First Tracks

December 16, 2009 · Filed under 30th Century Bicycle, Skiing

The typical Iowa winter has been working it’s magic.  Snow, melt, freeze.  Not so good for the skiing, it topedoed our first race, but it is at least passable for going out and getting sweaty.  After a strong 3 days in a row classic style start I missed a couple of days due to other things going on, skated a day when it was really warm and I sucked with a capital everything, then I missed another day due to crummy conditions.

Neighbors house included for scale

Today, however, was magic.  The snow was freshly groomed, I was the first on it at 9:45 this morning.  After a couple of days off here and another there I was actually feeling pretty fresh.  I think it was the best skate outing I have ever had.  Skied 6 loops, never biffed it, and felt like I was actually going somewhere.  It was a beautiful sunny morning, too.  My skis were sporting many layers of wax that Brian had helped me apply over the weekend while we drank beers.  Thanks Brian!  Between building my wheel, waxing my skis, and grooming my current faboo facial hair (chop, chop) I am feeling like a durned-right militant Tarikista!  I am going to get out again tomorrow for more skating, and my boss has cleared me for another daytime expedition so it is good to be the me.  Hoping to work my own waxing stand and related accessories into this winter budget, we shall see.  I sure do love the skiing, and hope we have a long season of it!

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Ski! Ski! Ski!

December 10, 2009 · Filed under 30th Century Bicycle, Life, Ride Reports, Road Prize, Skiing

Well, the Jingle X wrap up is never going to happen here.  Sorry.  Just to give you a crumb, that is to put it succinctly; Jingle X good, Dave Towle announcing bad.

Road find muck boots.  Cody and I were riding the tandem out to the boyhood home of Ira Ryan to give thanks when we found them.  We found a 20 dollar bill on the same ride!  Thanks.

Moving on, post Jiggle X I took a week off from activity other than the usual riding around town to get where I need to go.  Last weekend, with the Shop now closed Sundays for the winter season, I took in the sights and sounds and smells of an Amana ride.  My first of the year!  We had a good group, and a pleasant ride out of town until Doc H blew his tubeless tire off his 29er.  It was loud, I thought we were being shot at.  A bit of a delay as a bike swap had to be made, but at least we were only about a mile from his house.

Out on the road things stayed mostly calm, Joe punished us for a mile or two before turning for home, we got chased by a couple of dogs and a pig on the loose (true!) and the Rock suffered a couple of mechanicals.  The B roads are all dry and frozen now, so the tricky part was keeping your eyes open so you did not biff it in a rut.

Once to the Amanas it was decided that we should not drink beer there but continue on to North Liberty for the Red’s Ale House experience, which has been known to send riders to the hospital passed out – drooling drunk and with more in their shorts than just a chamois.

The ride in was much faster than the ride out, Vincent peeled out when we hit gravel and it was a fast roll all the way across the Great Northern Route.  I was happy to be able to hold the wheel and I even took a couple of pulls.  Go me.

Red’s was fun, we drank some beers, ate some food, dried our clothing, and a couple of our group (they shall be unnamed)  called for and received motorized evac.  That was about it, the typical Amana ride.

Now it looks as if that will be my last ride of the year.  The snow has flown, the temps have dropped, and yesterday morning I got out for my first ski of the season with Cody.  We did a couple of loops in the cemetery and it sure did get my parts to hurting.  Shoulders and calves and hip flexors all protest this morning, but I am going to head out again now that it has warmed up to about 0 degrees F.  Another easy ski this morning, I am hopeful that Ashton will be groomed today and I will try and get over there tomorrow.  Exciting times when the skiing starts!

Sooper Tubed!

Everyone appears to be interested in doing ski racing again so I will be putting those together again.  The blog has been updated and we are hoping to be able to hold the first race next Tuesday?  Maybe, snow must hold and details must be worked out.  See you out there shooshing!

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Jingle Cross: I RUN Out Of Energy

November 29, 2009 · Filed under 30th Century Bicycle, Life, Ride Reports

Well, 2 days of wacky cross racing excitement are behind me.  Friday I did the 35+ race.  My first cross race in over a year!  It showed.  I had a great warm up, changed bikes and changed back within 25 minutes of the start, stopped to talk to some people, got some pictures taken, talked some more, ho hum – ho hum, over to the start, whoops, everyone is staged.  So my decent start position became crap.  They said go, we went, I was at the back, it was really muddy.  I don’t really know what happened during the race, I kept my derailler attached to my bike, rode the big switchback off-camber downhill thing every lap but the one where my derailler tried to get ripped off, in my struggle to avoid that I biffed it.  Pulled out some crud, got the chain going again and off I went.  There were many, many, many deraillers that were eaten.  Maybe us midwest crossers don’t have enough experience with the wet and sticky to bring pit bikes and people to wash them?  I dunno.  So I rode around, got tired, got recovered, really loooong run up took it’s consistent toll, I rode some sections really well, others not so good.  As I was standing around after and watching the start of the 2/3 field I was really glad I was not in it as people were summersaulting down the big off camber steep switchback part, laying waste to snowfence and fellow racer with muddy zest!

I was sporting the latest in 30th Century Bicycle race wear, my one of a kind 30Cent cycling cap, of course, but also now the Rapha jersey with 30Cent logos aplenty silkscreened by Cody!

Pretty cool!

So yesterday’s race was singlespeed and I am so in the loop I got a late night text message Friday night from he who would go on to win it where he let me in on what gear to run.  So I did it.  I would tell you, but you are clearly not in the loop if you are reading this so you probably don’t need to know.  Anyways, before we launch into more hyperbole of barriers lept and corners skittered allow me first to present you with the photo of the 30Cent Racing Team Car Bike, which carried not just me but also the race and pit bike out to the venue.

A finer way to travel I can not imagine.  So yesterday it was all SS all the time.  I got another good warm up, made it to the staging area to be on the front row.  Whoop!  Off we went,  I had a decent start, then we had to run really far, back on the bike for a quick super muddy 100 yard section, then back off for the big steep muddy run/walk up.  I think I blew up the first time up.  Maybe it was the second…  Anyways, I rode well, the Race Townie was performing like a champ!  I traded back and forth with a couple of people, some lost me, I caught some other people, the run up killed me, one lap I think I walked the whole thing.  Last lap I kept my legs moving and ran all the way up that sucker!  It was a really fun day of racing, other than the lots of running I really enjoyed the course, all the twists and turns through the fairgrounds barns are pretty cool and the Pinwheel of Doom or whatever it is called has been entertaining, too.  One more race today and then I don’t have to go back to the shop to work so I can hang out and enjoy the rest of the action.  As always, hope to see you out there!

Bonus photo sets from Mauro are HERE, there are even a couple of shots of me in there.

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Jingle Cross ‘09 Strategems!

November 26, 2009 · Filed under 30th Century Bicycle, Life

Lately, as I ride around looking Yehuda, I find my mind wandering from the usual internal banter of: bike lanes or sharrows(?); and County Supervisor meetings or sledgehammers and dyno-mite(!) to musings of the peace and serenity that can only be found when the gun is fired and the cyclocross race has started.

This weekend my cross season will open, just like Bart Wellens!  Unlike the aggro Belgian multiple time world cx champ, my season will also end this weekend.  I am signed up for 3 races on the Official Website!  Tomorrow night, at Twilight, but not under a New Moon (blog readership suffering, trying to attract new demographic, lost pre-teen Googlers) I will race the 35+ race.

Saturday and Sunday I will be out for the single speed category.  Racing the single has had me switching cogs and chainrings and pedals, removing racks and fenders, switching bikes, switching cogs again, and generally messing with my bikes more than I have been riding them.  It keeps raining, you see, and the course is saturated, slippery, and slow.

The Fuji, which saw to my speed and safety so trustily last fall at the State CX Championship until the last lap of the second race I did, is sporting a 39×18 and a Mafac “Racer” rear brake, which is super cool, but that gear seems steeper than me lil’ legs can turn in a field that the Bush administration might would have qualified as a wetland, so after all the rigamaroll it seems that maybe the Bridgestone, destroyer of the Bridgescissor but afearer of the Bridgepaper, will get the call once more.  It is chillaxin’ in the shed right now next to the constantly evolving touring townie, now with wood fenders!  The development continues, stay tuned, they will be available soon.

So the Bridgestone is geared smooth and supple at 32×17 and sports a totally bitchin’ (for any pre-teens that are still reading, is that even a cool word anymore?) 26×1.5 Conti rear knobby tire.  Probably not very fast, but fun as fun-Fun-FUN, and that is what it is all about, right?  So, tomorrow I will probably just race the LeMond with gears, the rest of the weekend either the single mountain bike or the single Fuji townie.  Maybe both.  And just how good do them locally made and fully shaped wood fenders look, eh?   A set will turn up on the Ira for sure.  Oh yes, it is still being worked on.  It has wheels now, I built the rear one all by myself except I had instruction.  My first wheel, I am not afraid to admit it.  It looks great!  Just need a shiny saddlepillar, stem and handlebar plus the aforementioned provacative bar tape and we are ready to roll.

So lots of action going on, lots of action to come, full race recap next week, if you are around come on down to the races to do them or watch them.  Enter any or all of the beginner women’s races and you could win a new MASI CXR frameset courtesy of us at 30th Century Bicycle, your friendly neighborhood bike commuting and touring shop where, if you did not know, Otis the shop cat now lives.  Look how cute he is!

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Yehuda Whom?

November 16, 2009 · Filed under 30th Century Bicycle, Life

Online comics go way back to when the first person thought to put a comic online and uploaded that sucker.

No wikipedia page yet, but just you wait, I bet there is one before this sentence is over.  So, there is this famous online comic about a guy who looks kind of like me that some of you may have seen over here?

Well the innertubes that have hitherto maintained pressure in only the metaphorical tire of the online webcomic metaphorical unicycle that was Yehuda Moon and the Kickstand Cyclery are now inflating TWO metaphorical wheels on a lugged steel frame with plenty of fender clearance, a sensible saddle, and sporty Nitto handlebars.  That is right, Cody G is on the scene and publishing her Tales of Woe & Conquest of the Bicycle Commuter at the 30th Century Bicycle blog.  Check it out all week long, the online bicycle webcomic universe will never be the same again!

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Time Warp II: Back To The Present

November 12, 2009 · Filed under Life

So here it is, your fresh helping of Pickle!

I have had an interesting couple-a-few weeks.  For one, I did not blog.  I did help roof two houses.  Made my legs sore.  I started running, or jogging, or lurching along, call it what you will.  This also made my legs sore.  I also kept trying to learn to ride the unicycle, which made my legs sore.

But there is more to report than just sore legs!  I also almost severed a knuckle on my left hand on a really sharp chainring, got stung by a bee on my right hand, got a big blister on my right thumb and somehow, in one of the weirdest injuries ever, got the top of my foot sweated into my sock somehow which then pulled all the skin off when I removed the sock.  Strange times to be a me.

But there is more to report than just sore legs and other assorted injuries!  I read the last two books of the Harry Potter series, for fun.  My beard is filling out nicely.  I came up with a fantastic Halloween costume but then got sick and could not use it.  I smoked a hookah!  And of course, I went for some bike rides, too.

And that is all, nothing left out, my life in just 226 words!  Thanks for reading

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Time Warp

October 20, 2009 · Filed under Life, Ride Reports

Tonight was one a them funky group rides with attitude (FuhGRahWAs) from start to finish.  I dunno why it happens, but there was some serious mayhem out there.  Crashes, split-ups, detours, wet feets, barriers, swear words, etc…  By the time I got home I was sure we had been out there for 3 hours.  Nope, just 2.  Crazyness to think back over where all we went and how much we wound around and we even waited a couple of times.

On the further subject of time, this was my last ride as a 36 year old.  I have no memory of my first ride as a 36 year old, but I will probably remember this one for a while.  I worked hard for a long time and tried my hardest to win it, for me and Gipper, too, but I was nipped on the line by the Thrillah.  No shame in that?  Maybe next year!

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What It Is All About

October 19, 2009 · Filed under 30th Century Bicycle, Life, Ride Reports

I dunno, try the number 42?  A good and dirty cross bike works too, for me.

STP82663I have had a great run of rides lately.  Last Thursdays group ride which I wrote about here.  Friday night we did a sushi and sake group ride from the shop.  Saturday night I rode out to Sugarbottom on the Bridgestone for the ICORR Halloween Ride.  I used to ride out there at least once a week in the dark, I quickly remembered I used to have a good lighting system for that.  Whoops.  Better luck next time for me, but it was still a great, if slow, ride on the trails, quality conversation around a fire and then the ride home was super.

Sunday morning I went over to the house of Hopson to partake of his stout coffee and another quality weekend gravel grinder.  About ten of us headed for the hills and the B roads to see what they and we were made of.  It was chilly that morning so I wore my new booties!

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I know, many of you will be sad to read of the replacement of the Robin Hood, Men in Tights pair I have been nursing along for the past few years, but it was time. So on the road and there was the usual hijinx and high heartrates.  We wound around and finally made it to the Kalona fourwheeler trails, which were sloppy as ever!  I got “Ricked-Over” early on and lost contact, then I got a huge clump of some non-native vine wedged in my rear brake and by the time I had wrestled it out I had lost sight.  The trails are so leafy right now I could not follow them, rode around in some weird places and occasionaly saw a tire track so I plugged on in dogged pursuit and by the time I popped out onto the B road I could barely see just one person ahead.  Bummer, but they waited for me.  I had to head in then, most of the group kept at it but I was happy to get home with 3 + hours in and I still made it to the shop on time!

Today I went down to the Coop and put in some working member hours, then home for shed cleaning and organizing, then I cleaned the bike a bit and went out for another ride.  This time I was solo, which was good to spin the legs out.  I rode South, swung through Hills, then went a bit further South towards Riverside before turning back North.  The weather was beautiful, the gravel is nicely packed from the harvest trucks and tractors rolling around, and it was smooth sailing for 2 hours.  That is what it is all about.

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Bonus Ride

October 16, 2009 · Filed under 30th Century Bicycle, Ride Reports

Fall, the season, is in full swing.  It is gray, often raining, and cold most days.  Yesterday was looking questionable for group riding, but I have learned over the years it is best to be optimistic so I took my clothes and cross bike to the shop hoping the weather would cooperate and we could have a ride.  I was not dissapointed!  The drizzle shut off and eight of us showed up at the park.  We rode up around Solon, the gravel was soupy.  3 of us had fenders, everyone else had really slimy looking shorts.  Fenders people, there is a reason that Planet Bike sponsors Katie Compton, Jonathan Page, Mark Lalonde, etc.  They train in the rain with dry bums is the reason.  Join the club!

So we rode a little patch of trails which were a hoot with the mud and the roots and the slippery sticks and there was some good natured crashing and run-upping and then we turned in.  The road home was fast, we never got a smooth rotation going but it was a good strong ride and only an oncoming car through a curve prevented me from making my move to take the win (okay, I was tired, too) so I was happy to roll across yet another fictional finish line, this time in 3rd.  And I was really glad to have gotten in a 2 hour 15 minute ride, because I thought it might not happen.

To sum up: be prepared, fenders good, the season is not over yet!

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I’ll Have The Scramble – Sunny Side Up, Please

October 12, 2009 · Filed under 30th Century Bicycle, Life, PDX, Ride Reports

I somehow fancy myself an endurance mountain bike racer.  Which is funny, because I have really only done one endurance mountain bike race ever.  I am, truth be told, not much of a mountain bike racer at all, I think I have only done five or six mountain bike races in the last five years.  I was going to chalk another one up last Sunday, the Sugar Bottom Scramble is everything I like in a mountain bike race.  Which just means it is close to home.  And we of 30th Century Bicycle were sponsoring by providing some faboo prizes like multi tools, Maxxis tires and Oury grips.  I hoped to maybe win something back so we could still sell it.  That would be cool!

But then the race got cancelled.  Because the trails were wet.  Because Iowa, like so many of its previous citizens, has moved to Portland.  You read that correctly.  It is grey, rainy and wet here now.  Always.  Except for when it snows.  Which it did on Saturday morning.  Not so much that we have started skiing like those lucky die hards up in Wisconsin and Minnesota, but it did snow here, and for quite a while.

So race cancelled, I decided to look on the bright side of life and go ride my mountain bike anyway.  These pictures are from a different ride, but they are where I went, and it was sunny that day so the ride looks nicer.

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I rode down Sand Road and did a couple of laps around that little lake down there.  It was fun, but not so fun that I wanted to do a third lap.

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Rode over the new bridge down there that makes travel so much easier so I could stop by the Jiggle Cross course to see how it looked and start working on my ss gear / tire selection.

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It looked good.

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Remember this?  All natural now.

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Rode out to Coralville to check on the trails over there.  Those trails are still in rough shape, they need a chainsaw and a week-whacker asap or I fear they will be lost forever.

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