Stay out of trees!

I have been spending lots of my unemployed time reading The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay and snuffling and sneezing and coughing. The book is great, the sickness or allergy or whatever it is? Not so much. I had hoped to do a long ride this week to test the Kanza set up but that aint happening when I feel like this which is okay because the bike is not even together yet. Jeesh.

When I was replacing the chain and small ring I realized that the cartridge bb was, in the parlance of our times, screwed. How can this be, 5 years of slogging through the best gravel and muck the midwest can offer and that is all it has?!?!?!? I thought I would order up a new one lickety-split but how was I to know that they are out of stock everywhere? I have some options but none that make me happy 10 days before a 200 mile gravel ride, any help you can offer (Your NOS Shimano 7700 Octalink V1 68/118.5, delivered, would sure be nice. Hint. Hint.) is appreciated. Serious replies only.

***Update from the porch, the 109.5 from the Fuji fits & the chainring clears, we can all rest easy!  Why oh why have I been lugging around them extra 9mm of spindle all these years!***

In other news, our garden and yard are finding their grove, thanks to Cody and my mom. Cody has been in charge of seed starts and look at em grow!

She also loaded up our cold frame with lettuce and spinach and look how happy they are in their little house!

My folks were out last weekend to visit and my mom was happy to work in the yard, she dug out this nice patch of Hosta which had been buried in weeds, thanks mom!

I have no job now. The sorority girls of Iowa City will have to find someone else to grill their cheese. I resigned my position at Fin and Feather as well for a multitude of reasons. I have a few options for the future, some sweet and others savory. Stay tuned to see what I wind up doing, I may go into business as a guest blog updater.

Bike to Work Week has finally ended, no more meetings! The whole week went well and while I love the work I have done for this noble cause I am probably not going to help with the organizing next year. For three years now our yard has been a study in potential and I think with extra spring time free time I can help its potential to be realized. Plus I would like more time to ride and I have plenty of volunteer outlets already.

This past week was a great week of riding. I did both group rides, the Mayor’s ride, a lovely one hour spin with Cody, a pie race that I rode to and from and a nice mountain bike ride at Sugar yesterday with John and a few other people we saw out there. There is lots of water covering trails but what is available to ride is in really good shape. I rolled on the Salsa and boy do I have some work to do on that set-up! I just put it in the shed and forgot about it after Ouachita but I am looking forward to some good rides this summer. The race on Saturday morning went well, ATLAS got in the break and those of us left behind did an okay job of controlling things. Top ten felt much better than the top 30 from the weekend before and the ride out and back in beautiful weather iced the pie.

My folks were in town this past weekend so we entertained them with a trip out to Fae Ridge Farm and Cody’s show and we watched King Corn, too. If you have not seen this movie you should. A couple of major points. Quit eating cows! Stop! Cease! Now! Also, pay attention to the ingredients of what you eat! And stop driving cars for Pete’s sake! Ethanol is a scam and cars in general are bad so just stop already!

Back to happier things. I got my pro deal from nuun so I now have waterbottles and stickers and 9 tubes of their fizzy little electrolyte tabs in 3 flavors. Thank you nuun! I like that stuff.

For the past few years I have been helping to organize the local Bike to Work Week events.  It has been fun, there is a lot of work and months of meetings but when the events happen it is always a good time to be there and the folks that participate always love it.  Here are a few pictures I took of the breakfasts that kick off the week, Monday at College Green Park and today at Kinnick Stadium.

The events were very well attended both days with 100+ people being served over the 2 hour period, groups would come in and go out while some of us spent almost the whole time there.  It is amazing to think of the space requirements to do a breakfast for automotive commuters, this is such a tiny area to serve so many and the grass does not even get trampled.  Its good living!

Here our local USCF rep shows off his hot Italian fold up bike.

I rode my 1 SPEED FUJI and brought along my own table and chair.  This set up worked well on the way there but on the way back not so much.  I don’t know why.  I took this stuff along to sell Iowa Bike Coalition Raffle tickets.  It was just like the good old days when I used to sell meat raffle tickets (doesn’t that sound enticing!) for the boy scouts so I could go to summer camp.  I had my own handmade sign that was all red white and blue and I would sit at my table in front of Jewel for hours asking folks if they wanted to buy a ticket for a chance to win a side of beef or a turkey.  I digress…

Tomorrow night is the big event, the Mayor’s ride!  Meet at Chauncy Swan Park (across from city hall) starting at 5:15, we will roll to the Coralville New Pi at around 5:45.  Free bike lights to the first 150 people, free food at the Coop.  Always a good ride and the weather looks great so I do hope to see you there.

My fashion adviser is constantly reporting on his weblog where in the world his readers are when they are reading. He has some little program or meter or something that lets him know when someone in Iowa City or even the White House has visited his web orphanage. At first I thought he was making this up but he assured me was not so there you have it. The fine folks of wordpress, wherever they are, do let me see what people like you type into search engines that lead you here. Sometimes there is some funny stuff, here is todays searches and thanks for stopping by, however you find this place.

Friday night we had a Bike Library Steering Committee meeting. We drank some fine Love and Hoppiness beer from Rogue brewery and when our work was done most everyone there came back to our house for a fire and more beer. It was a nice night, it got really cold, there was some rowdy talk regarding such racy topics as Iowa Public Radio and the makeup of the Iowa City City Council in 1997. Scandalous!

Saturday morning I went and did my first paved road race in 14 months or so. It was a pie race and the team had a good group there. The brutally honest race report is that I bridged to the early break and then got dropped from it. Immediately following I was caught by the field and they dropped me, too.

Saturday afternoon I volunteered two hours at the Bike Library for Rental Bench. I spent

my time affixing clever and encouraging signs to inoperable bikes that look mostly fine so I can lock them to racks around town for Bike to Work Week. John stopped by to find wheels for his special lady friend’s bike so I made him help.

I gussied up the display windows for the big week ahead and closed the place down so

I could go help Cody put the finishing touches on her show because the opening reception was that night.

It was not a mad scramble but a steady poaching that saw everything in place right at 6pm as the first people arrived. I have been authorized by the artist to show a few teaser pictures of the installation here to help create buzz about the show, check her official website for the official recap soon.

Before

During

After

It was a great time and about everyone we know came and it was great to see you all! Post reception we found ourselves at the Fox Head once again as the rain poured down outside in the company of John and other friends. Ol’ 20¢ was up to his usual tricks and did his best to corrupt us and I did leave with a commuter mug full of Pabst but I did not puke in the sink, and neither did Cody!

Today was a bit quieter as you might have expected, I put the Bike to Work Week bikes around town at strategic bike racks and worked five hours at Fin and Feather. Laundry, dishes, blog post and to bed with me. Looks like a nice week ahead with the wrap up (for real this time) of my sorority cook career and much cycle advocacy before my parents come to town next weekend.

http://www.bettiniphoto.net/

From this photo the educated eye can clearly discern that Jason means business in the Giro. Grand Tours are seldom won at the team presentations, but they can be lost. A three week stage race is not a thing to take lightly and even the strongest of riders must carefully budget their energies if they hope to excel in the arduous weeks ahead. This is the very highest level of competition and as such heads are shaved and toenails clipped to increase aerodynamics and save weight as any advantage is sought. The most determined and savvy riders will even eschew a seemingly mundane and easy task such as holding up a bike. They know it for what it is, a drain on precious caloric reserves when they are needed most. So too the raising of an arm or even two as part of a publicity stunt. Nay(!) say the serious players, their arms will go up when victory is achieved and not before!

photo from cyclingnews

I did the group ride last night, rest is over. I was planning to hit the B ride to ramp back up to speed but circumstances talked me into College Green for the A ride. Holy crap. I figured with the strong wind out of the South we would ride the flat and fun Edens loop and I could just hang for the ride out and then ride fast a bit and then finish up solo but we did not go that way. The Thrillahh was there and he don’t like them flat rides so we went out to Tiffin and then around Sugarbottom, well, he did…

As we rode tempo out of town my legs felt a bit stale but they settled in. When we turned north and the speed skyrocketed to a reported 42-44 mph in the tailwind they felt real slow real fast. It was kind of exciting, and the roads had big potholes to add to the drama and I made it to Tiffin with the group but I knew my days were numbered, I just can’t go from rest week to 40+ mph in one ride. So after another couple of silly fast miles we turned into the last full on tailwind stretch and as I watched Cochran attack from the inside of the sweeping corner I knew I was screwed and sure enough, I was! The elastic snapped me right on the ass and left a mark, I rode in quietly with Brian and we talked of all things Kanza as that is approaching mas rapido. About 2 hours total, some of it way too fast for me.

Not the ride I was looking for but it will all work out in the end, my legs are definitely up to speed now! Reading velonews this morning I saw a nice going real fast quote from Vogels about winning the Gila criterium, something like, “I put it in the 11 and that was it.” Maybe I just need to get an 11?

Photo: Action Images via velonews.com

I have been resting. Maybe not full on rest because over the previous weekend I had much to do that kept me on my feet and thus grumpy, but I have not been riding hard. I needed a break from training, now I will do one more stretch of much time and intensity on the bike and then have one more rest before the Kanza. It is always strange being at the tail end of a rest period, I can never help but worry that I just got slow for not riding, but I have been at this long enough to know that it does not work that way. I did get out for many townies and a couple of rides, one on trails on the long neglected Salsa

and one on the cross bike with Cody, who rode her finally up and rolling Austro-Daimler. It was a beautiful morning and we saw so many people out riding, I felt like I was in Boulder or something. We rode down to Highway 22 which is a bit south of

town and had a look at a camping area down there to see if it was still under water. It wasn’t and while we are too busy for the foreseeable future we hope to take a mini tour down there and spend the night sometime. Doesn’t it look nice, right on the bank of the Iowa River?

We had a quick refuel and headed home so I could go to work. Work has been

difficult the last couple of weeks, two jobs is one too many I think and while I can do it for a spell that spell has thankfully almost ended.

My Friday was bookended by two acts of Wayne. This morning he started things off by peeing on a wall. Yeah, you guessed it, the wall that really tied the room together. Nothing a little bleach could not take care of so Cody and I cleaned it up and rode in a delightful spring rain to the Bike Library for the First Friday Commuter Coffee.

We had four volunteers and only two civilians showed up but they were two of our favorites so we were okay with it. Lots of good bike conversation. All the bikes that rode were steel framed with fenders and only one was not a single speed. Love it. I went to work and scored this quality sororiqoute for Jay over lunch:

Girl 1: I don’t even know why I’m eating, I just had Brueggers.

Girl 2: You slut.

There you have it. Later my good friend 20¢ stopped by to give (loan?) me a 38 tooth chainring for my Kanza bike. I used a 39 tooth last year and while one tooth less is not much I have un-fond memories of climbing a paved hill 140 miles in with a tailwind at all of 7mph last year so any extra ease I can get I will take. One tooth’s worth is what it is looking like. I went for a quick coffee with John and then met Cody who is busy setting up her show to enjoy a late lunch at Oasis where we heard this great conversation float out of the kitchen:

Falafel slinger 1: Pantera is okay

Falafel slinger 2: Yeah but this is christian metal

After lunch I was back to work to finish off the Senior Dinner for the about to graduate seniors, of course, and then it was home with Cody for dinner and a relaxing movie. That is until Wayne brought in a very live and very unhappy bat. Yep, it sucked. I will spare you the details, we got the bat out of here and the whole situation was very unpleasant to say the least. Thanks for a memorable day, Wayne.

This morning I was doing some online browsing for some bike stuff and in addition to getting up close and personal with a Dura-Ace 12-27 cassette and a Sugino 175 compact crank I scoped out some pedals. Looking at the offerings from MKS one pair stood out that was quite pricey I thought until I saw that it is the choice of top Keirin pros in Japan. Enough said, I thought, and surfed over to u-tube to watch some racing!

Tonight I took what I learned and applied it to the Iowa City A ride, albeit with narrow shoulders and skinnier biceps and quads and I won a sprint! Without crashing anyone! The thing about Keirin racing though? Once they sprint they are done, they sit up. The A ride keeps going and I did not know what to do from watching videos so I got dropped. Poop. A large group of us went and had some beers after the ride and that was nice. I think this scenario will happen a lot this coming summer, but hopefully without the getting dropped part.

My limited impressive performance on the ride may also have been influenced by the Rage Against the Machine albums that Cody recently put on our computer. I listened before the ride and it put me in a slightly different frame of mind than my usual

afternoon Morcheeba which makes me feel like el Duderino listening to whale songs while smoking a joint in his tub.

I wish I could put into type that sound he makes when the cops call and tell him they found his car.