Nonconform Cycling

Hawkeye Downs HPRA Sept 17/18th

2011-08-04T17:26:00.000-07:00

For those of you looking for something completely different to do in September.....

http://www.bikeiowa.com/asp/calendar/Ride.asp?e=5977

Yard sale 2011

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

Time to liquidate and fund for future adventures.
http://dgyardsale.blogspot.com/
DG

2011 Schedule

2011-03-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Rough sketch(all events subject to life, love, and whatever. high priority on adventure)*

Jan 2nd kccx
Jan 3rd

Jan 9th kccx(Series 60, 30plus series winner)
Jan 10th

Jan 16th Triple D(ski)4th skier. My hip adductors hate me.
Jan 17th

Jan22/23 NEIAKDG(North East Iowa Kill DG training sessions)

Jan28-Feb3 Arrowhead(crewing)

Feb 5/6 NEIAKDG

Feb 12/13 NEIAKDG

Feb 19/20 NEIAKDG

Feb 26th Cirrem(flatted, 10 bonus miles, ect)
Feb 27

Mar 5/6 NEIAKDG team edition

Mar 12/13 Minor hand injury/rest week

Mar19 Local 100miler. Jefferson Co tour of dirt roads(Pugsley29er)
Mar20

Mar26/Mar27 Decorah spring training[Cronus]

Apr2/3 NEIAKDG Finale

Apr 9
Apr10 Gods Country duathlon [Pugsley 29er] 5th overall.

Apr16th
April 17th -Bone Bender 3/6 MTB Odyssey-(Smithville Lake, Mo.) [Badger] 24th Solo 6hour(damage control).

April 23rd/24th TransIA [Cronus]1st overall.

Apr 30 Decorah TT [Brew]
May 1st

May7th Smithville Adventure race [KM]
May 8th

May 14th Almanzo 162 [Cronus] DNF hypothermia
May15th

May 21 Chequamegon 100 [Badger] 20somethingth
May22

May 28
May29

June 4th Dirty Kanza [Cronus]DNF Heat
June 5th

June 11-12th Waterford HPRA 1st streamliner, 1st stock, 1st in trike.

June 17
June 18

June 25th
June 26th

July2
July3

July 9-10th Northbrook/Kenosha HPRA 1st streamliner, 2nd stock both days.

July16th
July17th

July 23
July 24th

July 30
July 31

Aug 6
Aug7

Aug. 13th
Aug 14

Aug 20-21 Manchester HPRA

Aug27
Aug28

Sept 2/3/4/5th Dakota 50

Sept. 10
Sept 11

Sept 17/18 Hawkeye Downs HPRA

Sept. 24th
Sept 25

Oct 1 Dirty Wooden Shoe CX [Cronus]
Oct 2 Altoona CX

Oct 8-9 Chicago marathon(crewing)

Oct 15/16

Oct 22
Oct 23

Oct 29/30 Spooky CX [Cronus]

Nov5
Nov 6

Nov12
Nov13

Nov18/19/20 Lincoln CX

Nov25/26/27 Jingle CX[Cronus]

Dec3
Dec4

Dec10
Dec 11
Dec17
Dec18

Dec24
Dec25

Dec31
Tuscobia Ultra? [Skate ski]
Jan1

Jan7
Jan8

Triple D? [Skate ski]

Jan14
Jan15

Jan21
Jan22

Jan28-Feb3 Arrowhead 135 [Skate ski]

Feb4
Feb5

Feb11
Feb12

Feb18
Feb19

Feb25
Feb26

DG

TransWisconsin

2010-07-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

It's taking me a bit to get back in blog mode, so these last two posts here will be a work in progress. The raw data is here, but there is alot to think about behind that data. While all the many races this past winter and spring have had their lessons to be learned, TransWisconsin was the first I've felt warrants a complete writeup. So many things learned. Now to get them on this page...

The pictures(with captions).

The main website and audio updates

The Data(with some description on the Garmin page):
Day 1 112miles
Day 2 120miles
Day 3 120miles The day of sand, missing completely from my GPS. This annoys the crap out of me.
Day 4~90miles?
Day 5 140miles
Long damn day, less to do with mileage more to do with route.
Day 6 160miles
Mother. Rain, rain go away.
Day 7 Fin

Race Schedule: Past and Present

2010-07-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

January 9th Triple D snowbike race 60miler, Dubuque IA(2nd place overall)

February 1/2nd Arrowhead 135 135miles snowbike race, International Falls MN(Perfect conditions, flat tire at mile ten, rode from last place bike to tenth overall)

Feb 27th Cirrem(should have taken the studded tires off)

March 13th Bonk Hard Chill adventure race(beating a fitness wakeup call into my head)

March 26/27/28 High Profile Adventure Camp(Awsome)

April 17 Bone Bender 6hr mtb, Smithville MO (Finished 4 of the 6hours. Not a rigid friendly course after all)

April 24/25 TransIA 300something gravel miles Grinnell and surrounding area(Epic conditions, used it all up to get further than most)

May 1st Syllamos Revenge 50mile mtb, Mountain View AR (Epic conditions, again. Crankarm started falling off at mile 2. Ran alot. McGuyvered a finish.)

May 9th Camp Ingawanis IORCA mtb, Waverly IA (A chain dropping good time)

May 15th Almanzo 100, gravel Rochester MN(Fast gravel. 21st overall)

May 22 Chequamegon 100, 100 miles of singletrack in the Cable WI area(Lost in Chequamegon national forest.)

May 29 Balltown Classic(dns, spent the weekend cheering friends at the memorial day weekend races and building bikes)

June 5th Dirty Kanza 200 gravel, Emporia KS (dnf at 100miles due to a crash at 20~30miles in. First visit to the hospital in 3 decades.)

June 12/13th Waterford HPRA races, human powered vehicle races, Waterford MI(1st Streamliner, 2nd Stock, 1st Trike. New trike 200ft record, real close to the course records for faired and unfaired hour races)

June 18-24th TransWisconsin(epic. 3rd person to finish on route)

July 10/11 Northbrook/Kenosha HPRA weekend, human powered vehicle races, Chicagoland

July 17/18 IA games road TT/MTB race

July24/25th Dusk till Dawn adventure race, Perry, KS

July 31st Spolka 6hr adventure race, Prairie du Sac, WI

August 7th Metamora 4x50, 200mile road, Metamora IL

Aug 14th Rapture in Misery 12hour mtb race, Trenton, MO

August 20th Gravel World Championships, 135-150is miles gravel, Lincoln NE

August 28-29 Thunder Rolls 12/24 hour adventure race, Oregon IL

Sept 4/5 Dakota 50

September 11/12th Hawkeye Downs HPRA, human powered vehicle race, Cedar Rapids IA I promote this one, come check it out.

Sept 25-26th Berryman Adventure race 12/36hour, StL MO

October 9/10 Xenia HPRA, human powered vehicle race, Xenia OH
or Milford Extreme 6/12hour adventure race, Milford KS

Some CX races in here

Dec 4th Castlewood 8hour adventure race, StL MO

Some more CX racing

Dec Tuscobia Ultra 75mile snowbike race

January Triple D snowbike race 60miler, Dubuque IA

February Arrowhead 135 135miles snowbike race, International Falls MN

WWMD

2010-03-06T05:28:00.000-08:00

One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about
humans was their habit of continually stating and repeating the very
very obvious, as in It's a nice day, or You're very tall, or Oh dear
you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you alright?-Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Don't lose hope, there will be race reports. I've just got to put out some fires and start some others....

In the mean time, check out my yard sale here: www.dgyardsale.blogspot.com

DG

Triple D

2010-01-15T08:34:00.000-08:00

After doing Arrowhead last year and the Tuscobia Ultra just a few weeks before, Triple D looked to me more like a sprint event. No matter how bad the conditions, it would still be much, much easier than either of those two.

As usual, Lance announced super fast conditions the weekend prior, which properly sets the scene for freak weather phenomena. Hence Thursday before the race, 8" of snow. Good. My specialty is attrition racing, not rail-trail time trialing. The intranets composed of much whining and talk of course re-route.

By the time race day rolled around snowmobile traffic had compacted most of the trail back to super fast condition. Re-routes were minimized to staying on the Heritage trail for all but the first and last 2-3 miles of the course to minimize the amount of hike-a-bike.

Competition was much the same as the previous years. No Pramann this year, but I knew I'd still have to work to stay ahead of Cory, Lance, Adam, Trevor, Ben, and Nick.

I made sure to pay close attention to the roads as we rolled through town on the way to the pavetrail. I could see how I got off track the first year. The pavetrail was 8" of un-packed snow over iced over footprints, pretty much unrideable for 90% of us. Cory got off the front early here. Sometimes breaking trail is easier than following, I believe this was one of those times, as he rode away on a 29er as the rest us were left to flail and walk in the tracks left behind. Trevor ran close behind Cory, and soon enough Ben and Lance rode away as well.

The trail eventually popped out into a bar parking lot where I found no trail markers or riders in sight. Great, 2 miles into the race and not only have I let the lead pack get away, but I've lost the trail. I was hearing a whistle tho. Lance was on the edge of the woods behind the bar blowing his emergency whistle. Turns out one of the key trail markers was missing. As soon as I hit the snowmobile trail behind the bar I knew I was going to have to hammer to catch the leaders and keep the rest of the 29ers behind me, the trail was indeed very fast. It didn't take long and I'd caught Lance, then Ben, then Trevor. Cory was way out there though.

Ten minutes of hammering brought him back, but then I couldn't get rid of him. I would punch it and he'd drift back a bit, but as soon as I let up he was right there again. The trail was too fast for the snowbike to have any sort of advantage. So I towed Cory for a couple hours, never really letting up, as I knew if I let up at all the rest of my competition would be rolling right back up to me. Then I saw the strangest thing coming down the trail at us, a trail groomer.

I had no idea they groomed the snowmobile trails here. My first thought was, "sweet, fresh packed trail". Then after actually getting on the groomed trail I found it slightly harder to ride than the snowmobile pack. Stopped and dropped tire pressure here after zig zagging a few times, and then it was much better. Well, for me anyways. A few minutes later and I could no longer see Cory behind me, sweet. Still wasn't going to let up as I knew Lance would be rolling faster on the groomed stuff with his wider rims and lighter weight.

The trail between Farley and Dyersville is always windblown and this year was no different. There was a fair amount of gravel showing, but there were also lightly drifted sections that could have used some increased floatation. I cranked into Dyersville with no one in site. Checked in, swapped water bottles, downed a chocolate milk, grabbed a hamburger, and started heading for the door just as Lance came in. Crap, he closed that gap way too fast. I jumped back on the bike, burger in hand and started cranking back down the trail.

I passed the rest of the crew still struggling their way into Dyersville, many of them making more progress sideways than forward. Keeping the bike heading straight while riding across their ruts was a challenge. Lance was only a hundred yards back or so. Every time I dabbed or zig zagged the distance between us halved. He caught me by the overpass at Farley. I tried to stay on his wheel, but he was floating where I was not. A couple more flails and he was out of site. I got back on the bike and rode tempo, taking my time finishing off the burger and hydrating.

The ruts kept me from getting too much speed built back up. It would start to roll pretty good, then I'd catch someones zig zag rut and have to catch myself from falling. Rewind, repeat, a dozen times or so. Then the groomer came back, how strange. Sweet, no more ruts. But it was soft. after awhile I could see where Lance had floated across the top where I was still punching through. I stopped and dropped my pressure some more. Back to rideable again, why didn't I do that sooner?

Back to hammering. New goals:A)keep Lances split to less than an hour ahead of me B)finish in the daylight. Unlike the previous two years where it was getting dark by the halfway point, I was now nearly 3/4 of the way finished and the orange ball was still above the horizon. It was nice to ride past the Sundown resort in the cold shadow of the bluff during daylight hours, I still remembered those chilling miles from the first year. Step into Durango, make sure I'm seen, step out, continue hammering. Even if I had caught Lance in this section, I'm sure he would have dropped me on the foot pocketed pavetrail massacre on the way back into town. It was like trying to do a trials competition on a loaded touring bike, not pretty. I finally escaped the pavetrail and managed to find the ribbons guiding me back to the finish. I was happy to be doing this in the daylight and not completely drained like last time.

I finished in 6:59, Lance finished 11 minutes ahead of me, in the daylight, no mechanical issues, and I learned a thing or two. Arrowhead is now less than a week and a half away. I've dropped about 20lbs off the total weight of bike and gear I'm hauling this year. I'm not entirely happy with my fitness. The competition for Arrowhead is the most stacked I've ever seen it, but I guess I just don't know how it will go until it's happened. I only hope to learn as much as I did last year.

DG

XC ski season

2010-01-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

Everybody's doing it. Hope for snow!

DG

Hope for snow.

2009-12-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

2009-10-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

How the...maybe I'll just start by running for awhile.

DG

Because it is about the bike

2009-09-15T12:20:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again. Human Powered Vehicle racing at Hawkeye Downs Raceway in Cedar Rapids IA this weekend, Sept 19th and 20th. Come check it out if you can: www.midwesthpv.blogspot.com

This week is also Human Powered Speed week at Battle Mountain, NV. Male and female top speed records will almost certainly be broken.

DG

It's like they know me personally or something.....

2009-08-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.xkcd.com/

DG

Not dead yet

2009-04-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

Blog posts have been lacking due to lack of free time and dwindling internet access.

Some of what I've been up to but likely won't get around to writing much about:

Bone bender 6 hour mtb race. Raced SS solo. It was gumbo muddy to the point of taking nearly all the geared riders out on the first lap, had to wash my freewheel out with heed nearly every lap to keep it going. Finished 2nd SS and 4th overall due to my outstanding walking skills.

Wilson Adventure Race.
The day after Bone Bender I headed over to Wilson for a super fun sprint adventure race with SK and Scott. No orienteering, but two "mystery events" one involving ropes and one with a blindfold, 3foot swells and whitecaps on the paddle section, and all the running and biking was on the Wilson trail system. I'm ready for another trip out there already.

Indy HPRA races.
Another breezy weekend, but otherwise good weather. Set a new streamliner course record on the velodrome and got my but handed to me by Sean again in stock.

TransIA.
Weather was mild, course was good, but I didn't keep track of my hydration well enough. Fried myself by the 2nd checkpoint, crawling along at 7mph on the flats, peeing brown. Dumbass.

Almanzo 100.
Brisk and breezy on great roads. I could see my breath when we started, wind felt like TransIA last year. 20mph winds with gusts to 30. Started this race on the winning end of a gnarly cold, so breathing wasn't going so well yet, but I didn't want to miss the race. The roads up there are super buff and the event organization is top notch, it was a good ride even though my results were were some what mediocre.

Memorial day weekend.
Sat: Cobble climb 3rd place. Guess I should train or something. Watched A damn near lap the field in the Womens open. Caught up with all the bike race people.
Sun: Forc trail Trifecta. Dirty good times with the FORC folks at Sylan Island, Sunderbruck, and Scott Co park. It's always good to ride new trail, even better when you riding with a super cool group of folks, and you add a picnic in the middle.

Odds and ends taking my time:
The microbus is back on the road. Still ironing out a couple details, but it should be fully roadtrip-able by the end of the week or so.

The WRX is re-assembled and running, but I've still got to get the turbo rebuilt and finish the gauge install before it's road ready.

I moved, am still moving. Two miles from my prior location. It was overdue. Unfortunately I've moved into a black hole, no tv(yay!), no internet access(maybe a good thing, too easy to lose time there), barely any cell reception.

Hobie. New hobby.

DG

Random roundup

2009-04-11T20:48:00.001-07:00

Lots of random thoughts and happenings as of late.

Explored Wildcat Den state park Friday night and Saturday morning. Another Mississippi river valley gem.

Nice sunrise.

It's a long fall from here.

Rode a 200k Saturday on the Bacchetta. First outing with the new wheels. A little faster and a little lighter. Thankfully no flats since I've yet to acquire an inflator to fit the disc or a spare tubular tire. Rode fairly strong, but my knees were giving me some trouble by mile 100, so I backed it way off. Even walked one of the longer hills. I need to take a closer look at my bike fit on that thing. One IT band injury is one IT band injury too many. Really don't want to go through that again, and I really want to be able to ride the Corsa a bit more this year.

All it's missing is a CinQo Saturn and a Garmin 705.

I think Im going to use my Karate Monkey as my official adventure race bike. Simple, dependable, fast enough. Maybe I'll swap the tires out for something a little faster. The Nevegals are overkill for the terrain most adventure races see. I'd use the Pugsley, but it's pretty much my full on touring bike at this point, and I'd prefer to be ready to roll out on tour at a moments notice.

I'm going to try to do a few Orienteering events to hone my navigation skills. And maybe try a thumb compass.
Kinda suprising just how competitive some these orienteering events sound. I suppose people think the same of cycling.

Our guest speaker at Adventure camp, Robyn Benincasa, was singing the praises for this ultralight set of "RAID trekking poles", which appear to have been updated to standard weight poles since hers were made. I'm pretty sure hers were made of four sections of Easton tent pole, a carbide tip, foam grip, and small accessory cord and lock to hold it all together. Sure sounds like a MYOG project to me.

The Subaru is coming together, very slowly. Hope to have it back on the road by the end of the month. I'll miss my cheap insurance, though.

Hoping to get back to bike commuting soon, but the weather's not cooperating. 30degrees, plus a 25mph wind chill, plus a good chance of rain, is not much of a fun commute.

The new streamliner is slowly starting to take form. Ideally it would be built already. I've got all the parts, Actiontec fork, Scalpel rear triangle, Rotor cranks, wheels. Front frame's built, just gotta connect the rear triangle, build the seat, and start the shell. Maybe a Zote shell.

Normal weekly training is starting. A little more overall fitness than normal. Race group/intensity training on Tuesdays, ride/run on Wednesdays, upriver paddle on Thursdays, long race/ride on weekends.

Race season is pretty much here. Bone Bender 6 hour mtb race this Saturday, Wilson Adventure race Sunday, Indy HPRA races next weekend, TransIA the weekend after that, Quad cities 300k brevet, Almanzo 100, Dirty Kanza.

Busy, busy, gotta go. Woo hoo!

DG

Adventure camp

2009-04-07T19:44:00.000-07:00

I attended the High Profile Adventure Camp this past weekend. The goal was to try conquering my fear of heights(again), work on rope skills and climbing, get some more time practicing my UTM coordinate plotting/navigation/terrain contour reading, and gain some general adventure racing tips.

It was a two and a half day camp. Friday night was an introduction and navigation seminar. Saturday was a trip to Mississippi Palisades for navigation practice, back to camp benson for a ropes seminar and ropes practice (including 3 rappels, 2 accent's on accenders, 2 top roped climbs, 1 wire ladder, 1 travolian traverse, and 1 zip line). Then after dinner there were seminars on poisonous plants and treatment, Adventure race tips by Gerry Voellinger, Adventure race tips by Robyn Benincasa, and 8 essential elements of human synergy by Robyn Benincasa. Sunday included a seminar on cyclocross, a seminar on foot care, and concluded with a short adventure race. The adventure race included a really strange cyclocross race(~120people on a .4mile long course, most of which are not cyclist by nature), a bike navigation course on paved roads, and a trekking navigation course that included about 20 shallow river crossings, 1 rappel, 2 caves, 2 stair step waterfalls, one 80' tall zip line, and lots of really cool terrain.

This was a great experience. I came away feeling it was not my skills that needed improving, but more so, merely my confidence. Adventure racing feeds right into the positive/self starting mindset, exploring/adventure seeking, problem solving, total fitness ethos. Pretty cool group of people.

Deb and Shaun, my team mates for the adventure challenge.

The bigger cave. Getting in this one involved a waist deep river crossing, the deepest of the race.

The spring fed staircase waterfall, really cool.

I'm definitely looking forward to more of this.

DG

Womble

2009-04-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

That was fun. Next?

DG

Last signs of winter

2009-03-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

Things are in full on spring cleaning mode around here. I've been busy overhauling and optimizing every bike I own, finalizing my bikepacking/touring/multi-day race setup, analyzing and improving my snowbike setup for next year, revamping my commuter/hybrid Xtracycle, trying to get the Subaru back together before the Fox blows up, and training for the looming storm of gravel enduros that will be the month of May.

.
The gravel is primo, but the trails are on the edge of unrideable. I've still managed to find some gems hidden in the forest.

I can't even count the number of times I've ridden past this spot in the forest, but I'd never noticed the cool little rocky stream that drains out of it.

Welp, headin' for Ouachita a week from tomorrow for a camping/training/good times gettaway. Then its straight into race season, or what I consider race season anyways. Might have to ride to the races to afford them....anyways...

Woo Hoo!

DG

VR50

2009-02-21T17:36:00.000-08:00

I learned a camera trick.

Naked eye.

Oakley VR50

Yay for snow.
DG

Follow the Bleater

2009-02-20T17:59:00.000-08:00

So I'm way behind on posting up events. The Arrowhead post previous is complete. There will be another one reviewing what worked, what didn't, and what I'll do differently next year coming up.

Arrowhead was on Monday and Tuesday, Feb 2-3. I recovered on Wednesday, went to work Thursday and Friday till noon, and then met up with Deb Wood to head for the Bonk Hard Chill 12 hour adventure race that was on Saturday.

Adventure racing is completely new to me, sort of. It seems every ride I do ends up being an adventure race(breaking a frame in half 20 miles into the 60 mile Ouachita Challenge and tying it back together to finish, having a half dozen flats tires at 12miles of Hell and somehow having five random sized tubes in my pack but no patch kit, Having an equal number of flats and almost running out of patch glue at both the Dirty Kanza and Sylamos revenge and finishing, Breaking my bottom bracket in half halfway through the Porcupine Rim loop and riding the rest coaster bike style, fun with tubeless tires at -35deg F at Triple D, TransIowa in general, ect.) I've come to believe that I may be misusing my skillset, so I started seeking a race to test my theory and a partner to keep me from getting in too far over my head. All the beginner races and camps are all way off in April or May and that's just way too far out there, but I found this race down in the Ozarks. Trekking, paddling, and biking around Lake of the Ozarks in February. Heck it's gotta be a good ten degrees warmer down there right? Alright. I've never plotted a map, too antisocial for the boy scouts, so I better find someone with some experience there or I could be lost for days. The only person that I know that has done any adventure racing is Deb Wood, and she had expressed some interest in some of the other frigid and/or foolish things that I've been doing, maybe she'll be up for it. Turns out she's had her eye on this race for awhile, but never found anyone else willing and/or foolish enough to attempt it. Good deal, we've got a team!

The plan was hashed out to meet up for some training sometime before the event after New Years eve. I'd been busy since September trying to gear up for Arrowhead and somehow the team training just never happened, so I studied up on the UTM guidebook as much as I could and hoped for the best. The thought that it was three days after Arrowhead was maybe a little concerning, but I've pulled that sort of thing off before so I wasn't too worried. It's not like we were trying to win the thing, basically we were out to prove that we could both do this and learn for future events.

Friday came and Deb met me in Keokuk to reload the van and carpool down the rest of the way. She announced that she had poisoned herself and almost left her mountainbike behind to add some challenge to the event. Perfect. She had also recently spent a day walking in knee deep snow to properly adjust herself to the suffering mindset. We spent the drive catching up with goings ons and trying to recuperate from our respective tortures. Moods were generally positive, considering.

We made it to the race check in with a less than an hour to spare and headed for the gear check. After gearing up for Arrowhead, gearing up for this adventure race was a cakewalk, once again I was carrying way more than needed, except that I had forgotten my emergency blanket at home, doh! And we were informed that all the local stores had already sold out, as I was apparently not the first person to forget gear. Luckily Deb had loaded her emergency "everything I own" gear box in the van, and seconds later the issue was resolved. The race is called Bonk Hard Chill because it's in February and it's supposed to be cold, but it was 60 degrees outside, so we got to drop the mandatory heavy fleece jacket and gloves.

The race meeting felt strange as we were in a room full of athletes of which we knew not a one. After being part of the cycling community for a decade or so it's rare to go to a race without knowing someone. But this is a little different group. Maybe if I were more of a runner or paddle-er it would be different.
Thankfully maps and half of the coordinates were given out so we could plot them tonight. Neither of us are entirely confident in our navigation skills, but we double check each others work and work out a plan of attack. Race starts at 7am but we'll need to be up at 5am to get bikes dropped off at the checkpoint and get to the start on time.

Racing starts after the national anthem and the sun rises, then it's a mob of people running through the woods. My knees aren't too happy to be running quite yet, so we compromise with a brisk walk. The first few checkpoints really are more follow the leader than read the map, but soon enough people are of on different routes to the same locations. It seems you can run all you want but if you don't know where you're going or you end up sliding around at the bottom of a gully you're not going to beat anyone, so we take time to stay on route and read the terrain for easier routes to the checkpoints. Amazingly enough we do seem to be staying ahead of a few groups of runners.

All the checkpoints are found and we head off to the bikes. It's a short reunion, as we're only riding from the top or the hill down to the beach for the canoe section. I guess I should mention that I took my Pugsley as my race bike. It's really the only MTB I've got put together at the moment and I've really come to love the thing. Plus it'll float if it happens to fall out of the boat later during the crossing. I should also note that this race contains the biggest collection of vintage 90's MTBs I've ever seen, first edition Marzocchi forks, Girvin Proflexs, Softride MTBs, you name it. So we roll down to the canoes. Wow theres alot of folks out there already.
I should also mention I've never been in a canoe before. I've got plenty of time in kayaks, but thats different. Pretty hard to eskimo roll a canoe.

Anyways, we get out in the water, Deb's steering in back and I'm up front. It's a little tippy at first but soon enough we're moving. Slowly, but we're moving. It's kinda windy today, so we spend alot of time wondering if we're actually moving or not. That's the thing with canoes, the difference really isn't that much. Gives me a better appreciation for snowbike racing. At least when I'm walking next to my bike I can tell that I'm moving. The leaders are flying around using kayak paddles. Lesson learned. By the time we finish up the water checkpoints I'm starting to get the hang of the canoe paddling thing, but I can tell this is my biggest weakness. We are the second to last team back to shore.

Once we get to shore we have to load our bikes on the canoe and paddle about two miles over to the other shore. Now we have a tailwind, so no problem right? Turns out tailwinds are worse tha head winds. Every five or six strokes the boat gets blown sideways. There are already 8-10" swells in the water, being blown sideways in them gets to be a bit concerning a couple of times. My mindset is annoyed but I know that if you bang your head against a brick wall long enough, eventually it will fall down. Deb is a bit more than annoyed. It takes us 37minutes to go the 2miles to the other shore. I'm not sure I like canoes.

Finally the bike section, something we are somewhat accustomed to. We ride up the paved road and head for the first checkpoint. Ride, ride, ride. We find a volunteer and a bunch of bikes, but it's not the first checkpoint. Now we question our map reading skills, and roll on. Up and down a bunch of hills. Eventually we come to a T intersection. Crap. We missed the first checkpoint. Go back or skip it? Skip it. The bike section is all pavement and gravels. There are a few hills but for the most part it's pretty fast, so we have to stay alert not to miss checkpoints. You can tell that this group of athletes is primarily runners and paddlers as many of the gravel hills have footprints walking up them. At one point we are almost outrun by a beagle, but we nail all but one other checkpoint on the bike leg, and make decent time to the next trekking section.

In the middle of the bike section we recieved the second half of the checkpont coordinates and we spend some time plotting, checking, and routing the rest of our checkpoints. Theres a ton of checkpoints in the second treking section and we're running short on daylight when we arrive at it. We chose to just hit the close ones, which there is really only two of. The first checkpoint is no problem, but the second one is nowhere to be found. Dangit. Daylight's wasting and after the canoe crossing on the way over here we'd rather not have to tackle that in the dark, so we skip the rest and head back to the canoes.

Still alot of canoes on the shore, so there must be a bunch of people still out on the trekking section. The wind has died, the water is calm, and the sun is setting. A much nicer crossing on the way back. Not a curse word to be heard. Unload the bikes, cruise up the hill from the beach, and an easy cruise to the finish.

Food, awards, and damage accounts taken. We're not really all that tired, just out of time. Wasn't really too hard of an effort, but then again we weren't moving that fast either. We both learned that we can plot coordinates and read land features pretty well. I definitely have some paddling work to do and likely some run training to do.

The days following the event would reveal some tight muscles and unhappy joints from overdoing it between Arrowhead and Bonk Hard Chill. I've got a knee that's still not too happy. I think it was from jumping into riding platform pedals for two weeks and too much float. I need to simplify my race kit and work on cross training a bit more to prevent some of these funky aches. From what I'm seeing of these events, even though the specify that you need a MTB, you could darn near get by on a road bike. I'll prolly put together some sort of mutant road bike that looks like a mtb to lighten the load.

I've signed up for the High Profile adventure camp so I can hone my navigation skills and scare the crap out of myself with climbing. Hopefully I can do a couple more of these races this year. Maybe even try doing one quickly.

Many thanks to Deb for guiding me through this one and not throwing me out of the boat or anything. You know I've heard she's a violent person ;)

DG

Arrowhead 135

2009-02-05T19:11:00.001-08:00

I borrowed these pics from MC. My camera was pretty much froze up from the start. Mike's got a real knack for capturing the experience both visually and in prose, so be sure to check out his writeup.

Thanks for all the comments. My effort was merely putting one foot in front of the other, powered by chocolate covered espresso beans and peanut butter. Much learned, yet much to learn.

This was my first attempt at a "self sufficient" race event. It's not a completely self sufficient event, as there are three checkpoints, two of them with restocking supplies and heat. The third was a simple ti pee with a fire, good for warming hands, but that's about it. There's a pretty big required gear list, you can see that here, a 15lb minimum limit on the mandatory gear. 133 miles of snowmobile trail in the coldest place in the lower 48, racing with an international gathering of endurance athletes, some with the knowledge and well honed skills to brave any condition, some not so much. The distance had been known to take as little as 16 hours or as much as 60 hours depending on conditions and method of travel.

I started thinking about and researching for this race right after Triple D last year. Spent a good 6 months collecting gear for it, of which, some was still showing up the week beforehand. But every bit of it was obsessed over, as is my nature. I didn't get anywhere near as much training time with the whole kit as I would have liked, one good ride on snow with the Pugs(Triple D), one -18deg bivy in the front yard, and one short ride with the whole kit loaded up. Every one of those experiences were priceless in the knowledge and confidence gained. I also had lots of time suffering through bitter cold and windy metrics and centuries thanks to the Cup O Dirt challenge. A fair amount of time spent practicing the biggest lesson learned from Triple D last year, walking next to my bike to keep circulation in my feet.

Weather coming into the event was unpredictable, but I've come to expect that lately. Cold spells and heavy snow, followed by heat waves and freezing rain, followed by sheer winds and another cold front. The drive up was windy, but the roads were clear. Trail conditions were good, hard pack. Ten minutes after checking into a mom and pop motel in Orr the power went out. Fell asleep listening to the wind roar in an unheated room. Slept well knowing there was nothing left to do but put all the preparation to use. The morning revealed powdered roads and calmed winds. We scouted out a couple of key bail out points should the need arise, and headed for the gear check in. The race headquarters was a melting pot of languages. Lots of new faces, a couple familiar, and few known though the blogosphere. Grilling by the Gear Nazi went well enough with a few pointers I hadn't thought of. Required gear weighed out to 19lbs without water, primary food, or prolly a third more weight in other random gear still on the bike. I knew I was carrying more than I needed, but the extra insurance was making up for my lack of proper test time.

A couple hours later we were all back in the meeting room for the prerace briefing. Symptoms of hypothermia and frostbite, course markings, checkpoints, question and answer. Mike gave an abbreviated insight to Iditarod(worth the trip in itself). Group photo. Back to the hotel for last minute tinkering and sleep. Already an inch of new snow on the ground. That's not gonna help.

Morning comes early, pack the bike in the van and head next door for breakfast. I take my time with breakfast and chat with a few other racers that come in. This race is staggered start in the manner that you can start any time between 7 and 8:30am. Show up early and you break trail for everyone else, show up late and you're losing daylight. I'm aiming for somewhere in the middle, hoping a few bikers will get out and set a track. I figure all the fasties will wait till later when its packed and fast, conserving energy for trail breaking and hills later in the race. I have no real intentions in the podium, only to finish and learn.

It's a ten mile drive South of town to the start. Temp is about -8 deg F or so. The race starts with an ~9mile out and back straight in to a mild wind. The trail is well packed by bikes, runners and skiers sleds. I take off at 7:30. Tempo effort is about all I plan on doing all day, but it seems that is enough to reel the earlier starters in pretty quick. I've definitely got the largest gear load of any of the bikers I see, but it handles ok, and it doesn't seem to matter at the moment. The tracks of skate skiers dragging sleds side to side seem horribly inefficient. Runners seem to be keeping up with the skiers pretty well. Matt Maxwell looks to be frosting up already. The trail clears out a bit into stands of little scrubby evergreens and the headwind hits a little more direct. I meet Pramaan and Charlie barrelling down the trail back at me. I wasn't expecting to see Dave out front breaking trail right off, seems strange. Mike is rolling pretty quick behind them, but rolls off the bike with camera in hand to take a shot of me spinning down the trail towards the turn around. He rides that Smoots like he's rolling down the street on bmx bike, totally smooth.

I meet a few more riders before reaching the turnaround, maybe five or six more, and then turn back to see who's following up behind me. I'm already ahead of all the skiers and runners. There's a pretty big gap between me and the next rider. Lance is passing people pretty fast going the other way. I manage to catch four or five more riders before crossing over the highway and heading for the much less traffic ed trail. No snowmobile traffic yet this morning. Down to following the Endomorph groove left by the leaders, switching from one side of the trail to the other every quarter mile or so, searching for faster snow. Must be four more to catch ahead of me, not that I think I have any chance of doing so, but Dave and Charlie must be working awfully hard breaking trail up there. Mike surely has caught up to them by now. I wonder who the fourth rider is? Twenty minutes later Lance catches up to me as I fumble a bridge crossing. He says he's "conserving energy" as he passes at +12mph. I try to keep pace for a little bit, but it's just faster than my load wants to roll. A couple snowmobiles go by. We both fumble a little on a rutted corner and stop to eat a little. A little further on we catch up with Lindsay. I exchange greetings and roll ahead. Lance hangs back and chats alittle, then he flies past again and off in the distance as I continue my tempo touring pace. I doubt I see him again, he should catch up with the lead group in no time.

Hours pass and hills get a little bigger. I'm off pushing hills as it's more effort than it's worth to ride them, and sometimes it's nice to walk a little. Temps are nice, around 5-10 degrees. Riding resumes. Another rider glides by at road bike speed breaking trail up the other side of the trail. Not sure who that was, but he sure looks packed light. The first checkpoint, the Gateway Store is just around the corner. I've still got plenty of food and water, no need to go inside. Check in and keep moving. More hills, a few trail shelters sparsely thrown in there, some of them pretty well hidden. This section of trail has had a decent amount of snowmobile traffic on it, but it's still easier to ride the untracked edges of the trail, and follow the leaders Endomorph prints. I top a hill to see Mike sitting along the trail eating a meal. It's tempting to stop and join him, but I simply great him and roll on. The forest is silent place other than the squeaking of one of my derailer pulleys, or maybe it's just the chain rubbing the cogs funny. It seems to change as I shift. Either way it's like my very own flock of birds following me down the trail. An hour or so later I pause to silence some hunger and find Mike catching up. I remount as he rolls up and he asks how its going, I state that I had to feed the engine. He asks if I have to eat alot, my brain seizes up and all I can say is "well, I have to eat". I must have had some crazed look like I could butcher him for food or something, cause he fell back and ten minutes later he was nowhere to be seen. It's either that or the flock of birds was screwing up his solitude.

Hours go by without a soul in sight. There should be one more trail shelter before turning toward the lake crossing. The sun is setting and I'm getting a little drowsy, so I spend some time picking the chocolate covered espresso beans out of the super g.o.r.p. mix. An hour or so later I finally see the trail shelter. I pass a sign stating four miles to the MelGeorges Lodge, the halfway checkpoint. I'm well into dusk at this point. I was kind of hoping to be at the lodge by sunset, at least I'm close. An eternity later I see another sign, two miles to MelGeorges. Oh good, only one more eternity till the halfway point. Time to turn the lights on. Finally the lake shore comes to me, theres a faint glow somewhere off in the distance. The lake is drifted and slow going. The markers seem to be in a big arc and eventually the resort lights show up bright in font of me. Cheryl and a couple other volunteers come out to great me and send me down the foot path to the checkpoint cabin.

I walk in the checkpoint cabin to find Josh Peterson already hanging out. I didn't even know he was ahead of me. He doesn't sound very enthused with going on tonight. The race volunteers whip up some chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese and I pull off my outer layers to dry in front of the fireplace. About the time I finish up my soup Lindsay walks in. Change base layer, and hey, they've got a washer and dryer in this cabin! I was wearing a polypro baselayer, Nike rain jacket as a vapor barrier, and my RBH NTS jacket as my outer layer. Somehow the RBH jacket was soaked. As far as I know the Nike jacket is not a waterproof/breathable fabric, so I'm not sure how my outer layer ended up soaked. Anyways, they're both going in the dryer cause there's no way I'm starting the second half with soaked layers. Temp was -8 at dusk, -15 before I came in the cabin. Browse for snacks, reload my food supply out of my drop bag. I only went through one bag of super G.O.R.P., one bag of peanut butter bars, and about a liter and a half of water. Looks like I brought enough food. I was carrying three bags of G.O.R.P one bag of peanut butter bars, one bag of grapes, one bag of peanut butter cups, one bag of chocolate covered raisins/junior mints/cookiedough balls, a flask of Hammer gel espresso, and two liters of water from the start. Somewhere in here Dave Gray and another rider come in, and Mike sticks his head in the door, checks in, and keeps moving on down the trail. Dave is feeling the lingering effects of the flu, and none of the riders here currently sound like their going back out tonight. Well, that should make things peaceful out there. 45minutes later my outer layers were dry, so I dressed, added another bag of peanut butter bars and filled all three 1 liter bottles I was carrying with water, and headed out the door.

The next ten or so miles of trail in the loop between the resort and road leading to the resort were filled with some of the steepest hills and most exhilarating roller coaster hills of the whole route. The snow had frozen just a little harder, the air was a little more brisk, the moon was out bright, and there were large canine tracks down both sides of the trail. My light, loaded bike handling, and bike pushing skills were all to be put to good use here. Thoughts of my headlight shutting off mid downhill and catching up with whatever canine was patrolling the trail wandered around in the back of my mind. Soon enough I reached the road crossing and started the endless climb. I'm still not sure if it was real, but it seemed like the trail after the road crossing was a good ten/fifteen miles of arrow straight gradual incline. I kept thinking, man there's gotta be a huge downhill after this. Eventually it turned back into small rollers, but no really huge downhill. Somewhere in here I saw Mike's Smoots stuck in the snowbank where he'd stopped to bivy for the night, and then shortly after that my primary headlight battery died.

Now I was down to my weak headlamp only. Navigation was accomplished by staring straight down to follow the Endomorph tracks, and watch for the right turn that would take me to the third checkpoint, the ti pee. I'd left the second checkpoint(the halfway point) at ~7:00pm, I wouldn't reach the ti pee till ~4:00am, and I wouldn't have seen a soul in 9 hours. For awhile I thought I'd missed the last checkpoint as I'd been wandering around in the dark for so long after the turn, the ti pee was supposed to be pretty close after the turn according to the map. I kept looking for this huge hill that was supposed to be before the ti pee, and it kept not coming. Finally I crested what seemed to be just another hill, popped out into a clearing, and there was a dim glow of the third check point and a pair of flashing tailights. As I got closer I could see it was Lance's Fatback and a Pugsley sitting next to the trail. I stumbled around to the door and almost fell under the bottom of the ti pee when I stepped on the plastic footprint they had under it. When I made it inside I found a smokey little fire and a full house. Lance and Pramaan were wrapped up in their sleeping bags by the door, and two volunteers were in their sleeping bags on the far side of the fire. Lance's frozen mushing suit was thawing by the fire. There was just about enough room to kneel and warm my hands on the fire. Inside the ti pee was not warm, as a matter of fact it might have been warmer outside, but it was enough to warm my numb fingers back to usefullness. Earlier on the trail my sweat soaked hands finally caught the chill and went numb. I had to open a set of hand warmers, warm them up enough to regain dexterity, get a dry set of gloves out, and swap gloves. Fifteen minutes of hard pedaling in dry gloves was enough to warm them back up as long as I was in my poagies, but as soon as I stopped at the tipee they started getting cold again. Before the ti pee I was thinking it would be nice to bivy there, as my pace was creeping with my good lights being dead. However, with the ti pee already at max capacity and the location being so exposed to the bitter winds, the last 25miles into the finish seemed a better alternative. So I warmed my hands by the fire, went outside and grabbed a baselayer, my down coat and pants, and my RBH mitts. My RBH jacket and Nike rain jacket were both soaked again, so I pulled them off, swapped base layers, and put all my down clothing on. One more hand warming on the fire, put on the mitts, grab my now frozen soaked clothing and head out the door. Kneeling in the ti pee had been cutting the circulation off to my feet, so now they were a little cold, a first on the ride so far thanks to my mukaluks. I packed everything back up on the bike, and walked briskly down the hill towards the finish to get the circulation back in my feet.

I think the hill after the ti pee may have been that huge downhill I was climbing up to twenty miles ago. And I walked it. After reaching the bottom the trail turned left a little and continued straight and flat nearly til daylight. One foot in front of the other, staring down, following the two pugsley tracks in front of me. Funny, I started this ride hoping to finish, and now I'm lost in third place. A T-intersection appears in front of me and the Endomorph tracks seem to have been drifted over, crap. Ride in circles a few times in the intersection looking for tracks. Nothing. Pull out the compass. Head East. The tracks reappear, whew. I keep half expecting Lance and Dave to go blowing by me as I'm creeping down the trail. The sun is coming up and thoughts of the approaching finish start tormenting me. I know there's another T-intersection and a turn that heads off to the finish. Every bend in the trail is a cruel joke. Maybe that's the intersection, ride alittle faster, only to round the bend and see another 2 mile straight to another bend. Maybe thats the intersection.....repeat a dozen times. My impatience suprises me. Watching the two sets of tracks ahead of me I can tell the leaders were riding together yet, and walking as much as they were riding, so it seems. I can relate, at times I'm off walking just to keep myself entertained, and it's nearly as fast.

The forest is starting to thin and I've passed a few logging roads to the left. The trail is getting wider and there are signs of snowmobile traffic. Soon enough I can hear a chainsaw in the distance. I've got to be getting close. The Sign for Bayview Lodge passes, only a few more miles before the turn towards the finish at Fortune Bay Casino. The trail now looks like a superhighway for snowmobiles. Puts me in mind of some of the pics I've seen of the Iditarod trail, sparce scrubby evergreen trees and expansive spaces.

Finally I see the turn for the Casino, up a nice steep hill naturally. But it's a nicely packed hill, almost like riding pavement. The next few miles roll by quick with a buzz of snowmobile traffic and fast hardpacked snow. One last grunt up off the trail into the parking lot of the casino. A finish banner hangs overhead, but the finish is upstairs in the casino. Just a little more route finding to do inside, two more sets of stairs, and finally into a mostly empty banquet room for the finish.

There was only one volunteer taking names and times and updating the other volunteers at the finish area. I never saw the winner after I got to the casino. 2nd place Charlie Farrow wandered in after awhile. Then I took a shower and went to get something to eat. Eventually half a dozen people (finishers and dropouts)showed up. Lindsay Gauld, Lance Andre, Dave Pramaan. Talking with fellow bike nerd Dave Grey of Surly Bicycles was interesting. And then I started to fall off the deep end of consciousness, so we loaded up and headed for home.
I started the race at 7:45am Monday and finished at 9:08am Tuesday, 25 hours and 23minutes total. 4 hours and 23 minutes behind the leader, Terry Brannick, and 3 hours and 25minutes behind second place Charlie Farrow. The rest of the results can be found here.

This race was everything I was hoping it would be and more. Truly a stepping stone for larger more self sustained multi-day events, whether it be racing or touring. Much was learned, yet there is much to learn.

Many thanks to my parents for "crewing" and not freaking out, Pierre and Cheryl Ostor for putting together such a great event, all the volunteers and fellow racers for helping make the event what it is, and to Lance Andre for providing the stepping stone of Triple D that got me into this frigid obcession in the first place.

I can't put my finger on what it is that makes this sort of event so appealing to me, all I can say is that this was the most enduring event I've ever done, and yet the most lucrative. The gear and knowledge required to finish this event is the most expensive and rewarding that I've ever strived for. Who knew racing at 8mph could be so addictive.

DG

Time up

2009-01-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

Well I'm out of test time. Heading for the Arrowhead today, mandatory gear check tomorrow, race starts Monday morning. Hoping this doesn't turn out to be another pushbike race. Hope to finish...and if that goes well, I hope to finish sometime early Tuesday morning.

A box of goodies from Epic Designs was on the counter when I got home from the Triple D. The frame bag here is going to be a year round fixture for all my adventures. 2 liters of water, spare tube, tire levers, patch kit, microtool, large pot and MSR Dragonfly for melting snow, 22oz of white gas, 4.8Ah LiPo battery stuffed in a beer coozie for my light system, super utility shears, a little room to spare, and a little pouch on the other side for small stuff. Really nice bag.

I also ordered a set of poagies, Super twinkie seat bag, gas tank, and handlebar harness. Pretty much kitted up.

The poagies are super deluxe, pouches top and bottom, anti sag staps inside, reflective stripes across the front, super duper warm. I've got my goggles stuffed in the bottom pocket on one side and my heavy fleece balaclava on the other side. Headlamp, sunscreen, and compass in the top pockets.
The gas tank is the logical place for food, behind the stem, easy one mitten operational double zip flap. I'm still fiddling with how exactly to organize food. I'm prolly carrying too much. I've also got my GPS backup battery in the gas tank, and a thermometer on the zip pull.
Super twinkie does indeed defy gravity, living up to its frameless seatbag claims. Super twinkie is the largest seatbag Eric makes, and yet it seemed a bit small compared to the original gear pile I had layed out. I've pared my pile down, simplified, and now still prolly have more than I need, but there is a little room in the bag. I've got three sets of ultralight polyester tops, three heavy weight microfleece bottoms, three sets of heavy fleece socks, and three sets of fleece hooded mitts in the main compartment bagged up in slide lock bags for easy base layer changes at the three checkpoints. I've got matches, small first aid supply, IB profin, four sets of toe warmers, fire tinder, zip ties, tp, and spare batteries all neatly packed in a ziplock and stuffed in the top pouch of the seat bag. Seat bag is 7lbs packed.
The handlebar harness was originally designed for summer roll use, but I had Eric make it with extra long straps for my winter roll. Unfortunately my huge sleep roll rubbed tire and there were too many buckles to mess with in the cold. I was also having issue with my headlight reflecting off the roll when mounted on bars.
The solution to all this was a superlight custom front rack/light mount/fender.

I also made a massive Tyvek rolltop duffel bag to tidy things up a little. Still looks huge, but it works really well. I've taken to throwing my down jacket and pants in there too so I don't have to fight stuffing them into the seat bag, and it simplifies my order of events and organization for bivying. Front roll contains a Stevens Warmlite bag in a Nemo GoGo 1person tent, down pillow, 2 peices of closed cell foam for hips and shoulders(if I'm in a hurry, if not I'll spend +20minutes airing up the down air mattress), Feather Friends down jacket, and Mountain Hardware compressor pants, all rolled up in a tyvek roll top duffel weighing in at 12.5lbs.

I'm using vapor barrior socks and a jacket, so my insulating layers won't get soaked, but I still wear a light baselayer as a rash gaurd on top. It'll be awfully nice to change out that baselayer during checkpoints. I'm using a lightweight waterproof shell pant over the heavyweight microfleece that should proove a little more versatile than my tights. I may keep the RBH insulated vapor barrior socks on for the duration of the event, but I wanted a backup with the fleece socks. My feet are my weak point, but I think I may have that solved with a two part solution:
A)Steger Mukeluks, 2 sizes big/doublewide(size 15 doublewide!), two 9mm felt insoles and a 9mm felt boot liner per boot. Inuit ninja boot these are.

B)MKS Grip king pedals with power grips. I've become accustomed to being able to spin and pull up on the pedals with clipless. It has become a big part of how I got started on barely rideable surfaces. Massive platform pedals allow me to keep my warm feet and Power Grips allow me to spin, brilliant.

These Inuit ninja boots have really soft soles, hence you start to feel the pedal profile after a few hours.
Solution to this was custom carbon insole. Still enough flex to keep circulation in my feet, with a little help spreading the pressure a bit. Old school meets new school.

Ok...there's more...there's always more, but I'm in International Falls now and I really should get some sleep. Testing resumes... for the next two-ish days.

DG

Type 2 fun specialist

2009-01-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

I guess that's it. Good at suffering. What a stupid skill.

This has been an interesting year already.
New years weekend I made the trip up to NE IA to pick up some vital Puglsey parts, visit friends, and play in the snow a bit. Ended up hiking all over Lee and Andrea's farm(s) looking for good boarding hills and just exploring.
They even have evidence:

That turned out to be the best run of the day. The problem with my current out of bounds boarding setup is twofold: A)not enough float in the nose of the board and B)local terrain is not deep enough to clear the saplings and brush. This leads to handstands without using my hands, hanging upside down from saplings unintentionally, excessive cursing, ect. And I managed to crack the step-in interface on my no-longer-supported-or-in-existence Burton step in boots.
Guess that means I'll be making the move to hardboots sooner than I thought. But that also ends this seasons boarding, as a hardboot setup is no small investment.
Other entertainment at the Venteicher house included watching a gamer addict horror movie that's gonna be hard to scrub from my mind, trying to burn their house down with my initial penny stove water boiling test, leaving the state for a fabulous dinner at Miami Springs, camping in their back yard in freezing rain, and drifting the pugsley to the Quick Trip for groceries.

This past weekend was the second running of the Triple D snowbike race. Last year was a real learning experience, working my ass off to go in a straight line while the Pugsleys floated away, and then freezing my feet in the dark of night to be one of four who finished. Sufferfests are so addictive. Lots of research and investment has gone into preparing for Triple D and Arrowhead this year. Lots of time out in the cold and wind on studded tires, cranking out miles. Learning how to stay warm in the coldest of conditions. A fair amount of time spent walking next to my bike, to be honest.

I stopped by the Heritage trail on the way home from Waukon the weekend before, and the trail was solid lumpy ice. Studded tires for sure. So I went home, did one hard ride on the Endomorphs just to get a feel for them(really fast for a big tire), then swapped the 2.4 Nokian studs onto the Large Marge rims. Went for a ride on the studs that Thursday, no way, studs on the Puglsey was just too damn slow. Hope for snow, swap the tires back.

I had decided to carpool with Tracy, and we were going to go preride some of the trail to help figure out the tire situation, so I was up at 4:30am to drive to Burlington. We figured this race should be a heck of alot faster than last year, no need to stay overnight. Driving conditions were slow with alot of fresh snow on the roads. We ended up in Dubuque without any preride time, just as well, lots of snow gives the advantage to fat tires anyways right?

Ride around the parking lot half a dozen times, letting air out of my tires till I think they're pretty low. Packed pretty light this year, maybe 12lbs of dry clothes, tools, spares on my back. Lots of food and 2 liters of water strapped to the frame and in the frame bag. Pretty soon its time for the race start. Lots of studded tires, lots of Pugsleys.

The neutral rollout through town is alot of hilarity as everyone tries to stay upright on the partially plowed streets. Then we hit the totally untouched pavetrail. Maybe 4-5inches of sugary powder snow, with patches of hidden ice. Following the narrow tracks of studded tires is less than entertaining on fat tires, throws me all over. Ice is hell, snow slipping on ice, cursing myself for leaving my YakTracks in the car, not the last time. Turn the corner up the long hill(1-2mile), Tracy powers by and I follow. We almost start the hike a bike directly after the climb, but end up riding the road till we start heading North out of town. Then the 2mph pushbike race starts.

The pack doesn't split up much when we're all pushing bikes, you can still hear everybody is basically still here. There's a few more rideable spots for the studded folks, so I have to run to keep up. I run myself up to second place. Cory is riding well in the lead. Good thing the pugs floats, at least it's easier to push. One last section of gravel, surf through 8" of fresh powder on the level B, and drop down onto the Heritage trail, which is unfortunately untracked and unrideable. Back to the hike a bike line. Hike through the frozen creekbeds at several washed out bridge sites, look over to see riders riding the gravel road next to the trail, crap, missed a re-route. Hike over to the gravel, ride 500ft, turn, hike back to the trail, fall on my face trying to get onto the trail bed.

Keep pushing, still not rideable. Finally we cross onto the open portion of trail where there has been maybe two snowmobiles down the trail since the new snow fell. Still can't ride. Pramann is walking right behind me, he says this shit would never happen in Minnesota. Drop the pressure till it sounds like the air stopped coming out. Try again, ride a little, break through, ride a little, break through. Stupid skinny tracks throwing me all over, and they're not even riding. Finally push ahead enough to get ahead of everyone. Try riding. Holy shit, it's working! I'm gong 4mph instead of 2, but it's working! 10 minutes later there's a paceline of three Pugsleys and one skinny tire rider and nobody else is in sight. Lance, Pramann, Tom, and myself. We take turns making a trail to follow, except Tom who pretty much has to follow to ride at all with the skinny tires.

It's brutal work trying to stay smooth, stay in a straight line, stay upright. Following is so much easier. We come to another bridge out and the snowmobile tracks go out through the field. Follow the possibly rideable tracks or hike a bike down the trail? Lance and I follow the tracks, Pramann and Tom hike on. We end up hiking up the mother of all hills for the day just to get back to the trail. Dave and Tom waited briefly, and then split as soon as they saw us coming down the hill. I manage to bend the seat rails on my saddle coming out of the ditch and twist my Ergons down when I about lose it on the icy gravel. Wrench the seat back up, good steel rails. Now Dave and Tom have a good gap on us. I manage to reel Tom in pretty fast, but Pramann is floating away.

We get to the crossroad for Farley and the sled tracks improve greatly, so I up the tempo. I seem to have lost my followers, but I'm gaining on Dave. The windswept plains give me a break with a couple of gravel patches peaking out for a boost in speed. I pass Dave a little less than halfway between Farley and Dyersville and keep hammering. Deflated Endomorphs feel terrible on hard surfaces. Make it to Dyersville at 6:21pm in time to snatch the only burger at the gas station. Wait around to see what the plan is, are we really gonna ride back through all that? Who's left anyways? Anyone? The pace is already slower than last year, at this rate I wouldn't make it back till after midnight! Not sure I have a ride home at that time. Dave pulls in and bags it. Lance shows up saying something about getting water out of the creek? Tom shows up and bags it. I've about had enough fun myself. Lance pulls out his dry socks which are wet, and puts them on. Crap, I'm not done yet. Put my dry stuff on. We agree to ride back to Farley. Anything past that is gonna suck. Cory shows up just as we're leaving. Hammer back to Farley, feeling pretty good. Discuss the options, more "fun" or ride into Farley and save it for another day. Ride into Farley. Call Tracy for retrieval, eat another burger, and drive home(after a stop at Dairy Queen). The end.

Congrats to Cory for playing the game well and beating me out of first by pushing that extra two miles. You earned it.

Thanks to Lance for putting together an event for nutcases to gather.

Thanks to Tracy for retrieving me.

Full results to be found here.

DG

Issues

2008-12-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

That time of year

2008-12-25T09:59:00.000-08:00

Yup.

Living in the weakest backcountry scene....

.... but dreaming of the best.

Talkeetna Glacier - Climbing and Skiing from Eric Parsons on Vimeo.

I really need to do something about this....

DG

CX Nationals 08

2008-12-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

I managed to miss my race start, but there was plenty of spectating to be done. Highlights included Amanda Miller pulling off a 2nd place finish in womens collegiate D1, the weather doing a 180flip in in about five seconds as the womens collegiate races were waiting to start, and a pack of sharks chasing the pack.

DG

Visiting old friends

2008-12-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to get out for another century this weekend, but my Garmin was dead(I think the battery is failing). So I decided to make a trail ride/gear test day out of it. I was testing my frame mounted winter hydration system, vaper barrior clothing, and my first real attempt to ride platform pedals in about 15years.

Started out at Dehns in Burlington. Unfortunately the trail is already an ice holed, hiker rutted, bumpy mess. And apparently the fourwheelers came back for Thanksgiving, as there's a whole new batch of wheeler ruts. Damn, I was hoping maybe it would stay smooth for the winter, but I think Shimek's equestrian trails are smoother right now.

So I did a lap, loaded up, and headed for Spring Lake in Macomb. I haven't ridden over there in a year or so, so I wasn't sure what I'd find.

Freakin sweet trail, as always, is what I found. Perfect conditions, minus the slightly icy bridges.

Woo!

Hoo!

I chickened out on this one and took the hill next to it. The spiral bridge above the drop way pretty slick, and that drop ramp has paint on it under that snow. That thing is slick when it's dry.

So the results of my testing:
Frame mounted hydration system: works sort of. The hose is still the weak point, gotta be real sure you get all the water to drain back into the bottle.

Vapor barrior clothing: Also works sort of. The vapor barrior did indeed keep my insulating layers dry. All I need to do now is find some XL long cuff nitril gloves to keep my cuffs from getting soaked, and wear my RBH Next to Skin shirt next to my skin instead of leaving a base to soak underneath, and find some insulation layers with pit zips so I can adjust my venting before sweating out in the first place.

Platforms: Umm. I don't think I lose anything climbing as I can still granny spin and mash my way up everything. I do feel like I'm losing a little control on the tech stuff though. Place where I would normally be able to put the bike where I want it are a little harder to ride. It's been awhile, more rides should improve that. For really cold winter riding I may not have a choice, as they really are warmer than clipless.

On a somber note, cycling legend of Burlington, Dan Ring, passed away last week. Dan was a botany professor at SouthEastern Community College, daily bicycle commuter and advocate, and a super nice guy. The kind of guy that always had a nice thing to say and a smile on his face. I regretfully missed the ride to his funeral services last weekend. He died at a wisened age of a heart attack while riding his bike. I suppose there are worse ways to go. He was fit and functioning till the end, and died doing something he loved. I hope I am so lucky. I wish I would have known him better. Dan, you will be missed.

DG

Welcome to CX weather

2008-11-30T18:14:00.000-08:00

Got some miles in Thursday: 40 in the forest on the newly rigid Monkey and 60 on gravel on the SS CX.

Rode from home up to IA City for Jingle CX on Friday. Nice little 9 hour bikepacking practice day, 15lb pack with all my gear for three days on my back. Saturdays' race was alright, though I could definitely feel Thursday and Friday in my legs. Course was slimy in spots, but mostly frozen.

Sunday was much, much more entertaining. Inch or two of snow and rain made the course worthy of true CX racing, much drifting, sliping, and laughing ensued.
Amanda Miller rocked the womens elite field with her mad mud skillz taking the win.

Syd took a well earned third.

A few more pics of the weekend here.

Geoff's crash.

and another view of that:

Good times.

DG

Jumping bandwagon

2008-11-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

Yup I'm posting it too, it's just that friggen cool.

Red Fang

And here's my new wagon. Needs some streamers yet.

With spikes.

And the second revision of my doublestand.

Works both ways even.

Here's the jumping.

This should be in every library: Chicago Ten

Off to Farm CX

Oh, and there's another new batch of crap on my yard sale blog, too: Map cases, map cases, handlebar bag, stem bag, rims, ect.

Weekend Update

2008-10-31T05:42:00.000-07:00

Lots of stuff to report: the Hawkeye Downs HPV race, laps on the IA speedway and Nuvinci testing, Downfalls of my current hybrid design and the improvements in progress, redesigning my doublestand to fit the Big Dummy, Pugsley and Big Dummy builds, gathering gear for the upcoming snowbike season, adventure racing, and next years touring.

The Hawkeye Downs race weekend was a small but fun affair this year. I lucked out with some of the best weather October in IA has to offer. Minimal mishaps and hangups running the event, mostly due to the help of a few volunteers keeping things moving. Many thanks to Warren Beauchamp, Rick Gritters, Ted Wheeler, and my parents.

Lots of velomobiles at the race, most of them were Garrie Hills', at least at some point. I managed to trick Tracy Thompson into racing one, and then he ended up taking it home for next season's use. This is going to be interesting.
I had Garries' WAW for a couple of days before I could get it over to Tracy's. I've come to the conclusion that pretty much all Velomobiles are made for people under 5'8" and I still don't like three wheels or u-bar-ish steering. I got some good pics for further study and comparison though. Maybe I'll build a quad velomobile with tiller steering someday.

The weekend after my HPV race I hauled the Cuda over to Des Moines for the Track and Back charity ride. As suspected the route was to follow F70 from Des Moines to Monroe, same as I did on the loaded longtail two weeks proir during my Tour to race. This was concerning, as those are some really monsterous rollers on F70. This was afterall test number two for the Nuvinci, hills were on the menu for a reason. Turns out, climbing Grand Ave from Squirrels' house was a harder climb than anything I found on F70. There was no momentum to be had cranking up Grand and the Nuvinci obviously didn't have the low range I was needing. I almost fell over on my first climb of the day. Then I rode bike path from Ashworth park over to the El Bait Shop. On the corner under the tracks by Science center, I found a pair of unleashed dogs, one of which I missed, the other, not so much. Then I did fall over. Neither of us were injured, just annoyed, so I continued on. Did I mention it was super foggy? Cause it was. Somehow I managed to get to the start on time, only did a couple laps lost in the stadium parking lot. There were a good three donut holes left for breakfast. Within fifteen minutes we rolled out with police escort and soon enough we were clear of town. I glided off the front of the group towards the first climb, Blackford caught back up by the time I cranked to the top, then I bombed the next hill and I was on my own till I stopped in Monroe. The rollers on F70 were mostly defeated by the momentum of streamlining, though the recent road construction/speed bumps before the bridges were less than appreciated. Makes me rethink the need for full suspension again. A few miles further and I make it to the IA Speedway. I'm met by a flock of kids from the Central IA Boy and Girls Club. The spaceship has landed. They all seem to be really interested in the bike, I talked a bit with them, and with any luck we may see them build something of their own. A few more people start showing up and get out on the track, so I go out for a few laps. The track is smooth and flat, the corners are large enough that g forces at 36mph are not noticable at all. This would be a really nice track for an HPV race. The ride back was faster without the fog and I only fell over once.

I was hoping the Nuvinci would be the solution to my gearing woes on the streamliner, but it's not to be. There is just too much drag for race use and it's too hard to gauge your efforts without shift detents. It is nearly indestructable and a great bargain for utility uses, but I'll stick with gears and chains for the race liner.

Speaking of the Nuvinci in the utility bike role, the one on the Xtracycle has been working flawlessly. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the drivetrain, but they don't call it research and development for nothin. I've gone through two primary drive chains, two sets of idler bearings one set of jackshaft bearings, and four motor drive freewheels, an now the jackshaft is in for repair/redesign. Basically what I've learned is that when you add a 1hp(746watts continuous)motor plus one semi-fit human(150-350watts continuous) through one primary drive chain, plus gravel dust, equals lots and lots of chain streach. To the point of streaching 1/8" chains in half actually. Keeping all three chains taught and in working order has become a weekly chore, to the point that I've decided to rethink my drivetrain. I've also learned there is no such thing as a sealed skate bearing, I don't like 1/8" industrial chain(they don't twist at all and behave even worse than bicyle chain in dust), and all freewheels used on the motor drive box will unscrew their innards if you do not peen the threads. Anyways, the redesign involves putting two freewheels on the hub via the adapter shown in the pic above. Turns out Dicta and Shimano 1/8 freewheels have threads that run all the way through, makes it easy to just turn out a super long threaded freehub adaptor. I'll end up with two chains instead of three, one going from the motor to the hub, and another going from the pedals to the hub. Almost normal. Actually, just like this:
Just need a little idler on the slack side of the pedal chain to keep it off the frame, a tension bar in line between the motor and rear axle, and an idleron the slack side of the motor chain to keep it of the frame a little better. Worked out way easier than I would have guessed. Now if I can get the Dummy setup to work even better.

And of the Dummy, I've got it together too....sort of. It still needs it's own freeloaders, fenders, and tires. The Gazzalodis just don't roll all that well, and I keep getting flats with the rear one(and its a freakin doublewall tire!). I think I'll get another dynohub to replace the totally out of place blue King front hub.
.
The super tall stack and Nitto North Road bar make for the least aero position I've ever ridden. Feels kinda like riding an old cruiser, only this one climbs better. The bars are really a little straighter than I'd hoped for. They really do work well when standing and climbing though.

As far as adding an assist to this one goes, I think I'll go the modified GEBE route this time around. I kinda want to keep the derailer to see how it compares to the Nuvinci when fully loaded. Finding or making a syncronous belt cog in the large-ish size turned out to be way more expensive than I'm willing to bother with, but then I remembered GEBEs' 148t ring. Add to that the cost of ordering another EH035 and clutch housing from Staton and I may as well just buy a whole kit from GEBE and modify it.

I'm well on my way to having a couple doublestands made for some Big Dummies. Who knew that oval boom tube would cause so much trouble in my original design? The new attaching bracket is completely different, and quite frankly, entirely too much time was involved making these. I'm gonna have to simplify the process of making that thing somehow if ever want to make them for anything but a loss.

The Super Puglsley Adventure Machine is a crankset away from being rideable. Damnit Phil and White Ind. Hurry up already!

Epic Eric is gonna build me some Epic luggage to haul all the essentials.

My Warmlite bag showed up yesterday. Holy crap that thing is awsome. Makes my TNF Cats Meow look like a baby sleeping bag. Good for 4 seasons and down to -65F. Vapor barrior and down air mattress built in. Cushy.

Luxerylite cot showed up last week. Also cushy. This thing is gonna be the bomb for summer camping. The DOM in the Warmlite makes it pretty unnecessary for winter camping, but I'm thinking the light top off the Warmlite used as a quilt plus the cot should be perfect for summer camp weather.

And my RBH vapor barrior socks and cap showed up, as well as the PsolarX facemask, and Forty below bottle boots. All I need now is some weather to test all this stuff in cause it's way the heck too warm for any of it yet. I bet this'll be the year it'll be in the 50s all winter long now isn't it? Being well prepared for a snowbike season is akin to owning a set of CX ski's or a snowmobile. No better way to garauntee a mild winter.

DG

Like minds

2008-10-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

I've been finding alot of inspiring reading lately. Really cool folks living right and thinking left. Maybe someday I'll run into a few of them.

Andrei Codrescu. It's like he's reading my mind, and recently, forcasting my future.

Kent Peterson. Bike druid. I only wish I could get my thoughts out on the page as eliquently as he does: "Wiser men than us have noted that you don't have adventures by sticking to the main roads and staying at the Holiday Inn. Our planes and automobiles have made it possible for us to go anywhere and see nothing, but our simpler, slower means of conveyance, our feet and our bicycles and wind-powered boats, still connect us to this earth that is not ours to master, but to treasure." See what I mean?

Micheal and Emilie. Living simply, simply living. Awsome. I've already got the vanagon...

Ward and Jacky Budweg. Fellow Iowans. I knew they were on tour for a couple of years, I didn't realize they sold their house and everything, and went..... everywhere!

Eric Parsons is always doing fun stuff and building interesting equipement.

The Long Road North. Awsome site, can't wait to see the film. Here's the trailer:

Erin and Higs Another awsome site. Erin just blew my mind with her last post. One little detail that really changes a big part of their trip. Congrats to them.

Some of the News, Most of the time. I hate political crap, but this is my new political news source.

And just in case you give a crap about the financial fiasco, heres a good explaination:

DG

Yard sale is still growing strong, more stuff found, check it out. Free shipping to Hawkeye Downs this weekend if you contact me... now.

Fall HPV race season

2008-10-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

Well my HPV race at Hawkeye Downs is coming up in about a week. Man, I hope somebody shows up, track rates went up and I'm playing Russian roulet with the the weather even more here in October. But the track's in good shape, the bikes are prepped, the goodies are baking.

I'll be testing a Nuvinci hub in the Cuda for my upcoming streamliner build. I've been pretty happy with the performance of the one I've got on my assisted longtail, it's definitely held up to some abuse. Now it's time to see how efficient it really is in the race bike. If it passes the test it will allow me to build a much needed much wider gear range on the next liner for some of the more difficult events I have planned. I've got a plan for the new liner worked out, and I'm in the process of gathering components before the build starts. I'm hoping to have the bike part finished out before the end of November, and have a good bit of progress on the fairing plug before the end of the year.

In other liner testing/impromptu race news I'm thinking about doing the Track and Back charity ride in the liner as a way of getting on the IA Speedway for a few laps and possibly finding some contacts for a chance at organizing an HPV race there. 7/8's mile NASCAR track with a road course inside it, that would make a sweet HPRA venue. In the mean time, anybody else wanna show up in DsM Oct 18th and do a little impromptu 100mile ultra race with some hot laps on the track in the middle? There's food at the track and sag stops along the way. The route out to Newton and back will be plenty challenging I'm guessing. I rode through that area last weekend and there are some killer hills out there.

DG

I'm still setting on a pile of stuff, check it out.

Tour to race

2008-09-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Click for pics

Three days, 369miles, 41,149 feet of elevation change, 2 races, 2 flats, 1 win, 1 broken chain, $7 in fuel. Nice ride. I see a trend starting.

Data

DG

Yard sale is still going, check it out.

Yard Sale

2008-09-20T20:48:00.001-07:00

If you haven't noticed yet, I've got a bit of a virtual yard sale going on. The link is also in the sidebar under my profile. Less is more, help me out here. And check back often, I keep finding more crap.

DG

Seasons heatings

2008-09-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

I've always had a thing for architecture and well planned/utilized space. One of these days I'm gonna get myself organized enough and reduce the clutter enough to simplify my house. As it is I've got more crap than I can remember where I put it, and more space than I need or want containing that crap. At least all that crap and the container it's in is payed for, I guess.

I ran across this little write-up today. Lots of cool design features.

I really like the dish dryer/storage system here.

Something about those little sleeping lofts are so appealing, yet the thought of having to get up there somehow (or even worse, back down) after an ultra distance race makes me think I'd need another way up there besides stairs. Maybe a 3/4 ground house with an egress window in the loft so you could use it as an upstairs outside door.

Here's another interesting link, though most of these are simply too small. If there isn't enough room for two people to live, cook, and dance, there isn't enough room to live. And there would have to be a bike room/shop of equal proportions. But in general 1000sq foot living quarters with a loft would be plenty if designed carefully, I think.

A couple more interesting sites:
Bottleworld "Like dogs on speed" this site is great.
Resources for Life from IA City, no less.

Incentive to pare down my collection of crap to the essentials. Maybe I should start a yard sale blog.....anybody need any size 46.5 bike shoes, Camelbacks, or VW parts? Or how about a good cheap car?

In another recent thought pattern I found shackletoncentenary.org which is packed with extreme cold weather knowledge and noteworthy causes.

DG

Seasons change

2008-09-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

Can you feel it? Focus is changing. Time to start gearing up.

DG

(time to get that fairing done for the commuter too, it's getting brisk and windy too!)

Mother Nature always wins

2008-09-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

XKCD has the perfect commentary for everything.

DG

Going for a little ride(literally)

2008-08-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

24 Hours of Seven Oaks Recap: Ben Shockey and I raced for heat stroke, he won.
I played with some sort of respiratory/sinus thing that caused me to have to stop and sit down to catch my breath everytime I tried to push a decent pace. Also made the sinus cavities to my ears plug to the point of messing with my balance. Cold sweats on lap two, hand and hamstring cramping started on lap three, walking every hill by lap four, getting sick to the stomach and a little dizzy on lap five, and that was about enough for me.

Spent the rest of the event cheering on, feeding, and equiping others in their pursuit for pain. Andrew Carney, Jesse Bergmann, and Matt Gersib earned the top spots for solo 24. Robin Williams beat down Kyle Williams in solo 24. The Rasmussen's team once again demoralised everyone by letting Andy ride without a cape.

Good times.

DG

OHV1.5

2008-08-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Lots of work being done to version one:

$375 for a doublestand? Screw that, build it.

Folds up nice too.

Nuvinci hub finally showed up...

...but the tension bar didn't line up with the Xtracycle der hole and there wasn't enough room under the shifter pod to get any sort of chain tensioner in there. So I made that too.

Shimano DH-3D71 Nexus disc brake dyno hub, for my upcoming dyno powered DIY led headlight.

Made another integrated light mount/stem faceplate for said upcoming DIY light.

Innertube seals to keep the dust, water, and grime out of the V-rack tubes.

I've also had to swap all bolts to stainless, remake rear idler cog in stainless, make an offset cog for the Nuvinci hub in stainless to match my jackshaft's chainline, replace the jackshaft and rear idler bearings with better sealed bearings, replace the creaking ISIS crankset with a square taper crankset, and paint everything thats not stainless to stave off the massive amount of corrosive crap this bike is aparently riding through.

It rained all day last Thursday, and I got to ride through it. Gravels turned to mud roads by the end of the day. I think whatever the county is putting on their gravels is toxic. Definitely found my design flaws in a hurry. Everything has to be built highly non-corrosive, well sealed, and preferably enclosed. I've still got some thinking to do on how I'm gonna enclose my driveline, but I've gotta do it. That is the plan for the belt drive on V2 anyhows so I may as well get the thought process started.

Beats the alternative.

DG

Build sheet

2008-08-14T09:24:00.000-07:00

I've been putting together a list of components for the next longtail build. Not that there's anything wrong with what I'm currently riding, but a few people have expressed interest in building up something similar, and if I were to do it again(and I am) these are the parts I would use and why(There's a theme here: durable, economical, functional).

Big Dumb Hybrid Parts

Frame: Surly Big Dummy
More frame triangulation equals a more stable bike under load, lots of handy braze-ons, built for the job. Not as easy to ship but I'd take the extra fee for the extra frame strength.

Fork: Surly
Comes with the frame, more handy braze-ons, zero mainainance for the utmost dependability in the long run. A longtravel suspension fork is nice too, especially since you can't unweight the front end of a longtail, but a good fork can cost half as much as the bike these days.

Headset: FSA The Pig DH Pro
Heavy duty sealed bearings last forever, decent price, nuff said.

Stem: Kalloy Adjustable
Nice four bolt stem thats adjustable to suit the conditions, priced very reasonably too. Also works well for mounting a passenger handlebar off the seatpost.

Handlebar:Origin8 Spacebar/On-one Mary bar, Dimension C-bar, Nitto Albatross, or Titec H-Bar/Jones H bar.
Straight bars are hard on wrists, drop bars are hard on spines, any of these will make a much more comfy place for your hands to stay. The H-bars are a little pricy and sometimes a bugger to fit controls on, but they offer a couple of different hand positions and prolly handles the off road excursions the best. Wider bars help to better control a heavily loaded longtail. A more upright position helps fight off back and neck fatigue, reduces pressures on your wrists and elbows, and you get a better view of your surroundings.

Grips: ESI Chunky
Cushy, but not too cushy. Still grippy when wet. Warm in the winter.

Seat: Selle An Atomica
Most comfy seat I've ever been on, Brooks included. Almost like sitting on a hammock. The way this seat spreads the pressures evenly has made riding in non cycling specific clothing a reality. I think the only way to do better than this in the upright position may be the Pederson.

Seatpost:Kalloy Laprade
Simple, durable, economical, does the job.

Brake Levers: Tektro 319A
Simple(one moving part), durable, economical, does the job. Also happens to have a comfortable lever profile with a nice little hook on the end so your fingers don't slip off. As Tektro's cheapest levers they are also the lightest, not that it matters here.

Brakes: Avid BB7 203mm F/R
Simple, durable, best mechanical disc on the market. And yes, you will want the 203mm rotors, you will thank me later.

Cables: Full length housing or Gore RideOn Xtralong Sealed Low Friction cables
Standard full length housing to keep the crap out, or Gore RideOn cables if you don't want to touch them for a few years.(Note: Big Dummys run all solid housings).

Crank: Shimano MC-442
Square taper. Durable, economical.

Bottom Bracket: Shimano UN54 or Phil Wood square taper
Sealed bearings(no, really), weatherproof, durable. I've tried nearly every BB, and BB interface out there(minus Campy) All the new stuff fails within a year if you ride them in incliment weather. I've yet to have a square taper perform so poorly, and you simply can't go wrong with a Phil(though I'm not sure it's necessary as the much cheaper Shimanos seem to last just fine).

Chainring: for single chainline Surly stainless, for derailer stock steel rings that come with the FC440.
Durable, dependable.

Chain: For single chainline KMC Rustbuster, for derailer KMC X9.
Rust resistant, super durable, super high tensil strength, dependable.

Front Hub: Shimano 32 hole Nexus DH-3N71 Disk Brake or Schmidt Son 28 disc 36hole
The Nexus is an Ultegra quality sealed bearing dyohub at a steal of a price, only slightly less efficient than the Schmidt, and only comes in 32hole. Schmidt is the best dynohub there is, but it's damn pricy. Dynolighting works good down to 5mph and a little electrical knowledge can work around occasional slower speeds as well. Not worrying about how much longer before your batteries go dead is very freeing. B+M or Spanninga are the easy budget ways to get good dyno lighting. Or if you're down with the DIY method a homebuild dyno led lamp is unbeatable. The current crop of leds is amazingly bright, and way cheaper than trying to buy a new sytem. For non dynamo I'd go with XT or Phil Wood 36hole disc hub.

Rear Hub: Rohloff 32hole disc gearhub or Nuvinci CVT 36hole Weatherproof, durable, dependable, shift gears from a stop, single chainline, never break another chain. The Nuvinci only has about half the gear range of the Rohloff and weighs a bit more, but it also costs a third of what the Rohloff does and may be a bit more durable yet(Rohloffs are quite durable). For derailer use I'd go with either XT or Phil Wood 36hole dic hub.

Rims: Alex DX32 36hole A wider rim lessens the chance of a tire rolling off under load and adds volume to the tire. This reduces pinchflats and makes for a stronger wheel in general.

Spokes and nips: Silver double butted 14ga spokes(2.0-1.7-2.0) and brass nips. Double butted spokes are actually stronger than straight gage due to the pre-stressing involved in creating the butting. Three cross for the front wheel and rear if you're not using one of the gear hubs. Three cross is of the strongest lacing patterns, less has reduced lateral load strength, more overstresses the spoke heads and rim eyelets which can lead to spoke breakage or cracked rims. Due to the larger hub diameter of the gear hubs they require two cross for the Rohloff and one cross for the Nuvinci to keep from overstressing the spokes. Silver because the black ones scratch and look crummy after while. Brass nips only because aluminum nips are prone to failure and seizure.

Shifters:Rohloff and Nuvinci come with their own. For Derailer SLX.

Tensioner/Derailer: Rohloff for the Rohloff, I'm not sure what for the Nuvinci(its a problem), or SLX front and SLX shadow rear for derailers. The Shadow derailers are super compact with shorter cable runs, very nice and less prone to getting knocked off.

Tubes: Double thick, slimed, schraeder
Fixing flats on a fully loaded bike is no fun, may as well prevent it before it starts. Schraeder for ease of use.

Tires: Schwalbe Big Apple 26x2.35 or WTB Weirwolf LT 26x2.55
Big volume, strong sidewalls, fast rolling treads. The Big Apple is the ultimate urban touring tire, puncture resistant, and reflective sidewalls. The LT is the perfect gravel touring tire, like a giant CX tire, rolls fast, grips good, super cushy. There is really no reason to go with anything smaller as the advantages greatly outweigh the disadvantages: flat resistance, comfort, braking traction, grip, saftey...

Pedals: Time Z Control or Rivendell Grip King
Times have proven dependable for me in all conditions and these have a nice platform too. Grip Kings for really cold weather or if you don't care about pulling up.

Fenders: Planet Bike Cascadia
The only true full coverage fenders that work with a 2.55" tire. It's nice to go on a ride and not get completely covered in grime.

Bottle cages: Velo Orange retro stailness bottle cages
Strong, secure, won't mark up your bottles.

Kickstand: For heavily loaded riding stout dual kickstands are a must. A single Greenfield is good for light loads, but has been known to rip the frame segment when overstressed. Val Klietz's doublestand is about the only workable option currently available.

Other worthwile accesories:
Rivendell mirror
Best bar mounted mirror I've used. Doesn't shake uncontrolably(maybe the tires help)

Xtracycle accessory kit
Vracks/bags/snapdeck gotta have it. Forget the footsies, just buy a set of wideloaders, way more useful.

Surly Nice front rack
Need more room? Durable, adjustable, best rack you can buy.

Ihome Bike to beach
Heck yea, radio!

RealLights and/or Planet Bike Superflash
Realights, never go dead no drag. Superflash bright as crap runs for a really long time. Remember to throw a rubberband over the clamp though or you'll lose'em.

Kleen Canteen stainless water bottles
They don't hold odors/tastes, easy to clean, cap to keep the dust off the bite valve, cook in them, double as a weapon if thrown

22oz MSR fuel bottles
Fit nicely in a waterbottle cage for carrying stove or motor fuel.

Motor assist:
Suburu/Robin EH O35 with clutch/dual bearing holder
The motor on mine has worked flawlessly so far.

Fully enclosed 2 or 3 stage Gates timing belt gear reduction
The Staton gearbox might be bulletproof, but it's also noisy and heavy with a good month lead time. I'm working on replacing it and all the chains with what should be a much quieter fully enclosed belt reduction and complete drivetrain.

DG

Nerds

2008-08-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

Wow. Smart and funny.

Other good reading:
Erinn and Higgs coastal hike
Eric Parsons and Dylan Kentch upcoming coastal bike
Riding the Spine

Vik's Big Dummy Blog
Alex Wetmore
DG

Todays freegan payload

2008-08-06T16:49:00.000-07:00

2, 4x8' sheets of 2" pinkboard, split in half, saved from the dumpster.

Mold makers supplies for me. How timely.

DG

Tour to Boone Race Metric

2008-08-04T20:49:00.001-07:00

Squirrel's ride to race rig.

The OHV1 loaded.

80lbs of bike + 50lbs of camp gear + 27lb race bike + 40x18 on the Xtra = just right for the flat gravels. The bike has officially passed the load test.

No, I didn't use the motor at all during the metric. Yes I did use it to get into Boone and back into 7 Oaks after the metric was earned.

I managed to whack myself in the foot with a mcloud Saturday doing trailwork, left a cool lookin' square bruise. Sat around with the "Boone fishing council" in the afternoon. And completely lost my mojoe when the the race rolled around Sunday. Way too hot, with way too little time on dirt, and way too little time at XC race pace, equals just try to survive without passing out or crashing out deep in the woods. The North shore bridges, once more extended climbs, and water saturated hillsides made for some interesting slow speed tech for me anyways. Too bad I was melting.
I'm ready for winter, at least I can dress for that.

DG

Test Run

2008-07-27T17:32:00.001-07:00

Two days on an 80lb bike, with an additional 40lbs of gear, 200miles from my house to Sugar Bottoms and back via random gravel and pave.

For my own organizing purposes, here's the gear list:

On the right side of the bike: Luxury Thermarest, a ziplock with a few books, and a Seal line bag containing a sleeping bag, blanket, towel, and casual shorts.

On the left side of the bike: Bibler tent in the red granite gear bag, poles and vestibule in the skinny black bag, purple granite gear bag contains three ziplocks with two pairs of riding shorts, three lightweight SS shirts, one LW LS Smartwool, arm and legwarmers, wool gloves, 3pairs of socks of varying weights, and the legs of the Northface convertable pants I'm wearing. (note to self, remember spare underwear). Small Wingnut bag with MSR cookpan, 2bowls, 6packs of oatmeal, silverware, washcloth, hankerchief, hand crank battery cell, USB cord, tent stakes, IB profin, band aids, spare contacts, contacts case, and solution. MSR dragonfly stove, hat, Rainlegs, and raincoat.

MSR fuel bottle with white gas for stove went in the rearmost waterbottle cage, Nightrider bottle battery in the front frame cage, and I started with three waterbottles, one in the rear frame cage, and one on each side of the front fork(works good!). I ended up with another MSR bottle for gasoline in the rear frame cage and another strapped to the luggage on the right side, and one of the water bottles tucked under a strap.

Wingnut pack on my back had 50oz of water, sunblock, 2 NUUN capsules, Hammerflask, cellphone, camera, lip balm, wallet, hankerchief, Gerber Cool Tool, scissors, headlamp, zipties, ziplock bags, windvest, matchs, IB Profin, bandaids, patch kit, 2 Snickers Charged, 1 toe strap, small roll of duct tape, a whole bunch of reflective ankle straps, and an empty soap box I picked up in IA city(another note to self, bring soap).

Also on the bike, Garmin 305 GPS, cable lock, 2 tubes, pump, more zipties, another scissors, another microtool, Planet Bike superflash, SMV sign, and a bunch of thought provoking stickers.

I thought about leaving the Wingnut pack home, but I'm used to it and it's a handy place to keep your camera/cellphone/wallet/lipbalm/sunscreen/food/soapbox? OK the soap box goes in the Wingnut accesory bag with all the other incidentals next time around. I could have done without duplicating tools between the pack and the bike, but the tools in the pack stay in the pack, and the tools in the bike well...maybe I'll take the tools out of the bike if I always wear the pack, eh?

Other future changes:
I've got about a 40% chance of waking up without a back ache with the best of the Thermarest pads, so I'm planning on switching to a Luxurylite Cot. I've heard nothing but good things about these. Another Seal line bag would make this rig weatherproof, and help keep the gravel dust at bay. I've got a Big Dummy frame on order(just like everybody else). Nuvinci CVT is ordered, hopefully it beats the frame here. I should have some Reelights, and an AXA lock to play with by the end of the week. At some point I'm going to invest in another Schmidt SON28(S this time) and an EDeluxe to fill out the lighting demands. I think I'll order two more pair of these, carry my second pair North face convertable pants, and ditch the riding shorts. Wool base + nylon shell + leather Selle An Atomica saddle = perfect touring setup. No clammy, smelly, riding shorts. Dries super fast, and you don't have to feel like a lycra clad superhero everywhere you ride. Need a couple more LW SS wool shirts, and my shipment of Swiftwicks are on their way now. Maybe some Keen clipless sandals, and a Garmin 705. Retrogrouch you say? I'm riding a SS motorized gravel touring Xtracycle with a 5"fork...right. And I happen to think Rivendell, Velo Orange, Clever Cycles, and Peter White are getting it right, thank you.

The bike handles quite a bit different with the extra 40lbs on the back. Standing and climbing is much more wiggly(Still worlds better than any trailer or even full racks on a touring steed). I had some issues with gear pushing against my fender stays, making the fender rub the rear tire. A dedicated Xtracycle frame like the Surly Big Dummy would address both these issues. The WTB 26x2.55" Weirwolf LTs are the perfect tire for this thing, and they just barely fit under the Planet Bike Cascadia fenders, but it's a worthwhile combination. Rumbles, can't even feel'em. Pothole, where? Run off the road, vagrant gravel, no problem. With the help of the motor I managed all the hills, including getting into and out of Sugar Bottoms(twice) on a 40x16 gear without resorting to dismounting and pushing. On a couple of occasions while fully loaded I did get it to slip the chain on the Surly cog on the rear freewheel. The Surly cogs tooth profile is a little pointy for my taste, and I'd make a cog for it, but I'm really hoping to be replacing that wheel with a Nuvinci wheel within the next two weeks. I found that even though I've got a motor helping me wrestle this beast down the road, my legs are still smoked from trying to keep my spin up over 90rpm for 200miles. Gears will be a whole nuther ball game, and I'm looking forward to it. The Staton gear to gear, gear reduction is super stout, and I'm sure it'll last forever, but it sure is noisy. Next go around will be a two or three stage Gates timing belt gear reduction, and full belt drivetrain fully enclosed. The chains have alot to be desired. Belts will be a load quieter, more efficient, cleaner, and less maintainence. Fairing will be played with after I get gears figured out on OHV1. Big Dumb Pugsley after Big Dumb Motorbike V2.

DG

2008-07-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

More refined product. Runs 28mph as a singlespeed, gears will help. 50cents fills er' up. Hilarious.

This might be the next step.

DG

Organic hybrid V1

2008-07-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Part of my solution. A few bugs to work out yet, but ultimately a huge step in the right direction for my circumstances.

More pics here.

DG

Greed is a form of terrorism

2008-05-11T20:51:00.000-07:00

I'll preface this by stating that I am a gearhead. I've been raised with a love/hate relationship with the automobile. I've ridden bicycles for as long as I can remember. There were always pedals under my feet as a child, but my family was not one of active athletes. They are a family of gearheads and farmers. Do-it-yourself-er work-a-holics.
I resisted the thought of driving till highschool, really wasn't interested. My first vehicle was a 1966 microbus with a 30hp 1200cc motor that got 25mpg and topped out at about 50mph in 30seconds from a dead stop. From there was a 1600cc 90hp 1986 Jetta turbodiesel that gets 45mpg and tops out at 70mph in 20seconds. Then a 1979 VW combi van that was slightly faster after fighting months of repair to the fuel injection and then sold. A 1989 VW Fox that bought for $100 and completely rebuilt for 50 times the purchase price, for 35mpg at 135hp in a car I truely don't fit in. And then a 2002 Subaru WRX wagon that gets up to 30mpg at 225hp and has nearly cost me my license three times now.

I still own all these cars minus the 79 van, plus I have a 74 VW 411, an 89 VW Syncro van that are not yet running, and a shed with enough parts to assemble at least five VW Beetles. I have rebuilt and modified every one of my cars at one point or another. A couple of them multiple times. I used to have VW parts numbers memorized. I could tell the year and model of the car by reading its serial number, and tell you about all of its various versions and options.
I drive on average 50,000miles a year between my 60mile round trip commute to 5days a week to work, 90mile round trip twice weekly for training, and 300-15,000 mile round trips to various bicycle race venues. I enjoy driving fast and have become a reasonably competent driver, if not for the speeding violations. But, at the same time I hate it. I spend a third of my time and annual income driving. The most dangerous part of my life is the drowsey morning commute. My driving is contributing to the destruction of the planet and something has to change, not only for my sake, but for everyones.

Think about it. How much fuel do you burn every year? How much do you spend on the automotive experience annually? That includes: cost of fuel, insurance, tax/title/license, maintainance/repair, accessories, parking, toll fees, and the cost of purchasing the car for the duration you own it. What percentage of you annual income does that come out to be? Do you buy new? Why? Do you drive an SUV or truck? Why? Do you drive distances less than 5 miles, 10 miles, 15 miles? Why? More than 100miles? Why? Are there alternatives?

Now think of that car's carbon footprint and the environmental poisons that make up a car. Antifreeze, motor oil, brake fluid, power steering fluid, transmission fluid, AC freon, gasoline, battery, tires, pounds of glass, pounds of rubber, pounds of plastic, pounds of foam, pounds of steel, pounds of copper wiring, pounds computer chips, gallons of paint.

Think of the efficiency of your car. How often do you drive alone? How many horsepower does your car have? Why? What percentage of your car's weight is powering it's occupants weight vs powering its own weight? Do you think todays cars are more efficient than the cars built 10 years ago? 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70years ago? More reliable?

Fuel is close to $4.00/gallon. If the price of gas doubled would you keep driving? It already has. More than once. Are you still driving? Did you buy a hybrid? How does the carbon footprint of that hybrid compare to the carbon footprint of keeping your old car and doing maintainance?

How fast do you drive on the highways? Do you drive over the posted speed limit? How much more energy do you think it takes to go 70mph instead of 65mph? How much more energy does it take to from 0-60 in 7seconds compared to 12seconds? How much more wear on the car and all it's parts? How much more oil is burnt?

Where are the cars that get over 100mpg? How do they do that? Do you really need a car? Is there public transportation? Could you walk it? Bike it? Why not? Time? Money? Would you have more money if you didn't drive? Would you have more time if you didn't have to work more so you could afford to drive? Would you have to work if you didn't drive? Well, maybe so. Or not.

Possessions, wealth, work, why? Does it bring you happiness? Think about it. Would you be happier with more time or more money? What would you do with more time? Do you have a plan for retirement? Do you think you'll make it? Will you perish on your drive to work? Will your health hold out? Do you think the government will take care of you?

You drive to work for your Kids? Kids need toys right? What do they like better, the toy or the box it came in? Do you let them outside? Which is better TV or a book? Do you have time to read them a book or take them outside, or are you busy at work making money to pay for toys, TV, and the babysitter?

Food. We have to drive to work so we can feed ourselves. But you're too busy with work so you eat fast food. Are you concerned about what you're eating? Do you know what you're eating? Really? Even if you get it from the supermarket, do you know what you're really eating? Do you buy organic? Are you sure? Pay a premium for organic, so you have to work more. Could you grow organic yourself if you had more time? Would you rather have the knowledge of how to grow food and provide for yourself, or know the profit margine of the company you work for, what so-and-so did last night, the schedule of the TV guide, and the score of the football game? Would you like to have the knowledge of how to fix your food, plumbing, furnace, transportation, house? Build your own house or transportation. Do you have the time to learn? Would more money help? Does driving help?

Think global warming was a fad in the late 80's and early 90's? Have you seen An Inconvenient Truth? Everyone should. Think he's lying? Really? Al's a hypocrit? What are you doing to change? He who throws the first stone....

Well, I've got to go to work now.

DG

Fun with slippery rocks

2008-05-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

Syllamo's Revenge. Mtn Veiw, AR.

Slimy, pointy, rooty, hairball, flowy. Quality time spent near and in streams, with the patch kit, next to the trail. Slowed a bit more for just a couple of pics. Should have took more. I'm a wringer, not a ringer. Good times.

DG

That was hard.

2008-04-27T19:06:00.001-07:00

More if I recover.

Data.

Ok, I think I'm over the fever, so a few more details of my weekend and events leading up to it.

My goal for TIV4 was to make it to the start line, uninjured. I was registered for TI V1 and V3, V1 back and neck problems, V3 IT band re injury from the Sebring 24hour.
A week ago Sunday my work sent me to Apadaca, Mexico for um...work. Interesting, yes, an annoying speed bump in my TI prep, yes. They had me scheduled to fly back the Friday of TI. Nothing like a good dose of jet lag, a week off the bike, and a chance for a good case of food poisoning to get you tuned up, right? I finished up what I needed to do down there as soon as I could and managed to get them to fly me back on Wed. Get home to find my mom was sick with the flu all week, I find myself coughing and blowing my nose nonstop by Friday. Head to the chiropractor to fix what ails me{back was out before leaving for Mexico). Hop in the truck with my crew, banker Steve. Drive through a torrential rainstorm and damn near miss the race meeting as we walk in at 6:30(could have sworn the race meeting was to be at 7:30) Crap, pretty much missed the meet and greet, maybe there will be time for that later.
Finish the final preparations about 9:30-10:00 and try to sleep without suffocating in my own mucus. Wake up at 1:00am, 2:00am, 2:30am, and finally 3:00am when I set my alarm.

Dressed and out the door by 3:15. Multiple oatmeal raisin cookie breakfast.
Ride around in the dark cold not recognising anyone hanging around the start point, ride up in Palisades to warm up a bit and test the newly wired headlight. Light works. Roll back to the start to find Cornbread and Skip, and Fuller, at least I know a couple people here. And soon enough we roll out, up quarry hill. The group spreads out almost immediately, as expected I climb backwards through the group, a trend for the day on climbs. It levels out a bit and I'm happy to have a big ring, it puts me back up with Cory and Skip and the group that establishes itself as the chase group for most of the day. I find that my pace doesn't match up well with anyone Else's, I climb too slow and roll too fast. I manage to drop a chain or overshift a few times causing extra work to stay near the group. soon enough I'm off the back with a few others. The sleet/snow and winter temps are laughably familiar. At least it's dry. This wind is punishing already. Ice is to be found in bottles at Protivin, but then again so is the group. Stay in the draft as much as possible, I try to pull but I just don't have it. I stay till I'm stuck in the wind on the tail of the line or we hit a good climb and then I die again. Keep blowing nasty yellow crap out of my nose. Catch up on the downhills and the sheltered flats. Regroup again at Cresco, a few calories, a few more riders in the group. Off to make two wrong turns as a group. Confusing street signs and a visit to the river that was a low water crossing. Stuck in the wind again, float off the back. Ride with a SSer on a Soulcraft I'm sure I should know, but I can't place his name. He saved my ass and doesn't even know it. That wind. Catch up with Skip as he floats back. The wind breaks a little and I roll off using my gears for what I can. Roll into Waucoma. Regroup once more. Another rider off the front joins, weary from the lead group's pace. The wind is crazy, blowing up gravel dust storms off the peaks of the hills. We get a nice tailwind into West Union, coast at 30mph. It ends all too soon. Grab a bite to eat. Head back out once more as a group, but I can't hang. Legs just can't push hard enough. Drift off to climb hills at 4mph and ride the flats at 10. Climb onto Dove road. First hill up I find a der pulley and its pieces, bet somebody wishes they still had those. I spot someone walking the hill ahead of me as I crest the first climb. Do what I can to catch up but he's riding the downhills and flats faster than I am. When I finally get close I find that it's Skip, fighting the demons of Dove road. Wasn't his pulley then. Walking looked almost appealing at that point, but I figured he'd catch me anyways. I was practically climbing at walking pace anyways. It leveled out a bit and soon enough Skip and Bonsal caught up. Rode with them a bit till it got walking steep again, and idled away in my lowest gear. That was the last I saw of anyone till checkpoint one in Wadena. In the meantime I thought about weather or not I wanted to try to make the cutoff, it was going to be close. In the end I made the cutoff by 5 or six minutes, but it didn't matter, my legs were cooked.

Finally got a chance to sit around and chat with a few folks. A few others rolling in to make the cutoff. Skip and Bonsal rode in, Ben Shockey and the Yazoo group rolled in a bit later. Paul and Cory were shuttled in. Lance Andre had enough fun in the lead group with his shattered thumb, and stayed behind. Lots of cooked legs in the circle.

Somewhere in there I came up with the crazy idea of riding back to Decorah via pave. Three others thought that to be a swell idea as well. Two energetic SS brothers from WI, and the other turned out to be Ari from Chicagoland. Funny who you run into at these things. The ride out of the valley wasn't too bad, but the loong stretch back over to West Union reminded me that I was already cooked and now was becoming overdone. I pulled a little, dropped back on the climbs, and ended up falling off the 8-10mph paceline a couple of times. Burgers at the Barrel drive-in and hot cocoa and a windbreak at Hardees was much appreciated. Even more appreciated was the ride back to Decorah provided by the WI crew.

Back in Decorah I showered off, and banker Steve and I wandered down to Oneata River Cycles to see the happenings and possibly locate a bike for Sunday's TT. Hey, you never want to miss the opportunity to ride Decorah trails. Ron Moffit once again unwisely agreed to loan me his ride. Last time I rode Ron's bike the bars came loose and the rear brake lever failed, during the race. I should have known better. I'm going to owe him money. My knees were still screaming at me Saturday night.

Sunday morning I woke up and headed down to pick up Ron's bike. It seemed kosher, though it did sound like the freewheel slipped alittle when I rode off and the front brake stuck a little. Signed up for the TT, paid. Knees felt a little better. Tried to preride a little of the new section on trail. Went okay going backwards. Watched O'gara slice his side wall on some glass on the trail in the first 20 feet of his preride. Loaned him a phone. Water was running across the trail in a few places. Most of the first mile or so turned out to be unrideable. Had to stop and tighten the seatpost 30ft in. Front brake not only stuck, but also had about 35% of it's normal braking power. I managed to bend a brake lever and almost take myself out on numerous occasions due to lack of traction and control. Soon found my knees to be unhappy with racing a SS uphill, so I walked pretty much every hill. Most everyone who was behind me ended up ahead of me. Finally made it to the grass field, what I would assume to be over halfway through the course. Remounted, tried to ride a little. Snap. Broke the chain. Put the chain in my pocket, more scooter bike practice. Knees weren't letting me climb anyhows. Tried to slow for the switchback coming back into the valley, didn't really happen. Get up, turn the bike around coast to the bottom and hop the tape. Walked the pave back to the finish and DNF-ed my second race of the weekend.

Many thanks to Steve Jones for crewing, driving, funding, providing a place to crash(thanks to Jim), staying sober during crewing hours, putting up with my crap, and letting me nap on the way home.

Thanks to Ron Moffit for being foolish enough to loan me a bike in full knowledge that my karma will kill it.

Thanks to Deke at Oneota River Cycles for making my hobby affordable, dealing with my odd tastes in equipment, putting on kick ass races on great trails, and making me feel like family.

Thanks to all that raced or were involved in TIV4 for being the eclectic group that makes this event the addictive madness that it is.

DG

$68 burger

2008-04-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

Look closely.

Bumps.

The Bimbo truck.

Buenos noches amigas.

DG

Charged

2008-04-16T20:45:00.001-07:00

Feel the wrath of CREE led conversions, lithium, and caffinated candy.

DIYLED Triple CREE XR-E Q5 Copperhead light.

Crazy bright and crazy cheap, I'm still seeing spots.

DG

Miles of Smiles

2008-04-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

Mary's

Shoot'n ladders

Zippity

Slick

Rim Snap

Ok, where can I get a 6" travel 29er? ;)
DG

GRAID

2008-04-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

Weee!

DG

Good things

2008-03-24T20:01:00.002-07:00

Self sufficiency.

Adaptability.

Durability.

Wool. Wool. Wool.

DG

Signs of sproing

2008-03-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

Two rides last weekend. 64miles worth of mock commuting Saturday and 104 miles of South Van Buren county exploration.

Lessons learned:
It takes me two hours to get to work by bike via the 90% gravel low traffic route.
Henry Co pave roads are flat, but their gravels are not.
I like fenders.
Stans Crows don't do ice well, but they roll right along on everything else.
Topofusion is cool.
Swapping in tubes and playing in Stans in below ferezing weather on the side of a gravel road at night... yea, that still sucks.
You can get 20,000 feet of elevation change in 160miles in SE IA.
Riding in the ditch isn't all that bad.
I found the boonies, they're just down the road.

DG

Dirty Randonneur

2008-03-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

Is what it is. 300k. 600K

DG

70T130BCD

2008-03-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

After having a hard drive crash losing all my chainring CAD and CAM files, and then having a series of floppy discs fail losing my back-ups of said files, I've finally upgraded to a thumb drive. Now to draw up all the other bolt pattern and size variations, consolidate and eliminate all my floppy drive crap....Simpler IS better. Yay for thumb drives.

DG

Onion of Hardship

2008-02-09T21:49:00.000-08:00

This multiday winter endurance racing thing is completely crazy. On the surface, it looks hard. Then you peel back its rigid veneer only to find an inner layer of hard. And even as you chip away at its core, you continue to find layer upon layer upon layer of hard. Every part is hard. And I love it." -Jill Homer

This quote pretty well sums it up. Snowbiking. Nutty. And addictive.

So you want to ride your bike 100, 135, 350, 1100miles across some crazy windblown, frighteningly cold, breathtakingly beautiful expanse of snow and ice, eh? Well, lets see. Your gonna be riding on or in deep snow, preferably on. It may or may not be packed by snowmobiles, this may or may not be a good thing. You will likely end up riding across a lake or down a river, there might be ice. There might be open water too, it may or may not be obvious. There might be fresh snow, maybe a whole lot of it. It will likely be drifting. There is always a headwind, maybe headwinds so strong they actually slide you backwards in your tracks. The trail may or may not be marked. It may not really exist, really. You may push your bike more than you ride it, did I mention your bike will weigh at least 50lbs? You are riding a fully loaded expedition bike after all. You will ride or push your bike in all weather conditions in the dark. It might take you five hours to go ten miles. 14mph is scary fast. You may not see another soul for days. You might have to bivy on the trail, but not for long, this is a race ya know. It might be really, really cold, this may or may not be a good thing. You will have to worry about sweating, sweating could kill you, try not to sweat. But keep moving, you have to keep moving to stay warm, stopping could kill you too. You will pray that you have no mechanical issues. Your hydration system may freeze, you may have to stop and melt snow and/or thaw your water bottle out for hydration. There will be checkpoints and dropbags, they may or may not be there when you get there. If you get there. As with all ultra events, there is no payout. Pretty neat, huh? No, it's not dumb, thats a matter of perspective. We're all crazy, some people just embrace life more. Hardships build clarity in life if you accept them as learning experiences.

Anyway, if you haven't confirmed it yet I'm one of those "nuts". If you'd been paying attention you would have known that years ago. As of the moment I'm planning to at least try my hand at the Arrowhead 135 and hopefully a couple other snowbike races of similar ilk next year. The preparation for this started three weeks ago and will likely continue all year long. Who knows maybe I can work an HPV into the snowbike race scene. But first I need to spend a season racing before I get all hairbrained and unleash the mad scientist on it.

There are elements of snowbiking that bring completely new problems into view. What happens when you expose mechanical components to a -20degF or -40degF ambient temp, and then add a -35degf windchill on top of it? How do you keep a lighting system going for 12hours, and multiple days in those temps? How the hell do you keep your hydration system from freezing up? What gear do you pack, and how do you pack it so that doesn't weight a ton, keep the weight bias evenly balanced between the wheels with you onboard, and out of your way when you have to push? This is just a few of the many, many, many questions to be answered. I've learned alot already, but there is so much more to know, and so much of it simply has to be experienced to really find the answers.

That's what draws me in. The challenge. Continuously learning to how to push the limits of gear, overcome conditions physically and mentally, adapting to overcome any challenge no matter how daunting. In the end overcoming challenges like this is empowering, enlightening, and occasionally lends itself to clarifying life as a whole.

More to come,
DG

RIP Sheldon Brown

2008-02-05T20:43:00.000-08:00

A sad day for bike nerds everywhere. BSNYC sums it up best.

DG

Intermission....

2008-01-31T20:08:00.000-08:00

We inturrupt your regularly scheduled bike nerd overload with this bit of hotness.

DG

Gear in review

2008-01-29T06:07:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing a ton of research on the whole learning to survive snowbike adventures thing. What I've found is another complete bike culture. There's lots of info, but I'll try to sort some of it out here.

Starting with clothing.

There are a couple of basic things to remember:
There are four forms of heat loss; radiant, conductive, convective and evaporative.
Regulating your body temperature to control perspiration is critical to staying warm. The body's natural response to overheating is to increase evaporative cooling by perspiring.
Water has a thermal conductivity 23 times greater than air. If your insulating layers are soaked with sweat their conductive heat trasfer rate equals that of water, regardless of what the material is made of.
Convective heat tranfer can be controlled by proper venting of clothing and overlapping layers to prevent drafts. "Breathable" fabrics can not be considered proper venting.
As an example of breathable fabrics, Goretex blocks 97% of evaporative heat transfer, and they consider that breathable. Even that quickly becomes ineffective in below freezing temps as the water molecules quicky freeze and clog the open pores in the fabric.

There are two different clothing theories to look at. They both include a shell layer that blocks the wind and precip, a thermal layer, and a base layer. The difference comes with what you do with that base layer. You can either wick moisture away in an effort to stay dry and warm, or you can trap that moisture with a vapor barrier so it doesn't soak your insulating layer, thus slowing the evaporative heat transfer, and maintaining your conductive heat retention. Your insulating layers are most efficient when dry, therefore as you sweat and soak your insulating layer the insulating properties are slowly lost. So by trapping all that moisture inside your base layer you will stay warm indefinitely, no matter how much time you spend in your clothes their thermal properties stay the same. Therefore you should never get cold providing you have a thermal layer to match the conditions.
I should note, not everybody agrees on the use of vapor barriors. In order for a vapor barrior to be effective, and really one of it's main purposes, is to make you monitor your perspiration and keep it to a minimum. Some people simply produce too much heat to use a vapor barrior without excessive sweat pooling up. The risk then comes with the base layer freezing to the skin if proper thermal layers and levels are not maintained.
The trick with either system is trying to regulate the amount of body heat generated to keep the sweating to a minimum. Just by adding a vapor barrier you increase your thermal insulation quite a bit, its easy to overdress and end up standing in puddles. So far I've found it's gotta be below 20 deg for me to be able to wear a vapor barrier layer without sweating a ton. And unless it's below zero, I'd better not have much of a thermal layer on, even then. I guess I need some more practice adjusting my thermal layers and venting.

This picture shows my current complete clothing sytem for wet and dry weather, good for about temps 55deg down to about -15deg F. Realistically this system is only good for 3-4 hours and then all my thermal layers are soaked and need to be swapped out.

On top:
I use medium weight and lightweight Smartwool tops as my base/thermal layer. Wool is an extremely efficient insulator, and with these Smartwool tops the zipper allows venting, they dry very quickly, have very low pack weight and bulk.

I picked up a nice Nike Storm-Fit Jacket this year. It does a real nice job blocking the wind and precip, windproof/waterproof fabric, waterproof zippers, hi-vis orange w/reflective stripes, and adjustable venting too.

I've also got a light insulating pack coat for standing around while not on the bike, but I've yet to use it on a ride.

On bottom:
I start with a set of the old version Desoto five pocket bib shorts. They've got pockets to carry small stuff in during warmer conditions, and they've got a nice light fleece pad in them that keeps things dry and comfortable without getting in the way. Unfortunately they've went and "improved" these shorts with the standard "diaper butt" pad and doubled the price.

I picked up a set of Sporthill XC pants this year as well. Wind proof, water resistant, breathable, thermal, snug fit. Perfect by themselves down to -10.

For colder weather I'll put my Louis Garneau leg warmers under my pants.

Head:
Hind Drylete Balaclava : Superlight, versatile piece that I use as a hat or a balaclava. Windproof, water resistant. Good for taking the chill off brisk weather down to about 10 deg.

For colder weather I put my Louis Garneau Power Cap on over my balaclava or switch to my heavier neoprene/brushed fleece balaclava. I might have to try JP's "headband over the nose" sytem to see if I can reduce some fogging.

I've had mixed results using my vented Oakley M frames and vented Oakley snowboard goggles. In calm conditions they both fog/frost up, so I end up riding with no eye protection. In temps below 20 deg I find I have to thaw the condensation off my eyelashes every few minutes becuase they freeze together when I blink. In light windy conditions above 20 degrees the M frames work well, anything colder or windier and I use the the goggles.

All that goes under an oversized helmet cause I'm not less likely to fall in the winter and I don't slow down unless I can't go faster. It also keeps my hats from blowing off and makes a handy spot to attach lights.

Hands:
Cheapie bar mitts I bought back when I still owned a snowmobile. These things are the bomb, single most effective winter use item I own. Windproof, waterproof, insulated. Ride with no gloves down to 25 degrees, light gloves down to 0, shell mitt takes you wherever you want to go.

$8 knitted wool glove/mitt from Orchelin's farm supply. You know the ones that the mitt part flips back so you can work with your fingers. Preferably long cuff to eliminate drafts. These work great, all sorts of options for venting/temp control. They can be super warm, yet you can get your fingers out quick to open wrapers/zippers/ect. Lots of nose wiping surface. Only downfall is they can absorb alot of water.

$8 shell mitten from Menards. Another good deal, super warm, powder skirt, dumby cord, lightweight, waterproof/windproof. Only downfalls being no removable liner and no nose wiping cloth.

I've tried my $65 snowbarding gloves, lobster mitts, ect. None of that comes close to working as well as the bar mitts and light glove/mitt combo. I might upgrade to a set of Epic Eric's poagies, and maybe a little nicer light glove liner/shell mitt combo, but otherwise my hands are happy.

Feet:
Last years model Lake MX301 winter cycling boot, one full metric size larger than my standard cycling shoe, studded with sheet metal screws for ice. The standard by which all winter cycling shoes are based and about as good as it gets if you want to keep your clipless petals during winter cycling. Good down to 35 degrees with thin wool socks, 25 degrees with thick wool or polarfleece 300 thermal socks, below that your gonna need toe warmers or something additional to stay warm for more than an hour or two.

I use either Bridgedale heavyweight wool socks or a Polarfleece 300 thermal sock/Fox river wicking sock liner combo. If its below 20 degrees I've been using a grocery bag as a vapor barrier between my liner sock and thermal sock, and Grabber MyCoal adhesive toe warmers. I've been toying with plastic bags as vapor barriors, which is effective, but prone to tearing easily. For prolonged use I think I'll be looking for something a little nicer.

I've tried Hottronics electric footbeds, but the batteries are always dead, the cable's an uncomfortable PITA, and they just never seemed to work all that well. Plus they're heavy.
I also tried some off brand insole warmers, but they wouldn't stay under my toes, and they didn't get all that warm. In the long run you can get a whole winter's worth of Grabber adhesive toe warmers for less than half the price of a set of Hottronics, they stay put, they're easy to pack, you don't have to worry about batteries, and they work. The toe warmers also fit perfectly in a mitten.

Ok, so thats what I'm using currently. For the most part I'm pretty happy with this system. It's all pretty versatile, lightweght, and low bulk. For longer cold exposure all I need to do is add some insulated vapor barrior base layers to the mix like this, or this, to contol the evaporative heat transfer and maintain my clothing's conductive insulation properties. And add another shell/insulating layer over my boots somehow to boost their temp range, like this, with somthing like this, or this.

More to come.
DG

Intro to snowbike racing

2008-01-20T18:50:00.000-08:00

I competed in the Triple D snowbike "adventure" race this past Saturday. It was just like any other mtb race I do. The adventure part comes with numerous mechanical issues, a couple physical aillments, and top it off by getting lost. There would have been pictures, but I was pretty busy trying to ride in a straight line and keep from freezing.

The race itself was pretty well run for a first go around of it. Just a couple spots could have used better marking, otherwise it was all good. Well done Lance Andre.

This was a 60mile race from Dubuque to Dyersville and back. It started out on a plowed bike path through town where I drafted the pugsley paceline. That lead to a badly foot traffic-ed section that had refroze into a minefield for all who tried to ride it. This is where I had to stop the first time to air up my front tire, it took me awhile to figure out I was riding on the rim on the icy potholed snowpack. Pumping it up cost me a good 10 places, I was in third.

After the pothole hell we turned off the trail onto another plowed path that did nothing but go up. At this point I started noticing this funky frozen red red stuff on my top tube, and my jacket, and my gloves....crap, nosebleed. Anyway, I was being distracted from my leaking fluids by the fact that with every petal stroke it felt like my crank arms were falling off. Oh... well it's just my bottom bracket cups loose in the eccentric. Seems I forgot to pack my crank extractor and bb tools so there's not much I could do about this. Spinning more helps, spin more. Then came some cross town snowmobile trail that was entertaining and partially ride-able. I stopped again to air up my front tire just before heading out of town. Had I been thinking I should had stopped at Free Flight and fixed my mechanicals, but what fun would that be?

From there was a whole load of climbing on pavement. I found I prefer snow to pavement when I running ~20psi in my Weirwolves, it just sucks riding 7mph on pavement. By this point the race leader were well out of sight, but not for long. As I rolled up to the end of the pavement, with no obvious clue as to which way to go, I spotted the whole group of Pugseys, Ben Shockey, and Cully coming back out of the field. They did a little side trip. Turns out we were supposed to go straight down an unmarked, and untracked level B, which we then did. No-one was certain this was the right way, but I remembered Lance mentioning a level B that he had not pre-ridden, and that we might have to push. This turned out to be correct, and soon enough we were back to the Heritage trail where the rest of the distance would be ridden.

The heritage trail was snowpacked and lightly tracked by snowmobiles. As long as I stayed in the middle of the track it went fairly well. I was cranking along on the front and looked back to see no-one other than Ben, and I was riding away from him as well. Eventually he disappeared too. Then I had to stop and air up my tire again. Ben passed and rode away, Pugsleys passed, Cully stopped and asked where he was. I think he may have come to his senses and turned around somewhere near here.

I caught and passed the Pugsleys once more only to have my tire go flat again and be repassed. This time I had to swap a tube in. Stans apparently doesn't work at -7deg. My pump was starting to give me fits as I believe the seals were frozen, I had to alot of pumping to get that tube aired up. This stop cost me a ton of time and I was a major factor in the impeding doom I was facing.

I pressed on and tried to make up time, but my extremeties just kept getting colder. The section from outside Farley to Dyersville was really wide open and straight into the wind. Temp with windchill was estimated to be around negative 32deg. I stopped on the trail and put in chemical warmer footbeds and glove warmers. My hands felt better, but my feet were still numb. I got into Dyersville in time to see Ben rolling back out, the Pugsleys were still at the gas station. I checked into the halfway point at about 4:30, twenty minutes behind Ben. I warmed up a bit, added a dry baselayer, socks and vaporbarrier(though I reused my liner socks, didn't have a spare pair. Strike#2), swapped into dry gloves, thicker balava, goggles, lights, new chemical warmers. I should have packed liner socks and stayed to warm up longer here. For the first half of the ride I ended up riding without glasses because they fogged/frosted up too much, I should have used goggled on the way up. As it was I spent a fair bit of time thawing condensation off my eyelashes so they wouldn't freeze together when I blinked.

On the way back I ended up drafting one of the Pugsleys. Josh, for some time. Staying in his tracks made riding pretty easy and he was keeping a good pace. He let me by at the Farley intersection and I kept cranking. Eventually I caught up to another Pugsley. This one was going a bit slower, but I drafted it awhile anyway. Since I was riding by moonlight to conserve my headlamp he didn't notice I was behind him till I blew my nose. It turned out to be Bruce Grell. He had turned around at Farley. I rode along with Bruce till we got to Graf, where the rest of the Pugsley group had stopped. Bruce and one other Puglsey continued on with me.

Eventually Josh caught back up and I followed him for awhile till I eventually passed and pulled away again. Somewhere along the line I passed another Puglsey, but Ben was nowhere in sight. My feet were past cold. For once in my life the neon signs of a trailside bar we actually appealing, I stopped to warm up. The contents of said bar were beyond happy hour, but kind and well meaning. A couple minutes passed and the two Pugseys pulled in. Josh ordered a sandwhich and I figured that was a good idea and followed suit, only to find they didn't take credit cards. Thankfully Josh loaned me a ten, thanks buddy! Unfortunately ordering food made for a bad tactical move. They were both on the trail a good five minutes before my food was out. I swapped socks and chemical warmers while I was waiting.

They rest of the ride back into town was lonely and cold. My feet felt like blocks of ice. The ride back through pothole hell was somehow easier, yet more painful. It's a good thing I saved my headlamp for the last leg of the ride as it was already low. I rode back down the plowed path and took a wrong turn somewhere. I'm not sure where the arrows were, but I sure didn't see any. I ended up riding across a bridge and finding myself on hwy 20. I rode that back to hwy 151 and rode back up and across again, finally finishing up the ride at about 9:30.

I finished in fourth place and was the last person to finish the whole course. At the start no-one was expected to finish the whole course in these conditions. Ben Shockey finished about an hour ahead of me I believe, on a single speed mtb to boot. Joel and Josh finished up 2nd and 3rd on Pugsleys. Arrowhead racers.

As I was sitting there warming up I started to have some pain in my right foot. Turns out I've got frost bite on my big toe and frost nip on the rest of my right toes. They're tingley, numb, swollen, and painfull at the moment. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to get a professional opinion and make sure I don't need antibiotics or further attention. Not much I can do otherwise. Grin and bear it. Spd sandals and trainer work on the Bacchetta will be this week's riding. Not sure I'll be up for next weekend's hundy, we'll see how my recovery goes and what the weather does.

Final impressions: great race, I hope Lance puts this on again next year. You should keep the atv trails and level b in, 60 miles of Heritage trail would be kinda monatonous. I want a snowbike now. I might have to build one. I have to figure out a better way to keep my feet warm, but I think I've got the rest down pretty good. Aside from the frostbite this was really fun.

DG

Slowmobile

2008-01-12T19:34:00.000-08:00

Well the holidays have gone and so has winter, and then it came again, but now it is once again gone.... sort of. Lucky for me I've invested in even more technology in the quest to make myself slower and even more unstopable, studded tires. Just in time for all the ice and snow to melt away, leaving two inch deep gumbo clay/soup gravel roads and high humidity 40degree headwinds to remind me it's still winter-ish. Riding outside in these conditions almost garauntees that I'll get to spend as much time maintaining my drivetrains as I do riding. Almost makes me want to ride the trainer, which I am anyways, sometimes.

Riding outside today at my standard 40-70rpm on my studded tire clad, Rohloff equipped, fourty pound battle axe my friend Steve says I should have this tattoed on myself somewhere to remind me of my true nature: "Single Speeds are all about being under prepared and drinking beer. The less technology and effort the better. I don't remember Vikings having Thrust and Blow Meters on their battle axes. SS'ing is pain, regret, poor gear choice, hangover-laden excuses, facial hair, negligence, piss-poor maintenance, death, and mad skilz that most certainly pay the bilz"--- Rich "Dicky" Dillan Problems being: I was riding gears, I don't drink, I'm usually overprepared, I do have a Thrust and Blow meter on my battle axe, I cut the excess hair off long ago, and my bike skilz don't pay much of anything. Guess all I'm left with is a disrespect for shifting and the "retarded monkey riding style" The good news is I think I've figured out how to set the Powertap up fixed gear....
nevermind.

The other good news is my VW Jetta turbo diesel has risen from the ashes like a good pheonix should, and I am now on the path of +45mpg -65mph driving again.
The other bad news is I melted my other my other pheonix down on a snow drifted road and now I get to rebuid it again. Oh well, it came apart alot faster this time. Too bad its going to take so much more time to put it back together$$$$. Maybe I can keep my licence if I promise only to drive cars under 100hp for the next four months.

DG

-10 mile New years day ride(s)

2008-01-01T17:11:00.000-08:00

Short but good.

DG

Steady state

2007-12-24T18:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday's gravel ride: 3 hours, 30 miles. and half of that was pavement. Gotta love headwinds and mud. I'm happy to see snow and ice again.

Subaru is in the break in period. Only a couple of minor leaks. I think I've got them all dried up. Gauges are en route.

The next project is almost together already.

The moon is out bright, beautiful night for a ride. Time to go burn off some cookies.

Happy Holidays,
DG

Off to Nationals we go

2007-12-14T08:09:00.000-08:00

The Subaru is oh so close to being back together, should be back on the road next week. I should have the fuel pump back in the Fox and be well under way on the Jetta rebuild then too. Then all I'll have left to do is fix the carb problem and brakes on the Microbus and start on the Syncro project. It's always good to have a money pit or five...

CX Nationals is this week. I'll be heading down for the SS race Sunday. Conditions look to be just super. I had also signed up for the U29 race Thusday, but my late season financial and pysical status didn't permit any of that nonsense. The good news is I've been off the bike for two weeks, so I should be super fresh....

DG

Gearhead

2007-12-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

Yee haa, we're havin' fun now! One more paycheck and I should be cookin again.

Want a tour of what the internals of a WRX looks like? Pics here.

In other news:

Jingle Cross was a blast. Great course, great fans, super cool humble elite racers both local and not so local. Thanks to all who help put it together, and thanks to John Meehan for starting it in the first place. We'll miss you're enthusiasm John.
It was great seeing a slew of friends I've not seen in awhile. Thanks to Kyle and Robin(or is it Robin and Kyle?)Williams for hosting me. Good times.

The midwest winter training weather has officially arrived. Ice and rain, 30-40degrees, 15-35mph winds, perfect.

DG

P0303

2007-11-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

So much for my travel budget.

P0303 is the Subaru WRX check engine code for a #3 cylinder misfire.
217,300 miles, 5 years trouble free outside of scheduled maintainence. The rest of the motor is suprisingly wear free. Really an impressive little car. I can rebuilt you WRX...you'll be stronger....faster.....stupid gearhead....

DG

Fall rides and Scheduled Maintainence

2007-11-04T05:36:00.001-08:00

Due to a discrepancy in finances and time management I've missed a few races. Here's what I've been doing to cope.

DG

2007-10-26T17:39:00.000-07:00

Radiolab. Stumbled across this cool little radio program awhile back, kinda like This American Life meets Science Friday. I really dig it.

Here's another bit I ran across recently on risk management. Well done.

http://view.break.com/381084 - Watch more free videos

Ah, yes and as Squirrel said this is just too damn funny not to read. I particularly enjoy the the descriptions of the 24hour racer and the CXer's.

DG

Funk

2007-10-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

CX season is here. My fitness, not so much. Back to the grind stone.

DG

Useful objects

2007-10-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

Some neat stuff I've come across lately: Aixro XR 50 rotory 30lbs/50HP perfect motor for your daily driver....streamliner.

And if you insist on owning a car, at least make it a streamlined one: Loremo

OLPC A good cause and an innovative tool. Perfect self contained bike tour tool for the tech nerd....so long as you don't mind Linux. Quarq Another powermeter, only this one is actually being built with data management and compatability in mind. Pricy, maybe I should ask for a sponsorship now. And please make one for the Rotor RS4X thank you.

Dark Roasted Blend
Not exactly a recent find for me, but if you don't know about this site you should check it out. Hours of entertaining and interesting stuff. Best collection of art and car chases I know of.

DG

Oh yea, last weekend was the second set of IA CX races. Saturday was a plague of off camber, walnut covered, endless switchbacks and I finished well and felt strong. Sunday was a wide open mostly simple smooth course. I started with nothing in the tank, fell on my ass, dropped a chain, and finished poorly. Both days were fun and painfull. Can't wait till the next one. Hopefully I recover by then.

New muscle soreness

2007-09-23T20:29:00.000-07:00

Pics here

DG

Random points of interest

2007-09-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

Inspirations

Means

Timing

Ride

DG

Cross season starts now.

Phew

2007-09-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

So last weekend was my second year of promoting the Hawkeye Downs HPRA race weekend. It went well. Participation was up from last year, good competition in all categories, great weather, and almost but not really ran on schedule.

My sprints this year were a little better than last year. The faired 50 lap race was way faster for me, real close to 40mph avg(why go all the way to AZ again?). My increase in speed in this event from last year is due to running with the top on the Cuda (I was still a greenhorn to this bike at this time last year), and it didn't hurt that Warren was on my tail the whole time. I just couldn't get rid of him this year, good work Warren! I need a faster bike.....and better training. At least I've got enough time in the bike to have the handling down. I scraped the bottom on the corners more than a few times during the 50 lap race, nothing like tempting a slidout at 40mph. My stock race performance was less than stellar. Granted I still averaged 27mph or so, not bad considering how hard the 50lap race was directly beforehand, but Sean smoked me. Seans had a great year, setting the unfaired recumbent world hour record twice, and winning every race he's entered this year. So now I have a new benchmark to train for.

Sydney and her son Eric, and his friend Eric came over. They were a little late for the sprints Saturday morning, but with much help from Rick Gritters we got them set up on bikes, fixed a few problems(but not enough of them)on Syd's lowracer, and got them into the shortened hour race. Eric Brown did great, everytime I went to pass him I kept thinking "damn, shouldn't I be catching him quicker?". And that was with him racing in jeans, on a bike new to him, after learning to ride recumbents three days beforehand. He's gonna be real fast with a little more time on the bike. His friend Eric struggled a bit, but by the end of the weekend he was getting it down.
Sydney Stuggled a bit on Saturday as well, her lowracer had a rough week of learning to ride and was subsequently falling apart. Thankfully Rick Gritters made many pit stops to help her out with fixing the many mechanical issues. I don't know what I would have done without Rick, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Somewhere in the rush of Saturday's happenings I managed to misplace my debit card, yay. So I spent a little time digging through my car, clothes, trash cans, and generaly searching everywhere to no avail. Luckily Sean Costin graciously offered to share a motel room with me so I didn't have to do my race tabulations and prize divying by headlamp. Saturday night's dinner gathering was entertaining and informative as usual, just hearing about Aaron Stiles adventures with offroad inline skating made it worth the while.

Sunday morning I overslept, waking up a 8:15 when I wanted to be at the track by 7:00 to work on Syd's lowracer and take care of the rest of my race director duties.
Turns out this is still a recumbent race and not too many people noticed. So I did a bit more maintainence to Syd's lowaracer and she lit it up. What a difference the details make. She laid down the second fastest ufaired 3/4mile tt time of the day (only seven and a half seconds slower than me) and then went on to win the womens lap race, nearly working her way into second overall till she had a small bout with dropping her chain multiple times(due to the missing chaingaurd that fell off the day before). Needless to say Sydney is also going to be very fast with a little more time on the bike(if she can get it away from Eric ;)).

The Hour faired race. Well, I was pretty tired from the day before. I think we went faster this year than last. Warren was stuck to my tail the whole time, but he was getting better at hiding from my mirrors. Rick found some leftover stock car shrapnell on the track(as did a few people) and flatted.

Oh yea, and I almost forgot to mention the Rose Hulman kids came out and made a good showing. A couple of U of IA kids came out Saturday as well. I hope to see more of that next year. Gary Toy did a better job sticking to Sean's wheel Saturday than I did, put a hurt on the Superstock race Sunday, and did a fine job entertaining my parents. Hope to see you(and Wendy) here again next year.

Many, many thanks to my parents for helping out with everything and especially to my mother(Mary) for providing the baked goods(the real draw for this event). Thanks to Luke and Warren for providing the timing. Thanks to Don for running the flags and lapcounting.

Race Pics and Results

DG

PS:Thank you to Garrie Hill for bringing the Kett out for my parents to play with, it's amazing how many people in my family have been riding that thing lately. I would have never guessed.

Ultra Midwest 24hour

2007-09-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

More fun in the streamliner.
465 miles, 1st overall.
Forgot to swap the 12-27 back to the 11-34. 53x28 for a low gear is not kind. Had to stop every two laps to try to keep from bruising my feet. At least it wasn't the old course, that would have killed me.
Too much pre-race fatigue added up to me taking a nap at about 2am, no good for me during a road ultra. Spent three solid laps sleep riding after that, ping pong off the lines.
I've regressed on my fueling. 465 miles on half the Sustained/Heed mix I should have consumed, half pound of grapes, and a small tin of caffinated breath mints(who knew?).

I should have finished well over 500miles, but I just didn't play it right for that.

Well run event as all Ultra Midwest events are. Lots of fellow Bacchetta and ultradistance friends present. And for once a decent number of under 40yo folks. Even a 13yo in the six hour!

Next up: Hawkeye Downs HPRA September 15-16th
DG

6 Hour bean bag champion

2007-08-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

Yea, thats right. Bean bag champ. I'm thinking about following the pro bean bag toss circuit. Pays better than racing. Well, it did two weeks ago anyways.
I think I'm going to include something like this in my race on the 15th and 16th, not sure what exactly, but it's gonna be fun.

The Manchester Medly HPRA races in North Manchester, IN were a blast as usual. It's not the fastest course, but it is a really cool little town and the people are great fun. Just watching my friend Reena bounce off the walls is worth the drive :) It's too bad the second day got rained out, but thats how it goes.

The drive out was my first expereience using my Tom Tom navigation system's "shortest route" feature, that was entertaining. Definitely saw some backroads I wouldn't have seen otherwise.....

Well, that was two weeks ago. I spent the last week burning a whole bunch of midnight oil finishing up Syd's new lowracer, which I then delivered Friday night. It came together pretty well considering this is my first attempt at a two part frame, and it is by far the most adjustable bike I have built thus far. I should have spent a little more time smoothing out my fillets and prepping before throwing paint at it, but I was pretty happy to have it all together by 3:30pm Friday. Didn't even have to breath drying paint fumes on the way out. I'm pretty excited to see what she can do with it, after she figures out the basics of course.

So, Saturday morning we loaded up the Suburu with three Badgers, a KM, two Browns and a Grelk, and headed for Doug Palen's farm for the Cruise the Blues six hour mtb race near Tipton KS. I kept hoping to see dry soil as we got closer, but it just wasn't happening. As a matter of fact I learned another lesson with the Tom Tom. When the nice lady tells you turn in KS, you'd best turn. The next road might be more path than road. Good thing this car is rally car inspired.

Sydney's mom, Nancy, was set to compete in her first mtb race ever, in the mud, at a a six hour. How's that for a cool mom? Well, I'm coming to expect it from the Brown Family, but thats still pretty damn cool.

There were over 150 participants this year with over 30 in the solo Glory six hour division. I saw a few familiar faces, but I didn't really know who was racing team and who was racing solo. I planned to race the 29er for the first lap to make sure there weren't any CX flat inducing sections on the course(no preriding a muddy course) and then switch to the CX bike and finally get some ride time in on that thing. Well that first lap was plagued with a about three derailments(one on the start line), which led to a whole bunch of time stuck in the mid-pack bottleneck(did get to see a guy fly off a bridge though). And with my recent upgrade to the wider Stan's Flow rims (hence making my mud clearance disappear, duh) I burnt a bunch of watts peeling mud off the tires with the chainstays. But hey, those wheel are noticibly stiffer now.

Lap two: switched to the cross bike. Man this thing flies, sticks to the corners, accelerates great, even handles the slimy stuff with confidence. The only spots that felt slow this lap were the loamy dirt sections along the fields where I could feel my 32c Speedmaxs sinking in.

Lap three: ok, I'm on a cross bike, the soft trail is drying, and I'm starting to fatique a bit. Lower back is kinda complaining. I think I'm gonna switch back to the 29er next lap. Then I hear this perky voice behind me say "Hey, is that a Badger on your ass?" Hello, Sydney. Well thats cool, at least the first person to pass me is my team mate. Damn she's strong. I let her go and roll on in only to find her sitting in the pits with a bag of ice on her toes. Sit and chat, eat, swap the race number plate back to the 29er.

Lap four: Roll out a little faster, new goal, stay ahead of Syd. The 29er definitely feels faster on the loamy stuff. Try to spin more and mash less. Roll throught the pits fast.

Lap five: Crap, I'm getting a little bonky now. Keep spinning. No sign of Syd yet through the halfway point. Maybe she slowed down. Then out on the final two mile streach on the switchbacks in the pasture, I look back and there she is, kicking my ass up the climb. So I crank it up, two mile dirt tt. Finish up my fifth lap at 5:47 in 5th overall with Syd coming in at about 5:48 1st place woman and 6th overall.

Nancy finished up two laps on the Joy course for second place in the womens +51 category. Badger teamates Cameron Chambers and Josh Patterson took first in Glory team overall.

A great weekend with great folks and well run event.

Now it's time to try and recover before the Labor day weekend's fun, the Ultra Midwest's 24hour RAAM qualifier(no I'm not doing RAAM)

DG

State chimp

2007-08-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

Things I haven't updated on:

State Road Race:
Goal
Don't get dropped from the 1/2/3 pack.
Reality
Confused the state road race with the state time trial, rode 20 miles off the front, and then promptly shot out the back after mile 35. Dumbass.

Metamora 4x50:
Goal
Sub 7 hour double century in the streamliner.
Reality
Foggy first lap kept me from closing the canopy and building any real speed, not to mention the endless turns and stop signs that turn this event into an acceleration fest in a 70lb bike, 27.2mph avg by the the 85mile mark where I cut the sidewall of my front tire. Hot enough already that the pavement is melting. Changed the tube and limped it in the rest of the second lap, find I have no spare tire for the streamliner, swap to the lowracer. Ride one lap on the lowracer in which I learn that it's not much cooler on the unfaired bike, my headrest is definitely not adequate, and the lowracer doesn't handle loose gravel anywhere near as nicely as the streamliner. Spend alot of time in food coma on this lap since I have no way of carrying food or much of anything on the lowracer, and the added stress of holding my head up doesn't help my avg speed either. Wonder why no one has caught me yet, sure would be nice to have someone to draft about now. Stop in the pits once more, boot the tire on the streamliner and hope it holds for the last 50 miles. Temps outside in the mid nineties, highs inside the streamliner somewhere around a good broil. Holy crap my feet are hot! Tire blows out half a mile from the finish, ride it in. Finish up the 200 in 9:11, a little faster than last year, but it should have been oh so much faster. At least I didn't do any extra miles this year.

State Time Trial:
Goal
Sub 40 40K in the streamliner.
Reality
Since I cut the sidewall of the only front tire I have for the streamliner yesterday, I'm forced to race the lowracer. Yay, pain is my Friend. I'm Paul Deninger's minute man, yay. I didn't charge the battery on my gps so I have no speed reference, yay. Paul catches me at the turn around, I keep him in sight all the way back, but I'm still feeling the effects of yesterdays dehydration fest. Lost a couple of minutes, finished with a 56:20.

Damn, I'm so weak this year. I want my fitness back. I'm slowly getting my base back, my weekly miles are coming back up now that I've been off the fifty hour weeks for a month or so, but I've still got alot of work ahead of me. I need to get the Powertap setup in a lowracer before this winter, and I need to be working with a Training Peaks program before then. I'm just now getting enough info built up to get a hang of where my current power range is. Makes me wonder how strong I used to be.

Cx season is coming.

Beauty. A few more sneak peeks in here. I'm still tweeking fit and waiting for a couple choice components. Should look pretty slick when I'm finished. Tire clearance is awsome, I think I could almost run Nanos on this thing. Awsome work Rob. Oh, and yes I have been busy in the workshop.

DG

Dog days

2007-07-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

For more reasons as to why my blog posts have been few lately look here.

DG

Repeat after me "Rubber side down......"

2007-07-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

Good luck to those at Stupor week, er, Super Week.

Unfortunately I'm super weak this season, so this is not my ball game. Not that road racing ever was, or will be, as I'm also chicken of large packs and tactically retarded.

Race smart, race safe, have fun.

DG

Also good luck to JS and SK on RAO this weekend.

New news, well not really

2007-07-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

Blink, two more weeks gone by.

Last weekend were the Northbrook and Kenosha HPRA races. I went into them feeling less than up to par fitness wise. Especially considering that I was going to be up against Sean Costin, who has always been the man setting international records in stock class sprints. Only now he's trained himself into international stock class hour record setting shape(which he now holds as well at 28.4mph for the hour).
At least I don't have to race him in the fully faired category anymore.

So I started out by doing a pretty crappy job with the 200m sprints, getting second in fully faired and fourth in stock. Then after lunch we proceeded into the lap races. Temperatures were hovering in the high ninties which is always a thrill in the streamliner.

Next up was the 100 lap fully faired race, in which there was a whole herd of streamliners on the track. None of which I had a good feeling for what they were capable of, but most all of their riders have proven to be quite fast in the past. After wiping out at Waterford two weeks before I wasn't too sure how much I could trust my own streamliner on Northbrook's shallow banked velodrome, and it didn't help that I witnessed Warren and Rick crash here last year when there were a heck of a lot fewer liners on the track.
Anyways, I lined up behind Rick who got about a quarter lap jump on all of us right off the start as usual, and Warren got stuck in traffic right away, so I was off to chase. I worked my way up to Rick while testing my comfort level with the corners and dodging lapped traffic every lap. Then Rick tried to cut through some traffic towards the inside and got stuck, so I passed on the outside and maintained my speed. A few laps later I was riding Warren's tail about to put him a lap down. Eventually I made it past him, and lapped Rick as well. Frank, Jason, Rich, and Dave were doing a fine job handling their liners and staying low out of the way. The heat was taking it's toll on everyone and I was starting to get chills in the last dozen laps or so. I finished up in first with about a 36mph avg speed according to the chips, but that was actually closer to a 38mph avg since I was having to run above the blue stripe for most of the race due to traffic.
I'd post a GPS profile of this race but my Garmin was losing gps reception every lap for some reason?? Maybe I'll figure out how to run my Powertap and post that, I think it said I avged like 265watts and maxed out at about 780 or thereabouts. Like I said I need to get it downloaded, but I've yet to get that fiddled with and I'm not sure if the data is still on it since I cleared it to record Kenosha the next day.

20 minutes or so after the 100 lap race was the 50lap stock race. Lots of fast folks here too. Warren and Dave were the only other ones to do both races(Dave did the trike races as well). So we all baked on the starting grid for awhile for good measure, and then finally we were off. I stuck to Sean's wheel like glue trying to recouperate from the 100lap race. Lucky for me he was only holding 28-29mph.....I felt kind of guilty for staying back there so long, so at about lap 30 or so I came around and cranked it up to 34mph or so for a lap. Sean stayed on, I slowed back down to keep from wasting myself completely. I stayed on Sean's wheel again till the last three laps where I cranked it up again, but I could feel I was dying off. Sean made his move on the final streach and managed to beat me by .001seconds. And then he swung out and then swung back a little too quick, slid out and smashed into the wall at about 35mph.......err?? crap, Sean. 2nd place for me with a 28mph avg, thought that was mostly drafting.

Sunday was Kenosha. Like Saturday only hotter and windy. Sprints were crap again, but since fewer liners were racing due to the wind I finished first in Fully Faired and third in Stock. The lap race results were similar to Saturday's, only I had very little in the tank to start with and blew up immediately in the shorted stock race, bonking pretty good about 5 laps in, and then getting lapped by Sean once or twice, I don't remember. Still finished second, but that was a crap effort on my part. I felt faster after Calvin's. I wheeled the streamliner up to the track and stood there awhile trying not to black out. Crawled in the streamliner and rode around in circles trying not to get blown into the fence or the other liners till the fully faired lap race was over. Scraped the ground once, buzzed the fence once, 1st in the fully faired category by outhandling my liner in the wind.
Cripes, I've been doing ultra's for awhile now, you would think I would know how to avoid bonking by now wouldn't you? I will say these races were running waay behind, we didn't start the lap races till about 1:15 when the faired race was supposed to wrap up about then. But I still know better.

Some fuzzy pics of the races can be found here I can be found in the white and yellow streamliner, and in the red skinsuit behind Sean on the lowracer.

Anyways, that was that. My fitness needs improving. The good news is I have been making progress since then. I'm finally back down to working fourty hour weeks, so I've had enough energy to ride three times this week instead of the once a week ride I've been scraping by on. My blog is still suffering, and now I've got like five 80t chainrings to make in my "spare" time, but at least I've had some time to rest in the mornings.

Oh, and as of today I am a twice born again improved driver. Thank you IDOT, I highly recommend the drivers improvement course to all of my friends. It really is good fun....no really, it is kinda fun.

Newest training tool, mmm...fixed, lugs, and chrome

DG

Time Warp

2007-07-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

Man I'm losing time lately.

Three weeks ago Saturday I raced the Crowder Crank and Cruise, one of my fav MO mtb race courses, and had a decent time other than losing my water bottle on lap 2 of 4. Finished fourth in the expert 19-29/pro/semipro, top ten or so overall. Good steamy weather and no rain for a change here, good times.

The following Sunday I lended some trail guide services to Amanda, Tracy, Dominic, and Andrea(for a little bit) at Decorah. Lots of riding, pizza, and ice cream. Real good times.
Two weeks ago I raced at the Waterford Hills road course in Michigan with the streamliner, lowracer, and Corsa. Which other than wiping out on the off camber corner before the hill when I bottomed the streamliner out on lap 4 and riding the first three laps with the rear brake dragging, went alright too. Thats what caused the road rash and body damage to the streamliner in the previous post. I would have been unscathed if the canopy would have stayed shut as I was sliding off the track at 30. Oh well, I'm getting quicker at doing body work. Time to rethink my canopy latch system. I managed to pull off a overall win in stock class and a second place in streamliner despite my crappy sprinting.

The following Monday I found a cut in the sidewall of my right front tire on the WRX. Went damn near all the way around the bead.....not sure how that happened, random vandalization or freakish road hazard, it sure did piss me off. I just bought those tires.....
Tuesday I got a letter in the mail from the IDOT stating that I won another chance to take the Driver Improvement course, yippee! One 72 in a 65 on the way to work late last winter, one 72 in a 65 in IL pulling a trailer where I should have been going 55(now I know), one going way too fast 2miles from my house at 5:35am on the way to work. I think it's time to rebuild the VWs, I never had this problem when I was driving 36hp.

Last weekend was supposed to be Landahl(or Proctor), but somebody left the water running down there and I ended up in Boone. Conditions were perfect, great turnout, great company, fun race. I have no idea where I finished other than slightly ahead of Squirrel and Pete, behind Maharry and the rest of the pros, and I had to work pretty hard to stay ahead of Meyers and Patty. I need to fire my mechanic and buy a new cassette, and knees after bashing them into the stem numerous times. The good news is I figured out how to keep it from jumping about a lap and a half in...just put it in the big ring to increase the chain tension and pretend it's a muscle tension workout. Oh wait, I'm at Boone, it already was.

Sorry about the lack of posted pics, but I've got to get back to sanding the streamliner for this coming weekend's high speed affair at Northbrook and Kenosha Velodromes.

....grrr.....

2007-06-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

Freshly painted last Thursday

Rare on me

Attempted murder

There's a couple of nice weekends to post about despite these setbacks, but at the moment my mood is boiling in dark blue.

DG

Balltown, Hummer, and Katie Degoursey

2007-06-12T21:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm getting behind on event posting. Now get your mind out of the gutter.

I did the Balltown Double Century June 8th in the streamliner, and it went...well...mostly wet, windy, hilly, and bumpy enough to shake my bike apart, but what would you expect? I took a 14mile detour, spent an additional half hour trying to figure out where the heck I was, broke my landing gear, watched my water storage system fall apart, and my GPS went dead all by mile 60. Oh, and it rained from 5:00am - 11am. Then I proceeded to walk the streamliner up about seven long arse hills, catch the lead pack, beat the sag vehicle to the 150mile checkpoint voiding myself of the other 50oz I should have been drinking, and finished about half an hour before second place. Aerodynamics, who knew, eh?

I did the Hummer Hammer June 9th and outsprinted Satan for third place cat3(though Satan is not in my category, mind you) and yes we were both off the back.

Last weekend was TOMRV and the weather was the best I've ever seen. My first time doing this ride on a recumbent(took the Bacchetta Corsa) and it went pretty well. Roadie hunting in the hills is fun stuff. And as a bonus I made some new coastline state dwelling friends(well two of them live in QC now, but anyways...) Be nice to girls from Florida.....

DG

Memorial Day Weekend Races

2007-05-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

A weekend of training races for me, really fast training races. One thing about racing underpowered, it forces you to ride smart or get dropped. Good time to practice pack skills. Had a few epiphanies regarding my training, and the solutions promptly presented themselves. I've got a pretty good idea how I'm going to get where I want to go now.

Other than that, I had loads of fun hanging out with friends, hardly drove my car all weekend, and kept all my skin where it started. Special thanks to Tracy Thompson for housing and transportation between races, and Sydney Brown for all the good cooking. Not too often we get a catered breakfast in this group, sweet.

Slide show. Lots of pics of races I wasn't in, but friends were. Had a little fun with the continuous shot mode, speed up the slide show and watch 'em go.

For more hilarity you should check out the local videos on the sidebar here and check out the audio clip here.

Good job to all those who raced, and I hope for a speedy recovery to all those who found the pave.

DG

Ramblings of The Good Life

2007-05-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend hangin out with Sydney and Marc. Good times. A little TT action at the NE State 40k TT Saturday, another spaceship sighting in another rural town.... Giggle all you want about my 30mph wind gust induced wobbling, but it sure was fun cresting hills at 40mph ;) 40K@43:20 in the streamer.
Syd kicked some ass with a 1:03 40k for this hilly, windy thing. Good thing I was cheatin, she would have handed me my ass as well. Nice.

I opted to stop at Swanson Sunday for a little dirt. Almost made a meal of it a couple times, where'd the training go? Went for a ride, finished 7th Expert open.

Ah, 'bout time to reboot the training plan I'm thinking. Next level please...

Memorial day weekend races next weekend....road rash roulette or world domination? Right.

DG

I really dig this photo

2007-05-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

This is Dave Balfour's Sourcerer streamlined trike at Casa Grande. More of that to be found here

DG

Calvins Challenge/Indy HPRA

2007-05-06T19:00:00.000-07:00

This Past weekend was the Calvin's Challenge 12hour road event. Calvin's is an open road, drafting legal event, that hasn't had a solo rider claim a victory for more than a few years, maybe ever. Always a group finish. Basically you do a big 50 mile loop as many times as you can before 7:00pm, and then they switch you to 7mile loops till the finish. The 50 mile loop has 36 corners, a few gnarly little hills, and two checkpoints that you have to stop at every lap to have your mileage card punched. The seven mile loop has six corners, one hill, and one checkpoint. Kinda like a giant crit course with checkpoints.

The plan was to show up on my Bacchetta Corsa and play the team effort game with the rest of the Bacchetta crew. You know, pacelines, team tactics, organized pits, working for a collective goal and such. I wasn't sure how much I could help out with my knee giving me crap lately and simply not knowing how I stack up against the big names of unfaired ultra cycling, but I was prepared to give it a shot.

I was lined up in the front row with John Schlitter, JV, Troy, and the rest of the big dogs. I had my crap together, bike was in good running order, 53t chainring freshly installed so I wouldn't spin out, pit was ready, informed, and organized. Well, other than I forgot to bring my speedometer with me, but I figured I'd just keep pace with John and that would keep me where I needed to be.

So the pack rolled out, roughly 200 riders, at what I would guess to be around 25-30mph. I was rolling along in the front group and gaining where I should have been. And then about three miles out, before we even made the first corner, pow. My front tire blew. I worked my way out of the pack to the opposite shoulder of the road and bid my farewells to the people I was supposed to be working for. At first I thought I would just change the tube and try to bridge back up somehow, but after closer inspection I found a three inch rip in my new Michelin pro2 sidewall. No dice. And no spare 650 tires in my parts selection yet either, so now it was time to change bikes. I rode back to pit on the flat, had the officials move me into the HPV category, and unloaded the streamliner. I figured I had my work cut out for me If I wanted to catch the lead pack, but at least in the streamliner it would be a little more entertaining.

So after a bit I got back on the road in the streamliner, still no speedometer to gage my speed, and it rolled right along. The corners were marked alright, but I took it a little easy on my first lap to make sure I didn't miss any turns. The wind was mild and the roads were still wet from the previous night's rain. The second lap went a little faster as I was getting a hang for the course, and I caught the lead pack before the halfway checkpoint. I don't think they knew what hit them as I went by them going at least 15mph faster than they were moving. By the end of the second lap I had an 8minute gap on the lead group.

Third lap cruised by. Fourth lap the wind picked up and it started misting just enough that I was having trouble seeing through the canopy. If it would have rained any harder or any less it wouldn't have been a problem, but as it was I was forced to hold the canopy up a little and peek underneath to see what was in front of me.
This got to be a little annoying as the winds would gust and try to yank the canopy all the way open, so I was holding the canopy with one hand and hanging on to the steering bar with the other. Always a good sign to see flags that were hanging straight down the lap before whipping off the pole the next time around ;)

Fifth lap the wind remained, but the mist subsided. Made good time. Another bit to note, I think I spent more time airborn in this event than I have in any other in the streamliner. There were these little dips that would preload the front fork and as the rear wheel hit it would just launch me. I could have done without that, but it sure made me appreciate that fork more.

From there it was on to the seven mile laps. The one hill on that loop was gradual enough that I could carry good speed all the way up. I was making the 7mile laps in 15minutes a piece, and maintained that till the finish.

I finished the event with 297miles in 12hours, minus however much time it took to ride the Corsa back and change bikes. JV, John Schlitter, and Danny Chew finished up next with 267miles. And then I belive local guy Larry Ide finished up just behind them. Not too bad considering the conditions, all the corners, and stopping for checkpoints. It was a fun event, even if it didn't go quite as planned (I swear I didn't flat on purpose John! :) FYI:The previous course record was 264miles, the previous hpv record was 256miles, the previous recumbent record was 235miles. Lots of new records set.

I did have a few complications with my knee, starting around the third lap. I tried to keep my cadence up and the pressure on the pedals as low as I could, but I still had to use a couple IB Profin to keep the pain controlled. Lots more streaching, icing, and maybe a little time off the bike in store this week. The plan to make it to Platte this coming weekend for the 6hr is starting to sound a little less likely. A weekend off to help get myself out of debt physically and financially would prolly be a better idea, but we'll see.

O yea, on the way back from Calvins we stopped at Indy for the second day of the Indy HPRA. I was smoked before I started racing, left my legs in Ohio(duh, right?). So I handed Sean Costin a couple wins on the stock bike, left Rick Gritters have second in stock as well, and somehow pulled off a win in streamlined class. Hopefully I will be a little fresher for the Waterford HPRA next month.

DG

Decorah

2007-04-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

I love this place in so many aspects. I could live here.

Oh, and I did the TT. 9 miles of primo singletrack, 2480ft of climbing. Nice. 18th overall, 2nd in my age group. Not bad for a gimp. I've been off the mtb too long, but at least I rode most everything. And more importantly I didn't do any further damage to the knee, and didn't create any new injuries.

Got to see a few TI folks stroll through afterwards. Impressive feat to all those who completed the test. The weather gods smiled on us all. Good to see the Lincoln crew out in force over here, nice work guys.

Next weekend is the Calvins Challenge 12hour UMCA road event on Saturday with the Bacchetta, and hopefully a little HPRA fun with the lowracer and streamliner in Indy on Sunday. We'll see how that goes...

DG

Burning equations

2007-04-22T19:25:00.000-07:00

An equation for you:

A sunny 300K Cedar Valley brevet + 2 applications of Bullfrog sunblock + an unfaired Bacchetta Corsa recumbent + 20-30mph sustained winds ALL DAY + an angry IT band = 14.5 mph avg speed + 13 hours on the bike + finishing a 300K in the dark(?!) + finding a new appreciation for IB profin + remembering what sunburns are all about.

Ouch.

This wind is rediculous.
Its past due time to get serious about working the knots out of my knee.

TransIowa is out for several reasons:
1) Recover the knee before I do any real damage.
2) The Calvins 12hour is the weekend after.
3) I would have been riding another bike with zero test time.
4) I get to do the Decorah TT now, hang out with friends, and enjoy myself instead of riding myself into the ground, getting lost, or passing out on a random gravel road somewhere.

DG

The view from inside the Cuda is up on the pics page in the previous post now.

POV

2007-04-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

So I've got two streamliners sitting in my shed at the moment. I thought I might do a little pondering on what I might do differently to create a design that would address their shortcomings, take some measurements to see how much smaller of a space I can stuff myself into, and take some pictures to give you a sense of what I've dealt with in the visibility department in these two different designs.

I've only got the pics up from inside the Coslinger at the moment, but I'll have the view from inside the Cuda up in a day or so. Check out the view, pics here
DG

The never-ending road trip

2007-04-10T20:53:00.001-07:00

My Schedule since March 29th:

March 29-Drive 3.5 hours to Squirrel's house in DsM.

March 30-Drive 9 hours from DsM to Pencil Bluff, AR for the Ouachita Challenge.

March 30-April 1 Ridin, laughin, sleepin, awsome time in the Ozarks with like nuts.

April 2-Squirrel drives 9 hours back to DsM, first time I've ever been in the passenger seat of my car, I drive another 3.5 hours back home.

April 3rd-5am Drive 9 hours to Dayton, OH in hopes of picking up the Coslinger speedbike and making it back home for a full nights sleep. Or at least what I consider a full nights sleep(midnight to 5:30am). Get ticket in IL because the when pulling a trailer on I70 in IL you must drive 55mph. IL sucks. Arrive in Dayton OH at 3pm to find a bike needing 24hours of work before being truly prepped for the competition I'm supposed to be at on April 6 that is two days drive away, not counting the drive home from Dayton. Work on the bike with owner Thom Ollinger and gracious friend Rich Meyers for 5 hours in Dayton. Consider myself fortunate to be getting to borrow the speedbike anyways. Start driving home at 8:00pm E. Winds are blowing so hard I can't get the car out of 4th gear. Call friend Dave Ford in Bloomington, IL and crash there at midnight to save myself from certain death. Friends are priceless.

April 4th-Wake up at 5:30am get back on the road. Winds are still blowing, frick. Burn a tank of fuel in an hour on the wide open Interstate. When the turbo is pegged at full boost you are not in fuel economy mode. Drive backcountry two lanes home. Already overrunning my fuel budget for the week. Home at 9am, work on the bike until 5pm, load up. Start drive to Casa Grande Arizona. Drive till midnight, make it to Oklahoma City, then the parents take over driving through the night.

April 5th-Wake up in Texas, take over driving. New Mexico is a wasteland, similar to Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona. People scrape by, the land has little to offer. Gain even more appreciation for dirt, trees, hills, rain, non-arid climates, and Kansas.

Flagstaff is a forest in the middle of the desert, and right before a huge decent into Pheonix, strange.

Arrive at the Fransisco Grande Motel outside of Casa Grande at 9pm April 5th. Our rooms are surrounded by streamliners, cool. I reserved a room with double beds for three adults. It turns out to be a room with two single beds, not cool. No other rooms available, no refund, no complimentary breakfast, smells like the middle of a dairy farm, mocking birds never shut up, bathroom door won't stay shut. Not cool.

April 6th-Drive to the track 8miles. There's a dip in the road so deep cars disappear. Serious dairy farm area, makes the local setups look silly tiny.

The track is huge, 3 lanes, 5.554mile oval, 36 degree banking on the corners on the outside lanes.

A few morning hour attemps are made Friday, but no one finishes due to various reasons. I do a few laps in the warm up area in the Coslinger without the rear canopy to get used to it, and immediately find the funky front brake mount rubbing the tire. Thom said I could remove it if I wanted to, so I get out the hack saw. No more front brake, but the rear drum is adequete for this event. I can ride the Cos at 9mph, but I still wish it had a landing gear.
I take the Cos out for another test ride, this time with the top on, on the track. Vision is not so good throught the nose bubble. The straights are smooth but the corners are bumpy as all get out. My second lap around the secondary chain derails and jams up, I coast from corner 2 halfway through the back straight where I manage to pop the tape loose from the canopy and catch myself before I fall over. Try to put the chain back on and limp in, but the lower chain tensioner pulley disinegrated. Garrie Hill rescues me with the Sprinter van and I set to work with the hacksaw again to install a new idler. Covered in chain grease, I run out of time for another run. Greasy hands are a trend for the weekend. Back at the motel I rig up a camera system so I can see what is in front of my right foot, as the deraillier blocks my view completely on that side.

April 7th- Set up for an hour attempt after watching Sam Whittingham set a new world record. Launch goes well. I make it into corner three of my second lap where the main drive chain derails off the front chainring. Coast through corner four and down the front straight to the catch crew. Head back to pits to build a chainguide out of an aluminum tent stake borrowed from Dave Balfour and some parts leftover from the idler that disintegrated yesterday.
Finish that in time to set up for the low altitude 200 meter run. Crash the first launch, and then spend too much energy getting to the first corner, finish the first run at 47mph. Second run goes better at 48-49mph, but that's still not that fast. Sam finishes just shy of his record at 62mph and change. So I did 200 meters at the hour pace, not unexpected from prior experiences.
The camera works ok at best, resolution is too slow to make out which lines are which at speed. Basically have to try to keep the white line in front of the left foot as it goes around, and keep the round speed bumps on the inside of the track in the right window. Doesn't work to well, since the inside lane comes and goes and the lines fade in and out with tar patches.

I try taking the Cuda out for a lap, but I can immediately feel my IT band tighten up in my knee so that's not happening. I've got to figure out what about this bike is askew, something is out of alignment. Definitely easier to handle than the Coslinger.

April 8th-I'm the first one off today, 6:15 am. First launch is not so good, but they catch me before I fall. The tape on the bike is not sticking too well this morning though, so right away after the launch I can feel that the canopy is not secured, and I can hear the tape flapping. O well, there are no second chances today so I just keep going. I can feel that there was no warmup for todays run, laps one and two are the warmup, the muscles are a bit sore from the previous days. Lap three sees speeds coming up over 40mph finally, then the secondary chain derails on the fourth corner. I just manage to reach up to the cassette and flip the chain back on, phew. The next four laps gradually gain speed again, 39-41 on the front streach, 42-45mph on the back streach. I'm all over the track, usually trying to stay near the center white line. There are two other streamliners on the track with me, Dean Peterson in the Coyote, and Steve Delair in the Mach 5. I catch Dean on lap two, and Steve is out with mechanicals in the first few laps. We started before the sun came over the horizon, which was fine, but as the sun came up I lost most all of my forward vision on corners three and four causing me to slow a bit there in worry of running into the other riders. Luckily I never had to make another pass for the rest of the hour. On what ended up being the last lap one of the folks at the timing tent hollered something at me but I couldn't hear it. I spent most of that lap wondering what was up and slowed just a bit, then as I passed the timing tent again the van pulled up beside me and I was still confused. Finally it dawned on me that I should be sprinting, but it was too late. And that was that. I finished my hour at 39.841miles. I felt like I was just getting warmed up, like I did my hour at 6hour pace, great. At least I finished. Weather was perfect for my run, but not many others.

We hung around long enough to watch the rest of the morning runs as the winds increased, temps increased, and the sandstorms blew up. Then we gathered as many of the liners, riders, and crew up as we could and took a couple group photos, which are historic in themselves. Not too often that you find this many streamliners in one location. Prolly a 15% of the total number of streamliners that exist in the world were in attendance here, with 2/3 of the fastest people ever to pilot them. How cool is that?

The rest of April 8th and April 9th were spent driving home, aside from a short stop in Wellington, KS for a meal. Didn't stop for the deer 50miles from home at 3:30am either. Took out the hood, right front fender, grill, headlight, fan, ect on the van but we made it home by 4:30 am. Went to bed. Woke up at 5:00am and went to work.

Thank yous to Thom Ollinger for loaning me the Coslinger speedbike and a huge thank you to my parents for sharing the driving chores, crewing, and making this trip possible.

A complete list of results can be found here

My photo gallery from the trip can be found here

DG

Happy post-Easter-erer

2007-04-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Results here

There's a writeup to come here with much to tell, but I really need to get some sleep at the moment. Click here for pics, the rest will be up soon.

DG

Epic

2007-04-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

Beautiful weekend at the Ouachita Challenge.

Finished up 28th this year with a couple of stops to play with some sidewall pinholes. Not too shabby. The goal was top 30. But you know I must've watched 15 people go by while I was dinking with that.....guess I'll have to come back next year and fix that ;)

Big congrats to Sydney Brown on her first place women's finish. Her fourth mtb race and she smoked 'em. Almost caught me. Beautiful.

Huge thanks to Squirrel for hooking the cabin up, helping get the group together, sharing the travel costs, and cutting down on my driving time. Heal that Achilles up buddy.

Alright, back on the run. Gotta go pick up the Coslinger for this coming weekend's Speed Championships.

Where we roll, buddy.

2007-03-28T21:21:00.000-07:00

Can't wait.

Gonna miss the cool dudes who couldn't make it.

But I think It'll be every bit as epic this year. Whole new passle of like nuts.

Hope to avoid having to use the McGuyver skills this time.

In other news: New arrival in the family. More details on that later. Time to finish packing.

O yea, and an interesting thought for you next time you're buzzed by a careless motorist:

"I too have chased down idiots in cars. Screaming at them is never satisfying enough as they don't care. Next time I'll likely do what a friend of a friend once did... He beat the motorist and then U-locked him by the neck to a parking meter and dropped the keys down the sewer." -boulderbird

3Flat/6Hour

2007-03-20T03:13:00.000-07:00

I've been finding some interesting quotes lately. Like this one from Woody Allen: "Eighty percent of success is showing up". Well, that might be true, but that last 20% sure seems to be divided up a bunch.

For instance:
The Spoke Pony 3/6 hour mtb race was last weekend. Trail conditions were about as good as it gets there, weather was nice, camping was good. Feel pretty decent going into it. I know the course. I've been on the podium here. But I made a mistake, I put my Stans tubeless setup together the night before. And it didn't seal so well, as I found out on laps 1 and 2. Totally shot myself in the toe there, I knew better. Always work the kinks out of your equipment in training, dummy. (Yea, like I've got time for that)

And then for some reason on lap three I noticed the front der wasn't shifting so well. Thought maybe the cable was slipping, but I was in the middle ring so that's really all I needed anyways.
Later that lap it jumped into the granny and wouldn't shift, so I was forced to stop again. I looked down. The eccentric had worked its way loose and was slid over about 3/4" ....doh!

After that it was smooth sailing. Well, other than the fact that I had put myself in the hole pretty far. With all the stopping for mechanicals and riding way over the threshold to try and catch the twenty or so people that passed by.

At least I didn't hook any trees or fly off the bike for any reason, that trail hurts to fall on. I know, I've tried it. Unfortunately so did Syd. (Sorry Sydney, we truly didn't want to jeopardize your health or future races, but you'll thank us after the bruising goes away and you're flying down some comparatively mild rocky trail in AR.) Even Squirrel made mention of magically ending up running without his bike into a tree. Somehow I escaped the bruising. I feel fortunate for that.

End result? A fun weekend with friends(aka: "passel of like nuts") on dirt and rock. Yes real dirt. Not snow, not gravel, not mud. Dirt. And rock. One of many successful (by another definition) weekends to come this season. Congrats to all that raced.

The definition of success--To laugh much; to win respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give one's self; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition.; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived--this is to have succeeded.--Ralph Waldo Emerson

DG

Flat #3 for the weekend

Better now than in two weeks. Better fuel mileage at 50mph anyhows.....

What goes down must come up

2007-03-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

40,000ft of climing in 535 miles.

It's tough for me to wrap my mind around these numbers for some reason.

Squirrel's gravel century had about 6500ft of climbing in 100.

RAO has about 7600ft every 100.

Squirrel's route didn't kill me off by any means, but multiply the distance by 5, speed by 2.5 and see what happens?

Makes TransIowa look a little easier.

I see alot of hill training in my future ;)

Fun with Dacron and inclimate weather

2007-02-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

Spring was here last Wednesday. Made for a nice, messy, recovery ride.

Back to reality Thursday. Rollers are nice...

More good building weather.

Dacron wheel covers for the lowracer.

A couple more wheelsets to cover.

Gonna make a 700c set to see how they hold up on the larger wheel.

A few more details to work on in the streamliner.

Revamping shell mounts for quicker repairs, landing gear maintainance done,

new seat in the works.

Other news

Sounds like I might be doing a few more road ultras than I had initially planned this season. Maybe in conjunction of yet another team.

Renued my RUSA membership, signed up for the UMCA Year Rounder mileage challenge.

Think I'll try to get a full set of brevets in. One or two KC, One IA, and as many of the Boulder brevet series as I can make.

No, I am not doing RAAM.

Just thinking about that makes my bones ache and my budget shiver.

I do want to do RAO though.

PBP?

And if you haven't heard this is coming up.

This week's base miles....complete

2007-02-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

522

New course record

2 flat tires

Great event, great people.

Time to raise my goals.

Small escape

2007-02-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

Time to escape the winter workshop for a bit.

2007 base training and start of the spring race season.

Goal +500miles/24hours.

Earn some respect.

Maybe rekindle a little flame.

Happy Valentines

93/73

2007-02-05T22:58:00.000-08:00

Late night at work.