply can't resist getting outside - especially since it is the holiday break at work. Neither can my wife - who is also on holiday break. I rode 2 1/2 hours on the bike Wednesday and another 3 hours yesterday in the balmy temps. I didn't even need a jacket, just a long sleeve jersey and long bibs. I was able to do 2 full laps at Banner Pits yesterday and it was dry, except for a few tacky spots. It rained overnight, so the trails will be too wet to ride today. However, 25 mph winds and sunshine will dry it up this afternoon so that late today - or for sure - tomorrow should be great dirt riding again. Looks like I'm going to end up with about 9 hours riding outdoors on the bike week this week. Incredible for the last week of December!!!

Speaking of riding, it's time to take the dogs out for their morning walk/ride around the neighborhood.

Where the hell is winter?

2011-12-27T08:55:00.000-08:00

This warm weather at the beginning of winter is tempting me to do too many hours on the bike. Highs in the 40's every day and dry. Not frozen enough to keep the dirt worth riding, so skinny tire road riding to build base is about all that is available - or some fun Iowa gravel riding. Certainly iPod riding at its best.

We had a great trip out to the Black Hills for Christmas. My Dad's 85th birthday, my nephew's wedding and Christmas all were back to back celebrations while there.

Zack and I sang a duet in church on Christmas Eve as a "surprise" gift to my Dad and Tara. We had Christmas Eve dinner at my Dad's apartment, Christmas dinner at my Dad's retirement home dining hall and pizza that night in his apartment (managed to squeeze in the matinee showing of Mission Impossible as well). We skied at Terry Peak on the 23rd and 24th, and I got to hit M Hill on my Dos Niner to tackle the climbs with snow and mud. Nothing like a 30-45 minute climb right out of the parking lot with no warm-up to remind yourself what riding at a higher altitude is like. Temperatures were in the 50's in Rapid City, but windchill was about 8-10 degrees on the ski slopes which made for chilly conditions.

The long trip out and back was mitigated by traveling at European Autobahn speeds and listening to XM Satellite Radio's Metropolitan Opera channel. Based on the trip out and back, we now are calling the trip a "3 opera travel time" trip. Yup. It takes 3 operas to drive from Des Moines to Rapid City and vice versa. La Gioconda, Eugene Onegin, and Hänsel und Gretel were yesterday's delights (with the Hänsel und Gretel being a live broadcast from the Monday night Met's performance). I won't mention my speed, but I trimmed about an hour off the usual speed on the way home.

Tonight we celebrate the final night of Hanukkah with friends coming over for a party and Latkes. Tara made the chicken liver last night and we are heading to the store to get everything else in a few minutes.

According to the forecast, I may have to wait until 2012 to see winter. But that's okay, I can pedal off some of the holiday cheer I have put around my mid section as of late...

Last Fall Ride - - then it's ski time!!!

2011-12-21T04:03:00.000-08:00

First things first: Happy Birthday Dad!

By my count, you are 85 years old today. How does that break down into other measurements of time?

1020 months old
4435 weeks old
31046 days old
745104 hours old
44706253 minutes old
2682375194 seconds old

Regardless of how you want to count it - Happy 85th!!!

Winter officially starts at Midnight tonight, so today is my last chance for a final fall bike ride outside. Jumping on the road bike for a 2+ hour ride should help pedal off the wonderful pumpkin cheesecake my wife made last night for the first night of Hanukkah. The forecast is for 40 degrees, so plenty warm for an outdoor ride.

Zack and I will load up the car today and leave early tomorrow for the Black Hills. Tara and Alexa come the following day after final exams are completed. I'm bringing the skis so we can hit Terry Peak for the first skiing of this season (come on legs, don't fail me....).

I had the Mercury Villager van's power steering pump and hose replaced yesterday. I may have to take it back this morning for them to check it as it still made some noise on a very sharp turn in a parking lot. Maybe that's normal, but at least the constant squealing and noise is gone. Please tell me the $617 for the repair was not an "all for naught" routine!!! Alexa would like nothing more than this van to simply go away, but it still runs and is in good shape - so she's stuck with it. It has been a heck of a money pit since summer when I had some motor work done, new tires, new plugs and now the power steering repair. Heck if she isn't going to drive it for another year after I sank all of that cash into it to keep it safe and running!!!

Enjoy the last day of fall today and the shortest day of the year tomorrow!

How to tick off a bunch of Iowans....

2011-12-20T09:29:00.000-08:00

University of Iowa Professor Stephen Bloom's piece that appeared in the Atlantic has managed to ignite quite a stir within in academia and beyond over the past 10 days.

Kaustuv Basu blogged a response today highlighting the fire that Bloom has ignited in Iowa.

Even a "Combat" blog post by Dan Brooks popped up entitled 12 idiotic statements about Iowa by Stephen G. Bloom.

I pretty much fend off my wife's rants and raves about Iowa on a weekly basis (she, like Bloom, is from San Francisco and has lived in L.A., New York City, Houston and Vienna before moving to Iowa). So I am well versed in some of the city slicker thoughts which meant my first reading of the Bloom piece hit home from what I hear and defend on a regular basis. Yet Bloom went a bit deeper on the slander and surprised me for someone that has lived here for 20 years, yet seemed to be unable to use his educated deducing skills to move beyond what seemed like an obvious "lashing out" or general "can I get this off my chest" rant.

Regardless, Facebook is all abuzz with Bloom's comments and boy, wouldn't you like to be a fly on the wall in his classroom and office when he returns to Iowa City?

I didn't get shot and it felt great...!

2011-12-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

Who would have thought that December 18th in Iowa would be 47 degree, sunny and a perfect day for a 30 mile bike ride? Today was the last day of shotgun deer hunting season, and I needed to pedal out some of the caloric sins from the previous night. We were at Joel and Deb Hade's annual Christmas party on Saturday night from 7 to midnight. Much food, drink, music and fun was had by all. There must have been 60+ people there, plus the high school choir sang. We did carols and I sang Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire for everyone. I think we've attended this party 8 years in a row and always look forward to it.

So. The need to work off the meatballs, cheese, sweets, wine, and whatever else I consumed - a bike ride was in order. I donned an orange safety vest over my team's bike kit to hit the pavement on the road bike. I figured that would keep the shotguns pointed away from me and I wouldn't be mistaken for a deer.

The pants I wear are all starting to feel a bit tight, so I took advantage of the weather to get out for some miles and burn some calories. 11:35 start time and the legs felt good. Speed was way up thanks to riding the skinny tires on the pavement. When I turned north on the Summerset Trail, the wind was at my back and I was flying. I only saw about 3 hunters near the bike trail and figured I was safe with the orange vest. Wind was howling and I was flying - I mean flying!!! - with very little pedal effort (zone 2). I rolled into Carlisle between 40-45 minutes later, stopped to drink some water and snarf a GU. The roadbike on pavement certain was less humbling than the previous day's ride on singletrack with the freeze/thaw conditions and my weak legs. Today, I felt super fast.

Sunshine, exercise endorphins, 47 degrees in December - what was not to love?!! I turned around and headed back south dead into the teeth of the wind. I dropped the chainring down to the middle ring (whatever that is on a road bike) and kept telling myself not to be a hero. Just pedal at a pace and effort that would allow me to survive the wind and keep it as a base ride. The winds on the prairie can be unforgiving, but I got down in the drops and moved forward at survival pace. Once I got near Summerset, I was in the cover of trees and hills again, so the wind was not so fierce to buck.

I rolled in to the driveway after the 30 mile trip ready for lunch. A can of one of those lean soups and a bagel with a few cookies for recovery while I watched KC beat up on the Packers. Then I showered, put the suit on and went to the Indianola Concert Association's Christmas Concert (featuring a student of mine from Cape Town, South Africa). The concert was 2 hours, 23 minutes long with all of the acts they had lined up to perform holiday music. Big surprise at intermission is I ran into Barb and Ray Tininenko in the lobby. I didn't realize they had retired to Iowa and they said they had been coming to the concerts in Indianola for years. Barb used to play piano/organ at my Dad's church in Williston, ND and I went to school with their kids Brent (in my class) and Roxanne. Barb accompanied me oodles of times at that church way back in the 70's, so I was shocked to see them. Then I remember she was originally from Iowa and had attended Drake. It was nice to catch up with them and say hello during intermission.

After the concert, we picked up some food from the grocery store to make dinner (salmon and orzo).

All in all, a great Sunday in December. Perfect weather. Perfect bike ride. Perfect concert. Perfect dinner. Now the finals for the Iron Chef cook off are on the Food Network. That's a nice way to start the Christmas Holiday break from Simpson.

December is the low point of the year, training wise...

2011-12-17T12:05:00.000-08:00

Traditionally, based on the XC racing I do from May to September (with an odd race here or there in April and October), things time out that my low point bike fitness wise is December. I think I timed everything just right this year in terms of the fall fun riding I did, tapering off the time on the bike from many hours to as little as 2 hours a week, taking some much needed time off the bike, and lifting weights for a month to arrive at my desired "low point" in mid-December (bike fitness wise).

If I needed any convincing I had reached that point, it was affirmed this morning when I drove out to Banner Pits to get a lap or more in before the ground totally thawed out. Maybe it was the not so solidly frozen ground. Maybe it was the reality of pushing the big meats (Ardent 2.4's front and rear). Maybe it was the volume of low base I put in this week to start things off (5 hours of base). Maybe it was a combination of all of that, but I felt like a weak little turtle out there. A gear I hardly use when XC racing (27 x 34) on anything but the longest, steepest climbs - I was using on every climb and wondering where my power was. I could hardly turn over the cranks and had to get out of the saddle to survive the short steep climbs. Of course, I've packed on some fall/winter pounds - so that never helps. In any event, one full lap was enough to cook my goose and have me pack it in while laughing at the measly 45 minutes it took me to do the full loop in the frozen, crispy trails with a few sluggish mud spots. Remind me to ride pavement this time of year, it's not as humbling. ;-]

It's still a little too early to ramp up the base training so everything times out for peak number one in 2012. I only ramped up a bit of base this week so I could pedal the bike next week out in the Black Hills without passing out. I got about 6 hours on the bike this week which is about 3 hours too much for this point, but I want to be able to climb some of those Black Hills. If I continue with those hours and add to it from here - I'll peak way too early and have a mid-season burnout. After the week in the Black Hills, I'll back things off again for a few weeks, lift some more weights before slowly ramping up the base training period to have everything time out correctly for the 2012 season.

December low point reached. This may sound incongruent, but that means success!

Weekend of Productivity...

2011-12-12T05:19:00.000-08:00

'Tis the Holiday Season which had a potential 7 nights in a row for me to be somewhere participating in some event. I have had to pick and chose, so I began the run on Thursday night with a holiday concert, Friday night was Tara's office Christmas party, Saturday night was a holiday dinner party at Deb and Joel's, Sunday at 5 was the Lessons and Carols at Simpson followed by three hours of student recital auditions. 4 nights down, 3 more consecutive evenings out to go. Then I have a day of rest before round 2 of holiday events starts. Actually, I just realized I don't have a night off. Alexa's holiday choir concert is Thursday night. Okay - forget the night of rest and up the consecutive night's out to 11!!!

In spite of that, I managed to get some good base mileage in on my mountain bike this weekend. I got about 2 hours on Saturday and 2 1/2 on Sunday. Saturday I decided to brave the weather by riding my bike outside, but decided it was time to ditch the booties I have been wearing over my cycling shoes for the past 10 years and head up to Des Moines to buy some official winter foot gear. I ended up with some new winter cycling shoes from Rasmussen's Bike Shop. They had size 48 Shimano shoes in stock. They weren't the Lake brand I was kind of interested in trying on, but good enough to get me through for my needs. So I sprang for them. Sterling claims they are good to down around 20 degrees for a 2 hour ride. If it gets colder than that, then maybe a layer of plastic bag between socks or some foot warmers (like I use in my ski boots on cold days). Either way - better than my summer cycling shoes for sure.

Here are the shoes I got (video courtesy of Winter Cycling Shoes website)...

I got home and before the ride, Tara and I took the dogs to the Vet to have their stitches removed from the surgery they had 10 days prior. It's always an event to take the dogs to the Vet as they get excited. Mix that with the fear they have and the anticipation of sitting in the room waiting for the Doc to appear and I think we all needed a nap by the time we got home.

Instead, I suited up to go for a ride.

I was planning on sticking to the Summerset Trail from Indianola to Carlisle and back. The snow was only about 1/2" to 1" deep and figured the Maxxis IKONs would be fine for that. As clueless as I am, I had no idea Saturday was a big shotgun deer hunting day. I came flying over a hill a few miles north of Indianola and about 10 guys in orange jackets heard me and all turned in my direction with some guns aimed my way. I quickly yelled out and we all realized who was what and no harm was done. Dang! Good thing I wasn't dressed in anything resembling an animal and Dick Cheney wasn't in the hunting party. I decided going all the way to Carlisle would not be wise with all of the hunters out in the fields that line the bike trail all the way there and back.

Plan B was to pull off into Banner Pits to see how the trails were doing following the recent snow. As soon as I turned into the Banner State Park Loop, I saw 2 guys getting ready to mount their mountain bikes and rode over to see who it was. It was TJ on his fat tire bike and Matt McCutchan. They were just heading out for a lap, so I joined them. They had decided Saturday was the day to ride with the snow fresh and before things turned into a melted mess. It was certainly fun, but challenging on the race weenie weight IKONs (a tire much better suited to dry, hard packed dirt). I kept it upright with a couple of dismounts here and there when I spun out in the slick stuff.

Matt (filming the loop) chose some appropriate music...

TJ was flawless on that fat tire bike of his. And my new shoes were nice and warm.

After the ride, I called Zack to come pick me up as I really didn't want to ride 6 miles along the fields filled with hunters to get back home. He picked me up and we listened to the live broadcast of Faust from the MET. It was a great tenor - Jonas Kaufmann - and a great baritone - Russell Braun singing and we finished up listening to it in the basement while lifting weights and visiting (along with Tara).

We had an enjoyable dinner party with 6 couples on Saturday night at the Hades. Joel prepared a perfect Chateaubriand - nice and rare to boot!! Each couple was instructed to bring a dish which makes things easier for the host. We were supposed to bring a vegetable. So Tara made an excellent broccoli thanks to a recipe from Ina Garten and we brought along some wine. It was a very tasty meal after the outdoor ride on the bike in the cold. Chuck and his son had shot two deer that day, so we shared our "hunting" stories of the day.

Sunday was a shopping day for Tara and Alexa, so I decided to ride outdoors again and chose the RIP since it was already covered in mud and gunk from Saturday's ride. I stayed closer to Indianola using gravel roads, and the bike paths to avoid any hunters and being mistaken for a deer. I ran out of water and physical energy at the 2 hour point, but had about a solid 30 minutes of riding to get back to the house. I put it in survival mode and pedaled back to the house to shower and head to the annual Christmas program at Simpson "Lessons and Carols". The choirs did an excellent job and we enjoyed the service. Three hours of student voice auditions for their degree recitals followed that before I could rush home to catch the end of the Cowboys getting thrashed (yes!!!).

It is finals week at Simpson this week, but today is an official "reading day" for the students. No classes, no rehearsals (wink, wink) and no tests. Of course, faculty have tons of things to do today so I'm off to a morning full of meetings...

Rick Perry Spoof...

2011-12-10T05:24:00.000-08:00

Very funny Perry spoof. The old fart joke or blowing hot air joke always seems to work and bring a smile.

The Partisans - Rick Perry - Spoof...

2011-12-10T05:04:00.000-08:00

No shortage of Rick Perry spoofs are being tossed up on youtube.com and linked on Facebook by millions. This one seemed very apropos.

Holiday Shopping...

2011-12-05T05:53:00.001-08:00

Talk about your well-choreographed "flash mob" scenario. Simpson students had a showing yesterday at Jordan Creek Mall. Being a music faculty member as well as the parent of one of the singers - I was informed on when and where to be to catch the "flash". So Tara and I went up with Alexa to hear them sing, do a little holiday shopping, and get some dinner after the stores closed.

Fun was had by all the shoppers who happened to stop and listen. The students took their coats off once the music started to show off their Simpson College t-shirts, sing, and then quickly put their coats back on and take off like nothing had ever happened. And of course, they had to wait until Santa took his 2:30 break for this spontaneous flash mob appearance.;-]

Alexa, Tara and I managed to split a piece of pumpkin cheesecake at the mall to boost our shopping energy. Several presents were secretly and not so secretly purchased. Colors and items were shown to the parents so we know what to get on subsequent trips. After the stores closed, we actually decided unanimously on where to eat and chowed down before heading back home.

Flash Mob, Shopping, Eating - that's one way to spend a Sunday afternoon and evening.

3 Weeks Deep into my "Off Season Getting Back Into Shape Routine...."

2011-12-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

First off, welcome back to your apartment and computer Dad following your 8 weeks of rehab! I bet it feels good to be back.

14 degrees this morning as I type this.

Getting back into shape for me...

Since mountain bike cycling alone is not really the best way to get into shape or work the entire body as it is a very specific muscle group and limited work of all that hamster cage rotational leg movement, I always look forward to the November - March time segment to "reconstruct" my body with core exercises and weights. I just didn't do my weekly maintenance weights this year like I should have and even simple tasks like mowing the lawn were more strenuous than in the past with weaker muscle groups than in prior years. So, it's time to rebuild.

One of the mountain bike training guru's I follow says it best:

One of the biggest mistakes that people make when getting into mountain biking is to think that it is a great way to get into shape. This mindset is actually a big problem with the fitness world in general – playing a sport is not how to get into shape. Things work out much better when you have a base level of fitness going into trail riding and it becomes a way to apply and hone your fitness.

There are a couple of problems with trying to use mountain biking as a way to get into shape. First, riding a bike is great fun but it is not the healthiest thing to do from a structural point of view. Sitting in a hunched over position while taking your legs through a shortened, repetitive range of motion a few hundred or thousand times a ride causes all sorts of imbalances. Sitting down also takes your core and hips out of the equation and will cause movement dysfunctions that can lead to problems down the road.

Sure, you may lose some weight and gain some cardio fitness but you don’t create the type of broad based fitness you really need to be healthy from a larger point of view. Remember that you are a human being first and a mountain biker second – don’ ignore the need for basic human function before you try to develop specialized fitness.

Another pitfall to the mindset of using sports to get healthy is a lack of perspective on the training plans of the pros. As I mentioned before, sport is not really about health, especially at the highest levels. To get your body into shape to be excellent at a few things means that other types of fitness and movement patterns will suffer.

There is an old Greek saying – where good sport begins, good health ends. Pros know that there is a physical cost for what they do to hone their bodies into peak shape for the demands of their sport. However, your average rider who looks at riding as “healthy” doesn’t have the same perspective.

They think that the pros represent the pinnacle of “fitness” and try to emulate the lopsided, unbalanced programs they use. They don’t realize that the pros usually spent years developing their fitness base and go back to work on it often – all they see is the amount of time spent working on specialized fitness qualities and think that copying their approach is the key to achieving their fitness goals.

The truth is that most riders have no business following a program inspired by a pro rider – they need to focus on building their fitness and movement base through a strength and conditioning program and then just getting out on their bikes and riding hard. In fact, focusing too much on the narrow fitness qualities needed to excel at the pro level of mountain biking may lead to short term gains but will lead to long term stagnation and injuries.

My point is that if you love riding then ride for fun, not for “fitness”. Use a smart, balanced strength and conditioning program to address your basic fitness and then ride hard to hone that fitness into “mountain biking shape”. Riding is a great way to take your fitness to another level, just don’t come into it thinking that it is a great way to get into shape in the first place. Keep some perspective on what the pros do to excel at the highest levels and you’ll progress further, enjoy riding more and avoid overuse injuries by taking this approach.

-James Wilson-

Last night was a "core" workout session and a circuit session of weights with 30 minutes of spin on the C7i bike. I almost hate doing the core exercises the most, but it sure improves everything from posture, to stability, to energy throughout the day. Thank goodness our basement home gym is comfy and the big screen TV provides plenty of entertainment to keep my wife and I working out in the winter months. It probably is not the best thing to be working out while watching the Food Network, but that's what we do.

I'm 3 weeks into deadlifts, squats, lunges, upper body work and base building on the bike. And I'm about 3 weeks into holiday eating and snacking as well. ;-] I'm trying to be careful, but the caloric increase is noted and the body is responding! I always forget how weight lifting increases my metabolism which in turn fires up my appetite. I'm trying to eat 5 times a day (small snacks like raisins or nuts between meals) to feed that appetite and fire up the metabolism even more with the digestion requirements of 5 eating sessions per day compared to 3.

Tonight is a recovery spin and stretching workout before Tara and I take a night out (we've earned it this week).

MNMBS Announced...

2011-11-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

2012 Minnesota Mountain Bike Series Race Schedule

5/20/2012 Afton Avalanche, Afton Alps, Hastings, MN

6/03/2012 Bluff Riders Charge, Mankato, MN

6/17/2012 Red Wing Classic, Red Wing, MN

7/08/2012 Dirt Spanker, Mt. Du Lac, Superior, WI

7/22/2012 Metric Auto Works Birch Bump, Burnsville, MN

7/29/2012 Single Track Attack, Elk River, MN

8/12/2012 White Tail Frolic, River Falls, WI

8/19/2012 The Great Hawk Chase, Duluth, MN

9/02/2012 Laddie’s Loppet Stage Race, Maplelag Resort, MN

9/23/2012 Revolution’s Single Track Escape, St. Cloud, MN

9/30/2012 St. Croix Valley Woolly, St. Croix Falls, WI

Most noteworthy - at least to me - is the absence of the Border Battle on both the WORS and MMBS schedules. I guess the two series decided not to hold the mutual race. Too bad, as I always enjoyed it more than some of the other races. Oh well.

Edit to add the possible Psycowpath Schedule (not official until it's official...)

Psycowpath Schedule for 2012:

Sat March 31 Jewell Time Trial, Old Towne Bellevue Fat Tire Crit, hosted by MWCC/Rox/Ryan

Sun April 1 Swansons Revenge XC hosted by MWCC

Sat April 21 Tranquility XC hosted by Bike Masters/Dale

Sat May 5 Platte River Battle Royal XC hosted by Cycleworks/MoosesTooth/Kris

Sat Jun 3 Maskenthine XC (day after Norfolk road race) hosted by EVCC/Downey

Sat Jun 13 Ponca XC hosted by ??? (looking for a host club, but i'll do it if i have to, Greenstreet interest?)

Sat July 28 Branched Oak XC hosted by Flatwater/JohnL/SeanC

Sat Aug 11 Lake Manawa* XC finale hosted by Bike Way/SeanL

Fall Fun Riding...

2011-11-19T06:23:00.000-08:00

Fall is always a fun riding time for me as I avoid pavement and just focus on hitting the dirt trails. I head out to enjoy the trails and not worry about any structured training (although I have started the off season weight lifting program). Proof of my riding being only "fun" and dirt oriented was when my weekly riding hours dwindled down to averaging about 3 or 4 hours a week in October. That was due to all the late night opera rehearsals and no need to train for any event.

I've bumped it up a bit this month as I do want to do some riding in the San Francisco Bay Area next week over the holidays and climbs are tough out in the East Bay. I'm going to do a 4-5 hour Turkey Day ride from Mitchell Canyon up Mt. Diablo with a group. Then I will hit my old stomping grounds next Saturday - Briones. My legs hurt just thinking about those opening climbs from Lafayette. Hopefully, all the SS riding this fall has me in shape for it. I'll be on a Cannondale FS for those rides as I'm not hauling my bikes on the plane for a 5 day trip to San Francisco.

In addition, I'll be riding in the Black Hills in December when we go out for my Dad's birthday and my nephew's commitment ceremony. I hope to hit some of my favorite trails - weather permiting. So I've climbed a bit back up to the 6-7 hours per week range this month to get ready for San Fran and the Black Hills. My legs and back are feeling it - especially with all the SS riding (rigid bike). I usually do a longer ride on the weekend with the RIP, and then shorter "before work rides" during the week to take advantage of daylight. I've been riding the RIP 9 and Karate Monkey SS exclusively this month at Banner, Lake Ahquabi, Center, and even made an excursion down to Landahl Park in Missouri.

Last night after work and before the Friday night concert at Simpson, I headed out to Lake Ahquabi with the lights for the first time this fall to ride in the dark. There were no campers. No hikers. No fishermen. Just me and the critters. I timed the full loop quite well as my lights made it full blast all the way to the car where the battery ran out just as I was loading the bike in the car. Glad I made it out of the woods with the lamps still burning full blast.

I've got some new carbon Roval wheels to unpack and play with that just arrived via FedEx yesterday. Looks like I'll be trimming about 400g from my current wheels without sacrificing any stability. I'll mount up some tires this morning and go for my longer Saturday ride to try them out today.

1520g!!!!

Took a full pound off of my RIP 9. Man are these wheels fast!!!!!!!!!

2012 dates starting to roll in...

2011-11-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

WORS 2012

* May 6 – Iola Bump & Jump; Iola Winter Sports Club, Iola, WI
* May 20 – Crystal Lake Classic; Camp Tesomas, Rhinelander, WI
* June 3 – Big Ring Classic; Nine Mile Forest, Wausau, WI
* June 17 – Battle of Camrock; Camrock 3, Rockdale, WI
* June 24 - Chippewa Valley Firecracker; Eau Claire Co. Expo Center, Eau Claire, WI
* July 14 & 15 – Subaru Cup Pro XCT; Nordic Mt, Mt Morris, WI
* July 29 – Alterra Coffee Bean Classic; Crystal Ridge, Franklin, WI
* August 19 – Sunburst Showdown; Kewaskum, WI (note – moved from original date)
* August 26 – Reforestation Ramble; Reforestration Camp, Suamico, WI
* Sept. 9 – Treadfest; Grand Geneva Resort, Lake Geneva, WI
* Sept. 30 – Bear Paw Rock & Roll; Bear Paw Outdoor, White Lake, WI
* October 14 – Wigwam MTB Challenge; Evergreen Park, Sheboygan, WI

Doing the Dirty Du with my Daughter...

2011-10-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

I have asked my daughter for the past 4 years to join me in CITA's Dirty Duathlon as a relay team where she would do the running portion and I would do the biking portion. I had no illusions of winning, just doing a father/daughter activity and participating for the CITA cause.

Year one response: "Nope!"
So I did it solo.

Year two response: "Nope!"
So I did the race with a college student of mine who was trying to get back into shape and lose some weight.

Year three response: "Nope!"
So I did it solo.

Year four response: "Do I have to?" My response: "Yes, I would appreciate it."
Family pressure kicked in and she basically resigned to the force and agreed to do it. My summary of that exchange is way too brief compared to the 48 hours leading up to Sunday's race. You'll have to trust me on that...

I got her out of bed on Sunday to come and do the new "Beginner" race the Dirty Du added this year. She was only willing to run for 2 miles and I had to be at work by 2:30 which meant I couldn't do the 1 pm longer race (with her or by myself). Her face was filled with more anger and disgust for making her do this to begin with, but I was banking on her having memories for years to come of the father-daughter effort. Yeah, right. Try and convince a 16 year old smack in the middle of "my parents are so uncool and weird" years about any warm and fuzzy relationships with their parents.

We got registered and I did a little warm up on the bike while she stretched and looked glum. The runners took off at 11 am and I think her anger helped her jump off the line in 3rd place going up the first hill of hillside. By the end of the hillside section, she had dropped back to fourth from last place. By the time she got to the start/finish area where I was waiting, she had dropped two spots (only one person behind her). One of the guys ahead of her racing solo was still changing his shoes in the pit area, so I was able to take off on the bike ahead of him. I knew I could catch up to some on the bike, but not sure in just one lap of only 3 miles how I would be able to make up very much time.

As I approached the first rider ahead of me, I quickly realized that this was the Beginner Du and to be careful in passing as I saw how cautiously slow he was riding. I called out ahead and was able to pass him before the first bridge. I didn't see anybody else on Hillside, and flew through Hillside with only one error (didn't get downshifted before crossing the creek and was stuck in a huge gear which meant I couldn't climb out of there and didn't want to break my already broken and repaired chain). I pushed the bike up a few feet and hopped on to finish the climb.

After the pavement section and heading up into the woods, I spotted another rider ahead of me a few hundred yards. By the time I reached the top of that climb I had narrowed that gap to 100 feet. I caught him and passed him on the first descent. I kept pushing and started picking off riders one by one. Obviously, being the Beginner Du, handling skills, and negotiating singletrack at race speed gave me an unfair advantage. I came up behind one rider who immediately increased his pace and settled into a nice CAT II XC race speed. Unfortunately, with me on his tail making him nervous and pushing his pace, he didn't have the skill to handle one turn and went down hard. I asked if he was okay and he said he was fine, so I forged ahead. I caught two more riders in the final singletrack section and passed them before dropping the chain onto the big ring for the final climb and descent out of the woods. I stood and sprinted up the pavement to the finish line. In the end, I had made up a lot of time and passed everyone except the lead runner/rider who had about a 4 minute gap on everyone else.

When I rolled across the finish line, my daughter came up to me with a perplexed/surprised look and asked me how I was able to pass all those people and come across the line in 2nd place overall. Her "glum" and "angered" look turned to one of surprise, joy and maybe even a small hint of "warm and fuzzy Dad/Daughter accomplished something together" expression. Who knows, but my goal of creating some sort of memory that she could have just may have been met? Score one for Dad!!!

Not that it was any sort of race accomplishment for me as I should not be riding in the Beginner Race (especially judging by the negotiating skills of those I passed), but for her 1st ever event as the beginner and joining her old, uncool and weird Dad - I think she was tickled we ended up 1st in the relay and 2nd overall. At least she was speaking to me in the car on the way home and sat down to have lunch with me on our deck where she actually smiled.

That's no guarantee she will do the longer event with me next year, but I'll try and use the warm and fuzzy feelings to make it happen. ;-]

Thanks to CITA for a fun event, perfect weather and the cool pink socks!!!

Record Turnout at The Mullet!!!

2011-10-11T04:45:00.000-07:00

What a great day of racing, weather, food, drink, fellowship and fun! 155 racers pulled into the Lake Ahquabi State Park to toe the line for $1800 in prize money, $850 in T-Shirts, $380 in very unique medals, and a table full of Schwag from Oakley, Rasmussens, Cliff Bar, Saris, and CTS.

Race results are here.

We had a huge turnout last year with 133 racers which was overwhelming. I learned from the experience and took steps to improve and handle that kind of growth in the event to make the 4th year even bigger and better. My goal was to come close to the 2010 number of 133 racers again this year - especially since I took on some financial risk for the expense of electronic chip timing (another $1K) and the porta-potty rentals ($127). This year divided the race into two segments: a real 3+ hour marathon race or IMBCS #10 XC race with specific number of laps 4/3/2/1 depending on CAT. I was pleased with the turnout for both and prize money was guaranteed at $250 for 1st place in both the men's open and women's open of the marathon and the XC CAT I races.

I also teamed up with CITA (Central Iowa Trails Association) to make The Mullet Fall Classic a CITA fundraiser. I have to say, that was a great addition. The post race, end of the IMBCS Mountain Biking Race season party was a blast. Beer Garden, homemade chili, burgers and brats on the grill, pot luck salads, desserts, chips, etc... - all of it had everyone smiling for a few hours after the race. The weather was a blessing as it hit 80 degrees with clear skies and a very slight wind to keep things from getting too hot.

The trail was in good shape thanks to all the hours put in by volunteers, including two CITA trail work days. That took some of the load off of my grooming of the trails and allowed me to be able to focus on other details of organizing everything between my mowing, lopping, raking, marking, clearing hours which I always underestimate how much time is involved to get nearly 7 miles of trail in shape for a race. A big thanks to Jed Gammell, Rob Versteegh and Oakley, Sterling Heise and Rasmussen Bike Shop, Tom Anderson (and his family!!), Matt McCutchan, Troy Pearson, Al Boone, Ron Cooney, Pete Parvi, Scott Sumpter, Tara Starr, Alexa Brown, the 7 fraternity brothers from Lamda Chi, Josh Shipman and the Lake Ahquabi staff, Nancy Stirek, Craig Harding, Justin Hankins, and all of those who helped put things together food, trail and volunteer wise for the 2011 Mullet.

There were growing pains again this year and not everything went as smoothly as it could have. Jed and I both failed to bring a printed out list of the actual 73 qualifiers (those that registered before noon on September 30th) for the free t-shirts, so distribution of those was flawed. That's our bad and it won't happen again. Apologies to the few within the 73 that saw their t-shirts snagged up by everyone else who thought they were free for the taking.

Talks began immediately after the event between Ryan Feagan (from Nebraska Psycowpath Series), Nancy Stirek, Craig Harding and myself about streamlining the waiver process with Raceregister.net to avoid any hand writing by me on the forms. We also talked about how to speed up the chip assignment process, as well as pros/cons of online pre-registration and day of registration solutions. Psycowpath didn't allow pre-registration, but liked my format of the discounted entry fee for pre-registration online, and a non-discounted fee for day of race registration. Ryan thinks he might try that next year as it captures a lot of the "I'll wait until I see what the weather is going to be like" crowd that decides within the final 24 hours to race or not.

Check-in wasn't too bad, but the two lines were long and a bit of a bottleneck that shouldn't be involved with an event that is pre-registered for 123 of the 155 racers. Having to sign those dang waivers (legally, it must be a hand written signature) slows things down. Another growing pain was my guesstimate of 250 bottles of water (same amount I bought last year) was not enough. I needed to have purchased at least twice as much with the turnout and all of the volunteers. Beer outnumbered water by a margin of 5 to 1 (at least) as everyone else brought so much beer - but no water!!

Jed and Rob rode last year, so it was my turn to ride this year. Unfortunately, after a good jump off the line and in the front group of 4, I broke my chain about a 1/2 mile after the start!!! I couldn't believe it! A DNF at Sugarbottom with a blown rear hub and now a broken chain?!!!? By the time I walked back to the starting area, turned in my timing chip and reported myself as a DNF, used the Kybo and then decided to fix my chain, I was probably 15 minutes behind. But Tom Anderson and Pete Parvi convinced me to fix my chain and get back out there in spite of it. So I grabbed my timing chip again and said I was not a DNF and headed out to see how the course was riding and mix it up. All for fun and well worth coming in Dead Frickin' Last in my division. I did make up some good time though, but stopped for Parady Boatwright who crashed and hit a tree. I saw the fall and she hit her head for a bit of a stinger. I helped her up and made sure she was okay before getting back on the bike. I motored on to finish and was only 2 seconds away from not being DFL. ;-}

Other than that, things were fine. Thanks to all who came out to race, brought food, helped, volunteered, provided feedback and had a great time.

Now on to my real job filled with non-stop problem solving - stage directing the opera at Simpson.

The Mullet Fall Classic!!!

2011-10-03T16:07:00.000-07:00

Fall weather is gorgeous this week with temperatures in the 70-80 range. The leaves are turning colors. The course is marked and ready. Trail work is completed. The food and drink are ordered. Custom number plates are here. The custom special Mullet awards for 1st/2nd/3rd in each category arrive later this week. The prize money is in hand. Electronic Chip Timing Conference Call tomorrow to get it all set up. 87 are registered online to date (the number keeps growing every day).

If you are in Iowa - this is a must attend, gotta experience it event. Race it. Ride it. Short distance. Long distance. Your choice. Come on out and have some fun.

Big mountain bike party for all after your race is finished. Burgers, dogs, chips, desserts, a massive beer garden will all be part of the fund raising for CITA (Central Iowa Trails Association). All my proceeds after expenses will go directly to CITA. What a great cause!

Everyone who is anyone in terms of mountain biking in Iowa will be there. ;-]

Sunshine and 77 degrees on race day for all. Come on out and let your mullet down to soak up some sun and fun.

BB

Race recap...

2011-09-25T07:33:00.000-07:00

I drove up to St. Cloud on Friday night with Tara for yesterday's final Minnesota Mountain Biking Series race. I was competing in the 50-59 year old series this summer and needed to do 7 of their 11 races for the best possible points. Unfortunately, I was only able to make it to 6 events this year. I had too many conflicts on the weekends of the other 5 events. However, I really enjoy the participation, variety of courses and competition in Minnesota as well as the scenery. Since I had to miss the Dakota Five-O and Laddies (budget meetings that weekend that I had to attend), I wanted to drive up for the Single Track Escape as I had never raced there before.

It was an interesting course and not something I was really expecting. It was a pretty flat course and a real labyrinth of twisty turns. Power was more important as I felt like I was on the gas all the time. The course didn't really favor power/weight ratio due to the lack of climbing, but it did favor sheer power to keep moving and accelerating out of the twisty turns. It had me wishing for narrower bars and wishing I was under 6 feet tall!! A pre-ride would be my best advice, and I didn't get the chance.

It was a challenge for sure, but maybe not the type of trail network I would tend to choose to go for a ride on any sort of a frequent basis if I had plenty of choices of trails. I like speed, climbs and a nice mix of twist. If you take out one of those elements, I'll still ride it often and enjoy it. But if you take out 2 of those elements (in this case, climbs and speed), I guess I remain confused at the trail builders design and goals when the trails were laid out. And that's what this singletrack was. All twist with really no where on the course to open up and let it fly outside of the grassy ski trail/fire road connector sections and one bit of singletrack near the finish line.

Not that I didn't enjoy it - I did in terms of variety and the challenge, but I can't recall riding anything quite like it in the Midwest in the past 8 years - at least for a race. Compared to other similar courses, I like the mix at Elk River, Manawa, Scott County, Sylvan much better as there are also lots of twists, but also lots of areas for sheer speed featured in sections between the twists. In other words, a nice balance or mix. This course had some turns where you literally came to a crawl to squeeze between tight saplings and sharp corners. Fingers, shoulders, heads, knees - all were fair game for the trees to snack upon. It made for a difficult XC race course to say the least.

Regardless, I took it on and finished in 3rd place in my category feeling dazed and confused by the end with all the endless twists, turns, trees, slowing, accelerating. At one point, it all began to look the same and I had no idea where I was out on the course. A lot of "itching to go fast", but no where "to go fast" type of riding. My rebuilt hub was working fine, but my chain was skipping between the 5th and 6th cog. Not sure if it was simply cable stretch, or if I am due for a new cassette/chain and rings. I tried to adjust the cable out on the trail, but with all of the twists and turns, it was hard to dial it in as I had to keep both hands gripped to the bars at all times. I found the few guys who finished just in front of me slumped over their bikes after the finish line, so I think we were all dazed and confused in the labyrinth. It was a challenge and a workout to say the least.

After I crossed the line, I loaded up the Element and headed back to Albertville where I Had left Tara to do some damage at the Outlet Malls!!! She had a banner day! We drove back to Iowa and I got to rehearsal for Die Fledermaus 4 minutes early. Perfect timing.

Thanks to the Minnesota Mountain Biking Series. You guys know how to do it right up there with excellent variety, well run events and great participation throughout the series.

My season has wound down. 13 events which included 1 DNF (Sugarbottom rear hub blew), 4 podiums, and a lot of fun!! Now it's time for me to host The Mullet Fall Classic at Lake Ahquabi two weeks from today.

Last day of summer...

2011-09-22T05:00:00.001-07:00

Today is the last day of summer before fall officially starts tomorrow on September 23rd. And the temperature is getting prepared for it. We've dropped from Monday's warm and sunny 80 to yesterday's 70 and today will only hit 65. However, it's going to climb back up to 80 after the weekend.

I've been pretty productive getting final things in place for the race the past few days. I got the online registration up and running as promised on September 20th at Raceregister.net which, I admit, is an experiment. I am offering a pretty big discount for all racers who sign up online and will eat the cost of the timing chip and transaction fee compared to those who sign up on race day. We'll see how that all plays out. I placed the order for The Mullet Fall Classic bike number plates and awards yesterday. Pi-Pi's porta potties are ordered. Most of the race route is ready to go and I finished the initial paint marking last night for those interested in pre-riding. A bit of mowing and some erosion fill work to do on the October 2nd, 1-5 pm trail work day. The only thing I didn't accomplish yesterday was booking a motel room for the timer that is driving over from Nebraska. I left a message to see what motel she would prefer, but didn't hear back yet.

The Mullet race route is in good shape and riding primo fast at the moment. I kind of like the big cyclocross downhill swoopy grass section that brings everybody out of the woods and back down to the start/finish area. I'll need a ton of markers, tape and chalk to set that up the day before the race. A ton of walnuts have fallen in the past 3 days which makes for sections of big "marbles" on the trail. I'm going to have to add that to the final grooming sweep of the trail to get the majority of walnuts off of the trail before the race - especially in the corners. I rode one loop last night and counted 42 deer. They are everywhere this time of year.

I've got too many irons in the fire at the moment with organizing a race, and directing an opera at the same time. On top of that, my father has been in and out of the hospital this past week and is now in re-hab for 8 weeks. Nothing like the stress of worrying about your aging parent and trying to figure things out from a distance with lots of phone calls, emails and shared concern. In terms of the opera, Die Fledermaus staging starts on Monday (we've actually been doing choreography the past 2 weekends). I pick up most of the props this morning and will get some rehearsal furniture over the weekend. I always forget how much problem solving is involved when directing an opera, but it all adds stress and keeps my mind racing to come up with solutions 24/7. I am not as prepared for the small details and particulars of the staging as I would like to be for Monday's start, but I put in about 3 hours this morning studying what I want to do. If I do that tonight, tomorrow, and as much as I can this weekend - I should be ready to go. Performances are October 27/28/29 - so there is time to let it develop and unfold, but no time to waste getting it all worked out with the students.

The racing season is winding down. Since I blew my DT Swiss/Hügi 240 rear hub at Sugarbottom, my weekly hours on the bike have dropped from 8-10 all the down to 3-4. Pathetic. In spite of that, I'm heading up to St. Cloud, MN for Saturday's final Minnesota Mountain Bike Series race. There seems to be enough punch in my legs for the climbs based on this week's training rides. Tonight is my final prep ride and I will test out the rebuilt rear hub. Sterling rebuilt it for around $55. Not bad considering I've been riding that hub since September of 2002 (bought it in Vienna, Austria). If the hub is fine on tonight's ride, I'll be riding it at St. Cloud. We plan on stopping by the outlet malls in Albertville to make the overnight trip productive. Then back to choreography rehearsal for the opera Saturday evening. Sunday, I'll mow some more out at Ahquabi, pick up some furniture for the opera and then do a big choreography session at night.

Bye-bye summer, hello fall...

The BIG Five-0...

2011-09-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

...and I'm not talking about the Dakota Five-0.

I will hit 50 tomorrow. That's right - fifty!!!

My wife pulled off a perfect surprise 50th birthday party for me on Saturday night. Disguised and well hidden, I thought I was heading off to one of my regular "guy nights" with the guys where we grill, drink beer, smoke cigars and lambast all the Republicans until the beer runs out in the wee hours of the night. I've been there for many of those nights while our wives go out to eat in Des Moines. I was told to bring an appetizer and a bottle of wine and be there around 7 ish.

This was on Saturday and I had done trail work all day at Lake Ahquabi and then rushed off to opera dance rehearsal for Die Fledermaus that I am directing at Simpson. After rehearsal, I rushed to Hy-Vee to get the fixings for making stuffed mushrooms (18 portabellos, sausage, bacon, two cheeses) and I rushed home to make them. One of the regular guys at these guy nights is a professional chef, another is a great cook and I wanted to impress this time around. I was running late and finally finished my 18 stuffed goodies at 7:10 pm. No time to shower, so I figured we'd be outside grilling and smoking - so wearing a hat and smelling like I'd had a full work day was fine.

I pull into the driveway of our good friends (Joel and Deb Hade) and see the cars of all the regulars in the driveway, but notice many, may cars parked on the streets. I figure somebody else on that street must be having a party. I go around to the back of their house figuring they'd be out on the patio grilling and all was dark. Shoot. I must be early - or so I thought. Nobody was there. I opened up the sliding screen door to go in, even though everything is dark. I yell out "Is anybody home?" No answer. I figure I better head back out to the car or the patio and sit and wait.

Lights come on and 45+ people start singing Happy Birthday to me. I am in total surprised shock. They are all dressed up and I am in jeans, a baseball cap and stink like I've been working all day. Oh well... My wife pulled off a smooth one. I had no clue. Nobody broke the secret to me at all. Friends, colleagues, students were all there. A jazz trio, lots of food, drink, fellowship and even a "roasting" of me by my current students sung to music from The Mikado ensued. And a former student from South Africa sang 2 special numbers. We partied until about 11:30 or midnight and then all went home. What a great time!

Of the 3 days out of the year I don't take a shower, this happened to be one! My bad, but the party was great. Tomorrow (the 20th) is the official day, but my wife outdid herself with this bash. I was totally surprised. Floored.

Thanks Tara. Thanks Joel and Deb. Thanks to all my friends, colleagues and my students for making it a most memorable 50th Birthday.

Frustrations of a DNF...

2011-08-29T04:39:00.000-07:00

DNF = Did Not Finish. I haven't had one of those since the bad karma start to the 2009 race season when I had a few, so perhaps I was due for the one I experienced yesterday at the Sugar Bottom Scramble. I was about 20-25 minutes into lap one when it happened.

Here's how...

I headed over to Sugar Bottom Recreation Area Sunday morning at 8:15 a.m. and arrived to register, warm-up and race in the event. This is where I did my very first mountain bike race, so I always look forward to riding or racing there on the network of trails. The weather was perfect, and a good turnout had confirmed that. The mood was good and we were ready to roll.

My wave started at around 11:20 and I started off in the 2nd row of riders of a pretty big group for the opening climb. After we got rolling, I didn't go - or couldn't go - quite as cross eyed as the previous week's atart, but I managed to make it into the singletrack in the top 15-20. There are a lot of roots at Sugar Bottom which keeps you on your toes for picking lines and using good cornering technique to avoid going down. It wasn't long before the rider directly in front of me went down on a sharp, descending corner and he and his bike were sprawled completely across the trail blocking the way. The only option for the rider behind the one who falls is to stop. You can't ride over somebody's bike and you just hope the guys behind you stop in time. So I stopped and 5 or 6 guys went around us before I could get around the fallen rider and his bike. He was okay and got back on his bike to pursue.

I caught back up with the group that had just gone around me and we worked our way back up to the line in front of us. I was able to start passing some riders and worked my way back to where I had been when another rider directly in front of me went down and his bike completely covered the trail. No way for me to get around him, so again I had to stop. And again a half-dozen riders or so went around us. Maybe my karma was off, I thought. No panic, the rider was okay and I got around him and pedaled hard to catch back up.

On one of the climbs, in a narrow section a rider buzzed around me on the right and sort of scared me as I wasn't expecting it. I certainly would have given him room had he asked. I casually suggested a shout out next time he passed to let a guy know. 100 yards later, the guy who had just passed me went down and was blocking the trail. I was able to ride to the right and get around him. He caught up to me again a couple of minutes later and again, went around me in a tight section without calling out. Oh well...

I was getting in my groove, but could tell the busy training week for the Dakota Five-O had zapped my legs a tiny bit, so I kept a high spin rate to aid in the climbs rather than mash my way to exhaustion on the first part of lap one. Exiting the singeltrack and riding down the fire road to the north side of the singletrack, I could see I was in a big long line of riders in front of me and behind me. We were stirring up a lot of dust. Once into the singletrack, there were a lot of us stacked up wheel to wheel. I heard another bike go down, but this time it was behind me and not in front of me. Imagine that?!! I finally caught a break.

We were really crowded and stacked up wheel to wheel. The guy behind me kept buzzing his tire on mine, but I had no where to go as there were at least 6 - 8 guys in front of me wheel to wheel as we snaked our way through the turns. The trail was pretty rough and bouncy this year - or so it seemed. It could be my Racing Ralphs were a tad over-inflated, but things felt rough to me and I was on the full suspension. I wonder what it felt like on a HT?

As we crossed the bridge at the bottom of the descent leading to the cyclocross hill, I got my bike in the gear I wanted to clean the hill and used my momentum to take me up the first half of the hill. There was a big crowd of spectators cheering everybody on and I got out of the saddle and had at it to clean the climb. Lots of cheers of encouragement from the crowd. About 2 bike lengths from the top of the hill, my rear hub slipped and my pedals did an entire revolution without any progress. Yikes! I had to dismount and push my bike the final 10 feet to the top of the hill. I got back on and got going. The drivetrain felt fine, but that was odd. As I was getting back up to speed, a guy came flying around me. So I gave pursuit to latch on to his wheel.

Here's the Snap, Crackle, and Pop sequence of my rear hub self-imploding on me at the top of the climb.

Nailing the climb is the Snap...

Something didn't feel right with just a few feet to go to clean the climb and the pedals spun all the way around for the Crackle...

And Pop, I had to dismount and push my noble steed the final few feet...

Photos courtesy of Tom Anderson who sent them to me on Facebook from Mike Shumway's Facebook photo album. Thanks Tom and Mike!

The first climb after that, my chain - or so I thought - was skipping from gear to gear. At least that's what it felt like. Uh...oh. Something was wrong. Every little climb I hit, the drivetrain was failing. I got off, checked the derailleur, chain - all okay. Something was wrong. About 50 yards later - I was done. If I pedaled, the hub would not stay engaged. All those I had worked to pass went around me with each asking me if I was okay. Or asking what had happened. Equipment failure is no fun. I didn't really get mad, I just sucked it up (frustration that is) and knew I'd live to fight another day and started the long walk out of the woods back to the starting area.

I'll take my bike to Rassy's today to see if it is the rear hub and what can be done about it. The JET has been flawless all year. I've been on top of it, maintenance wise, and even on Saturday's training ride, saw no evidence there was any sort of a problem with the rear hub. But it's shot. Replacement parts will be needed.

Back to my walkout...

A few hundred yards later, I saw the guy who had passed me after the top of cyclocross hill. He was clutching his arm, bleeding and another racer was walking his bike out of the woods. I ran over and told the guy who was pushing the two bikes to get back in the race, I'd walk the injured rider and bike back in since my bike was shot. It looked to be a separated right shoulder as it was hanging much lower than his left. His arm, knee and leg were bleeding and he said his shoulder had hit a tree and he went down hard. The chain was off the bike, so I hung it over the cranks and pushed both of our bikes while he walked. He didn't seem nauseous, but he sort of had that vocal delivery and pale white look of a bit of shock. I tried to keep his mind diverted as we talked about whatever else I could think of walking along the gravel road. We finally made it back to where the paramedics were, but somebody had sent them out into the woods to look for the injured rider. We called the injured rider's son (the rider looked to be in his 50's), got him some ice, sat him down and the paramedics arrived back from their search to take over. He was going to be okay, but needed to go to the hospital.

Anyway, it got me to thinking. One of our code of racing "rules" or "ethics" says that if you come up on an injured rider who is in need, stop racing and take care of him. Luckily, one of the racers had done just that. I just happen to come along and relieved him. I was able to use my misfortune of a mechanical failure so that he could continue his race. I'm sure he lost a couple of minutes or more by stopping to help, but I wonder what goes through the mind of each and every racer that encounters a downed rider? He certainly did right by stopping to help and put the injured rider as his priority over just asking him if he was okay and riding right on by. Others may have stopped initially as well, I don't know because I came upon the scene a few minutes after it happened and a lot of riders passed me while I was walking along the trail and carrying my bike.

Had I been on the wheel of this guy - if my hub had not malfunctioned - would I have stopped and given up my race to take care of him? I've certainly stopped and asked fallen riders in a lot of races if they were okay or needed anything, but I've never come upon an injury that needed the kind of assistance that I saw yesterday. So my answer today is - yes - I would have stopped. He needed help. I would have seen that it was important to give up my race and take care of him. That's my answer today. I don't know what I would have done yesterday in the heat of the battle at full speed when those sorts of decisions are made in a few seconds. Lesson learned for me: the next time I encounter a similar situation is that the race outcome is not worth it for me, helping a fellow racer who is injured trumps everything else. I just hope - like the racer who did stop for this injured rider and help him out - that I, too, can make that kind of quick and wise decision.

Dakota Five-0 Final Training ride...

2011-08-25T18:24:00.000-07:00

Going with the premise that any training stimulus done 10 days or less before an event really won't help, I headed out to Lake Ahquabi to do a endurance simulation yesterday to take advantage of the high heat and humidity. That put my final endurance test (I've been doing about one endurance ride per week to build up for it) around 11 days before the actual race. One Lake Ahquabi lap for the race course is about 7.5 miles, so I headed out in the morning and got underway at 9:40 a.m. while things were still moist from the evening fog and dew.

I had mixed a 4 hour bottle of Perpetuem in one Camelbak bottle and had a cooler in the car of 5 fresh water bottles, one bottle of pickle juice, 3 GU's and some maple walnut snack bites to see if and what I needed for nutrition.

I used lap one as a warm-up, but was up to an easier endurance race pace by the end of it. I stopped after every lap for a fresh water bottle and made sure every 15-20 minutes I was sipping on the Perpetuem bottle to stay nurished. Laps 2, 3 and 4 I put the gas on and saw just how far I could push myself pace wise to keep momentum going and hammer the climbs (within reason). Some of that was very close to XC race pace. I have memories of cramping pretty hard at mile 26 back in 2005 on my first attempt at the Dakota Five-0 when I went out way too hard from the get go. I had the flu at the time with a fever and cough which contributed to the cramping. I didn't really have a solid nutrition plan back then for the race. This year, I do and I wanted to try it out yesterday.

I shot a GU after laps 2 and lap 4. Lap 5 had me starting to fatigue with some twinges right above the knee cap which usually leads to cramping later on, but I pushed it hard and matched my time of previous laps. I hit the pickle juice after lap 5. Lap 6 was simply to "hit the distance" and see what my body did in the condition it was in. I ran out of Perpetuem, so utilized some of the maple walnut bites (ate 3) and a bottle of Heed and a bottle of water and a GU for the final lap. I throttled down on the climbs and took advantage of the granny 23T ring to simply turn the cranks over and make the climbs.

I was spent at the end of lap 6, but rolled in the 6 laps with an average time of 53 minutes per lap which - if it transfers at altitude and the Black Hills, should get me sub 6 hours depending on weather, traffic and how my body responds to the effort. Sub 6 hours is my goal since last time with the flu and severe cramping I rolled in at 6:44 which included tearing a tire and the repair time, hanging out at some of the aid stations for a relaxing rejuvination and riding the 2nd half of the race more as a ride rather than a race due to my cramped legs. I think with good nutrition and proper pacing this year, I should be able to hit the sub 6 hour target without any problems.

Nutrition felt fine for the endurance test of 45 miles off road, the bike felt fine, the stomach was fine and I had no trouble sleeping and recovering from the effort. I did take today off the bike outside of the dog walks, but I will do a recovery/easy effort on Friday afternoon to see how I feel.

I have an XC race at Sugar Bottom on Sunday, so I am hoping to bounce back from Wednesday's endurance test for the quicker XC effort needed on Sunday. I'm also mired in day long workshops and faculty meetings most of this week, so time is limited.

XC Racing and coming into form...

2011-08-22T08:38:00.001-07:00

I haven't had time to post on the blog due to opera production meetings, getting ready for the fall semester, training, yard work, cooking, etc..., but I did race the past two weekends.

MAYHEM

Two weeks ago was the Swanson MTB Mayhem event at Swanson Park for the combined Nebraska and Iowa Series. Originally scheduled for Lake Manawa, the event was moved to Swanson due to the Missouri River flooding having Manawa underwater. I decided to ride the RIP 9 to make sure it was race ready for the Dakota Five-0 and let the bike absorb the bumps at Swanson rather than my body.

After picking up my number plate, I got on my bike and as I was leaving the registration area, got my front wheel stuck between the sidewalk and grass and did a nice little, slow motion endo in front of the crowd. Nice. Nothing was hurt, but my pride. ;-] All went well in the race and I could tell that I was in very good form. In spite of being in excellent form, my results don't really show that for the past two weeks, but that's okay. I've been up against some good competition the past two races, so the placing in the results don't tell the entire story.

Going into the race, I had just finished a pretty good build period and had a 5 day rest/recovery period going into the race. I latched on behind Jason Dal from Des Moines Rassy team for lap one and lap two. For me, this was a different effort than earlier in the season when I raced at Swanson - my first race of the season. I was on the gas most of the time and not searching for much recovery. About 1/2 way through lap 3, Jason started to pull away and I couldn't quite match his pace. He finished a minute, thirty-five ahead of me for 3rd place in the Masters 35+ division and I finished 5th in the Masters 45+ division. Same exact place I got at Swanson earlier this season against the same guys, but I felt I had a much stronger and better race as I am in good form. I was only 20 seconds out of fourth place, so that's not so bad. Course was great and we rode it in the opposite direction than we did earlier in the season.

BORDER BATTLE

Yesterday was the Border Battle between the Wisconsin Series and the Minnesota Series - which are the two largest Midwest Mountain Biking race series in terms of number of participants. The race was at White Tail Ridge in River Falls, Wisconsin. I drove up on Friday afternoon with Zack and Alexa. We made a weekend out of it by staying at the Radisson with the water park and hitting the Mall of America for some last minute back to school shopping.

I headed out to the race course on Saturday for a pre-ride and to register. The weather was perfect and the trail opened up at 12 noon for pre-riding. I went out at 12:19 for a pair of loops. During lap one my goal was to just survey the trail, but I was feeling pretty good which led me to testing myself in a few sections. During lap two the traffic increased as there were others out there pre-riding. It was fun to chat with some riders about the differences in the course this year compared to prior years. I rode this course in 2009, so my memory wasn't that great, but I did note a new and fun jeep trail with a loose rocks climb.

I rolled back to the car at 1:31 p.m. after doing two laps and then did 20 minutes or so of cool down before loading up the bike. I grabbed some lunch in River Falls and then went back to register once the registration tent opened at 3 p.m. for business. The website and WORS book said Cat 2's would be doing 3 laps, but I was told at registration we would only be doing 2. Hmmmm...I thought. Just loafing on my pre-ride laps I had rolled 2 laps in about 1:12 which meant winning times would be sub 60 minutes. That seemed pretty short for a Cat 2 XC race, but oh well.

I got back to the motel, showered and hit the mall with the kids who had been at the water park all day. We got some dinner, did some shopping and then headed back to the motel. We all went down for the final hour of the water park hours and I hit the hot tub to let the jets massage my legs and back to recover for Sunday's race. Oooooooooooo....it felt good.

Sunday's weather was perfect. The trail was perfect. My legs felt great, and in spite of a head cold I have I felt ready to go. My strategy was to hang on the climb around the mid-pack in my wave and then attack in the flat open section at the top before entering the woods and singletrack. At least that was my plan at the gun. I jockeyed up and into pretty good position on the start in the open meadow. Once we made the sharp right hand turn a few hundred yards later and hit the opening climb - which is a doubletrack, gravel jeep trail - I found myself about 3 abreast with me on the right side next to an eroded drainage rut. I ran out of room and the guy next to me literally elbowed me over and into the ditch. WTF!!!? Thanks guy!

I used all the travel of the JET 9 and bounded through the erosion rut and was forced over on the right side of the rut which was grass and dirt where all the spectators were standing to view the opening climb and to cheer us on as we grunted up the hill. There was really no room for me to go back over the rut and on the gravel side of the climb due to the crowded traffic, so I decided to just climb on the right side of the rut which worked to my advantage. My strategy quickly changed to attack the climb and recover on the top flat area as opposed to the reverse I was planning on doing. I was in the top 10 out of a group of about 55 racers at the top of the climb which was perfect!!!

Alexa got a shot of me on her cellphone as I huffed and puffed my way up the right side as if I wasn't even part of the group on the other side of the rut...

What the heck? I didn't plan for that and I didn't panic. I just took what was given to me and climbing over on the right side off of the trail worked. I was cross eyed, coughing up a lung, and near maximum heart rate at the top - so I had to recover in the first 200-300 yards on the flat passing area. Luckily, only 2 or 3 passed me in that section. I went into the singletrack with the top group and because of that - there were no log jams and the flow was great.

I was riding the Racing Ralph tires which were super fast. Maybe not the best grip on the climbs if I got out of saddle, but fine for this course and the condition it was in - dry hardpack and fast. The pre-ride helped as I knew what to expect and pushed it on the climbs and descents. One rider in my age class passed me at the top of the opening climb at the start of lap 2, and I latched on to follow him. We got behind a group of 3 or 4 slower riders from age groups that had started before us and I recovered. I was itching for us to pass them and not lose sight of guys in our class in front of us. All told, I bet we lost a full minute before we were able to pass them. Lap 2 was fast and fun. This course was a big smile. Tires were perfect. Bike was working great. Legs felt good and I was having a blast.

I got behind a rider from an earlier class for the final singletrack section and wanted around him, but knew I could sprint to the line once we got out of the woods. We got out of the woods and I hit my usual finish line sprint and was surprised how well my legs responded. Flew by him and crossed the line feeling really good for such a short and fast race...

The clock reading of 1:11 is from the first wave. My group started in the 4th wave and my finish time was 1:03:58 which was good enough for 8th place in the 50-54 group. Again, the placing may not show how good I am actually feeling and riding at the moment, but my condition feels at a different level right now compared to the rest of the season. It was pretty stiff competition at WORS with a larger field, so I can't complain. I was only 4:34 back from the winner in this race compared to 8 minutes+ just 2 weeks ago or even more earlier in the season. This, in spite of a head cold which had me coughing a lot.

All in all - I was really pleased. Great course, great volunteers and it was fun to do a WORS race again as I had not been to one this season. My only complaint would probably be that the race was a bit too short. I would have liked a 3rd lap so times were closer to other race finishing times this season. In fact, the winning times back in 2009 at this same course were closer to the 1:25-1:30 for my division which would have been similar this year had we done a 3rd lap. Oh well, it was still a really fun race and course.

We headed home and Zack drove from Owatonna as I napped.

New Training Stimulus..

2011-08-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it comes in mysterious ways.

My new stimulus happens to be the insects. Bugs are everywhere at Banner Pits and at Lake Ahquabi. The heat and high humidity have made for a massive bumper crop of flying critters that move in packs and have social networks designed to attack on every hairpin turn, switchback or turnaround. They wait and strike. They track and pursue. They follow and nag. I'm not really talking about mosquitoes - not too worry, it's a bumper crop for them as well - but I am talking about odd sorts of flies and bugs that swarm you and bite.

I got frustrated to the point yesterday that I started swatting and when that didn't work, I started riding harder and faster. That still didn't work. So I upped the speed to full out XC race speed and even tossed in some wildly crazy and out of control speed. I was able to get the critters to stay away riding like that. Two downed trees at Banner and some branches (I guess there was a big storm on Saturday night while I was up in Duluth) just about did me in with the creatures. Stopping to hoist my bike over these, the critters swooped in fast and furious to attack me yet again. I got to practice hopping on the bike and powering up to full steam intervals to shake them.

Not bad for a stimulus, but I think it is time to dig out the bug spray in hopes of gaining a few seconds out in the jungle at Banner. Or, I'll just plan on every ride in the woods being a full out intensity ride this month...

Made the Podium...

2011-08-09T02:12:00.000-07:00

After a heavy week of cycling (trying to build for the 50 mile endurance race in the Black Hills coming up), I drove up to Duluth on Saturday for Sunday's The Great Hawk Race which was to be race #8 in Minnesota's Mountain Bike Race Series. I had not been to Duluth since the summer of 1980 (when I had to wear a heavy flannel shirt it was so cold). The 6 hour drive was too long to do on the morning of the race, so I headed up thinking I could take a loop of the race course on Saturday and find a place to stay.

The drive was nice as temperatures got cooler as I kept heading north. About an hour south of Duluth, it began raining which I knew was going to spoil my chances of a pre-ride. By the time I pulled into Duluth, the rain had stopped and I drove to the Lester Park area on the North Shore to find the race course. There were a few in the parking lot that had just finished a lap or were heading out to do one. Since my legs were on a rest day from the week of training, I decided it was best to let them rest and I didn't want to hurt the trail after a fresh rain. So I walked a bit of it to get an idea of conditions. It was muddy. I determined I needed to swap out my Race King 2.2's for the Maxxis Beaver mud tires. I figured I could do that in my motel room. So I headed back into town to find a room.

Big problem. "No rooms for 30 miles" was the word I kept getting at every motel desk. Duluth is a happening summer vacation spot? WTF? I had no idea and figured the worst case scenario would be for me to drive 30 miles or so to find a room. I grabbed dinner at a wood burning oven restaurant which had rotisserie chicken going full force over the flames and looked tasty. So I ordered 1/2 a bird and a sweet potato. Then I headed back south in search of a room. Long story short, everyone in every town was full. Finally, at a town about 110 miles south I found the next to last room left in a seedy place. It was cheap, but the price of gas to drive there and back made it the same had I stayed at a nice place in Duluth. Tired from the extra miles of driving, I hit the sack and was out by midnight. I got up at 7 so I could grab some coffee and change my race tires to mud tires. It sounds like a rather odd thing to do, but there I was on the bathroom tile floor changing tubeless tires in a seedy motel room at 7:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning. I finished up, cleaned up the mess, showered, dressed and headed back up to Duluth with my breakfast in the car.

Construction traffic delayed my arrival, so I only had about 10 minutes to warm up after I got registered, dressed and ready to go. That's not enough time for me (especially after the training week I went through) and I know it meant I would have to start the race slower than planned because of it to get the blood flowing. I was mentally prepared to turn myself inside out on this race to shoot for a good finish. However, without the proper warm up the danger was going out too hard on the start and not being able to recover at all for the rest of the race. So I went over to the starting line and saw that the usual crowd of 50+ age riders had not made the drive up to Duluth. A quick look around the riders in my wave (45-49, 50-59, and 60+) looked to be only about 15 of us compared to the usual 25+ riders. Steve Stilwell was there in the front row and is in 1st place in the standings as well as some wins under his belt this season. Another rider ahead of me in the standings was there lined up in the 2nd row...and the next thing I knew, we were off. I had to bring along and wear my old MOB Racing kit for this race since my son, Zack, managed to "borrow" both my BikeIowa.com kits for his exercise rides on the trainer in the basement and I found them wadded up and dirty on his bathroom floor as I was packing. Too late to wash them, so I grabbed my MOB kit.

The opening climb was on a cross country ski trail and it was uphill. Here's the start of my wave...

I had to pace myself and hold back to use the opening as a warm up, so I was back in the pack huffing and puffing. The rain had made the trail spongy and muddy - enough so that it felt like my rear brake was rubbing (it wasn't, it just felt like it). There was going to be no coasting on this course with the soggy conditions, so Niner's top tube sticker on all of their bikes which reads "Pedal Damn It!" kept staring up at me and reminding me to keep grinding it out. I was hanging with a guy in front of me and a couple were hanging on my tail, but once we finished the ski trail climb and headed into the single track, I recovered and realized the guy in front of me was a bit timid in the singletrack. It was pretty greasy, but I got around him.

By now, the lead group was not only not in sight, they were long gone. That's the price I had to pay for no warm-up and the inability to go cross eyed on the start for fear of not recovering. But I forged ahead. It felt like a lot of climbing on this course, but some of that was due to the soggy conditions making it feel like even the flat spots were a climb. Short power climbs had my grinding it out...

I passed a couple of guys from earlier classes walking a climb after one of the first road crossings and after I cleaned the climb and powered around a corner, got my wheels in a rut on a flat spot and went down as they slipped out in the mud. My handlebars were turned sideways, but I was able to hold the front wheel between my legs and get them straight again.

Back on the bike I was now warmed up and felt like racing, so I turned on the gas and powered through the best I could. Not having ridden here and stuck in no man's land with no rider visible in front of me to follow and learn the trail, I was being a bit cautious not knowing what was coming around the next bend. The final descent into the finish line area to start lap 2 was a long cross country ski trail where you could really let it all out and fly down the hill. I had walked most of this section on Saturday evening, so I knew what it looked like and I powered through the finish area to start my next lap.

Lap 2 was really soggy on the ski trail climb as all of the bikes had done their damage to cut through the top layers and turn things into a bog. I was searching for the least soggy line at all times, but it was work to keep turning the pedals over in the muddy, clay sections. And of course, bike and legs and face were covered in mud. Once in the singletrack, things were drying out and turning the course into perfect conditions. It wasn't as slippery on the 2nd lap and I found a bit of a groove which allowed me to up the pace and push on, but I still felt like I had a brake dragging. It didn't take much to put me in the heart rate area of no return, so I had to use my easy gear with a high spin when I could on the steeper power climbs. The leader of one of the waves that started behind us caught me and passed me in the singletrack.

Again, I found myself out there on my own with nobody to follow or track down. I find that a tough spot to be in on a tough course where you can find yourself backing off to just handle the technical nature of the course and you then find yourself riding at a pace that is not really racing, but seems like you are just out for a good ride. I found myself in that sort of pace when all of a sudden a rider appeared and passed me at the top of a climb. That woke me up and I gave pursuit only to watch him pull over 5 minutes later at the side of the trail with a mechanical. No matter, I was racing again and the end was in sight. Several bridges including a final series of bridges kept one on their toes with the soggy conditions...

I floored it the rest of the way and once I hit the ski trail descent, I put the chain on the big ring and sprinted with whatever I had left to the finish line. Actually, the legs turned over very well as I was now warmed up!! Oh well....

It wasn't my best race, but due to the lack of numbers showing up - I rolled across in 2nd place, 5 minutes and heavy change behind Steve Stilwell who got his third win of the season in the Minnesota series (congrats Steve!!!). I was 10 minutes in front of 3rd place (about the same amount of time I had over that same rider last week at the Single Track Attack in Elk River - where I got 4th and he got 6th). Lester Park was an absolutely beautiful course with the rivers, climbs, rocks, heavy forest, smell of fresh rain, temperature around 70 and usual Minnesota hospitality. Kudos to the entire crew for the excellent trails and race!!! It was well worth the drive and frustration of not booking a motel room (lesson learned). I cleaned up, had some Granola Bars, watermelon and a couple of bottles of water to recover. I hung around for the awards ceremony and then hopped in the car for the drive home.

17 seconds off of the podium....!!!

2011-08-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

I headed up to Minnesota on Sunday morning for the 7th race in the Minnesota summer mountain biking series - the SingleTrackAttack at Hillside Park in Elk River, MN. Give or take a few minutes, it's a 4 1/2 hour jaunt from front door to the registration table. I was amazed at how foggy and muggy things were at 5:45 a.m. on Sunday. Saturday night had been a very pleasant evening as we were at a pool party and sat out on the deck socializing until 10. I guess the muggy humidity rolled in during the night and the prediction was for a very high heat index come race time. I've grown accustomed to the heat this summer on the bike, so I wasn't too worried.

In terms of the Minnesota series, this was to be my 3rd event in their series thus far this summer. I was looking forward to it since I have enjoyed the Hillside Park trails the past couple of seasons. According to the radar, they were hit with a nice overnight rain, but everyone claimed the sandy soil soaks up most rain - so no special mud tires were needed. I went with the Continental Race King 2.2's to give me a bit more BB height in hopes I could avoid any pedal strikes on the rocks and roots on this twisty course.

My only worry centered around my legs. Lifting weights on Wednesday for the first time since our basement flooded in June and riding full out on Thursday's RAGBRAI meant my legs needed a full two days of recovery. I failed to cool down after the RAGBRAI ride and failed to get some recovery fluid/food within the important window of opportunity. So, my legs were shot on Friday. I went out for a recovery ride on Saturday with Tara and was shocked how bad my legs felt at the start of the ride. I could barely get up the first hill in granny gear. I nearly turned around 3 blocks from the house. I knew better and thought the blood flow would help me recover and wake up my legs. So I kept on at a very easy pace to get the blood flowing while Tara kept looking back wondering what was wrong with me. About 30 minutes into the ride, my legs came back to life and I knew I would be okay on Sunday. Once I arrived at Hillside Park, got suited up and started warming up - it was confirmed that my legs were back.

We all got lined up in our respective age group starting waves. I was the next to last wave to start at the SingleTrackAttack as they started us in chronological age group order. So my wave group included the 45-49, 50-59 and 60+ racers. I managed to get in the 3rd row at the start line after all of the series leader call ups were finished. At the gun, we all jumped out and one guy shot off like a rocket. The rest of us were pretty content to stick in a clump down the gravel road to the singletrack. I was in a debate with my legs and mind as to whether I really wanted to turn myself inside out to get up to the singletrack with the first few racers or not. And the question loomed in my mind if I would actually be able to recover in the heat for the rest of the race if I did so. I probed the legs and started to move up in the pack only to be cut off and pushed to the left side of the road out into the grass by another rider - so that settled it for me. I hung where I was and went into the singletrack in the middle of the pack. It didn't take long for me to start passing a few that were dabbing at some of the turns, roots and trail conditions (muddy corners).

It was very warm and humid. And I knew the duration of the race was going to be 90 minutes plus based on the mileage and type of course Hillside is. My legs were feeling good and I knew I had time to work my way through the crowd, so I pushed on trying to remain cautious on certain corners that were muddy enough that tires were slipping out on most of us. Everybody was pretty cool about passing in this race and the singletrack gave plenty of opportunities to pass with its design. In retrospect, I was getting too comfortable behind slower riders on lap one and not doing my part to work around them as best I could. Most likely that was due to the debate between my mind and body with regard to the RAGBRAI effort on Thursday and how to handle the heat/humidity. In spite of that, I was hanging with guys that usually place better than I do by a minute or two, so I was content to be in the hunt.

Was it the heat, or was there a sculpture of a lady of the woods out there...

I hit one rut in the middle of a turn that was still very wet from the fresh rain and down I went. Luckily, I fell in very soft and sandy soil so nothing was hurt. I just had sand all over my legs and hands, but I hopped right back on and buzzed on...

Due to the 4 waves that started in front of us, we hit a lot of traffic and had to work our way around slower riders from the age groups in front of us. This made the 2nd half of lap 1 and all of lap 2 a bit more challenging. I got stuck behind one Clydesdale in one of the tighter, twistier sections who would not allow me to pass no matter how nicely I asked (I asked 3 times). He was not obligated to let me pass, but most racers realize when a faster rider is on their tail and will make room for a second or two for a rider to overtake them. I finally got around him on a climb where he was riding well, but his weight didn't allow him to climb as fast as I could so I just went around him and took off to make up some time. I venture to guess I lost 10 - 20 seconds right there, but who knows. It wasn't the only delay I put myself into and got lulled into a bit of recovery before pushing on and passing. It happened again in the same exact section on lap 2 when I got stuck behind a guy on a 29"er who had not learned the bike's attributes quite well enough to lean and carve the turns while laying off of the brakes. He was over-braking every corner, which caused us to slow and go around every corner, followed by acceleration to get back up to speed. I actually got into a conversation with him about the heat and humidity and instead of passing, I was socializing. WTF!! Then I heard a rider or two coming up behind us and I gunned it around him and gave it my all for the final section of the race.

It was so twisty and thick in the forest, you really couldn't tell who was ahead of you or behind you as you couldn't see very far. Lots of sharp, switchback uphill turns where you had to keep the power on the pedals to rotate around the turn...

Coming out of the thick forest and into the more open straight sections and final turns, I caught up to the wheel of the winner of the 60+ group (and he usually beats me by a minute or two) and another rider who was in the 30-34 age group. I had nothing to gain to pass these two guys on the final 200 yards to the line, so I just hung with them and we all crossed the line more or less as a clump. Bravo and kudos to the race crew who had a wide enough finish chute this year to avoid any crazy thing such as I experienced last year. Last year, during a final sprint to the line to beat another racer, I accidentally locked handlebars with him crossing the line because the finish line chute was only about 4 feet wide and I got stuck. This year, it was more like 10-12 feet wide and there was plenty of room for a safe finish.

I went for 20 minute cool down ride and noticed my legs, bike and clothes were covered in mud, sand and slop. So it was a get down and get dirty race, but a lot of fun. My legs were working well, my bike handling was spot on and the trails were a blast. Any sliding out with the tires was very predictable and easily managed. After loading up my bike and cleaning off, I went to get a turkey wrap and drink at the concession stand and then headed over to check the results. Wow! I came in 4th only 17 seconds behind 3rd place. Did I leave those 17 seconds on the trail? You bet. My bad, but the heat, the recovery from RAGBRAI, the socializing the night before, the lack of sleep, the 4 1/2 hour drive all probably contributed to my decision making. Still, that's a big improvement for me in this competitive field up in Minnesota. 7th place in my first race up there this season, 5th place last race and now 4th place. A podium spot was that close and I let it slip through my fingers. Not next time. I'm peaking for some upcoming events and hope to keep on the improvement path this month as each weekend race unfolds.

Kudos to Rich Omdahl and his excellent crew for once again hosting a favorite event of mine. I'll be back for sure...

Riding Day 5 of RAGBRAI...

2011-07-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

Tara and I had planned to do a day or two of RAGBRAI when it hit central Iowa. It was either going to be Wednesday from Boone to Altoona, or Thursday Altoona to Grinnell. Considering the weather was scorching/muggy hot on Wednesday and the forecast called for overcast and rain on Thursday - Thursday it was. Then Tara pulled the plug as she had to work. That suited me fine as day 5 on RAGBRAI called for 66 hills over the course of a 57.5 mile route. I figured I would use it as a training ride and hammer all 66 of the hills and shoot for a 4-5 hour ride.

So Zack dropped me off in Altoona yesterday morning at 9:35 a.m. as I waited until it finished raining before loading my bike in the Element. The lion's share of riders were already gone being that time of the morning, but I knew I would catch up with the crowd in the first 10 miles. The roads confirmed that I had just missed the rain and many must have gotten wet as the morning showers had moved through sometime between 7-9 a.m. . I was riding the Specialized Allez road bike that I bought for Zack a few years ago. It's a size XL 58cm frame, but I have major toe overlap with the front wheel due to my preference of wearing the cleats all the way back on my shoes. Not a problem on my 29"ers, and not really a problem on a road bike since turns are more of a lean and the only time my shoes really rub the tire is stopped at stop lights/signs with one foot unclipped and waiting for my turn to go with the front wheel turned.

The bike traffic flow was nice all the way to Colfax. And the cloud cover made for perfect July riding temperatures. It was still muggy causing me to be dripping wet, but there was no chance of overheating for me in the low 80's temps. We were riding into a pretty good wind that had everyone hunting for a slipstream. I wanted to go solo and use the wind as a big Texas Hill and spent most of the day doing that. Colfax was filled with the "crowd", so I indeed caught up to the masses after the first 7 miles. The usual crowds were already in the beer gardens and it was only 10 a.m. !!! I filled the water bottle at one of the stations and pushed on to the next town - Baxter. We crossed I-80 right at that bridge next to the Adult Book Superstore that one always sees driving east or west on I-80. I think it was one of those old Stuckey's highway gas station/restaurant stops. Anyway, they had a beverage and food stand which was attracting a lot of riders. ;-)

I buzzed on by and pushed myself for the 7 miles north to Baxter. My legs were warmed up now and I was flying. I stuck to my goal of killing the climbs. If I was riding the entire week, or more than one day, this would not have been possible. However, I was enjoying the ride on the pavement as I am always too chicken to go out on the highways of Iowa that don't have shoulders by myself for a training ride. It was really crowded at this point. In addition to the week long riders, there seemed to be a lot of us one day riders which is typical in central Iowa as a lot of folks from the Des Moines metro area hop on for a day. I think RAGBRAI has grown so much they should just block off the entire road. There are too many riders to fit in the right lane. If you want to pass and stay on the right side of the yellow line, you piss off a bunch of folks as you pass in narrow quarters. So you pretty much have to cross the yellow line and pass. But with the road being open, you encounter a lot of oncoming traffic which is not the safest option. I don't even like being in the right lane near the center line when an oncoming car or truck approaches. Here's what the crowds looked like...

About 3 miles outside of Baxter, I noticed my rear tire was going flat. Rats!! I had a patch kit, but no spare tube as I couldn't find them when loading up my bike. Turns out, Tara had them in her pack and she was no where to be found - obviously. So I put as much of my weight on the front wheel as possible in an odd looking position on the bike and limped into Baxter. I headed for the Rassy tent and Squirrel chastised me for not having a spare tube. $13 later and about a 10 minute wait in line to get my bike "fixed", I was on my way. I filled the water bottle and even though all the food looked great in Baxter, it was still too early to eat lunch. I shot the one GU I had brought along, took a swig of water and headed off.

The sun was poking out and the hills were calling for me. I had not been out of the big ring yet and vowed to stay there even if it meant standing on some of the climbs. People would fly by me on the flats and the descents, only to have me fly back by them on the climbs. Again, since they were riding more than one day, I can understand - I wouldn't have been able to attack the climbs if this would have been day 5 for me either. A lot were even walking the climbs. I started to see bikes turned upside down on the side of the road and people laying in the shade of trees on various farms. The upside down bike is a call for the SAG Wagon to pick them up. The heat and hills were taking out a lot of folks. I was flying and the view was pretty much like this the rest of the day...

Down and up. Down and up. Down and up.

I finally pulled off the road at 12:30 for a chicken sandwich and a bottle of "Perfect Water". It didn't take long to polish off the sandwich since the chicken cut inside of the bun was a bit larger than a McNugget (I knew I should have packed a bagel and snack). Oh well, $7 to remind myself of the typical RAGBRAI fare. I saw a few signs for free pie, but wasn't in the mood to load up on sugar and go into a food coma. I kept pushing on and when I was 12 miles outside of Grinnell, I stopped for a strawberry/banana smoothie and called Zack to come pick me up.

Passing the entrance of Rock Creek State Park, I noticed hundreds of riders on both the left and right sides of the road were dismounted and enjoying the stop and beautiful scenery or Rock Creek and the lake. About 50 yards in front of me I heard this scream and shouting as one gal entered the flow of traffic without looking or checking or announcing she was coming on and another gal ran right into her. They sideswiped all the way over to the left side of the road with both bikes getting tangled up and both women shouting at each other. Everyone just stared on in disbelief, but they were both okay. I heard apologies as I went by the two getting up off the pavement. It's a fun ride, but care must be taken at all times with that many people on the road.

Hills 58 - 66 were eating my lunch. The legs were fatigued as I was pushing a fast pace all day and I was now approaching hour 4 which is beyond my training for this season riding at the pace I was riding. One sign said "Grinnell 7 miles, only 3 hills to go". So I hammered those 3 hills as hard as I could to finish the day off, only to find that the sign was a mirage (or the work of a practical joker - or sadist). There were indeed more hills ahead. Finally, a sign said "one more hill" and I hit it feeling better than the previous 10-12 hills and sure enough - it was the last hill.

I made the turn south to ride down to I-80 where I was to meet Zack. I pulled into the lawn of a Comfort Inn, called Zack and told him where I was. 4 1/2 hours on the bike which was smack in the middle of my 4-5 hour training ride plan. He pulled in about 5 minutes later, so our timing was pretty ideal. I loaded up the bike, hopped in and back we drove to Indianola. My RAGBRAI 2011 came and went in 1 nice, slightly overcast day on a beautiful stretch of central Iowa roads. That's 11 hours on the bike so far this week - so I will take today off outside of a short recovery ride, and do a little pre-race prep on Saturday for Sunday's XC race.

Tour de France excitement...

2011-07-22T19:43:00.000-07:00

One of the best tours I've seen in years. I've been watching every summer for 20 years since my first one in the summer of 1992 in Vienna thanks to it being broadcast all those years in Europe. We even saw a few days of the TDF in France while vacationing there the summer of 2001, but you don't get to see to much standing on the side of the road as the peleton whizzes by in a few seconds. The television coverage is much more worth the viewing.

Anyway, I'm rooting for Cadel Evans from Australia to let it all out on the time trial tomorrow. It was a shame he had a bike mechanical earlier in the day today and spent all the energy to catch back up, but what a great ride for him the past three days. Tomorrow will tell who can recover and TT the best to grab the win - Andy, Cadel, or Frank?

Lots of drama this year, but lots of fun to watch as well.

Back home in Iowa...

2011-07-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

I promised photographs of New York of which we have many on our cellphones. Tara emailed me a bunch of the cycling in NYC pictures, but they haven't shown up yet - so I'll need to download them. If I can't figure it out - c'est la vie. Another boring post without pictures. Not too exciting for a blog, I know.

We had a great time on the rooftop BBQ Monday night. Ended up meeting a Holocaust survivor who had a very similar accent to my mother-in-law. Turns out, this lady survived the nasty of all nasties - Auschwitz in Poland!! It was a nice visit.

Tuesday had us meet for lunch with one of our best friends (Susan Roth) to catch up. She took us down to Chelsea and we walked the High Line development in the heat and had a good time getting to know this newly developed section of Manhattan. That evening, we wound up at a Broadway show that Alexa wanted to see - Wicked - which I really, really enjoyed. I know it came out in 2003 and was familiar with a couple of the hit tunes, but the actual production was very well done. It was not overdone or overproduced as I was thinking it would be. Phenomenal comic physical acting from the gal that played "Glinda". She had perfect timing and delivered all night long.

Wednesday was a 3 hour bike ride with our old friend Barbara McGrory. We picked up some bikes from Champion Bicycle Shop on Amsterdam and 104th. Weather was great with temperatures about 85-87 degrees (10 degrees cooler than Tuesday's temps). Origin 8 steel frame bikes outfitted as 1 x 7's with a road ring up front, mountain bike handlebars, road tires and all together, they were some sort of an urban road bike set up. Without bike shorts or shoes or helmets, things could be called a different experience for a 3 hour ride, but it didn't feel bad at all. The largest frame they had to rent me was about a size medium, so we jacked the seat way up and jammed the seat back. The stem was short, so my fit was "odd", but nothing I couldn't handle for a few hours. Who's to argue with cheap rentals? And they tossed in a spare tube in case of a flat.

We rode up to 125th on the bike path along the Hudson, turned around and went all the way down to Battery Park. We took a photo with Lady Liberty in the background, and then stopped for a wonderful lunch at an outdoor restaurant. 1 1/2 hour ride back up to the bike shop to return the bikes and pay. Recovery was at Ben & Jerry's (they had a 99 cent frozen yogurt special). We said good-bye to Barbara and went to pick up Alexa from camp. Wednesday night was dinner with the relatives on the upper East Side (77th and 1st Avenue). Lots of good food, discussion, arguments and catching up with Tara's cousins. The guys talked sports and stocks, the gals - I don't know what they talked about down at their end of the table...

Thursday, things actually felt cold outside as temps were around 80. We dropped Alexa off at camp at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as her camp was touring the Alexander McQueen special exhibit. We hit up a diner on Madison Avenue and decided to take advantage of the weather to do another 3 hour bike ride. So back to Champion Bicyles we went for a 3 hour rental. The guy told us a cool ride was to head up north to 132nd, lock the bikes up and go into the grocery store named "Fairway Market", buy lunch, and then ride up to the Little Red Lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge for a picnic. Sounded good to us.

We headed over to Central Park first and did a full loop and a half of the park first. Too many tourists on rental bikes and too many locals thinking it was a race, so we headed back to the Hudson and rode north to the Fairway Market. I don't know how to explain it, but this grocery market was incredible. I don't think there is anything else like it in New York - let alone little old Iowa. Mounds and mounds and rooms and rooms of produce, meats, cheese, breads, beverages and on and on. How to narrow down what to get for the picnic? Well, we managed to get some goodies and left the market even though I could have stayed for hours just checking out all they had in there. We parked the bikes at the Little Red Lighthouse, had our lunch and then headed back to the bike shop where we were about 20 minutes beyond the 3 hour rental deal, but they were kind and didn't charge us anymore.

We walked across Central Park to our apartment, got showered and headed down to pick up Alexa from camp. We headed down to SoHo for some shopping, appetizers and sight seeing. The girls did some damage at True Religion in SoHo while I sat in a chair. Then we headed through Chinatown and walked around for a bit before making our way back to Little Italy. We were now all pretty hungry and we hunted down a restaurant to eat that was a bit off the beaten path. We had a nice meal with excellent service and felt stuffed going out the door. We walked up from Little Italy to catch the sights, sounds and smells of Times Square at night before heading to 57th where we caught the subway home.

Friday was the day the girls at camp would be making their presentations in the afternoon for the parents that they had been working on all week. Alexa's group had designed a new line of evening wear, and I was anxious to see what they had come up with as a team. Since we only had a few hours to kill, Tara and I headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the McQueen exhibition. Wow!!! It was eye opening, exciting, and tragic all at once. Tragic due to this major talent and mind ending his life the way he did, but fascinating to see his work. We had lunch and raced off to 53rd Street for the presentation.

There were about 10 groups that were presenting, and Alexa's group was made up of the older girls and they were more organized, professional and thought provoking with their presentation. Their line, as I mentioned, was evening dresses and their target market was a market of girls in the 16-21 year old age group with dresses at price points of $200 - $800 per dress. They had 5 different lines of evening wear and impressed the review panel and faculty that they had developed such a diverse line based on one item - the evening dress. It was fun to see the creative work from all of these girls and the teamwork that they experienced in coming up with a clothing line. After it was over, we all got ice cream downstairs in the lobby (B&J's again) after the presentations. Everyone said their good-byes for the week of camp and we headed back to the apartment to shower and change for the evening's plans.

Tara had booked us into the Mesa Grill on 15th Street and 5th Avenue for some southwestern Bobby Flay cooking. She's a big fan of his on the Food Network, so wanted to sample his restaurant. We had a fun time there. Our waitress was an aspiring young opera singer from North Dakota - so we really hit it off. The food was good, but not all of it was great. My ribeye was a laborious chew it was so tough - in spite of being a perfect medium rare. I don't think I've ever had a tough ribeye in Iowa, so it was a bit disappointing. The appetizers, side dish of creamed corn and the coconut cake (the one Bobby has won 2 throw downs with in the past) was to die for. Wow! All in all, it was a fun meal outside of my steak. I should have gone with my first choice - a nice tuna steak instead.

Another walk through lower Manhattan before we hopped the subway and went back to the apartment. Alexa was begging to see the new Harry Potter movie, but I wasn't going to go out to catch a late show in New York.

Saturday, we got up and stripped the beds, cleaned the apartment and packed. Tara and I headed down to the MET Opera Gift Shop to get some goodies for Zack. We went back with our bag full of goodies and picked up Alexa to go to Dylan's Candy Bar on 60th and 3rd to get some presents for our Iowa friends. Stopped at a deli for some lunch and went back to head over to the west side to catch the M60 Bus to LaGuardia airport. Uneventful flight back to Chicago and Kansas City. Well, well - I left a light on in my Honda Element and the battery was totally dead. Managed to get a jump start from a shuttle bus and we were on our way home to Indianola. We pulled in the driveway at 2 a.m. and our vacation to New York was complete.

Teaching at the Orpheus Festival this week at Simpson. Our friends from Austria arrive this weekend for a visit, so we're busy getting the basement ready for them as the carpet was installed last week while we were gone.

Pictures to come once I get them downloaded from the cellphones.

Forget those little town blues, the Big Apple delivers....!

2011-07-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

We had a great day in New York City on Saturday - except we walked about 47 blocks too many for my arches and calves which were in shock from pounding all of that pavement. I've got some pictures to dump later, but they are on Tara's cellphone and she has to email them to me first.

We rented a car on Sunday and drove up to Cooperstown to see Sarah Larsen in Cherubini's Medea at The Glimmerglass Festival. This was the opera that Maria Callas really brought to life during her career. I had never seen it before, so was glad to get the chance. It was wonderful and really a joy to witness (they did the Italian version with recitative). Sarah was phenomenal in her role as the nurse. We took her to dinner in Cherry Valley aftern the matinee performance and visited for about 2 hours before driving back to Manhattan.

Alexa's camp started today and she was greeted by the VP of Coach!! We got her registered and signed in at 9 a.m. at LIM on 53rd Street. Tara and I went across the street to a nice little French cafe shop and had breakfast before going to the Modern Museum of Art. Tara and I had snagged tickets for the taping of The Late Show with David Letterman (the taping we saw airs tonight - Monday). That was kind of a fun, touristy thing to do, but well worth it. We picked up Alexa from camp after that and sat down for a little Jause at a cafe to tide us over until dinner and hear all about fashion camp.

We're heading over to our good friends the McGrory's on the upper west side for a rooftop barbeque tonight. Should be a perfect evening catching up and visiting after all these years.

More to come - and hopefully pictures too....

Painting, paint fumes, paint colors....

2011-07-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

Three solid days of painting are now under my belt. I should - I say should - be able to finish up most of the important painting today. One more coat in Alexa's room (she decided to go from her standard pink to a new, vivid and bold "Twist of Lime" paint which looks sweet, but requires a lot of coats), some touch up in the recreation room, a repaint of Alexa's bathroom (the Lowe's paint didn't even come close to matching the original color - that's how much they have changed the color code since last year for the same paint), and 1/2 the storage room today. Also up for task today is removing all of the nails and staples from the baseboard that was removed from the perimeter walls, and then dusting and cleaning it to get it ready for installation. Busy day for sure, but nothing 12 hours of manual labor can't accomplish. However, I am physically running on fumes being day 4 of this work.

Measuring at 11 a.m. by yet another carpet installer to get a competitive bid. Tara, Alexa and I head out on Friday for New York - so my original goal of getting all of this done before that trip now has to be given a new target date. The dry wall and framing took 5 days, instead of the contractor's estimate of 2 days. The Better Basement Tech work took 4 days, instead of the original estimate of 3 days. The painting is taking 4 days, instead of what I thought we could do in 2 days (and I've got plenty of help from Tara and the kids down there will all of us painting up a storm). It's just a huge basement to paint with primer, cutting, rolling, trimming, coat 1, coat 2, etc... . So, it was just impossible to get it all done and back together before July 8th. The new target date will now have to be sometime in the week of July 18th - 22nd. Of course, that all hinges on the schedule of the carpet installers as they may already be booked solid for that week. Okay - it will be done when it is done. Then we'll need a good week to get everything back down in the basement and the rest of our house cleaned up and like it was before. I'm growing tired of not getting a vacation in the summer with all of these major damage issues from Ma Nature. Ma - cut me a break. How about a decade of nothing to restore for a change?

Enough of that, back to the basement for another 12 hours I go...

Happy 4th of July!!

2011-07-04T14:48:00.001-07:00

Today we celebrate the weeks of deliberation and ultimate unanimous adoption and subsequent signing of the Declaration of Independence that Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1776 which declared independence from Great Britain. Fireworks, barbecues, picnics, parades, concerts, ball games, family get togethers, etc... are the traditional means of celebrating one's patriotism.

So, how did we celebrate this year?

We attended the musical 1776 yesterday that featured some of our friends in the cast. After the performance, we all gathered at the Hades for salmon, tilapia, wine, ice cream, fireworks and fellowship. Much discussion of U.S. history and the months leading up to the signing of the document ensued. It was only a last minute effort that had Adams and Jefferson drop the paragraph about abolishing slavery that convinced the standouts from the south to vote "yay" to adopt the document. Of course, the issue of slavery resurfaced in the next century as Adams forecast, but I was not aware it was such a huge topic of discussion during the weeks and days leading up to July 4th.

Today, for celebration, we painted all day long in the basement while I had a turkey smoking out on the Green Egg (Ben Franklin's choice for the national bird over John Adams suggestion of the eagle). The turkey was so good, I think I outdid myself with this particular smoke. I soaked it for 48 hours in a special brine, made my own rub, steamed it on a can in the smoker, made gravy and wow - just wow is all we can say about it. My own self criticism would be that the next time I smoke a turkey, I will soak it in fresh water for 12 hours following the 2 day brine.

We will go and watch fireworks at the park later tonight after some more painting and the kids head off to a carnival in Urbandale.

Happy 4th to all - even to the Brits. '-]

Boone 3/6 Hour canceled, time to start painting...

2011-07-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

A thunderstorm moved through central Iowa late last night which caused the Boone 3/6 Hour race scheduled for today to be canceled. I'm glad I read that post late last night so I could sleep in today and watch Breakfast at Wimbledon. It didn't rain here and everything is nice and sunny today, so they must have had a big dump of rain up at Boone to force the cancel because word was things were really dry going into the weekend. Oh well...time to paint instead.

The dry wall installation, taping, mud and texture is complete. I bought paint for the job yesterday and wouldn't you know it, since the last time the basement was painted the paint codes - or rather the mixture they use to create the exact same paint codes - have changed just slightly enough that a perfect match was not possible for the bathroom and the main basement walls. So we might end up painting all the walls instead of just the perimeter walls, we'll have to see once it goes on and dries whether or not it is lighter or darker than the original.

We went to see Puccini's La Boheme last night at Des Moines Metro Opera and will see Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites tonight. We will catch the third opera on Wednesday.

Time for a photo dump...

2011-06-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, the camera card gets so full, you have to empty it. From the collective bundle, here are a few representing the past month or so...

First up, is our garden which is doing pretty well in spite of the record amounts of rain in June. Depending on which source you study, the claims are 10.5" - 12"+ for the month of June alone. That's approaching the historic levels back in 2008 that we had. It's hard to keep a garden from getting yellow and not making it with all of that rain, but the drainage and use of mulch this year has helped us fight mother nature. It's been hailed on 3 times to date, and we're fighting a bit of fungus on a couple of plants.

Gardentastic!

Next up, Alexa turned Sweet 16 this month and her "party" was a group of 9 girls who had appetizers at our house, then dined at Centro in Des Moines and finally came over for ice cream cake to celebrate.

Alexa, 2nd from left, and a non-alcoholic toast to 16!

These gals are all leg sitting around the Sitzecke...

Last shot before heading up to Centro...

Before that, and something I had to miss due to being in Italy, was Zack's High School Graduation. Grandpa Brown and Aunt Becky made it, though.

Here's the proud boy with his Grandpa Brown. The Gold Honor Cords were worn by the 13 in his class that graduated with a GPA of 4.0 or higher.

Outside the Simpson Gym where graduation took place with Mom, Alexa and Aunt Becky...

And, my weekly routine includes cleaning up whatever bike I raced which includes taking the chain off, the rear cassette off and soaking them in diesel fuel for a routine maintenance clean. Then I dry rub the bike and parts, lube everything up and clean off any mud that may have accumulated from the race. Solvents, diesel fuel, oils all make for a messy couple of hours - but it keeps the bike running well for the next event.

Working on the JET post race...

This week, today actually, the Dos gets cleaned after the Minnesota race.

Photo dump over. Next up, meeting with carpet installers for estimates. I start painting the basement tomorrow. I hope to finish that in a week, but there is a lot of wall space to cover down there. Most likely, another 2 full weeks before the basement is restored to pre-flood condition. Due to our vacation trip to New York, it may not get finished until the latter portion of July.

Wheelhouse Classic was a blast!!!

2011-06-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

The weather reports on Saturday night and early Sunday morning were good, so I didn't need the Beavers. I decided to race the fat tire Dos Niner at the Wheelhouse Classic in Red Wing, Minnesota.

I drove up sans wife who pulled the plug on me at 5:30 a.m. and said I was on my own. I buzzed up I-35 and headed over through Northfield to Red Wing where I arrived with about 45 minutes to register, suit up and warm up for the 11 a.m. race. The weather was perfect and word was the trails were tacky and in great race shape. I got the air pressure I wanted in the big fat Maxxis Ardent 2.4's, made my Heed drinks and headed out for some warm-up. I felt pretty good and knew my training for the week had been the right balance to prepare for the climbs.

I lined up with my wave which included most of the older guys from age 44 - 60+. My wave took off at 11:06 and we were scheduled to do 3 full laps. Typical race finish time for the Cat 2 (Sport) races in the Minnesota Series is 70 minutes. So I figured one water bottle was enough and ditched my 2nd bottle at the side of the start area.

The opening section was the big meadow that gave us plenty of room to fight for position and get our eyes crossed, our hearts screaming and our legs complaining before going into the tight and twisty - but oh so fun - Memorial Park singletrack. I got a pretty good start and was hanging in there in the meadow...

I was worried the Ardents might slow me down on climbs, or accelerating out of turns. My worries quickly vanished as the big meats ate up the trail and actually allowed me to fly in and out of turns, up over roots and down hills faster than my usual skinny-mini XC race tires. I had a big smile on my face and felt in good form to boot. Lap one was fun as I remembered sections of the trail and enjoyed out of saddle climbing and testing my legs at every opportunity. Stairway to heaven was the usual fun grind all the way up. I made it about 2/3's of the way up this climb for lap one when I ran into the back of about 7 or 8 riders pushing their bikes up the hill. I tried to let them know I was riding and coming through, but my voice was so weak due to being out of breath, nobody heard me and I had to dismount and push the rest of the way due to heavy foot traffic. Oh well...

Problem was, lap one seemed to go on forever. Hmmmm....as the clock ticked on I thought "this is going to be a bit longer than a 70 minute race". Finally, I heard the P.A. System and knew the first lap was about over as I crossed the line and headed out for lap 2. Yup, more like 90 - 110 minutes is what I figure our times would be based on lap 1.

Coming out of the meadow and heading into the singletrack, the Cat 2 woman that was in 1st place passed me right as we headed into the singletrack. I locked onto her wheel and hung on. Another guy, not sure what category, was glued to my rear wheel. The three of us hung together all the way to Stairway to Heaven. The 1st place gal, got off her bike to push, and I started the grind up staying seated. The guy behind me was still glued to me rear wheel. Again, about 2/3'rds of the way up I was in a groove and focusing on where my front wheel was going to keep a good line and traction. I totally ignored what was to my side and I hooked my handlebar on a tree which stopped me dead in my tracks. This stopped the guy behind me and I apologized to him for not seeing the tree. He said it was okay and claimed it was inevitable that we wouldn't make the entire climb.

At the top of the climb, the gal caught up to us and took off around me again. A few minutes later, she went down hard on a sharp curve at the bottom of the new downhill section of the course (it was a tricky curve). After shouting out to her, she claimed she was okay in spite of the nasty spill. So I motored on and picked up speed on the downhill section and finally shook the guy off of my rear wheel.

Heading into lap 3, I saw that the 1st place CAT 2 gal was gaining on me again and she finally caught me and went around me again. She said she was okay from the spill and I locked onto her rear wheel yet again, but couldn't hold it this time. The duration of this race was starting to get to me and I was feeling the beginning stages of twinges and cramps when I would muscle through climbs or get out of the saddle. The heat, humidity, time already in the saddle, was starting to catch up to me. I ate a GU, drank some fluids and after a few minutes felt pretty good again. I was flying on certain sections with the Ardents allowing me to be aggressive.

I caught back up to the CAT 2, 1st place gal just before the final Stairway to Heaven climb. She dismounted to walk, and I decided to heck with it - I had to clear the climb at least one time in the race. So I sat and spun up the climb at a rate that didn't put me in the red zone, but was just a nice balance of effort to keep me going up the hill and allow a bit of recovery. I guess it didn't really matter that I cleaned the climb (finally) in terms of pushing, because I was still about 10 feet behind the gal who had pushed her bike all the way up the climb. At the top of the climb - off she went - and whatever I had left, I used it up to pedal myself home and not lose my position in the race.

I crossed the line in 5th Place for my age group with a time of 1:53:36 (about 1:09 behind 4th Place) and well off the winning time of 1:43:43. I've never placed higher than 4th at the Minnesota races, so unless I can make up a gap of 2:30 minutes to challenge third place, I'll have to be happy. Wow! That was a workout, but a super fun race on the beefed up Dos Niner, perfect trail conditions, fun course and good form. I don't even care that it was longer than the usual 70 minute race course. It was good to have a bit more of a workout and enjoy the day so much. Great course. Great markings. Well run event. Kudos to the entire crew!

Next Up: Finishing the basement and dealing with identity theft thanks to a stolen purse from one of our cars in the driveway on Sunday night. What a mess!!

Time to use the Beavers again...

2011-06-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

I am heading out tomorrow morning with Tara to drive up to Red Wing, Minnesota for the Wheelhouse Classic (formerly called the Memorial). The current weather looks like it has been misting Saturday morning and rain is in the forecast for this afternoon and possibly through the night and into the morning. I'll plan on racing the Beavers for the traction needed...

I might bring along another bike or tire options in case things are tacky and in good condition to warrant, rather than run the mud tires. I just remember the Ikons got really sketchy there last year in lap 2 as the rain fell. I want to avoid that scenario again, so the Beavers are ready to go.

From 1st back to 7th - Nebraska State Championships...

2011-06-21T04:10:00.000-07:00

1st Place last weekend. 7th Place this weekend. More a matter of attendance than my racing skills (or lack thereof....). It's been a heck of a week with Alexa turning 16, jack hammers going non-stop for three days in our basement installing a permanent fix to our basement flooding woes, refinancing our mortgage (snagged a 3% rate), having contractors come and go with estimates for dry wall, framing, painting and flooring on top of our usual routine. Such is our life at the moment.

Father's Day weekend left me with a choice of racing the Nebraska State MTB Championship race at Ponca State Park outside of Sioux City on Saturday, or racing on Father's Day itself in the Minnesota series at Afton Alps Ski Area. I was leaning towards going to Minnesota since I am participating in that series, and even contemplated for a few minutes of trying to do both races which I knew would be hard because the course at Ponca is a nemesis for me and eats my lunch no matter what I do. So I put it to a family vote and the kids wanted me home for Father's Day, but left it up to me. I went ahead and registered online by the Friday night deadline for Saturday's race in Nebraska.

I checked and re-checked the weather radar, the forecasts and it looked to be some sloppy conditions in Minnesota - so I got up Saturday morning and was confident in my decision to go to Nebraska instead of Minnesota. I had thought that I-680/I-29 was closed at Missouri Valley, so I took I-35 and US 20 over to Nebraska. A bit longer, but that's what my lead foot is for on those early morning weekend "races to the races". '-] I arrived about 35 minutes before the race start, got suited up and did some warm-up.

My previous races at Ponca, no matter what bike, no matter what my training, seemed to net me a time of 90 minutes give or take a minute in either direction. I brought the RIP for this race because I felt I needed a bailout granny gear compared to the 29/42 chainrings with the 11-34 cassette I always have run at Ponca in the past (which gets tough on the last lap with some of those climbs for me). Plus, my JET was set up with the Beavers for a mud race from the prior weekend. There was no mud here, so that's why I was on the RIP. I figured I might as well be plush for the suffering.

114 racers showed up for the opportunity to race this tough course and the weather was cooperating as were the trails (which were in perfect, tacky racing condition!!!). I got a good start and went into the singletrack in 4th position. Not too long after we got going, somebody in front of me threw a chain and had to stop in the trail which had 2 of us dismounting so as not to rear end him or each other. A few went around us as we got back on the bikes and around the racer with the chain issues.

I couldn't tell if I felt good or if something was off in this first 1/2 of lap one because I was keeping it in the middle ring, hanging with the leaders and figured my training was in good shape for what was to come. The RIP is no slouch at climbing, but it's by no means an efficient climber like the JET or my Dos Niner and I was fighting to keep the front wheel on the ground as there were some steep climbing sections. This, in spite of me having removed a 10mm spacer the day before to get in a more aggressive position just for that reason. Going into the final climbing sections of lap one before the long descent back to the finish line, I realized I was feeling pretty cooked for that point in the race (2/3's still to go). But it's a long race, so there was no way I was giving up. Form may have been off from the week's training (or lack of any top end training that is), but you go with what you have, right?

Lap 2 started to feel better as I settled into a pace I felt I could maintain. The hills were no longer middle ring as I opted to climb with the 23T Rotor Q ring and work the gears. I was behind a racer that stuttered on a root on a steep climb and I had no time or energy to react, so I had to dismount. I said to heck with it and ran/walked that hill before getting back on the bike. All I can say about lap 2 is - I finished it. I came through the finish line area starting lap 3 feeling pretty good. "Feeling good" as in I knew each hill I climbed was the last time I had to climb it that day. That gave me enough of a mental boost to grind ahead. And as in years past, this last lap ate what little lunch I had left in me. Those climbs I had been able to muscle up in earlier laps were now granny gear spinning climbs with my heart rate pegged and me just trying to grind up the climbs. Ah...to be 20 pounds lighter and on a lighter, more efficient climbing bike. But I pushed on through with the 28 pound RIP and rolled across the line in 7th Place at about the same time (90 minutes by my watch) as my prior years at Ponca.

What a great climbing course and test of mettle!!! On the way back to do a cool down ride, a Nebraska racer said to me "Well, that's about it in Nebraska for mountain climbing courses! The rest are prairie." The track was in perfect condition, the race was well run and I can see why the Ponca course is a good venue for the State Championships. You have to pull out all the stops to win there.

I cooled down, visited a bit with Cam who did his 5 laps in less time than I did my 3 and won the Cat 1 division, grabbed some recovery food and packed up to head home. This time I took I-29 and 680 East to come home (it was open) and the drive was 30 minutes shorter via this route. I got home in time for a wonderful dinner.

How about the Biblical Amounts of Rainfall and our basement?

Sunday, Tara and I did a 2 1/2 hour bike ride in the morning before it got too hot. My legs felt pretty good, but not good enough to have attempted Afton Alps the day after Ponca. I cleaned the basement after the construction of the drainage track and additional sump pump were added. Cleaned the floors and dusted the upstairs. Zack mowed the lawn for me in a Father's Day mercy offering. I trimmed with the weed whacker. Tara whipped up a huge Father's Day meal which we ate at 8 pm and after we cleaned up, we got settled in for the night's thunderstorms with hopes our new evasive basement renovation with the drainage track and additional sump pump would work.

Work it did!!! Epic amounts of rain fell and the pumps handled it all. These epic, or Biblical, rains are here to stay. They started in 2008 and have not let up. 7 inches, 9 inches, 4 inches, 6 inches, 5 inches, etc... . The weather pattern has changed and it's time construction, drainage and mindset morph with it. I'll never look at another piece of real estate without drainage as one of my top priorities. I can't believe what we've been through the last 4 years with this home, let alone the flooding that is taking place throughout the region.

Okay, so the system installed by Better Basement Technologies works very well and so far, in the two major storms it has encountered, has lived up to its promise. The only problem now is the run off pipe out in our front yard for the new system drains down our yard and into the neighbors due to our entire front yard sloping to the west. It wouldn't really matter where the run off pipe was in our front yard - it's heading west to their yard. They rang our doorbell by 9 am to complain.

Legally, we are compliant as the rule is as long as you are a minimum of 5 feet from your property line, and a minimum of 6 feet from the sidewalk's edge in front of your house, storm drainage (downspouts, roofs, sump pumps) are good to go. Our drainage meets those requirements legally, but I don't want to piss them off and would rather run it out to the street, but that's not allowed by city code. So after some emails and phone calls, somebody from the city is coming out today at 10 am and a plumber is coming today as well to see what our options are. We'll call a landscaper as well as maybe we can build a berm, natural rock garden and divert some of the flow so our neighbors grass doesn't get swampy for the 12 hours following a huge rain.

I think the city is going to have to change the rule and allow us to run sump pumps into the street (which is part of the storm sewer) like they do down south because these 5 year, 50 year and 100 year rains are now happening every month in the wet season. Current city code is pitting neighbors against neighbors. The lady at city hall actually told me that as long as we are compliant, it is up to the neighbors to deal with the water that runs from our yard into theirs. That just doesn't seem like the best interests for residents. I've got one pump hooked to the storm sewer, but this new pump I wanted to be separate from that just in case the storm sewer (which is designed to handle a 5 year rain) gets plugged up or backs up, then the other pump releases into the yard or street portion of the storm sewer which is designed to handle a 100 year rain. But my neighbors are not happy. Yet. However, after 2 nights of torrential rain (Sunday and Monday night) - our basement is bone dry.

I'm sure we'll come up with a solution that keeps our neighbors content. Luckily, only the front portion of their lawn down by the sidewalk and street is what gets soaked from the run off. It's no where near their foundation. And the main culprit is that our lot is higher than theirs - a design that is flawed from the start for drainage. Then again, the neighbors to our east are higher than we are. That makes for a scenario where neighbors just pass on the water down the hill to the other neighbors. Letting us run the drainage to the street would cure those woes.

Update: The city came out and took a look. We have permission to tap into the storm sewer system by either tapping into the pipe itself, or going through one of the rings in the manhole at the edge of our yard. I hired a plumber/excavator to do the work and he's going to go under the sidewalk and tap into the manhole (as soon as things dry out and it stops raining!!!!). Forward progress.

Moorehead Mayem Race Report...

2011-06-15T07:21:00.001-07:00

I had a choice this past weekend between 2 XC races that I wanted to do. One was the WORS Big Ring Classic in Wausau, Wisconsin, and the other was the IMBCS Moorehead Mayhem in Ida Grove, Iowa. I made the drive to Wausau last year and really enjoyed that race. It was a great course with a nice mix of technical rocks, twisty singletrack and lots of open fire trail connectors. I just didn't feel up to the 7+ hour drive to get there, a night in a motel and return trip. Mainly due to our basement flooding again last week after a 9" rain and being exhausted from the physical labor required to clean out the basement, dry the carpet and get things ready for the waterproofing construction in our basement. So the choice was clear. Head up to Ida Grove for the Moorehead Mayhem. I have raced there in the past years and really enjoy that climbing course as well. Luckily, the start time was 12:05 p.m., so making the 2 1/2 hour drive meant I didn't have to get up super early and lose any sleep.

Our internet, phone, and cable had been wiped out since last Wednesday, so I had no idea of knowing what the weather was going to be like. I went to the office and read a post on Saturday evening on the IORCA/Yahoo Group site that said the race was on and conditions were perfect. So I loaded up the JET 9 with the Maxxis Ikon on the front and the Raven 2.2 on the rear, and packed the car Saturday night to get ready for the Sunday morning departure.

When I got up on Sunday morning, the skies were sunny and it looked like a perfect day for a race. I took off and about an hour west of Des Moines, the skies started looking like rain. The closer I got to Ida Grove, the rain started falling and it looked like things were going to be a wet day. Luckily, I had the Maxxis Beaver tires in a box in the rear of the Element along with my floor pump (I always travel with a "just in case" plan). I got to the park in Ida Grove and saw all of the packed up mud on everyone's tires that had been out pre-riding the course. Everyone was talking about how greasy it was out on the course. Then it started raining. So, instead of my normal warm-up - I quickly decided to take the Ikon and Raven off, and mount up the Maxxis Beavers on my Crest rims.

The Beaver is not a wide tire. The casing and the knobs measure out sub 2"...

The knobs, for lack of a better analogy, feel soft and squishy like a gummy bear. So I can see how the softer rubber, and narrower tire would dig in and down through the top layers to provide traction in the gunk.

Mounting tires tubeless with a floor pump is not always an easy task. Add in the fact that it was raining as well as me being pressed for time to the equation, and it took all of my will to remain calm while using all of my tubeless mounting experience to pull it off successfully. First, I removed the valve cores. Then I added in 2 ounces to each tire, dipped my fingers in the sealant and ran that all along the beads to take the place of soap suds. I tapped all around the tire to get fluid splashing everywhere and the bead in a good position to take air from the floor pump. Then I started pumping, cursing, dancing, sweating and bingo - I got both tires aired up with patience and technique. The beads popped into place and I began the shaking to seal things up Stan's routine. I laid the wheels as flat as I could on their sides to seal the bead, flipped them a few times and said enough. It was time to suit up and go race no matter what.

Time to leave it to Beaver...

I managed to get in about 10 minutes of quick warm-up which is not ideal for me, but it was what it was. I had a big training week (10 hours) on top of the basement work, so my legs didn't exactly feel rested. But training through the weekend's race was part of the bigger plan - so I was cool with that. Due to the weather and the drive, there were not as many racers as other events in the Cat 2 Division. Experts and Comps had a pretty good showing. They went first and we took off with a one minute interval between us. I lined up in the front row and headed into the singletrack in 3rd position. Now that was something new for me and I wondered why nobody was passing me yet. I snuggled in behind the guy in 2nd position, Billy Bergman (local course knowledge), and decided to hammer out the first few minutes at full bore and see if I could recover after the first 5 - 10 minutes of the start. I was hanging up with the front 2 riders and testing the tires to see what they could and couldn't do.

The Beavers were grabbing the trail nicely. I wasn't slipping, spinning out or having to be overly cautious in the turns. "Pretty impressive", I thought, were these tires. On the first big grunt climb up the fire road, I passed Billy and was then passed by another Cat 2 racer a few seconds later. So, I was still in 3rd position for the Cat 2's and trying to tell my mind not to think about the climb. Lap one proved to remind me what kind of a climbing course this was. Seated climbing, out of saddle climbing, trying to keep traction climbing, on the nose of the saddle climbing - you needed it all and struggled to keep going up at times.

A racer behind me during lap one and who had been on my tail, broke his chain on a short steep climb and had to bail out of the race. Lap 1 ended and I didn't see or hear anyone near me from the back. Mrs. Bergman was right in front of me and I was now tailing her (not sure if she was in Cat 1 or Comp), but she had local course knowledge and I remember following her in the same manner in a prior year's version of the Moorehead Mayhem. I would catch her on the descents and she would pull away on the climbs.

Lap 2 was mentally better for me because I knew what hills were coming up and I just hunkered down to climb them. One log crossing/root combination had my rear tire slip, but the Beaver grabbed into the dirt and I managed to stay upright. I passed a few who had pulled over on the side with mechanicals or what not from other divisions. I was still staying about 20 - 40 yards behind Lady Bergman and as we entered the final climbing sections, I decided to dig deep and really power up them to see if I could catch her one last time. Well, she did the same on the final climb and crested the hill well before me and took off on the downhill section. I let it fly down the hill with full trust in the Beavers and not touching the brakes, but couldn't keep up with her. She's fast.

I ended up in 1st Place for the Cat 2 45+ age group, and 3rd place Cat 2 overall. Proving nothing really - outside of the fact that you have to show up to win. ;-} It was a pretty short race, but followed the rules of trying to reign in the Cat 2 Sport finish times of around an hour. I was around 62 minutes and change. Fellow BikeIowa.com team member's Kyle Sedore and Kurt Benson took podium spots in Comp and Cat 2 35+ - so a good showing for the BikeIowa.com Boyz.

Hats off to the Beavers. They are a very nice race tire for the wet and wild. Since Minnesota and Wisconsin are both a "rain or shine" race series, I'll be calling on the Beavers from time to time. Iowa may have to consider events and trails going to a rain or shine situation as well. I think the wet weather and weather trends are here to stay (based on 2008 - 2011 that is).

Next up is the Afton Alps race in Minnesota this weekend on Father's Day. There is a great race on Saturday in the Nebraska Psycowpath series at Ponca State Park, but I don't know if my legs are up for back to back races this weekend on two climbing courses. We'll see....

Minnesota Race Report...

2011-06-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

Bluff Riders Charge was held at Mt. Kato Ski Area this Sunday on their excellent mountain bike trails. There is no doubt about it, it sure felt good to race again after 7 weeks away from the racing scene.

The scene at the base of Mt. Kato....

Tara and I made the drive up to Mankato in the Element on Sunday morning leaving about 6 a.m. with coffee and breakfast packed in the car. We arrived about 9:35 a.m. and I picked up my number plates, used the restroom and headed back to the car to get suited up and do about 45 minutes of warm up before the race. Tara brought her Air 9 to hit the bike path for a couple of hours while I was warming up and racing.

As usual, there was a very good turnout for the Minnesota event as weather was perfect (low 80's at the 11 am race start). We saw and visited with Steve Stilwell in the parking lot a bit. Steve won the first Minnesota race in the 50-59 Category 2 division this season and was sporting the Maxxis Beaver on the rear of his singlespeed. So we talked about the "Beaver" and how well it does in mud. I saw Jason, Cam and Julie who all had made the trip up from Des Moines and were racing later in the day in the Comp, and Category 1 divisions. Actually, Julie said she was going to pass on racing as the Cat 1 race course was too technical for her comfort zone.

There were 110 or so in Category 2 division alone and we lined up in our respective age category waves for the start. The first wave took off at 11 a.m. and each subsequent wave started 2 minutes after the younger group in front of them. My wave, age 50-59, was to take off with the age 60+ riders, and the Clydesdales (guys who weigh 200 pounds or more). After the call ups of the top riders for the season series points in the 50-59, 60+, and the Clydes, I was in about row three and was going to need to do some quick sprint work to get set up for the opening ski hill climb and not be too far back for the entry into the singletrack.

The countdown ended, and I got clipped in immediately and sprinted ahead of a few guys to start the opening climb. I found myself behind some slower climbing Clydes, and sprinted up the opening climb passing 8 or so by going to their right on the grass. About 1/2 way up the climb, my legs were feeling great - but my heart was pegged. My legs were turning over fine and had more to give, but I had to back off just a bit to get the heart rate down and to catch some fresh air from all the dust I was sucking in from the guys in front of me that was getting stirred up on the dusty climb. I had not practiced on such a gut wrenching opening climb at race speed all season long that goes right up something like a ski hill. Not much climbing in the first 3 races I did in April outside of short steep climbs, so this was a good reality check. So hitting it hard for the first few minutes of an XC race start had me striving to find a balance I could recover from and get moving in the singletrack.

I settled in behind a group of 3 that was being led by a guy that was not proving to be a very fast descender. Or at least he was overly cautious, and I had to ride the brakes a lot. I was getting impatient as I like to use the descents and my weight to make up some time that I lose on the climbs. But here I was stuck in most of lap 1 unable to pass on the descents, and not having the fire power to pass them on the climbs as they rolled away from me. I finally managed to get around two of them after the backside flat section and at the start of the final climbs back up the ski hill on the backside. Lap one was uneventful and the course was refreshed in my memory from previous years. The trail was in great shape as there was no mud and things were fast. The section named "The Luge" had a tricky corner or two that at race speed had me fighting to keep the wheels on the track. My rear Raven 2.2 tire wasn't much for providing any braking traction at that speed on dry trails, but I managed to stay upright and rail the turns. Although I slowed down a bit on those two turns in subsequent laps. ;-]

Lap 2 allowed me to get unstuck from the group I was following in lap 1. I was able to really push it going down all of the hills. I was making all the climbs just fine with my gearing and the JET was flying problem free for me.

The final lap had me digging deeper to give more on all of the climbs and leave nothing on the table for this point in my training/fitness. The temperature was rising and the heat was keeping me in check. I didn't have the climbing punch I did last year as I haven't done enough climbing this spring - or at least during the past 7 weeks - as Lake Ahquabi has been a muddy mess and it needs mowing. But I never found myself out of power - just a heart that was reluctant to keep up with what I wanted it to do with the legs. Mental note was made on the final lap: Lake Ahquabi - here I come for training (and with my mower).

I gave what I could and mentally told myself to keep pushing up all of the hills. There was a guy in my age group right in front of me and I did my best to stick with him. He got the best of me on the final climb and in spite of me sprinting all out in the final section, he got me by 5 seconds at the line. I rolled across the finish line with a time of 1:18:58 which landed me a bit back - in 7th Place. However, that's pretty close to previous years at Mt. Kato for me and the competition is a bit more in Minnesota and Wisconsin than other areas. I got 9th at Mt. Kato in 2009 and 4th in 2010 (last year's mud fest) in the 45-49 age group.

Tara and I went for a cool down ride on the bike path (it's a beautiful trail), loaded up the bikes in the Element and then went and watched the start of the Comp/Elite/Pro classes (lots of 29"ers in these fields). Then we headed into Mankato and grabbed a Pita Pocket for lunch before making the drive home. All in all, it was a nice trip and getaway from Indianola and dealing with our basement. I like the Minnesota and Wisconsin races due to the level of competition, age group classes and number of participants. But they involve quite a driving day or weekend to attend, that's for sure. I was glad to have Tara along who drove about 150 miles on the way home while I napped.

Races every weekend in June, so I'll get some good miles in on the bike and in the car...

Time to race again...

2011-06-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't raced since April 17th (Bone Bender) due to being in Italy which caused me to miss a couple of races, and also due to the May 22nd race at Banner Pits had to be canceled due to the muddy conditions. But, that's all about to change as I head up to Mt. Kato ski area just outside of Mankato on Sunday for the Bluff Riders Charge which is race #2 in the Minnesota Mountain Bike XC Series.

The weather forecast looks good and prompts me to leave the RIP at home. I ran it last year since it was a mudfest....

I've got the JET 9 all prepped and ready to go. It's what I ran in 2009 at Mt. Kato...

So I put on the new rear derailleur, cleaned the drivetrain, mounted a new Raven 2.2 in the rear since the old one was showing worn tread, washed the bike and lubed things for Sunday. Then I went on a 100 minute training ride in the afternoon heat to get acclimated to 90+ degree temps on the bike.

Tara will come along on Sunday and bring her bike to take a spin on the bike path that runs from the ski area into Mankato while I race. It should be fun. I'll be racing in the 50+ category this year in Minnesota.

Zack hits a dinger and Alexa's soccer team advances in the playoffs...!

2011-05-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's been a heck of a week since we flooded. More going on than I care to mention here with the kids, legal dynamics, negotiations and meetings with contractors, but here's a brief summary:

Zack's timing is coming back at the plate as he went 2 for 4 two games ago, 1 for 3 yesterday and then today the old timing came back and he drove it over the fence against Fort Dodge for his first homer. Alexa's soccer team (Indianola) won the first round of the playoffs today against Winterset in a match that came down to OT with the Indians kicking a goal with 2:17 left to win in OT. Next up is probably Waukee on Monday night.

After many consultations, estimates, problem solving and visits by contractors where it seems nobody could really agree with each other and form a consensus in terms of a proper diagnosis and treatment plan, we are digging up our concrete floor on the interior along the perimeter of the walls to install a drainage system and 2 more sump pumps (which involves ripping out the bottom 24" of sheet rock, base boards, carpet, etc... . Something appears to be wrong with the tiling around the foundation as it is not running properly into the sump pump pit (according to one "expert"). So, the cost and type of repair is pretty invasive to our home and savings.

After the work is done, new 1/2 sheets of sheet rock will have to go in to replace what was torn out which will be taped and a mudder hired to blend it all together. Then new paint. It will be a dirty, nasty job - but it is 100% guaranteed and warrantied to never allow another drop of water into our basement. HA!!!! We'll see about that..

We are also getting new gutters and downspouts. Then, we will put in new carpet backing and the carpet will go back in. Our house will be pretty much upside down and a shambles from now and into July until it is all finished. No AC allowed due to the dust once construction starts. Final bill should top $20K and probably be more like $25K. Ouch, but it beats flooding every year or other year where costs are around $8K. Talk about buying a lemon of a house. The movie "The Money Pit" comes to mind.

On top of that, the new Kenmore washer has developed a problem, the fridge is on the brink with no ice maker working and the plumbing for the drainpipe of the washing machine sprung a major leak today. Plumber is coming tomorrow at 8 am to put in a new run of PVC pipe for that. Oy! Mix in a couple of major teenage bloopers in there that involved more than I care to divulge here, and the week has been utter hell.

I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow or the next day after that, after what we have been through this past week. I can't imagine things getting worse, but you never know...

On the bike again...and flooding in the basement!!!!

2011-05-27T07:34:00.001-07:00

After 2 weeks in Italy where walking and jogging were my "routine" to stay in shape and not lose fitness, I've been back on the bike the past 2 weeks with one week to go in a build phase for the upcoming June races. I put in sort of a light week last week with only about 7 1/2 hours on the bike. This week was going to be more, but the basement flooded Wednesday morning because our brand new, hi-tech, top of the line sump-pump we had installed - just for safety's sake since the old one was 7 years old last summer - did not kick on as the float got stuck. Say what?

Yup. Alexa got up at 5 to use her bathroom in the basement and stepped in some water and came running up to get us. We couldn't believe it. Not again!!!! And State Farm pulled our basement coverage after the tornado last summer. Shit!!! The back up sump pump was indeed running, but they plumbers had installed the pipe so the water emptied out in the lawn right in the low spot which meant the water was just coming right back down the side of the foundation, into the tiles and into the sump pit again. The back up couldn't keep up. I stuck my hand in the pit and searched for debris blocking anything, looked for any kind of blockage and found nothing. A quick call to the plumber and he hopped in his truck and came out to our house. He went downstairs and wiggled the pipe which caused the main sump pump to kick on and emptied the pit immediately. Gee, the owner's manual didn't say anything about having to manually wiggle the pipes to get it to work.

The plumber had no answer for why it didn't kick on, but it was too late. The basement was flooded. Keep in mind, this new system was installed by this plumber last summer after we were being proactive to get a back-up and a system to cover us in case of power outage. We didn't have any power outage during the tornado, but it scared us into thinking we could - so hence the new system. We were "told" this would cover our backsides and was "guaranteed" to take care of us in the future. So we went ahead and reinstalled the carpet after last summer's tornado thinking we were covered in the flooding department. Now I know better. When you least expect it, expect it!!!

I called Steamatic who did our basement clean up after the tornado. Since this would be on our bill and not covered by insurance, they suggested ways we could lower the cost by providing the labor. So I got Zack up who immediately contacted 3 high school guys to come over and help haul stuff out of the basement and help rip up the carpet backing and haul it outside to the curb to help save the cost over what it would cost if Steamatic brought down a full crew to do that work. Steamatic came down with a crew of 2 from Des Moines with the blowers and dehumidifiers to do the dry the basement out routine. I rented a U-Haul trailer to haul the ruined stuff to the dump and Zack and his buddies loaded it up. Trailer and dump fees combined were only about $50, and we paid each of the boys for their 2 hours of labor. Still, a lot cheaper than if Steamatic had done the routine with their full crew. We will still have to pay the equipment rental fee which is not cheap at all, and the equipment has now been down there for 48 hours. I'll have to call today to make sure they pick it up as I don't want to pay for the entire Memorial Day Weekend. Or maybe even haul it up there myself.

A couple of pressure calls to the plumber, and they came out and removed the sump pump at their expense and installed there "go to model" which has a float with a cage protecting it so nothing can bump up against it. And they routed the back up pump spill to a different area that slopes downhill. I asked them that if it were there house, would they not have installed things differently and checked to make sure it was ideal? Their response basically was they can't solve everything and they should just get out of the business of installing sump pumps altogether. They were worried about eating the cost of the $200 new pump and labor. I told them big deal, I was going to have to eat the $4K - $8K cost of the damage to the rest of the basement (which they are not liable for due to the contract we signed). Everyone is trying to cover their ass when it comes to finished basements. The builder, the plumber, the insurance companies all cover their backsides - and the home owner is usually left holding the bag.

Hard to believe that good workmanship and taking pride in doing a job to the best of one's ability to please the customer has been removed from the average plumbing job these days. Not to mention, whoever ran the Bobcat in the backyard when they were building the house could easily have correctly done the backyard in a way so that the slope didn't lead to the house in such a manner that it does. Again, probably some young construction worker who was clueless about rain, drainage and certainly would not have organized the dirt in such a way if it was a house he was building for himself.

So screw it, now I'm taking it into my own hands and going to build a berm or moat around the low areas of my yard, re-route the southeast gutter, dig a pit and install an exterior 2nd main sump pump and goof proof this house so that even a 7 - 10" rain can be handled. I'll get everything up and off the floor in the store room. I hesitate to put carpet back into the basement, but might look into large carpet squares or exercise room squares to lay down. Or maybe another flooring option.

Well, it happened and after a few days we should be back to normal. For now, we'll just leave the carpet unstretched and without backing foam until we figure out if everything works well and what our longer term options should be with the exterior flooding plan and then if we get it completely stopped - we can decide to stick with carpet or go with an alternative.

Fun filled week, but I'm getting back on the bike today and tomorrow to try and make at least 8 hours for this week.

Home from Italy!!!

2011-05-16T09:15:00.001-07:00

Got back late last night from sunny and warm Italy. I had a blast, ate some great food, did a lot of hiking and jogging, saw the sites, and am both exhausted as well as invigorated from the trip. Stayed in Sorrento, Roma, Orvieto, Viterbo, Assisi, Siena, and Firenze.

Lots of tiramisu, limoncello, ossa bucco, pesce, rucola, chianti, pinot grigio and of course gelato. I managed to lose weight on the trip due to all the walking and exercise. I could not eat enough calories to match how much I was burning each day.

Now back to Iowa life and finishing out the school year. No jet lag as I stayed awake for the 25 hour return trip home and went to bed last night at 11:30. Sweet.

Congrats to my son, Zack, on his excellent performances as Harold Hill in the Music Man before I left on the trip. And on his graduation from high school on Saturday (which I missed due to the trip). He was one of the 13 that graduated with a 4.0 out of his class. Way to go Zack!!! Party is next Sunday, so I've got plenty to get ready in the back yard and the house this week!!!

Gayla's Song....

2011-04-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

The Des Moines Register had planned for months to do a story in the Easter edition of the Sunday paper on our good friend Gayla Tighe about her injury in our home on the night of the tornado last July and her fight to recover over the past months. Well, the article came out today in the paper and on their website. The website version is here at this link and also has a video interview with Gayla and footage from the Gala concert last December. Please take the time to read her story of faith and determination as it is very inspirational. And watch the video footage of Gayla.

Tara is helping Gayla get dressed and ready for Easter this morning while Chuck is at the church cooking Easter Sunrise Breakfast for the congregation - a tradition he has been involved with for many, many years. We all share in the faith and hope that Gayla's recovery continues to improve. And we all share in the prayers and thoughts to give Chuck and Gayla as well as their entire family, the energy, strength and resolve to endure and take each day as it comes. God bless...

Bone Bender bent my Bones!!!

2011-04-18T16:06:00.001-07:00

I traveled the 3 hours and 20 minutes down to Lawerence, Kansas yesterday for the 3rd Annual Bone Bender race. This year it was held at a new venue - Clinton State Park. I rode the RIP 9 last year for this endurance race and sure was glad I had it along for this year's event because the course at Clinton Lake is bumpy with roots, rocks, ledges and more rocks. The weather was perfect with sunshine, 70 degrees and trails in perfect condition. Amazing how just a couple hours south of us things were 20 degrees warmer in the land of University of Kansas.

I was really looking forward to this race as I am in pretty good shape for this point in the season and I had done pretty well last year in the 3 Hour Men's Open (32nd overall last year) on the RIP. More than 200 racers showed up to toe the line for the 3rd running of this event. I had pre-registered for the new category of the 3 Hour Men's 50+ category. Prior to this year, it was just an open category for the men's 3 hour solo, so I jumped at the chance to race against a group of 18 guys that were my age. They also had added a Category 2 division for this year which was nice to see.

After the racer's meeting at 9:45 a.m., we all placed our bikes in the "bike drop" area and headed down the gravel hill to the beach as we would be running to our bikes for the start of this race (called a Le Mans start).

All photos are courtesy of Chris Dean who put them up on the web here for all to see.

Based on the prior two years, I wasn't even thinking of a strategy for the mass start of participants doing the 3 hour and the 6 hour because doing a 3-4 hour race affords plenty of time to warm up and start making one's move through the crowd. At least that's what I found on the venue the past 2 years which also had plenty of connector sections on pavement for passing and jockeying for position. So I wasn't too concerned this year. But I had not pre-ridden the course and obviously didn't know what I was talking about. Lesson learned: I was wrong about this course and strategy.

The run to the bikes up a steep hill meant walking the first 50 yards where I was located way back in the tail end of the pack.

Finally, after getting to the bike to get rolling, I found myself about 75-100 places back from the leader. And once we got to the singletrack, it was a virtual log jam which meant we were off the bikes walking for about 5 minutes. I think this illustrates the difficulty of decision making for a race director on how to start such a large group at a race. I know the Lake Ahquabi event could benefit from some wave starting as well, but that course doesn't have the bottleneck issues due to the doubletrack. And once you start doing starting waves, how to time it and keep track of it gets tricky without chip timing.

Regardless, it was a bit maddening to see that we were walking every climb that was technical because there was a long line of people in front of us on the singletrack and we had no where to go. It seemed to me that most of those opening sections were certainly capable of being ridden. But, that's what it was. Maybe 5 minutes or so lost in lap one due to the overcrowded start for those of us back in the pack. I love the race, don't get me wrong. I just need to plan strategy better on my part for the start of such mass groups. My final result may have not been much different in my age category, but I'm sure my overall place would have been bumped up had I jumped out and sprinted to my bike from the front of the pack rather than the back of the pack. My bad.

The course was technically tough in spots. Very rocky and plenty of roots throughout as well as creek crossings. If I were a beginner or less experienced rider, I would have balked and been walking and afraid of a lot of sections. I found he course to be a great ride with not much climbing at all. The technical aspects at race speed were a nice challenge that kept you on your toes the entire time due to the rocks, roots, trees, creek crossings and focus required to stay upright and moving. After about the first 20 - 30 minutes in lap one, I started making some moves as did others ahead of me. I saw fellow teammate Bruce Reese on the side of the trail near the end of lap one with very little air left in his front tire. I gave him my Big Air can and rode off hoping I wouldn't need it with a tire burp and loss of air later on in the race. By the end of the first lap I felt like I was in a nice groove, but had lots of people to pass to make up for lost time.

At the end of lap 1, I burned some matches to take advantage of passing as many as I could on the pavement to start lap 2 in the big ring and hammering against the wind. I got around about a dozen riders on the pavement and in the open field to start lap 2.

I flew into the singletrack for the start of lap 2 where we had walked and been stacked up during the start of the race. It was rocky and technical and I was flying through there with the RIP eating up the terrain. Unfortunately, my front wheel got lodged/stuck between two rocks in a deep crevice when I chose a line that was not so favorable and I had too much weight on the front of the bike. The fork compressed and I went OTB (or ass over tea kettle as some would say). I had one of those what seemed like slow motion moments to choose whether I was going to land in the pile of rock on my shoulder, arm and head - or to take it on my knee and hip area. I chose the latter as I really don't fancy having another concussion. BAM!!! I hit hard. Really hard. Knee, quad and hip smacked hard rock and the sound was a nice crunch.

My bike was blocking the singletrack and I was writhing in pain on the ground to the right of the trail. I tried to get up twice, but fell back down in a heap of pain. The guys I had just passed came up and the first 4 guys did the right thing and stopped to ask if I was okay. One guy from Brandon Harpster's team did a very wise thing. He stopped and asked me my name. That was actually a smart question as it proved to him I was coherent and able to identify myself.

I finally got up on the 3rd attempt and was able to support myself by holding my bike that somebody had picked up and handed to me. But I couldn't walk. I told them I was in pain, but seemed to be okay and nothing felt broken. Off they rode and the dozen I had just passed went around me as I contemplated the end of my race as I stood at the side of the trail. It was like a bad "stinger" one gets in a football game where a player has to be helped off the field with a coach on either side of them to support the player with the stinger. I couldn't walk to go back to my car, so I decided to hop back on the bike. Sure enough, painful as it was, I was able to pedal. So I took off down the race trail - but obviously very gun shy due to the fall and all the rocks I was bouncing over. My speed was akin to a crawl and it took me a good 5 - 10 minutes to ride the pain out of my right leg and get my confidence back up to ride at race speed.

Well, I thought that was it for me for this race and I should just ride back to the car and go home. But I forged on and pretty soon was passing the dozen guys I had passed earlier and had just gone by me after my crash as I stood on the side of the trail. I realized there was no way I was going to get in more than 3 laps on this course due to the slow starting lap of 1:07 and now this crash which ate into my 2nd lap time. My new goal became to finish the 3 laps in as fast a time as I could with a numb right leg that was bleeding and not capable of producing what felt like a strong stroke when I pushed it. It worked, but not like it was capable of doing.

This picture does not depict how rocky, rooty and rough it was at all. It shows some sweet singletrack section along the lake shoreline...

The rest of lap 2 went pretty well for me as my confidence continued to gain throughout the lap. I was clearing stuff that had been walked during the log jam of lap one. The RIP and the 120mm of suspension front and rear allowed me to barrel through the technical sections, roots and ledges. Amazing what this bike can do. Sure, I was getting pedal strikes because the Rip was using all 120mm of travel front and rear on the chunk and I had some chain issues here and there along the way (chain stuck RIP issues and shifting issues - maybe bent the derailleur or hanger in the crash). What a course!!! It was a blast to ride, but I kept laughing at having to stay focused the entire time as there was no section where you could just stretch and relax for a second or two. Hammer Nutrition Products were available out on the trail, so I used HEED and the Hammer Gels to stay fueled for this race.

Lap 3 was uneventful as I settled in behind one of Harp's teammates and cruised on through the course. I lacked the power in my right leg and was nursing myself through the course. I entered the dismount area to record my time and they told me my race was over. I replied "I'll say it's over - I'm spent, beat up and bushed." I took the bike to the car and was going to do a cool down, but my right leg was screaming in pain at the thought of cooling down for recovery's sake. So I loaded up the bike. I headed down to the food tents for a sloppy joe, pasta and drink they were serving. Rather than wait around for the results, I hopped in the Element to drive home since I had 2 students giving recitals at 7 and 8:15 p.m. at Simpson. I drove back home, ate a huge meal, showered and shaved before heading out to two of the best recitals I've heard in a long time from my students.

In spite of the slow starting lap for my section of the pack - and my 2nd lap nasty crash - I ended up in 4th place out of the 18 guys in the 50+ three hour version of the race. 47th overall for the 135 people in the 3 hour version of this race. Not bad considering. I'll take it.

I am stiff and quite sore on the right leg today. Huge bruise and contusion on the leg and walking is difficult. It feels like I played a football game yesterday and took a helmet to the knee, quad and hip from a 250 pound linebacker.

Kudos to the entire crew at the Bone Bender and a very well run event from start to finish. It keeps getting better and better every year and I look forward to racing next year as well.

IMBCS #1: Sylvan Island Stampede Race Report...

2011-04-11T10:46:00.001-07:00

What a fun race yesterday over in Moline, Illinois!!! Kudos to FORC and their entire crew for hosting an excellent event that had 298 racers overall show up and race in their respective categories. Gotta love those numbers, for sure.

I drove over Sunday morning and arrived in Moline, Illinois at Sylvan Island about 11:30. I had pre-registered, so I picked up my number plate and timing chip before heading out on the paved bike path with the RIP for 30 minutes of warm-up. I brought the heavier RIP because Sylvan is flat, but filled with chatter and bumps and odd looking things sticking out of the ground (cement, drainage ditches, bricks, iron, culverts, you name it) and wanted a cushioned ride to test my hypothesis on staying fresh for more laps and turning in consistent lap times. So the RIP got the nod for this race - plus it had the IKONs with EXO sidewall protection which I felt was worthwhile for this tire eating race course.

After warming up, I put a pair of GU's in my jersey pocket, filled the water bottle and headed to the starting line as they called us to line up at about 12:15 for the 12:30 start.

I was surprised when I got to the starting line to already see about 75 racers lined up. Wow! What a turn out and it was obvious I was late to the party to get up front. I think we actually had 82+ in the CAT 2 group. In a series of getting us all lined up behind the correct orange line (we weren't lined up behind the correct one at first), I started in the rear, but then got switched near the front as we moved backwards and then forwards again as a group. That's cool - I could deal with the new position of being in the 2nd or 3rd row as opposed to way in the back of such a large group. Early bird doesn't get the worm this time around. ;-}

We were scheduled to do a partial lap and then 4 full laps. After all the announcements, we got a countdown of 5 and a gun shot and we were off. I went into the singletrack somewhere to be what looked like in the 25-35th position. It was a hurry up and wait line that was the usual - part snake, part slinky - as we wound our way through the initial partial lap that took about 7 minutes for me according to my watch. Once we got to the straight connector section, I burned a couple of matches and sprinted ahead to pass quite a few people going into the start of lap #1. It was a fairly strong headwind on that section, so tucking down on the bike helped cut through the wind.

The RIP handled the tight singletrack, roots and trees just fine...

The singletrack was sweet. Lots of pumps, sweeps and fun corners. The RIP was doing fine, although pedal strikes were occurring with all of the stuff found at Sylvan. No worries, I was having fun and the legs felt pretty good. I kept the screws on for lap 1 and lap 2 and had a clump following me. I passed a quite a few people throughout the race as they faded and was only passed by a rider or two during the 4 laps. One guy tailed me the entire race and got around me on one of the final connector sections before heading back into the singletrack as I fumbled with my water bottle. I was very pleased with my lap times in terms of being consistent as the RIP proved - at least on this course - to allow me to not tire and kept my times fresh compared to last year. Lap 1 was 20:04, lap 2 was 20:02, lap 3 was 19:55 and lap 4 was on track to being even faster, but in the very last singletrack section the guy I was coming up behind and getting ready to pass took a pretty bad face plant (a rider from Rassy's team) and was sprawled across the trail. I stopped to ask if he was okay and all limbs were moving and he claimed he was okay. That was a relief because it looked nasty when he hit the dirt.

I couldn't get around him as it was one of those dips surrounded by rocks and trees that made it impossible to pass. So I just straddled my bike and waited for him to get unclipped from his pedals and pick himself and his bike off of the trail. A guy came up behind us and started hollering that he was coming through. I thought to myself that it was just like the clueless that don't see a guy sprawled out on the ground after a wreck to holler like he was. No concern from him if anyone was hurt, he just wanted through and was hollering. After the fallen rider finally got up and out of the way, I scooted over to the side and the hollering guy went by as I muttered that nobody was intentionally trying to hold him up. The crash in front of me cost about 15-20 seconds, but c'est la vie. I made the best of it and jumped on my bike and gave pursuit to the hollering clueless. I was able to out sprint him on the final straight away to the line. Sweet. I thought about saying something to him with regard to his concern for a fallen and possible injured rider, but decided to let it go. It wasn't worth it and perhaps he really didn't see the situation from my vantage point. Hard not to see it and figure it out, but oh well. Racing is racing and things like that happen. Anyway, had the guy in front of me not done the face plant, I was on track to have my 4th lap be my fastest lap of the 4.

I did have one problem in this race. My seatpost slipped and my saddle got lower and lower as the race went on as I must not have tightened things up as snug as they should have been when I adjusted it getting out of the car. It sank about 2 inches during the race.

Oh well, in spite of that I crossed the line in 19th place out of 89 overall in CAT 2 with a time of 1:27:30. It looks like I got 3rd place in the 50+ crowd age division that FORC plopped us into whether we wanted it or not behind Jim Becker and Landon Beachy. So, a medal or podium for the old men's division. I certainly had a much better race and showing this year compared to last (thanks to being in better training shape at this point compared to last year). Last year, I slowed on each lap and the Dos Niner bucked me all around which added to my fatigue. This year, no bucking on the RIP and I felt fresh at the end with each lap getting faster.

I left not long after the race (missed the awards presentation) to get home in time for the evening recitals at Simpson that I attend as a faculty member. I did a 30 minute cool down out on the paved bike trail to flush the legs and caught the start of the Expert/Comp/Singlespeed race which was odd as they had to start it twice. I'm not sure exactly what happened after the first start of these categories, but a few minutes after they started they announced they were going to have to restart the race. So we got to see the start twice and I watched the first lap. That's when I loaded up and headed for Indianola.

Thanks again to FORC and all of the volunteers for their effort in making the event a very successful one. It was well worth the drive across eastern Iowa in howling winds.

Tire swap on the JET 9 for this weekend...

2011-04-07T05:30:00.000-07:00

The cat is out of the bag officially for the new Maxxis Maxxlite 29"er tires I've been testing since October. Maxxis announced them at the Taipei Bike Show, so it's okay to discuss them now.

The are 29 x 2" very light weight XC race only tires. Faster and lighter than the NoTubes Crow 2.0's and the Schwalbe Furious Freds. Weights are in the 325-335g range for the Maxxlite 29"er version (compared to 285g for the 26"er version). And they work perfectly set up tubeless on Stan's rims. Nice tight bead for easy airing up, no sidewall sealant seepage and are not squirmy with tubeless pressures.

One of the benefits that I and many others have found when running the larger wheels off road is that for Midwest riding, lots of knobs and lots of large knobs are not needed. Of course, this depends on course conditions and where one is riding, but I've ridden Bontrager XR 1.8s, NoTubes Crows, NoTubes Ravens, Small Block 8's, Karma 1.9's, and now these all over courses in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois. I never felt I have been without enough grip. The pilot has to be good and in control, but that's a given for XC racing. Certainly a semi-slick run in the rear with perhaps a tire with a bit more volume and bite up front is a common combination. Crow 2.0 rear, Raven 2.2 up front is sweet and fast. XR 1.8 rear, XR 2.25 up front is another sweetie I like. IKON up front, Aspen or Raven in the rear is also high on my favorite list. I now add these Maxxlites to my growing list of XC tires.

There is enough knob there to give you bite. Off camber will keep you on your toes and the smaller volume doesn't provide as much tire suspension as many would like, but for an XC race - speed rules.

Not sure what the price will be, but if we look at the Maxxlite 285 in 26" version (the tire the 29"er version is based on), we see those sell for $112 per tire on the Maxxis eStore. Being that they are on the high end of cost, I didn't want to risk cutting them this weekend at the Sylvan Island Stampede. That course is built on grounds that used to house a steel mill and there are chunks of concrete, bits of metal and all kinds of goodies lurking that can wreak havoc on a tire during an XC race. Something I hit tore a gaping hole in a Racing Ralph there a couple of years ago and ended my race in the 2nd lap. So I don't want to risk ending the life of one of these valuable Maxxlites at Sylvan - even though it is a course perfect for them (flat and fast).

Yesterday was campus day at Simpson College where the students take part in spring clean up efforts and there are no classes. We had our usual late afternoon recital run-throughs and evening recitals, but at least the morning was free. I took the opportunity in the morning to swap out from the Maxxlites to an IKON front and Raven 2.2 rear. The Ikon has a season's use under its belt and the Raven has 2 seasons - so if either are torn at Sylvan, I won't be weeping.

So my JET went from this...

To this...

Maxxis was kind enough to send me the last pair of their new 29"er mud tire, the Beaver, for testing. They just arrived the other day, so if the rain that is predicted hits and alters course conditions for Sunday - the Beavers may get the nod. I'll probably mount them up on another set of wheels and bring them along to Sylvan Island just in case conditions warrant them. Sylvan is a "rain or shine" event, so it will be run even if it is pouring rain.

Before hopping on the bike for a 2 hour ride to Banner Pits for a full race lap and back, I mounted up the new Rotor Q Ring for my singlespeed. I didn't take a picture yet, but here's what it looks like on another rider's bike...

It's a potential 1 x 9 or 1 x 10 drivetrain ring as well.

Now, I'm off for the morning training ride before showering and heading into work. Guest speaker today at 1 pm is George McGovern which I am going to attend. Do you think any students know about 1972 and the race against Tricky Dick Watergate Nixon?

Post work ride and Prom 2011 photos...

2011-04-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

Great day at work today!!! It was just one of those days that flowed. Lessons went well, students are progressing, voice class went well, spring was in the air and it ended up being just one of those days that makes one smile. We also said thanks in a farewell reception to one of our music faculty colleagues on her retirement - Raelene Best. We wish her all the best.

Tara took two of her speech therapy students to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, Alexa had a soccer match in Pella, and Zack had rehearsal for The Music Man. That left me alone for dinner, so I decided to take the RIP out to Lake Ahquabi for a ride to work up an appetite.

I loaded up the lights for the bike in case I got ambitious and wanted to to multiple laps. My legs and lungs told me that one full lap was all she wrote for Tuesday as I was still recovering from Sunday's race. Spring is trying to pop out at Lake Ahquabi, but there is very little green yet as the DNR burned a lot of the grass and wild grass since last fall. The trail was still muddy in spots and pretty spongy throughout. That made it slow in a lot of sections with the rolling resistance of the moist conditions. That's why one lap was enough as it took more effort to turn the wheels over in those conditions.

About all the green I found was where I parked the car...

I got about 60 minutes of ride time in on the trails, loaded up and headed home for leftovers (steak, sweet potato fries and broccoli that I had made on Monday night).

Here are a couple of shots of Zack and Alexa from pre-prom photo shoot over at Tanner's house....

Zack and Alexa doing the sibling pose...

The three couples that went to dinner together before prom, went to prom, post-prom party and then over to our house for the post-post-prom party...

Swanson River City Shootout XC Race Report...

2011-04-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

The Nebraska Lottery's Psycowpath Series got off to a start this weekend with a multi-event TT/Short Track/XC mountain bike race. I signed up for Sunday's event - the XC race. Saturday night was prom night for our kids (pictures to come soon), so after breakfast on Sunday morning, I loaded up the Element and headed out at 10:15 to make the 2 pm race start. I drove over to Bellevue, NE using Highway 92 on Sunday morning and it took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get there.

The weather was on the warm side (temperatures hit 87 in Indianola) and I was perspiring a bit in the car with all the clothes I had on, so down came the windows and in came the fresh smell of the Iowa farms. I ate a sandwich in the car on the way over and kept hydrated feeling pretty good in spite of the trail work at Banner leaving my elbows sore from all the clipping I was doing on branches. I had a typical 6 hour training week (not too heavy, not too light) and felt a bit more ready for the first race of the year this year than I did last year at this time.

The parking lots were full and it looked like an excellent turnout for the XC event. I think they announced 200 racers were there for the various categories. Excellent!! I went to the registration table and got my 45+ Masters Category 2 number plate, went back to the car to suit up and take a test lap out on the course. Riding up the parking lot to the start area, I saw Cam and Julie and had to do a double take. Why? They were both sporting brand new big wheel bikes!!! Say it isn't so? About time you guys.... I'm predicting a banner year for Cam on the new big wheels.

I headed out for a lap and was mindful the marathon racers were out on the course. I was riding the JET 9 with the Maxxis test tires which were perfect for the course. It was hard packed dirt - so hard it was pretty much like cement for most of the loop.

The only other race I had done at Swanson a few years ago ran in the opposite direction of yesterday's course - so it was nice to see it from a reverse angle. Not too much climbing, but plenty of small stutter bumps, roots and terrain to be glad I was riding a full suspension. Actually, the RIP would have been a good choice, but I had the JET with me for this race. I finished my lap, got my GU pack and a fresh bottle and headed to the pre-race meeting. We were greeted by the mayor of Bellevue who welcomed us.

We took off in waves/flights separated by 1 minute. Cat 1's went first, Cat 2 open went 2nd, Cat 2 35+ went third, Cat 2 45+ went next (my group) followed by singlespeed and the women's categories.

Waiting on the starting line for the count down to go...

I didn't jump off the start line kind of waiting to see how the 45+ group would roll out. Compared to Cat 2 open (which I've raced for the last few years), this group rolled out at a little more measured, "don't blow up in the first few minutes of the race" type of pace. There were 12 of us in this group and I rolled into the singletrack in 6th position as we snaked our way through the opening turns. I hung behind the two guys in front of me as the pace was good, but I knew the guy in front of me was too heavy to maintain that pace for the full 3 laps as the climbs would defeat him eventually. When the 1st place Singlespeed racer caught up to us somewhere in the middle of the lap, I latched on to him and went around the two guys in front of me. By my figure, I was in 4th place for my group at this point. The loop was really fun. Not too technical, but nice and bouncy and some fun pumps throughout. The top section was in an open prairie with some good wind to cool us off and fight against as we headed north.

Lots of fun pumps and jumps on this course...

I traded places off and on with the guy behind me as we swapped 4th and 5th at least a few times in lap 2. He got around me on a descent and was the better descender of the two of us. I would catch him on the flats and climbs and pass. Finally, he pulled away in the middle of lap 3 and I couldn't match the pace. Even though I felt pretty good, I was bumping up against my limit and training at this point. If I tried to burn a match on a climb - it sent me deep in the red zone that I was having trouble recovering from at this point. It was a pretty crowded course with the marathon racers out on the course and all of the categories with the staggered starts. Some sections were not too conducive to passing or allowing others to pass, but most of us managed it pretty well (except for those of us who don't hear!!!). I passed one guy and got stuck in a rut during the pass, slid down next to him, hooked handlebars with him, but managed a save and neither of us went down. My bad, but no harm was done.

Coming into the final portion of the last lap, Cam caught up to me and asked to pass, but my 50 year old hearing didn't hear him very well. Sorry Cam! My apologies. He finally got around me and looked smooth on the 29"er as we climbed the final rooty climb of the loop. He rode off to a 1st place finish for the first time on the big wheels. Congrats, Cam!!! Banner year coming - I'm telling you. Not long before the final turn to the finish line for Cat 2 racers, three other Cat 1's caught up to me as they were positioning themselves for their final lap and chasing Cam.

I haven't seen the lap times and final times yet, but do have the placings for our Masters 45+ Cat 2 group. I ended up in 5th...

Cat 2 Men Masters 45+

Place Name Team

1 David Hill Cycleworks
2 Lowell Peterson
3 Mark Butler Midwest Cycling -Trek Stores
4 Craig Schmidt
5 Bruce Brown BikeIowa.com
6 Jerry Hoff Elkhorn Valley Cycling pb Monster
7 Martin Bixby BIKE MASTERS
8 Jon Downey EVCCX-Monster
9 Steve Schweiker Ethos Racing
10 Butch Wolfe
11 Mark Paulson
12 Craig Tuttle Alegent Health/Team Kaos

I am interested to see the times of the entire Cat 2 field to see how I stacked up. There were 27 in the open group, 9 in the 35+ and 12 in the 45+ group. That's a total of 48 guys for the meat and potato Category of mountain bike racing, so we'll see if I'm midpack, bottom third or what within the 48. I'm trying to decide what group to do in the Iowa series - open or 45+ or Comp (one additional lap). I know I will be age group for Minnesota and Wisconsin, but I don't know how many 45+ guys we even have in Iowa that do the Cat 2 races. The race was fun for me. I didn't fall, I didn't unclip, I didn't lose control, I rode a smart pace and I managed to clean out the winter cobwebs.

I still have about 8 pounds or so to chip off the hibernation physique...

If I trimmed off about 10-15 from here, it would make me much more competitive on the climbs and is in the cards. It's just takes time to get there. I'm shooting for June to be at the 2011 fighting weight. The snag will be the trip to Italy in May. I may have to bring along my jogging shoes on that trip.

Kudos to the Psycowpath crew for an excellent event. It was a great course and a great race. And it was nice to be back to participate in one as I missed them all last year.

Since one of my voice students had her senior recital at 7, I saw it was 3:30 and quickly loaded up the bike, hopped in the car and drove home so I could shower and shave before her recital. I didn't feel totally spent at the end of this race even though I was having trouble producing the same power in lap 3 as I did in the first two laps. All in all, I'm pretty happy where I am at this point in April. I remmeber last year at Sylvan Island I was cooked in the middle of the race. I didn't feel that at Swanson. Sure, I've still got about 8 pounds to shed, but that's a daily effort and I'm chipping away at it. I've got some high end interval work and over/unders to attend to now that my base is established.

Zack's Senior Pictures....

2011-04-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here are the two pictures of Zack that Tara did not choose for the headshot. I have the headshots she chose, but only in print form and cannot upload.

So here are the two of Zack she didn't choose...

And this one...

His senior prom is tomorrow and the tuxedo is in the house ($200+ for the rental). Dinner, prom and post prom-party is all on tap for Zack and Alexa. They are both going. Zack with Jacey and Alexa with Tanner. More photos to come of them in their prom get ups...

DANG - they grow up fast!!!!!

Is today the day?

2011-03-31T06:09:00.000-07:00

My wife has been fixated on the Eagle's nest in Decorah the past few weeks watching Ma and Pa sit on the eggs, continue to prepare the nest for the young ones and watching the changing of the guard when the eagles switch places.

Live TV : Ustream

It's either today or tomorrow that the expectation is for the eggs to hatch. So I'm sure I will get a call as soon as it happens from my wife to tune in and take a look. She is using the live video feed with her speech therapy kids every day as they all watch and talk about eagles.

Pretty cool to watch, I have to say.

We have our own birds in the gas fireplace air vent on the side of the house that nest there every spring. The pilot light is always on and since a bit of heat comes out of the air vent from the pilot light, the birds love to nest there. One year, not realizing this, I turned on the gas fireplace and heard all kinds of chirping. Before I figured it out and turned off the fireplace, I had killed all the young ones and have felt guilty ever since. This year and last year, I made sure to not use the gas fire place once the birds had nested in there. So we have a hatching coming up in our backyard very soon as well. I always remove the nest in the late summer so we can use the fireplace during the winter months. I should probably just install some wire cage to keep the birds out of there, but I don't mind providing a spot for new life to take place...

Racing is coming!!

I am officially registered for 2 Endurance Races this season. I'll do the Bone Bender in Kansas coming up in 2 weeks and the Dakota Five-0 in the Black Hills on Labor Day weekend. I did the Dakota Five-0 in 2005 and really enjoyed it even though I had a nasty fever/cold and tore a tire about 37 miles into it which I was able to boot, swap tubes and finish. Back then there were less than 300 racers, but this year there will be 600 racers as the event has grown (600 is this year's cap). You can bet I'll be running some worthy tubeless meat to handle the rocks. I'm really looking forward to heading out to do that race. It could be an epic weekend for sure.

First up is the Swanson River City Shootout XC Race this weekend which is part of the Psycowpath Series in Nebraska and Sylvan Island Stampede next weekend which is part of the Iowa Series.

What happened to the Weekend?

2011-03-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

That was the fastest, most over-booked weekend I've had in a long time. I don't know where it went because I hardly had time to sit down and enjoy any calm and quiet.

Recital rehearsals, choir and band concerts, rehearsals with Zack, house cleaning, laundry, changing tires, show choir banquet, cooking, and two 2 hour bike rides crammed between things on Saturday and Sunday. And it feels like I didn't get anything done that I wanted to get done. When I finally got home Sunday night at 10:30 pm - I realized that I would not be starting this week all fresh and energetic like I had hoped. First race of the year coming up this weekend (actually the next three weekends in a row) which gives me something to look forward to after all of this off season and pre-season training. 5 pounds are shed, and I am willing myself to continue that weight loss going forward no matter how hungry and appetizing things look to me.

I got up at 6 am this morning and managed to read Bike Radar and locked my eyes onto a sweet new carbon full suspension frame that Santa Cruz is releasing (goes on sale with pre-orders next month). Now this seriously grabs my attention big time...

5" of travel front and rear and the carbon frame with rear shock weighs 5 pounds. That's 1 1/2 pounds less than my RIP. I'd have to sell the farm and a few bikes to negotiate this one, but I'm drooling at the prospects. Talk about a nice endurance/marathon race bike!!!! My anti-carbon stance may be snapped with things like this (and more to come I'm sure from other brands). Come on Niner - let's see you counter that with a carbon RIP that weighs around 5 pounds!

Monday starts with a bang for me as I go all day, have 2 recital run throughs this evening and get home a bit after 9 pm. Good thing today is a planned rest day from cycling...

Snow and Singlespeeding again...

2011-03-26T06:01:00.000-07:00

Tornado sirens went off as at least three separate storms moved through the area on Tuesday night. Trust me, we took cover as soon as the siren sounded. I think we'll probably tend to do that for the rest of our lives after the tornado we experienced last July!!! I was actually at Simpson working with one of my students during dress rehearsal when the siren sounded. She was actually singing Mahler's "In diesem Wetter" from the Kindertotenlieder when the siren sounded!!! Perfect text for that... Anyway, I ran backstage of Lekberg to take cover along with some students where we stayed until about 8 pm.

We woke up 2 mornings later to find the white stuff all over the ground again. So, it was back to the snow bike and walking the dogs with this again...

Looks like we are due for more snow today and then again on Tuesday. The chain is all rusty on the SS thanks to the salt they dump on the streets and my lack of attention to the drivetrain during the winter. So I'll have to take it off, soak it and scrub it in my diesel fuel, treat it and oil it up again once the threat of snow has vanished. We're getting there, I know, as April is fast approaching and by mid-April we should be finished with the white stuff.

Some nice new bike parts and bits showed up this week to fine tune things for the start of racing season. They'll have to wait to be installed as I am swamped with attending student recitals, concerts and recital dress rehearsals. It's usually the time of year I lose 5 or so pounds because I don't have time to eat lunch or dinner. Not by choice, but simply by being on the run.

Memorial for Maria...

2011-03-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the official memorial service for Maria DiPalma who passed away on Sunday, February 27th. We had an initial gathering/remembrance in the music department two days after she died, but tomorrow is the official memorial service for the greater community.

I first met Maria way back in 1986-7 when I was an apprentice artist at Des Moines Metro Opera and a member of Opera Iowa. Maria's husband, Doug, had hired me to be in that ensemble. Doug hired me again in 1988 to be in Opera Iowa and to make my debut with Des Moines Metro Opera as Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute. Doug passed away a few hours after I had seen him to sign my contract for the Magic Flute back in 1988.

Fast forward to many years later in 2003, Maria became my new "boss" as she was the Music Department Chair and hired me to take the job teaching voice at Simpson College. She had just been diagnosed with cancer and had begun treatments in the spring of 2003 when I traveled from Vienna to Indianola to interview for the job. She fought valiantly for 8 full years before losing the battle.

Maria was a wonderful colleague, and she gave me guidance for entering the world of academia after my career of singing opera for 20 years. She shared a passion for cooking and food with Tara and I and often exchanged epicurean ideas, food and lively discussion.

We will remember her tomorrow in the memorial service and celebrate her life. She has touched hundreds and hundreds of Simpson College students over the years as voice teacher, chair of the department, make-up artist, adviser, her guidance and through her singing voice - and her hearty laugh. She is sorely missed by all, but her memory and contributions will live on through those she has touched.

Rest in peace Maria...

Dirt Days 3 and 4 and more...

2011-03-21T04:43:00.000-07:00

I couldn't have asked for a better outcome in terms of weather and the trail conditions for my spring break. No travel required to hit dirt this year, it was all available right here at home - Center, Banner and Ahquabi.

I hit Banner hard on Friday for Dirt Day #3. I went over to Chuck and Gayla's on Friday night for the annual St. Patty's celebration. Chuck outdid himself this year with the best corned beef, cabbage, taters, gravy and fun was had by all. While we were there, WHO had a phone in interview with Gayla about her accident on the night of the tornado when she fell in our house and suffered a spinal cord injury. The interview was about the help she has received along the way and especially about the inspiration she received from a nurse at the Younker ward of the hospital named Rachel who was also on the phone in interview with the show's hostess. Gayla was upstairs on the phone being interviewed for 30 minutes while we were all downstairs listening to it on the radio. It was tearful and inspirational for all of us listening. Gayla is an amazing woman and fighting with her entire spirit to regain her ability to walk. It's been 8 months since the night of the accident and she has progressed to being able to walk with 2 canes. I think we are all hopeful that the next 8 months moves her mobility to new levels.

Saturday morning I got up early (for me) and joined up with the CITA gang to bust out some new trail at Banner Pits. We had over 20 show up to do the work. Those that had chainsaws, showed up with them. Best line of the day that I heard as we were trying to follow the sometimes vague outline of the orange flags for the new very twisty singletrack: "Watch out, I'm a roadie with a chainsaw!" I laughed hard at that and got the heck out of his way as I pointed him in the right direction of what to cut. I lopped and cleared for 3 hours and was rewarded with pizza and beer (and a new CITA bumper sticker that reads: Cheap. Dirty. Fun.) before heading home to shower. Next work day is scheduled for Saturday morning, April 2nd and if weather is favorable this crazy new section should be knocked out and ready in time for the May 22nd race. It's got one killer switchback climb with a sharp left turn in it that had me shaking my head 'no way'. Regardless, it's going to be quite layout and Banner when all is said and done. After some chores around the house, I headed to Lake Ahquabi for Dirt Day #4 in a row. I've got some work to do out there on the trails as well. When? That may have to wait for a bit.

Tara and Alexa got back from San Francisco on Saturday night and I had a home cooked meal all ready for everyone to eat and visit around the table.

Sunday started out with a nice thunderstorm which cleared by the time we got up. Sunny and warm - well, it was time to smoke the corned beef I purchased on sale. So I fired up the Big Green Egg, pulled the beef out of the water rinse, patted it off and used 2 rubs. One more traditional NYC deli-style for 1 chunk, and the hot and spicy rub for the other two chunks. The day turned out really nice weather wise with humidity high and temperatures around 70. Tara and pavement to Banner and back for a 90 minute recovery spin. I ended up with 15 1/2 hours on the bike for the week which is way more than I expected, but helped cut some weight and get the cobwebs out.

Just as I was about to eat some dinner and get ready to attend my student's senior recital, Alexa called and said the mini-van had died in the middle of the road. So I went to meet her and we pushed it to a side street and parked it over night. This morning I'll get it towed and see what's the matter with it. $$$$ is my fear...

Back to work today as spring break e finito..

Dirt Day 2!!!

2011-03-17T19:06:00.000-07:00

Warm temps and winds have worked their magic. Banner Pits is officially okay to ride the entire loop (northside and Riverside). I did 2 full loops at race speed today on the muscle speed machine...

Thinking out loud here for the rest of this blog entry...

Dang I love this bike. A year ago at this time I was out in the Black Hills eating up the dirt with it and wondering why, even with big meat Ardent 2.4's, the thing was so fast. Even on pavement to and from M Hill, I was flying on the RIP. That led me to experiment with it during the season last year for XC and Endurance racing. Now, I'm digging deeper and looking at what this bike can do.

I am running some tests and trying to figure out why I am so much faster on the RIP than my other bikes. I could care less about thoughts of suspension robbing one of energy, amount of watts needed on explosive bursts, etc... . All I care about is the final time for these 60-75 minute full out XC efforts. My highest placings last year occurred on the RIP. I can muscle this bike through just about anything and the suspension just eats it all up. Even if that means higher wattage spikes for the short bursts, I'm racing in the shorter duration category so I'm not going to run out of steam.

That's a wake up call to me and has me pondering how often to race it this year. The Bone Bender in April for sure as it was a champ last year for 3 1/2 hours and allowed me to finish fresh. No Raven 2.2's this year...

I'll run the Ikons for the Bone Bender at the new venue which is going to be rockier and has several stream crossings. So some prototype IKONS (yes, yet another version in the making) will don my RIP this year.

I went back to study this document entitled Which Is Faster: Hardtail or Full Suspension? In my case, it's not a question of HT vs. FS, but how much FS. The softail vs. 80mm vs. 100mm vs 120mm. That's what I need to know and find out for my own racing. Now that's not new to me. Last year, I opted to up my front suspension on the JET over the previous year by running 100mm vs. the prior year at 80mm. And I liked it. This year, I removed the spacer in my Dos Niner to up the front suspension from 80mm to 100mm - and so far, I like it - big improvement. So the theory of having more suspension for my needs is not new. I'm just trying to remove myself from the oft chanted mantra "80 - 100mm is plenty for XC racing". Hey, maybe it isn't - for me. My test times are showing me different data. And that's what I am basing this on - what gets me across the line quicker. I know it's not a 20 pound HT, that's for sure.

I am obviously well aware that being able to hammer through the rough stuff and not having to get off the saddle for every bump that I would on the hardtail (or softail in my case with the Dos Niner) keeps my speed up and keeps my body fresh. But what I am finding is that for a big guy like me, 120mm up front and rear is really a good amount for XC racing. I doubt there is any proportionality involved here, but I wonder if 120mm for a big and tall rider feels more in balance than less travel for a less tall rider? I've got 80mm and 100mm travel bikes as well so I am well aware of what they feel like to me. Maybe if I was 5' something or other and only weighed 135 - 160 lbs., a 100mm of squish front and rear would feel to me - at that size - like a 120mm feels to me at my actual size. I don't know. I'm probably just over-thinkering it all. If a bike is fast - just ride it and don't worry.

All I know is I'm going to stop treating the RIP like some trail bike and just ride the dang thing as another XC race bike that soaks up the terrain a bit better keeping me fresher and fast as a result. One that just happens to have more travel than my other bikes, but rides just as fast if not faster. Oh, and heavier. My RIP as outfitted is 28.26 pounds. There's room with a wheel swap and a couple of other components I have to get down below 27, but I don't think it matters. Oh, and I do have an Excel spreadsheet showing me how to get the RIP down to 25 lbs., but that would involve running the single speed 34T Rotor Q Ring and 9 or 10 gears out back. It's been surprising to me this week as I've tested it at several of my timed loops and routes that I track every year (28.6 mile, 4.2 mile, and 20 minute uphill TT on pavement). My times are actually faster in two of those critical tests - even with the heavy weight. That explains my good showing in the Bone Bender last year and at Mt. Kato.

To make this all work and dial in the big muscle bike, I've got to address a couple of performance enhancing things. I think I'll swap out the granny ring on the RIP to a Rotor Q Ring granny ring. I feel the Q's help best on climbing so that would have me with a 23T granny to work the gears for climbs, and the custom 30T middle and 40T outer ring for everything else. A 23T granny with a 30T rear cog (2nd largest on my 11-34 cassette) is the same gear gain ratio as my current 27T Rotor Q Ring and the 34T large cog out back. So I could mirror that, plus have one more bail out gear if need be for endurance races and steep grinders.

There are too many issues that have been solved with my Q Factor current triple set up I run to fit on the RIP without chain stuck to change the middle and outer rings. Russ Anderson made my 30/40T rings to rid me of clearance issues and they have to be mounted to each other to work, so I couldn't run the middle 33T Rotor Q Ring without dropping the outer 40T ring on my Shimano XT cranks as well. There isn't room for a larger outer ring unless I push the drivetrain side out to the ride and that would muck up my Q factor with my current 180mm cranks. I could go with just the 23/33 Rotor Q Rings as a duo and run a bash guard for a nice spiffy set up, but I use the 40T with the smallest two cogs too often on open sprints to ditch that gearing. I would lose the 40T/11T combo and the 33T/11T combo is not quite as tall as the 40/13T either, so the trade off wouldn't be worth it for me. I could work the climbs pretty well from the granny to benefit from the Q Ring's smoothed out dead spot. Now if the Q rings came in other sizes for the 104/64 BCD I could easily go to a Duo - but they don't. They only come in 44/33/23.

I may move to a 110mm from my 105mm length stem - or maybe all the way to 120mm to get a bit more XC stretched out on it. The weakness at the moment is uphill tight switchbacks. Bars are either too close, too high or a combination of the two for the slack headtube angle with 120mm up front on this bike. Maybe a Talas fork with the ability to drop down to 95mm for those tight climbs is where I need to venture as a permanent solution. If the rain stays away, I'll swap stems tomorrow and give it a go on the singletrack again tomorrow. If it rains, I'll have to wait until a dry day.

Edit: The stem change to a longer one did the trick and took care of tight switchback and uphill turns. I went 10mm longer and flipped it negative.

St. Patty's celebration at Chuck and Gayla's Friday night. If me lucky charms be workin', they won't make me wrap myself up in a kilt for dinner....

What's for lunch? Pastrami of course....

2011-03-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

According to Zack, the pastrami I made is the best smoke I have ever done. Or so he claims. My opinion is that I want to try a different rub next time as this one was more on the BBQ spicy hot side of things. That's fine and boy is it good. However, I want to make a gentler version more akin to the New York City deli style pastrami. The good news is that those corned beef packets will be going on sale big time tomorrow once St. Patty's day is finished. I may buy three or four and do a big pastrami smoke tomorrow or Saturday.

Here is the lunch spread. Beautiful, pink pastrami, a loaf of Rye, swiss cheese and some German mustard. A little warm up of the meat portion and slice of swiss cheese in the microwave, pop it on some fresh bread and presto!! Pastrami lunch sandwiches to die for......YUM!

The chunk of meat was so small, Zack and I went through it in two days. That's why I need to do a big smoke to have some to slice up and freeze for sandwiches. Maybe 1/2 of them spicy and the other half more tame and NY deli style.

Dirt!!!

2011-03-17T01:40:00.000-07:00

Two days of strong winds, warmer temperatures and sunshine helped dry out the singletrack enough that I actually took the Dos Niner up to Des Moines and rode dirt this afternoon!!! I got 80 minutes of fast swoopy trail in before my legs said enough for today. Most of the trail was nice and dry, and there was a fair amount of tacky with about 3 spots I pulled off, picked my bike up and walked around the mud bogs as not to damage the trail. Quite a few bikes had been through the area before it was dry enough and there is a lot of trail damage. A lot of deer tracks, so I did my part to mash those prints out of the trail with my tires as I was flying around the loops. My chain was either super dry, or I've got something else going on somewhere in the drivetrain.

Unfortunately there is rain in the forecast, so the next 2 days will have me back to my spring break ritual of pavement and gravel to Carlisle and back. Tomorrow's forecast is just for a little mist, but the warm temperature of 69 or 70 will be over by mid-afternoon as a cold front hits and takes us back down into the 30's, 40's and 50's.

I worked with Zack on his songs and the Music Man today, then went to Simpson for a recital run-through with a student. Laundry, cooking, dog walking, and some more garage cleaning and of course - watching American Idol - rounded out the vacation day.

Note to Tara: Zack's friend is okay. She came over tonight. Two of the four suffered concussions and all but one was wearing their seatbelts. The car is totaled as it rolled more than one revolution in the ditch. Thank goodness they are all okay!

Spring Break continues...

2011-03-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

I think our freeze/thaw cycle is about to end as it only got down to a low of 26 last night and the forecast going forward is not to get below freezing during the night for the rest of the week. That means no more singletrack after this morning until things dry out a bit. At least the Summerset Trail is clear and ready to ride. I did the 28 mile round trip from the house yesterday afternoon. I will ride it quite a bit this week trying to boost my weekly hours from the 6 I hit this week and last on the bike to more like 8-10 to get ready for the Bone Bender race coming up in 5 weeks.

The tires I am testing are proving to be a very perfect fit for the JET 9. I've got the option to run a bit more bite up front with a Karma 1.9 or Bontrager XR, but with the tubeless pressures I use and the inner rim width of the Crest - the front tire is working. Sure, I can slide it out and off camber as well as ruts require full attention, but so what else is new for minimal tread, smaller volume race tires.

I took the JET through some singletrack yesterday morning and quickly realized the overnight freeze was melting too quickly. A bit of mud stuck on my tires and I was starting to leave tire marks in the trail. My bad. Good news is that I am doing trail work at Banner this weekend and will repair anything that I did.

Here's the JET with the prototypes and a bit of residual mud from the morning ride:

A bit more tread than the Crow and Raven 2.0 and a pretty exciting addition to the 29"er line up.

The bike is hopped up and ready to roll at 24.87 lbs. I've got to check the rear derailleur alignment, cable and limit screws. It was jumping between the two smallest cogs when I was in the big ring up front and hammering. Temperatures will be rising starting today and getting warmer all week, so a spring garage clean is due and then I can tinker with the JET while I am at it.

Meat me this weekend...

2011-03-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

Pastrami weekend it is. I used to eat pastrami way too often from Mama Joy's Deli on Broadway in New York City. It had a good kick to it, so I found a recipe (in my previous post) that was destined to give me kick. I followed a couple of bloggers who smoke a lot of brisket, corned beef and pastrami to get ideas on how to tackle this challenge. One blog said to use multiple fresh water rinses to de-brine the corned beef that I bought for 48 hours while the other blog said to skip that step and go right to the rub. So I met them 1/2 way and fresh water rinsed the corned beef for 24 hours.

I go up this morning and maid the pastrami rub:

* 4 tablespoons kosher salt
* 4 tablespoons smoked paprika
* 3 tablespoons ground coriander
* 3 tablespoons brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons coarse ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoons ground mustard seed
* 1 tablespoon ground chipolte pepper
* 1 tablespoon onion powder

Man, that rub smelled good!!!!

Tara had purchased a big pork loin on sale that was in the fridge, so I decided to smoke it today as well using a different rub more oriented for the pork. 1/2 will be eaten by Zack and I starting tonight, and the other 1/2 I will slice up after smoking it and freeze it for a couple of meals when Tara and Alexa get home from their spring break in California. At least that's the plan.

Here's the meat for today's smoke, the 2 rubs and the selected chips for the smoke.

My heart skipped a few beats just looking at that photo!!

The time change threw me off a little bit this morning, but after I got up, I lit the fire, rubbed the meat, took the dogs for a walk, showered, had breakfast and then went to check on the fire. Sweet! The pre-smoking temp was up at 620 degrees which is just about where I want it before setting things up for indirect smoking:

On went the meat and yes, like Anne Burrell, I was talking to the meat and rub all morning in hopes that would help. ;-}

The challenge today was to keep things moist. Pork loin can dry out easily and require a lower temperature for the meat to get to before it is done that the pastrami. I like to use a spray every 45 minutes to keep things moist, so I mixed Brandy and Pomegranate Juice (you can use Apple Juice, Brandy, Wine - whatever) and sprayed everything on a timely basis to keep the meat moist. I wrapped the loins in foil at the 2 1/2 hour point after spraying them and lathering them up with Michigan Cherry BBQ rub:

Oooo.....look at that pastrami up front. Yummy.

One more spray and off I went on a 2 1/2 hour bike ride while things smoked on...

I came back and removed the pork loins. I couldn't believe how much juice was dripping everywhere. I kept the Green Egg at a bit lower temperature today to break down the tissue in the brisket and not to overcook the loin. Rather than up at 225, I kept things around 190 - 210 all day.

I took the loins into the kitchen to cool before cutting and freezing:

I wrapped the pastrami in foil for the final hour of smoking. Then I doctored up some Bush's Beans and made cornbread for tonight's feast. I cut 1/2 of the loin into 2 meals, wrapped them in foil and then Cling Wrap (a la Tara's instructions via Chuck) to freeze. I snuck a bite of the loin. Wow!!! I couldn't believe how moist it was and hot - as in spice. Delicious.

I took the pastrami off the Egg and put it in the cooler wrapped in towels to keep the tissue break down process going. Once it cools, I will put it in the fridge over night to get it ready for pastrami sandwich slicing tomorrow (and I will freeze some for Tara and Alexa to experience when they get home).

Now, time to eat the loin, beans and cornbread with Zack!

Here's a plated serving of very moist pork loin. Success!!!

A bit about the beans. Bush's bourbon & brown sugar canned beans was the base. I added a diced onion, some cherry BBQ sauce, onion powder, fresh garlic, the remaining pomegranate/brandy spray from the smoke and some black pepper. Slow cooked them for a good 40 minutes and voila! Tasty Bush's beans.

How did everything taste? Well, Zack started humming and then singing - so I guess he liked it. Me? I thought it was one of my top efforts. I can't wait until tomorrow to slice the pastrami, put it on some rye (I need to go buy some tomorrow morning), load it up with mustard and a bit of melted cheese for a New York Deli pastrami sandwich.

Here's tonight's meal being enjoyed...

Pot Roast and Pastrami...

2011-03-11T05:33:00.000-08:00

All the hours on the bike has stirred up my appetite. Combine that with favorable weather and temperatures to fire up the Big Green Egg I've decided to take advantage of all the brisket and corned beef being sold in the stores at the moment ('tis St. Pat's season and what not) and shoot for some pastrami this weekend. I did a pot roast last night to curb my hunger and used some nice cherry rub and sauce from Michigan (thumbs up from the family on the taste!!!).

Today, I'll start soaking the brine out of the corned beef package I bought to get as much of the salt out as possible to get ready for the pastrami smoke.

Here's the recipe for my first attempt at making pastrami:

* 4 tablespoons kosher salt
* 4 tablespoons smoked paprika
* 3 tablespoons ground coriander
* 3 tablespoons brown sugar
* 2 tablespoons coarse ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoons ground mustard seed
* 1 tablespoon ground chipolte pepper
* 1 tablespoon onion powder

It's supposed to look like this in the smoker...

Spring Break starts in 9 hours!!!

Frozen Tundra cycle continues...

2011-03-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

I'm still taking advantage of the freeze-thaw cycle by riding in the morning on the cold days out at Lake Ahquabi and Banner Pits. Last year was a bust for outdoor training from January - March for me due to the record amount of snow. I missed the hill climbing on singletrack and doubletrack because of it and the winter was followed by such wet conditions with epic rain, that off road riding was almost slim to none by the time XC race season started. This year, thanks to not much snow and favorable weather, I've ridden in December, January, February and now March to keep me in a reality check for climbing on dirt. Big thumbs up on that as no amount of training in the basement can equal actual climbing on dirt.

I headed out today for 2 laps at Lake Ahquabi while temperatures were 24 - 27 degrees. Not frozen solid, but enough to make most of the lap excellent riding. By the end of the 2nd lap this morning, things were warming up and the bike slowed way down as the tires started to sink into the mud. There were a lot of sections that reminded me of riding on what I would imagine frozen Special K and milk would feel like if frozen. It just crumbled beneath my tires and made navigating the front wheel fun and exciting.

I took the spacer out of my old REBA to jack it up from 80mm of travel to 100mm of travel and loved the feel. I trimmed off 20mm's of steerer tube, but the bars still feel a tad high (can't flip the stem to get things down as it's a 0 degree stem).

I'll wait a bit until some more off road rides, but I may trim some more off or take the fork apart and trim a spacer down to shoot for 90 - 94mm of travel. For now, the 100mm feels great and makes me wonder what I've been doing riding a Dos for 5 years at 80mm!!! Steering feels the same if not better and the extra cush was thanked by my arms, wrists and upper body.

A bit of post ride mud today from the 2 hours at Lake Ahquabi, but not too much...

It looks like I might get 4 morning rides in this week using the freeze/thaw cycle according to the forecast. I know my days are numbered for that until we get too muddy for spring riding, but I'm enjoying it while I can.

Happy 18th to my son!!!!

2011-02-28T17:05:00.000-08:00

My son, Zack turned 18 today.

We had a big blowout dinner party at a Japanese restaurant with a group of 11 on Saturday night.

Zack and the guys await the Japanese feast...

Our chef provided just the right amount of show and comedy to keep us all thoroughly entertained for a fun evening and meal...

While we were there, 5 girls came into our house and decorated the basement for Zack's party. When we walked into the house and headed to the basement, Zack showed his surprise...

Our good friend Lisa made a wonderful chocolate cake with raspberries which the girls got set up with candles while we were out at the restaurant with the rest of the friends. We got home, went to the basement and Zack was pleased with the effort. Fun was had by all and the guys spent the night at our house and the gals just down the street at another house. Tara made eggs, bagels and bacon for everyone in the morning (try feeding 10 teenagers all at once).

Zack blowing out the Bird-Day candles...

Today - the actual birthday - he got his gifts and dinner with the family.

Timing and what not...

2011-02-25T04:30:00.000-08:00

Ah...it's back. Winter, that is...

We were hit hard with the slickest streets we've had in a long time last night. Funny thing is, 10 miles north of us at the airport in Des Moines they had zero snow - or at least none on the ground to speak of, but we got hit in southern Iowa with some good stuff. Alexa got stuck in the van after school and just parked it in a driveway of a friend's house. The kids had the annual February Follies concert last night at the high school, so after the concert we drove over in the 4 wheel drive to get the van. I drove it home avoiding all hills, and even with my years of ice and snow experience - it was difficult to get the van home as the city had not yet plowed or sanded. Maybe the Tiger Paw tires I put on this summer were not that great of deal after all....

Big news is that Zack is attending Simpson College Music Weekend to check out the music department and see what it is all about as a possible major. He's been cast as Harold Hill in The Music Man (April 28/29/30) at the high school and is studying voice with me at the moment in preparation for that. This is all brand new to him and we are working through the possibilities. I'm being careful not to rush to any judgement, but spending time seeing what the potential is and trying to unlock it. Alexa is in the musical as well and as a result, will not be able to do track and field this year because of the conflicts of rehearsals and practice taking place at the same time. So she is going to play soccer instead.

On to what was - or so we thought - the end of winter.

I did my usual off season ballooning up in weight with good eating from October to January and have been busy the past 2 months in the basement gym as well as getting outside for the occasional ride. I am ahead of schedule compared to prior years for getting in some base miles and the weight lifting/training is just about to roll over into maintenance phase as I gear up for interval work. I turned up my hours last week to the point that a calorie deficit kicked in for the amount of training I was doing and that has helped shed the first 4 pounds of winter girth I added. Still plenty to go, but the process has turned the corner.

I was able to sneak in some singletrack this week before the snow hit. Timing with the temperature was important to pull this off. Luckily, everything had melted last week as temperatures approached 70. That left the dirt a muddy mess, but low and behold the temperatures dropped back into winter mode this week. And with the thermometer dipping below freezing at night, I have been able to get up early and ride Banner Pits and Lake Ahquabi while the ground is still frozen. Without the freeze, neither trail could be ridden. So timing has been crucial to be able to sneak in the pre-spring singletrack rides this week. It's brutal riding on frozen dirt as there is no give, so why I chose not to ride the full suspension yesterday at Lake Ahquabi is beyond me. I had fun, but my teeth and kidneys are jarred from the effort.

I'm afraid the fun I was having this week timing the freeze/thaw cycle will have to be put on hold for Lake Ahquabi until the few inches we received last night melts. So, I either head north to Des Moines to ride since they got no snow, or I will wait for conditions to be like they were this week to do more of the early morning singletrack adventures at the trails closest to me. Not a problem as I can slip back to the basement gym to assume the position of pre-season preparation and waistline trimming...

IMBCS Announces 2011 Race Schedule...

2011-01-22T01:55:00.000-08:00

The 2011 Iowa Mountain Biking Championship Series:

IMBCS #1 - April 10 - Sylvan Island, Moline, IL
IMBCS #2 - May 1 - Decorah, IA
IMBCS #3 - May 8 - Camp Ingawanis (north course), Waverly, IA
IMBCS #4 - May 22 - Banner Lakes, Indianola, IA
IMBCS #5 - June 12 - Moorehead Pioneer Park, Ida Grove, IA
IMBCS #6 - July 31 - Camp Ingawanis (south course), Waverly, IA
IMBCS #7 - August 7 - Seven Oaks Ski Area, Boone, IA
IMBCS #8 - August 13 - Manawa State Park, Council Bluffs, IA
IMBCS #9 - August 28 - Sugarbottom Rec Area, North Liberty, IA
IMBCS #10 - October 9 - Lake Ahquabi State Park, Indianola, IA

Happy Birthday to Tara!

2011-01-18T21:21:00.001-08:00

53 years young today!! Happy birthday and best wishes from....

Bruce, Zack and Alexa

Sunday, January 16: Recital Time!

2011-01-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

I had my final rehearsals yesterday and today for Sunday's recital. I'll be appearing in Great Hall on the Simpson College campus at 7 p.m. with Cara Chowning at the piano.

The program will be as follows...

Bruce Brown, baritone
Cara Chowning, piano
in a faculty recital

Songs by Franz Schubert

•Die Forelle (The Trout)
•Ihr Bild (Her Portrait)
•Die Taubenpost (The Carrier Pigeon)
•Ständchen (Serenade)
•Erlkönig (Erl King)

Four songs by Jacques Ibert

Quatre Chansons de Don Quichotte (Four Songs of Don Quixote)

•I. Chanson de Depart – (Song of Leavetaking)
•II. Chanson de Duc – (Song of the Duke)
•III. Chanson a Dulcinee – (Song to Dulcinea)
•IV. Chanson de la Mort de Don Quixote – (Song of the death of Don Quixote)

•Ah, per sempre… Riccardo's aria from the opera I Puritani by Vincenzo Bellini

Another Reason I Don't Keep a Gun in the House by Tom Cipullo (poems of Billy Collins)

•1. Desire
•2. Embrace
•3. Cancer
•4. Flames
•5. Putting Down the Cat
•6. Another Reason I Don't Keep a Gun in the House

•Dunkelrote Rosen (Dark Red Roses) - Karl von Millöcker
From the Operetta Gasparone

All are invited to attend and admission is free.

Winter has arrived...

2011-01-13T07:53:00.000-08:00

The singletrack was nice last week, to say the least. Conditions did provide an entire month+ more of off road riding this winter compared to a year ago when things shut down in early December due to the amount of snow. So I can't complain for having an extra month of riding this year. That all changed this week with our first big snowfall coupled with school closings, snow blowers and shovels getting dusted off as mother nature reminded us what the white stuff is all about.

I was already prepared with a winter bike for my morning and evening neighborhood 20 minute dog walk/rides. I dub the type of riding I am doing on it now that winter is here as "snowglespeeding".

The snow monkey is doing fine with the duty thanks to the 2.4 Ardents:

Zoey waiting patiently for her post walk treat as I snap a few pictures yesterday:

Post dog walk photo:

I enjoy the daily dog walks in the snow as I gingerly attempt to stay upright on the ice and snow. Not to mention, picking up the dog drops are easier in the snow as I can just grab a handful of snow with the plastic bag and tie it shut. ;-]

3 days of singletrack in the bag, now the snow is here...

2011-01-07T04:37:00.001-08:00

I have to admit, I really enjoyed getting away from the off-season weight lifting routine in the basement the past 3 days to get out on the singletrack while conditions were perfect to ride. I think this is the first January since I've lived in Iowa where I could do that. I hit it pretty hard with 3 hour rides each day. 2 days on the JET to test the new XC super svelte race tires and 1 day on the Dos Niner. The pain was gone by day three and replaced with a grin as I even wrapped up the day by going out to Ahquabi for a lap to work on climbing.

Southern Central Iowa has been devoid of very much snow this winter, but that all changed this morning as it is snowing and we should get an inch or two today/tomorrow. Cold temperatures will keep it around through next week. It might still be an easy ride before it all gets packed down and turns to ice. I hope the county clears the bike path again like they did the last time it snowed in December. It's much more fun to do training rides outside than in the basement.

Upcoming Event

Bruce Brown, baritone and Cara Chowning, pianist in a faculty recital on Sunday, January 16th at 7 p.m. in Great Hall on the Simpson College campus. Songs by Schubert, Ibert and Cipullo, and arias by Bellini and Millöcker.

I even managed to get most of the French songs memorized for my concert next weekend. One more French song to go which I will hit hard today. Then it is simply repetition work, fine tuning of the memory, experimentation with dynamics, phrasing and general musicianship. My first run-through with the pianist is Sunday night. I hope to be able to run the concert with her at least 4 or 5 times.

Back in the states...

2011-01-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

One never has words to describe that transatlantic flight process. No matter how many times I do it (well over 40 times at this point), I almost always dread the time in the air. Why? I swear, the leg room gets less and less each and every year. So playing sardine for a flight form Vienna to Frankfurt, a flight from Frankfurt to Chicago, and a flight from Chicago to Kansas City is always 12 hours or so of non-fun for my long legs. It's not too bad if one is 5'3" - 5'8", but for anyone over 6 feet tall it is torture that you pay for in the price of a ticket.

We had a great time in Vienna. Maybe too good of a time. ;-] Lots of performances, visits with friends, good food and drink, museums, the zoo (twice) and memories. It was nice to be back in the big city where the most common mode of transportation is walking and public transportation. I think I averaged about 4 or 5 miles of brisk city walking every day which kept me in shape.

We got home late Monday night and are back into our routine here as the kids started school on Tuesday. I start work next Monday, but am busy memorizing my recital material this week by forcing my brain to try and work at it. The French songs are going into the noodle a lot slower than the German, Italian, and English songs.

Surprised that there is no snow on the ground outside of a few remnants here and there from earlier in December. I headed out on the JET 9 yesterday for a 2 1/2 hour ride to combat the jet lag. I got to Banner Pits and flew over a huge snow bank to get on the singletrack which was 99% devoid of any snow. Dry and frozen solid dirt covered in leaves, twigs and off season "stuff" is what I found. I was elated the singletrack was in great condition and did 2 full laps at Banner hopping over the fallen trees and really giving the Maxxis race tires a good test. I ran these tires in one race last fall and was trying them out before the snow hit, but didn't have a chance to get enough ride time on them to write a good review for Maxxis. Yesterday and today will help me solidify a better review and test their limits. The weather report says snow tomorrow, so today's ride may be it for a while on the race tires.

I purchased a Sachertorte in Vienna to bring back to the states and enjoy.

It's one of my favorite desserts from Vienna and I didn't get a chance to have a slice while there as I was too busy eating Apfelstrudel and Tiramisu to get any Sachertorte. Tara hates it because it is so dry, but I love it with coffee. Anyway, Zack and I cracked it open yesterday at lunch and each had a small sliver. I wrapped it up and put it way back on the counter so the dogs couldn't counter graze and grab it. While I was out on my bike ride, Zack came home from school and cut himself another sliver, but he failed to push the cake far enough back on the counter. Guess what? Max hopped up and got the cake. When I got home from my bike ride, I saw that Max had eaten the entire Torte!!!!! Well, at least I had a small sliver. Max, however, enjoyed the full 35 Euro 8 slice Sachertorte. I'll either order one online to make up for it, or just wait until May. I'll be back overseas in May for the month and can have a slice then.

It was nice to have open, intelligent discussions with friends and colleagues in Europe. Three of my colleagues that I sang with quite a bit over the years passed away last year (2 with lung cancer and one with a heart attack). It looks like I will be singing at a festival in Poland this summer and or next. Details to be worked out over the next month or two.

All in all a very good trip for me, Tara and the kids. Thanks to our hosts - Sima and Ahmed - you both made the trip for us easy, excellent and fun.

New Year in Vienna!

2010-12-30T07:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a whirlwind since we got here, but my jet lag still has me up all night. Rats! In spite of that, lots of visiting friends, the zoo, some museums, shopping, walking, eating, etc... .

Anyway, tomorrow we will be having lunch with some friends and then going to Beethoven's 9th Sypmphony in the evening.

Following the symphony we will be at a party until 2011 is wrung in with all the appropriate fireworks - so I won't get time to say Happy New Year before that. So I'll say it now. Einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr to all. Or more simply - Guten Rutsch!

We'll be at the opera on Sunday for Il Barbiere di Siviglia (sold out performance!!!).

BB

Merry Christmas from Vienna!!!

2010-12-25T01:39:00.001-08:00

The Brown/Starr family would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from Vienna!! It is 10:30 a.m. Christmas morning and is snowing to make things very festive here.

Kansas City to Chicago to Frankfurt to Vienna was the route we took on Thursday the 23rd which had has arrive at 9 a.m. on December 24th in Vienna. We got settled into our apartment in the 9th District, brushed our teeth, washed our faces, changed clothes and headed out to the Christmas market at the Rathaus in an attempt to stay awake. The sun was shining and temperatures were hovering near 40. After walking just 2 blocks, both kids said they felt "at home" as all of the memories of growing up here came back. Glühwein and Kartoffeln were had by all. A bit of shopping on Kärntnestrasse kept us awake as we were fading fast from the jet lag and lack of sleep. Alexa had to have a hair straightener to run on the voltage over here, and we bought some flowers to take to dinner. We also stocked up on goodies to eat for Christmas day.

Here's the Rathaus at night.

We walked back to our apartment and took a much needed 3 hour nap. After a nice nap, we all showered, got dressed up in our Christmas clothes and headed to the 19th district for Christmas Eve Dinner at 6 in our friend's home (Sima and Ahmad). We celebrated last night with an international and very multi-cultural group of 16 friends here in Vienna. Russia, Greece, Israel, Iran, Austria and the United States were all represented while we shared food, drink, memories, stories and wonderful fellowship. We sang Christmas songs, played the piano, danced and laughed until midnight. Going on only 3 hours of sleep didn't seem to deter any of us and it was an evening to remember. We slept 10 1/2 hours last night before getting up this morning.

Kärntnerstrasse all lit up with decorations...

Another one of our favorite Weihnachtsmarkt in Wien...

Merry Christmas

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

2010-12-21T13:38:00.000-08:00

I want to wish a very happy birthday to my father out in the Black Hills. First day of winter and you are celebrating once again! ;-]

Burger King - Where's the BEEF? And winter riding...

2010-12-20T18:29:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow is the first day of winter and I took advantage of the final days of fall weather to hit the Summerset Trail for some base building. Enough walkers, joggers and cyclists convinced the powers that be to remove the snow from the trail so we could use it through winter. Snow removal is from Indianola all the way down to Summerset road. Beyond that, it's not able to be ridden without great effort as the snow has not been removed. Regardless, I got a 2 hour ride yesterday on the RIP while it was snowing some more. Today, the warm temps had the trail wet, but fast so the same trip was about 75 minutes. I've got the winter riding gear, so I hope they keep the trail plowed in the upcoming winter months as it is much more enjoyable for base building rides as opposed to the basement trainer.

Okay, a pox on Burger King. I rarely eat at a fast food joint to begin with, but today I was running last minute errands up in Des Moines and hit up the BK drive-through. I had thoughts of a nice hot, charbroiled burger in my head and taste buds as I pulled up to order. I got my meal and drove on down the road. I took a bite and realized I had just been handed a bag of fraud. This wasn't a Burger King product. The Burger King I used to know.

Gone are the days of a nice charbroiled burger that we used to call a Whopper. Now, it resembles something that kind of looks like a very thin pork tenderloin that has been pounded to oblivion with a mallet and has sort of an orange/rust color with no charbroiled flavor. It was not hot of the grill like they used to be "back in the day". Now it is some frozen patty warmed up in the microwave as you order it. They might even spray paint on color to make it look like it was charbroiled for a minute or two at some point in the process. It was like eating a big shredded iceberg lettuce sandwich with a little bit of meat (maybe 4mm or 5mm measured in thickness on the calipers) thrown in to keep the lettuce from falling all over the place. Major disappointment. Shame on Burger King!!!!

They used to make a mean burger, but now they are just another corporate fast food assembly line joint that has lost its way in terms of making a product that actually looks and tastes good - not to mention - is hot off the flames. Scratch BK off any future visit list for me. Period. Life's too short to eat such badly produced product. Yuck!

My weight lifting adaptation period ends tomorrow with my final session on the 1st day of winter. I may or may not lift over in Austria during vacation, time will tell. But I will start up with the next phase once I get back.

Wisconsin and Minnesota Announce 2011 Event Series...

2010-12-14T11:24:00.000-08:00

WORS 2011 Event Schedule

* May 1 - Iola Bump & Jump; Iola Winter Sports Club, Iola, WI
* May 22 - Crystal Lake Classic; Camp Tesomas, Rhinelander, WI
* June 12 - Big Ring Classic ; Nine Mile Forest, Wausau, WI
* June 25 & 26 - Subaru Cup Pro XCT; Nordic Mt, Mt Morris, WI
* July 10 - Chippewa Valley Firecracker; Eau Claire Co. Expo Center, Eau Claire, WI
* July 24 - Alterra Coffee Bean Classic; Crystal Ridge, Franklin, WI
* August 7 - Battle of Camrock; Camrock 3, Rockdale, WI
* August 21 - Border Battle; White Tail Ridge, River Falls, WI
* August 28 - Reforestation Ramble; Reforestration Camp, Suamico, WI
*Sept. 11 - Treadfest; Grand Geneva Resort, Lake Geneva, WI
* Sept. 25 - Bear Paw Rock & Roll; Bear Paw Outdoor, White Lake, WI
* October 9 - Wigwam MTB Challenge; Evergreen Park, Sheboygan, WI

2011 Minnesota Mountain Bike Series Race Schedule

5/21/2011 (Sat.) Freewheel Frolic Benefiting MORC,
Inver Grove Heights, MN
06/05/2011 Bluff Riders Charge, Mankato MN
6/19/2011 Lifetime Avalanche, Afton Alps MN
6/26/2011 Wheelhouse Classic, Red Wing, MN
7/11/2011 Buck Hill Birch Bump, Burnsville, MN
7/17/2011 Dirt Spanker, Superior, WI
7/31/2011 SingleTrack Attack, Elk River, MN
08/07/2011 Great Hawk Chase, Duluth, MN
08/21/2011 Bontrager Border Battle, River Falls, WI
09/04/2011 Laddie’s Loppet Stage Race, Maplelag Resort, MN
09/24/2011(Sat.) Revolution’s Single Track Escape, St. Cloud, MN

Off Season Weights...

2010-12-01T15:45:00.000-08:00

...has begun. This year, I am about 5-6 weeks later than previous years by design.

In spite of my nasty cold, I hit the weights before going to work today for the first session being that it is December 1st.

This is pretty much a post about nothing only intended for me to track where I am and what I am doing.

I complete the first three week block (adaptation) before we head overseas.

Riding through the holiday...

2010-11-27T12:59:00.001-08:00

I managed to get out on Monday night, Wednesday night, Thursday afternoon, Friday afternoon and today for some mountain bike rides. The lights at night have been working very well as long as I keep the battery charged up. All that exercise work just to try and keep the weight even through all of the good eats this week. And the "eats" have been good, let me tell you.

Yesterday and today were multiple loops at Lake Ahquabi on the singlespeed. Man, even with gearing of 29T ring and 16T cog, two of the climbs are murder and I have to bail. Maybe if I took the heavy Ardent 2.4's off and put something a couple hundred grams lighter and with less volume I could eek it out on those two climbs, but I'm having fun regardless. It's a bit of the freeze/thaw cycle right now so the riding is sloppy when it's warm and super harsh and fast when it is frozen. I'll ride again on Sunday to make it 6 days out of 7 this week and fight the battle of the winter bulge. I ran over some dog or animal or some poop on the trail today. It's all over the tires, frame, my riding clothes, gloves. I better wash it all off in this afternoon's sunshine and dry the bike.

I hit my January 16th recital music pretty hard this week during the break as well as I had to settle on a good program. I was toying between doing a set of traditional songs from various countries as my next to last group (Danny Boy, The Ash Grove, Shenandoa, etc...) or some opera arias. Well, I'm going with the opera arias. Man music in other words. Grand opera. Full out balls to the walls singing. I will pretty much only get to rehearse with the accompanist the next couple of weeks before we break for the holidays, so I wanted to get the music learned before working with her. She'll be in Ohio and me in Vienna during the break, so not much chance to rehearse.

Plus, I've got two more performances before heading to Vienna as well, and need to work on that material ASAP to get it memorized. The January recital should be interesting as I'll be doing Schubert, Ibert's Don Quichotte songs, Bellini (I Puritani) and some modern, very funny songs entitled "Another Reason I Don't Keep a Gun in the House". They were originally written for a tenor, but I'll eek them out in spite of all 6 of them being really high for me (a baritone). Then I'll end up with a sappy opera aria. Looks to be a 50 minute - 60 minute program, but we'll see how it all times out in rehearsal. I may have to add or subtract a few things.

As usual, with all the riding in cold weather and cramming in as much singing as possible I came down with a cold. I'm fighting it off as best I can, but I woke up at 1 a.m. with a splitting sinus headache. I hope that doesn't mean this sucker is headed into a sinus infection. It's hard to sing with one of those, so I'll do everything I can to keep in good condition.

Off to Hy-Vee to get all of my goodies to make my traditional turkey casserole with all of the leftovers from the feast...

Thanksgiving Week is HERE!!!

2010-11-22T06:16:00.000-08:00

Yippie!! A short, 2 day work week this week as we send all the college kids home Tuesday afternoon for the Thanksgiving holiday break. We've got the organic turkey from California in the fridge, all the goodies purchased (made a major shopping trip this weekend), guests invited and the house is cleaned (also a major weekend project). Heck, I even dusted ceiling fans, corners, window frames, picture frames, vacuumed under furniture, got every single dog hair I could find, washed windows, cleaned toilets and on and on. It was like a major spring cleaning - only in the fall.

I hosted my students last night for the "Sing for Your Supper" event. Everyone that wants to eat, has to sing. So fun was had by all as the food and song combined for a very fun filled evening. Antipasti, spaghetti and meatballs, salad, garlic bread, truffles and beverages were all consumed and enjoyed by all. There were 17 voice majors, 1 accompanist, 2 dogs, and of course, the 4 of us. We all packed into the living room using the folding tables and chairs and socialized for about 3 hours. I cleaned up right away to get things back in order for Thanksgiving.

I logged in a few hours of riding this week thanks to my NiteRider lights. I missed riding on Saturday which was nice and dry, but shopping and cleaning were more important that day. I got out for a nice hour and a half yesterday in the misty rain and empty trails. It was very peaceful and temps were way up in the mid 50's. Looks like Thanksgiving is forecast to be a high of 28, so this week should bring some nice freezes with temps dipping to the teens at night.