Not riding, Not doing all that well

on the heels of my last post, which was shotty at best, i left out some crucial information......I havent really been riding at ALL. In the past few months life has been throwing knuckle ball after knuckle ball my way. Unlike most people, i tend to ride only when there is a degree of stablity in my life.....rough waters are not a recipe for extended rides to "release life stress"....riding under deress only makes things worse.idle saddle time means my mind spins over stressful situations in concert with each pedal stoke.  after 20yrs of mountain biking in over a dozen states, riding in iowa has become an excercise in pedaling futility. After memorizing every trail feature of my favorite trail; riding it day, night, sunny, snowy, cold, hot, single speed, geared, cyclocross, vintage cruiser, alone, with freinds....i can say without a doubt, Im over it. i need new locales, new trails, new challenges.....new bikes? who knows, seems that posting a big fail in life on a tempory basis, means i fail on the bike. my riding is a mirror of my life, not a way to cope with it, rather the coping mechanisms that seem to appeal to me are mind altering in nature. WTF? this isnt the picture a long time cyclist is supposed to paint of his beloved passtime. Sometimes though, a bike is a bike and i just dont feel like getting on the m*&herf@"ker!!!!  Anywhoo, guess this entry is meant to create some comments related to how cycling really fits into your life.....lemme know

ps---no editing or rephrasing on this one, you got it in realtime

Big Boy Bike

Howdy....here's a post that started about two months ago:

This weekend I embarked on  the most holy of all missions to a cyclist....teaching my son to ride his bike without training wheels. As a kid, riding a bike was a symbol of freedom....I could now go further in less time and without adult assistance (assistance and oversight are interchangeable terms here)....for me it was the first step of what has become a life long passion ....now I'm not going to bore you with a lavishly embellished tale of riding my bmx bike on the trails of my rural neighborhood, but I could, Oh I could. Let's just leave it with the understanding that I really want the kid to learn to ride.....And "the kid"?....not so much. We are now in our third day of "learning"....."the kid" is up for three to six attempts a day, then its time to play with anything other than the bike. Thats not entirely true, he wants to play with the bike just not ride it. Performing a suedo repair on a perfectly functioning bicycle has a become part of the ritual of cycling for my son. Of course, i do the same thing, switching this handlebar for that, because one has 2 degrees more backsweep than the other....unfortunately it represents the bulk of our bike time together. Never fear friends, patience and perseverance will prevail.

The last line of this partial post is the reason I added the excerpt.....Patience and Perseverance DID NOT pay off. My son has become increasingly disinterested in riding, in no small part because of the what i thought at the time was an awesome idea....get him a super rad RC car for his birthday.

the death of toddler cycling (traxxas.com)

It turns out that my son does indeed have my genetic code, particularly the parts that are enamored with hobbies that require no effort on his part to participate in.

Well, on to other matters....with the onset of foul weather comes a marked decrease in my ride time. Night mountain bike rides are replaced with beer runs, and early morning commutes by late morning drives with coffee and a smoke. Some would say that whats needed here is to add a couple hundred bucks of overpriced "winter" cycling gear.....and i would not be one of them. Riding cold is LAME!now dont me wrong, i have all that stuff and will use it on occasion, but I will not force myself to ride if i dont want to......period. And you shouldnt either, this is after all supposed to be a fun escape from lifes stresses right? I will traditionally, during this time of year list, plan, and connive the method i will use to drop thousands of dollars on gear in the upcoming season. Which, conveniently brings me to a down and dirty review the newest addition to the stable

Salsa El Mariachi (2010)

Manufacturer: Salsa Cycles (distributed by QBP)
Country of Origin: Taiwan
MSRP: 2k-ish 

So I got this thing a couple of months ago, and and it rode super great right up to the point i bent the derailleur hanger and trashed the rear derailleur hosing......wah, wah, waaahhhh!!!!! I understand the idea that replaceable hangers are and should be made of material that is softer than the frame material to ensure that the hanger fails before the frame, but this version, which salsa calls the Alternator Drop Out (click the link for a technical drawing) is butter soft. so much so that its nigh impossible to bend it back into alignment. The handlebars are aircraft carrier wide, which when on a trail that is more than 710mm wide is perfect, handling is stable and predictable. When things get tight however, a fair amount of body english is required to navigate the random branch or vine encroaching on the trail. Brakes and drivetrain work great and only require minimal adjust after the standard break-in time. WTB saddles & tires are my personal favs, so for me the were perfect. the Reba29er fork was easy to set up, and actuated butter smooth right off the bat. Being a clydesdale sized rider, fork flex is always an issue, especially when pushing hard into burmed turns. Not so much with this fork, the Maxle through-axle is uber-stiff and easy to use and adjust. One of the nice details of buying a Salsa is that while some bike companys use components like seatpost collar, stem, and seatpost to shave some cheddar off the bottomline, Salsa uses their components; which in my opinion are some of the best in the business.......With the option of running single speed or geared this bike is a great all around, medium travel hardtail and well worth the asking price......

Yahuda Moon Calls it quits



For those of us who are fans of Mr. Moon, Joe, Thistle, The Bike Ninja, and the host of other quirky characters that lived in this strip, its the end of an era.......rick has decided to call it quits on the comic, siting the need to feed his family and not be institionalized. While I'm sad to see the comic go, its also kinda enraging.....Appearently there has been a ton of well wishing, and support emails concerning the end of comic, though theres a not-so-subtle implication that the strip has ended partailly because of lack of financial support......ShaME On US!!!!! for not ponying up a couple of bucks to support this great comic that casts a humorous and satirical light on the sport we love. That being said, we all have a chance for redemption, collected works are available in three volumes at: http://www.yehudamoon.com ......Frickin support this stuff, its the only way to keep seeing it!!!!

 



think thats all i got for the moment.....as its the day after ill take this oppertunity to wish everyone a merry holiday season and a safe and prosperous new year

RAGBRAI Confessional & The silver Lining

hey all, so here's the report on how my RAGBRAI went......

Day 1.....our small but determined group met at Grounds for Celebration in Beaverdale at about 10:30a Tuesday morning. we grabbed a cup'o'joe and loosely laid out a plan for joining the tour across the state en route. the ride had started on Saturday in glenwood, Iowa and by that time had come nearly halfway across the state to boone, which for those who you not acquainted with Midwest geography is damn near smack dab in the middle of the state. Our plan was to leave des moines ride up the neal smith trail, sticking close to the cover of the des moines river and then saylorville lake to polk city, west to madrid, then north to boone.....THIS WAS AN AMAZING RIDE!!!!!! the neal smith is a scenic roller coaster ride through some of the lushest terrain central iowa has to offer.....even with a fully loaded (and by that i mean overloaded for my not-so-fitness level) trailer, the miles seemed to just happily tick away.  in no time at all we arrived at the saylorville marina and cruised into Polk City just as the heat of the day started to peak.....and i could go on for another thousand words, in witty detail about how each hour of the trip went, but I won't. The reality is that i wasn't in shape enough to finish the planned 3hundred-ish/4 day trip........BUMMER!!

From this catastrophe rose a singular realization....I need to ride more, alot more. Being bike geek, does not, as it turns out make you a better rider. so to that end a new personal mantra was born: ride as much as my body and schedule would allow. Following RAGBRAI, I started riding to work 3 to 4 days a week, running errands on the bike, and trail riding as much as I could....to date I've logged over a 1,000 on and off road miles and lost alittle of my middle aged gut....with this increased level of activity has also come the realization that I'd lost a measure of my personal identity and had apathetically compromised some of my core values both professionally and personally........yet another bummer!!!! so, as I'm writing this post I find myself in the middle of mid-life crisis.....not the i wanna buy a Ferrari and date a 19yr-old super model from the eastern block kind, but rather, the what the f*#k are you doing with your life kind.....at 38yrs I found myself working a corporate job devoid of any creative expression, not traveling at all, not creating any art of my own, and until recently riding the least I've ridden in the past decade.......are these the values i want to demonstrate to my son.....ABSOLUTELY NOT. so....I'm slowly turning the tide, one pedal stroke at a time....keep ya posted

RiDe FrEE!!!!!

Fathers Day @ Banner Lakes & Buddahs Rebuild Trucker

For Fathers day I decided to treat myself to a long mountain bike ride...typically my favorite local spot is close enough to home that I can ride over to the trail head, so after years of hauling the bike and usually a buddy or two an hour plus to hit the dirt, the last three years I am happy to report that until a couple of weeks ago i hadn't had the mountain bike in the car (ditched the roof rack about the 5yrs ago after ripping a bike off the top going into a parking garage....arrgh). But, seeing how it was Daddy Day and wifey had given me the free pass to "ride until i didn't want to ride anymore" .....I tossed the Monocog into the back of the Honda and was off. It seems that after years of riding anything and everything that even resembles a dirt trail I've come to realize that I like riding familiar trails. Its become fun to focus on subtle trail features that might go unnoticed on a first run....a tree root that I can loft over to set up a turn, or a new chainring scar on a fallen log crossing the trail. The beauty of riding the same trail year round is that it gives us the opportunity to watch nature creep through its life cycle.

Anyhoo, back to Banner Lakes.....it had rained the week before, but referencing my normal ride, in my mind the trail should have been plenty dry and just moist enough to provide the perfect riding surface for my over sized small knob treads......WR0NG!!! to say it was a soupy mess would be an understatement boarding on the obscene. here's a picture of what my bike looked like after the ride.....

This was a good 'ol fashion mud fest....but not really inna good way. It reminded me of the enthusiasm I had for mountain biking in my twenties, then it was about conquering the trail.....now its about coexisting with it. It was a fun ride...more because riding is like pizza and sex, it might not always be great, but if we're really honest with ourselves its very rarely bad......the plan is to provide a more formal trail review in the future with useful bits of info like mileage, a trail map, skill level, and some nifty photos of trail markers. However,  with the trails conditions being what they were, I opted to start that process another day.


As it says in the title line....my good friend Buddha scored a Surly Long Haul Trucker from a friend (thanks Billy).....and we built it up this week. The bike will ultimately be used as a commuter, but its maiden voyage will be on RAGBRAI (this is a tour across Iowa for the outta towners tuning in).......thought I'd post a picture of it in case anyone is looking for inspiration for their own build:

We built it up as a 1x9 with mavic aksyium wheels, truvativ cranks, Avid cantis and levers, a recycled brooks saddle, and a smattering of other parts poached from the shop. well, that's all I got for the day.....RIDE FREE!

PS----here's a random shot I found of an all wood bike i found on line....kinda weird, but cool...I'd link the website, but its all over the bike  :0)

PSS----I'm starting a new feature: everytime I get a bike mag, I'm going to post the average price of the bikes reviewed. this weeks mag: BIKE ; average price of reviewed bikes:  $ 4952.50 !!!  R U F*#king Kidding ME??!!!!

Des Moines by Bike

As the title line suggests today i rode a mini tour of des moines......in a time when all the bike mags (mountain bike mags in particular) are singing the praises of  $7000 bikes and sweet riding in outer mongolia....i think we often neglect what is right outside our front door and what's sitting right in our garage. simple bikes ridden in places that you don't need to get on a plane to enjoy, what a concept. here is a little photo journal of destinations that are within 20miles of my house (would love to see some of yours):
 
Drake Campus: if your spinning on university ave, zip through drake....the side walks are smooth as glass and if your feeling randy, there's a few interesting concrete structures to throw yourself off of.

like i said....simple bikes and places right out the door. i rode my single speed road bike all day and even hit a couple miles of denmans (or is it dedmans? who knows) trail in water works/ashworth park. in dry weather the singletrack is like concrete. hint: just because its called a road bike, its doesn't mean it always has to be on the road. a touring bike with semi meaty tires can easily handle light trail riding. not to mention its a nice way to add some variation to your ride and hone bike handling skills. you can find detailed trail info @:
http://www.centraliowatrails.org

Neal Smith Trail: this trail system connects grays lake to west des moines locally....it has a couple of mini tressels (like the one pictured here) and its relatively flat. the des moines bike collective has an online, downloadable trail map of  the paved trails in central iowa. for you adventurous types there are tons of little side trails along the route.

Grays Lake Park/Water Works Park:
there is a small arboretum at the far east entrance to water works park....just across from grays lake. its a great place to people watch at catch your breath in the shade

4th & Court...if your thing is vintage architecture, coffee and good beer (love'um all) then this is your spot. home to the "original" des moines coffee house and roaster Java Joes is the spot for java downtown. conveniently, the royal mile next door has a wide selection great beers and a lunch menu that's a carb loaders delight


 Downtown Sculpture Garden....... from downtown i road west on walnut, through the cobbled bus depot (side note: bus drivers DO NOT  like it when you split bus traffic on the center line) and cut across 12th St to check out des moines' most expensive public space, i'm very vocal about what i consider a gross misuse of  what is a prime piece of downtown green space...yet i'm strangely attracted to the ever growing sea of over priced art work that lives there.        

  Woodland Cemetery: from downtown i was up to ingersoll to MLK for a quick stop off  a couple laps of  the cemetery....its a brick road roller coaster, lined with old growth trees and grave sites dating back to the 1700s....found this headstone and thought it ironically poetic. after expending what little juice i had left on the

 ups and downs of woodland it was time to head home....as previously mentioned i don't have an odometer on my bike (nor do i want one)...but all in all i think i rode about 30miles....and had an amazing afternoon...................RIDE FREE!








 

i really need to update more often

well since last i wrote.....i was laid off and then recalled to work, built a couple of bikes (with a couple more in the works), got the crosscheck finished and got to riding on a more consistent basis........first pictures of bikes:

built this for a good friend who has since moved to iowa city.....its an old Raleigh turned into a single speed road bike, note: i said single speed and NOT fixed gear.

for those of you who are looking to do a 27 1/4 to 700c conversion, a word of advise: measure and then remeasure the brake reach you need to make the smaller 700c (yes, a 700c is smaller than a 27.25") wheel work.....i'd love to say that the reason the brake is mounted to the interior of the frame is that is looks cool, but its also the only way i could get the brake i had on hand to hit the rim right.

specialized makes this really cool vintage looking bar wrap that looks like perforated leather, but is in fact synthetic cork. also, i was able to use an old set of schwinn drop bars that had a 22.2mm grip diameter...this means mountain levers will fit.









i've finally got some miles on the cross check and started the long and slow process of changing up some of the parts....here's a photo update:

 i just added a few upgrades... brooks saddle, changed the bars to surly open bar (the update on the overall length....cut .75in. off each end and reduced the total with from 26.2in. to a smidgen under 25in.), oury grips, avid levers, paul thumbie bar end converter, and a paul chain tensioner. the plan is to have a bike that will

sorta do it all...light off road, self supported touring, and the occasional road ride....ill update as this change on the bike..as far as installing all the parts, the paul components went on with out a hitch and have been operating flawlessly. i will mention however, take your patient pills prior to putting on the chain tensioner as it takes a little time to get it lined up just right. another note is that if you want to run just one thumbie you have to order it from paul, but pairs are available through your local QBP dealer.


TRAIL UPDATE:
all trails in Ashworth/Greenwood Park are on the semi-dry/mostly ride-able side....i rode there a couple times last week and had a blast.










finally ill leave you with a shot of my son as spider-man....happy trails :0)

Sycamore Trail

today brought to an end another week of toiling away in the mines.....being on the night shift i've developed two rituals of note:

1) the beer bath---this is a steaming hot bath (of the bubbly variety) accompanied by a six pack of my favorite overpriced, thick as mud microbrew

2) the friday morning exhaustion ride---working nights means monday starts on sunday night, thus friday ends on friday morning. so being the idiot that i am i have a developed a "unique system", whereby, i get off work in the morning, go home and get some much needed family time, see wifey and son of to work/school and after being awake for 20hrs, go for a ride.......

which brings me to the title line of todays entry.

after a quick visit with my friends  at ironheart tattoo i zipped east on urbandale ave, picking up the trestle to trestle trail for a mile or so, then crossed douglas ave at MLK and dropped onto the sycamore trail. once on sycamore there is a paved trail that parallels the des moines river that stretches from MLK to morningstar dr.....there is also a double track trail the runs between the paved trail and the river.feeling a little adventurous i opted for the double track. i cruised along the slightly damp dirt path for a bit, noting that with each pedal stroke more and more of the world famous iowa clay was collecting at the pitch points on the crosscheck. after a half mile or so i happened along what appeared to be minor stream crossing. it was NOT a minor stream crossing. so after fording the knee deep frozen steam i pressed on only to be reward with an awe inspiring display of wildlife (none of which i was able to capture a picture of ) , i was shadowed by a pair of bald eagles, badgered by a group of canadian geese, buzzed by suicidal squirrels, and spooked by a pair of white tail rocketing across the trail. The animal show inspired me to press on  though the soup and three other stream crossings till i reached a clear cut makeshift trail the followed some power lines running from east

just before crossing the stream in the background

to west...by this time my feet were quazi-frostbitten and my bike was completely covered in muck. with a strict 3:15pm retrieval time for my son, i decided to follow the power lines to some blacktop. a half a mile later the trail intersected the Neal Smith which after a short ride, delivered me to the intersection at nw beaver ave. i grabbed a quick drink snapped a picture at the trail head on the west side of beaver and spun off on what i thought was the neal smith toward saylorville dam. my actual destination was urbandale via johnston by way of an as yet unidentified paved trail. upon arrival in ubandale i happened on a cookie cutter housing development ripe full of mini-vans, this served to remind me that i need to fetch the boy from school. so half frozen and super stoked about the urban adventure i'd had i sprinted back to beaver ave and then home. this was an killer ride....adventure just out of my doorstep, i'm now completely sold on the merits of owning a cyclocross bike. trails that i would normally pass by on my mountain bike are now viable options, it was a welcome lesson in line section as with a 35mm tire small ruts dramatically affect steering. i cant wait for spring!!!! GRAVEL, HERE I COME!!!

one post begets another

had to post a pic of the new bike that landed in the stable today......this is the"fresh outta the box" look, soon to be traded for the "looks like a bike dre would ride" look. for those of you who are wondering why this bike was purchased as a complete---surly and QBP have WAY more buying power than me....so, shimano cuts them a better deal on parts than i could ever hope for. Pay attention kids, this is probably the only real good piece of advice on purchasing a new bike (aside from buy the one that fits ya!!): Buying a bike complete  is alot cheaper than piecing it together bit by bit. anyway, here's the new crosscheck....i'll be updating and filling you in on the ride as i get some saddle time on the thing.

on a separate, but equally cool note the wood plugs i ordered from omerica organic body jewelry showed up at the casa today.....holy shit, they are really nice (the picture really doesn't do them justice at all) they are beautifully crafted with high quality materials....and very reasonably price, got both pairs for under 80 shmackroos....for those of you that are into this kinda thing, you know its dirt cheap......omerica is a denver based company that makes all kinda cool shit....not stretched? never fear, they make belt buckets, dog tags and post style earrings as well. check 'em out

danny macaskill......and my coffee cup

this video has been floating around  you tube for awhile....but  its still fan-tabulous. if your not inspired to ride after watching this.....check your pulse, you may be dead. check this guy out at: http://www.dannymacaskill.co.uk

after a week of 12hr days....i think the message of my coffee cup sums up my needs and feelings for the week (the message, in case your NOT a master of the obvious---"fuck you i need coffee!!").....to make it bike related i will say that this cup fits perfectly into a standard water bottle cage

have to share this little tidbit about my son sage, who being the coolest five-year-old of all time (and i swear i'm not saying that because he's mine) requested that i play "robot music" for him as i'm writing this post.....sure you're wondering "what in the hell is robot music" click below to hear my sons favorite song

merry weekend y'all

Brr in the books, Ragbrai overnights announced

Brr was a blast...the weather was nice as it can be for a february ride in iowa, and aside from a few drunken country bumpkins the ride had little to offer in the way of drama.....which is a good thing. our small, but stalwart crew set out for the glorious hamlet of Ripey about 10:30a (a half hour after the official cannon shot start), arrived at noon-ish had a few of the local libations and then headed back to perry (albeit, two shy of our of our crew...but never fear we picked up two sets of fresh legs for the return trip). One of the best things about this ride is the fact that for a few hours cyclist rule the road. The roads aren't closed to motorized traffic.....they are just at our mercy...which here in des moines probably isn't so odd, but out in the country? not so much. Thanks to the Perry Chamber of Commerce and bikeiowa.com (who by the way answer emails in minutes, amazing)....ps--the surly open bar handlebar i was gonna put on my salsa for this ride never made it on the bike, i instead started breaking in a new brooks saddle...which ill also review at some point.

pictured here(from Left to Right): J Dis, Apollo Creed a.k.a Stars and Stripes, Grandma Fixed, Dre, Dr. Sandy & Jamie BMX

Oh yeah...ragbrai overnight cities are as follows : Glenwood, Atlantic, Carroll, Boone, Altoona, Grinnell, Coralville & Davenport....i may or may not do a little write up on each one at some point...but i have linked all the local chambers of commerce if you wanna check them out.

I am an Ironman....?

Sterling @ Rasmussen Bike Shop found this and showed it to me the other day......had to post it because its HILARIOUS!!!!

Frickin Sunshine & Surly Open Bar

This morning brought a tiny ray of sunshine....so being the rocket genius that I am, I thought that a little early spring cleaning in the workshop/garage was in order. So, brewed up some coffee and added a hefty splash of  Bailey's and headed to the dungeon. Three hours later I've come to this conclusion: I HAVE A ABSURD AMOUNT OF BIKE SHIT!! Here's a shot of the garage with all the bikes in a central location

Don't get me wrong folks there are plenty of people out there with heaps more bikes than this....but it couldn't help but make me wonder two things:

1) Is my wife right? Am I really obsessed with cycling and bikes

2) Do they pay those wackos on that hoarding show, and I wonder if it would be enough to get that custom titanium Black Sheep I've been drooling over for the last 2yrs?

What I'm most proud of is that after 3 months I can finally see the top of  the work bench....so proud in fact, that I'm gonna post a picture of it:

And  as promised a blurb about the new handlebar I'm gonna guinea pig for BRR.....

Product: Surly Open Bar

Manufacturer: Surly Bikes

Price: 60 bones (US)

First let me say....this bar is Really frigging wide....surly claims it to be 666mm (damn number of the beast!) which is about 26.25 inches, but never fear there is a truck load of grip area  (6.5inch or 165mm).....soooo, if you wanna a shorter bar it can be cut down a bit. As a reference most grips range from 100mm to 130mm, add little room for brakes and/or shifters and I figure I could conceivably cut off between a half to three quarters of an inch off each end....I'll post a final width on the bars when i have them mounted and cut. Also, I wanted to post a top view of the bar as it is nigh impossible to find this view anywhere. It is worth noting that the handlebar pictured is the 0mm rise version, its also available in a 40mm rise.....for BRR its going on the Salsa, but the finally destination will be a 1x9 Surly CrossCheck (as soon as the robins egg blue frame comes available in my size).....Anywhoo, that's all I got for today....I'll leave you with a cool picture from a coffee cruz my wife and I did this summer....toodles!

BRR Ride and Thoughts On Winter Riding

Well folks, it is officially upon us...winter. If your anything like me, when sub-zero temperatures hit the first thought that comes to mind is: "Goddammit!!! why didn't i ride more when the weather wasn't freeze your snot cold?" Then like any cyclist I'll spend the rest of the winter waiting for days that the wind isn't whipping to get out for a spin. Most times this means I hit the road for a bit then limp to a coffee shop (usually Mars Cafe) to thaw for an hour or so then brave the elements only to arrive home with a perma-chill and spend the next hour in a steaming hot bath. Yet, there are those rare days and evenings when Pluto aligns with Uranus and a winter ride becomes a portal into another world. That night ride when a light snowfall insulates the city just enough to dull the chill and the street lights shimmer through snowflakes to create a glow the warms your soul. The sound of over sized knobbies hooking up on frozen earth as you rail around deserted singletrack only to find a group of deer more than willing to prance along side you, if only for a moment. These are the moments that keep me coming back for more, and will you too if you have or do ever experience them......anyway, enough of this sappy shit lets get down to it

The 34th annual BRR Ride ( Bike Ride to Rippey)

Kids this is the ultimate winter ride, 20ish miles on Iowa country roads in what can be described as: sometimes crappy weather and most time down right nasty weather. But, i gotta tel ya its a BLAST!!! Billed as "The first Ragbrai reunion ride...." is has none of the pageantry with all the drunkenness one can handle. Its not uncommon to see drunken riders take the ditch or just flat fall over struggling against massive headwinds. My first experience in 2008 was an epic.....20 below, riding my northwest equipped single speed mountain bike, hauling a trailer full of booze. Can you say BRUTAL? Here's a few tips from that year of suffering

1. Those 250 cycling shoes you bought are designed to vent heat not hold it in....so if you don't have winter specific shoes, ditch your clipless pedals. Remember those el-cheapo plastic flats your bike came with? Dig'em out of the spare parts bin and put'em on your bike. Then take those carbon soled wunder shoes and put them in the closet where they belong and put on the warmest, sturdiest boots you own.

2. While Alcohol does offer a bit of warmth, to much will offer you an early trip to the ditch or worse. Alcohol and anaerobic actives generally are not a good mix....so, if your gonna drink (which I do) pace yourself, hurling on the side of the road with no sag wagon in sight in -30 windchill is not a good time.

 3. Keep your core warm, and your extremities warmer......cold hands, feet, and face are best winter riding buzz kill i can think of. As long as your core body is well insulated and you keep moving your legs and torso will stay relatively warm. Hands, feet and face however will be hammered by the elements if not covered. A good rule of thumb is double up on gloves, socks and face covering....shit, if its too warm you can take them off right?

 4. Finally, its 20miles....no need to pack the kitchen sink. If it doesn't fit in a daypack, you don't need it....really. Remember you'll already be carrying an extra 15-20lbs of extra clothing so don't over do it with the carry-alongs. They're are a few places to stop along the way to warm up and grab a snack (bring some cash)......and above all: HAVE A GOOD TIME!

all the information you could possible want, including online preregistration is available at:
http://www.bikeiowa.com/

why i dont race

     why don't i race? at first i thought of all the reasons that liberal white people would approve of .....i ride for the sensation of freedom it gives me, i ride to be closer to my surroundings whether it be the urban landscape or a natural one, racing brings out the worst in the human condition (this has to be a quote, but at 3am i cant for the life of me remember who said/wrote it), I'm a free spirit that cant be contained by the restraints of a race course......these of course are all BULLSHIZNANNY!
     the real reason i don't race is that  for all my love of cycling, there are somethings i love just as much.....stout beer, cigarettes (oh yeah, i said it and proudly at that: i fuckin smoke!!!), bacon at 3am, staying up past my bedtime, sitting on my ass and NOT meaninglessly toiling away countless hours logging "training miles", i could keep going but i think you get the point. the truth is a ride to a coffee shop, or favorite bar, or to the grocery store seems much more appealing than chasing some douche in a 250 dollar skin suit around a generic race course for two hours. and believe me, with my fitness level i'd always be the chaser. i say it alot, "I'm a destination oriented rider" and by that i mean i wanna go somewhere. I don't have a cycling computer on any of my bikes, i go as fast and as far as is fun on that given ride.period....and while im not saying that no one should race, i am advocating that EVERYONE should try to introduce a little more fun into they're riding......insert sappy relive your youth anecdote here.

bike pics and first impressions

salsa casseroll single speed...i switched the bars to nitto nordeast  

 

 

 

 

well.....figured since i was a bike blog writer i should post the bikes i own and a couple that I've built for friend's. you will notice that none of them are fixed gear bikes.....don't own one, and wont ride one (I'll save the fixie rant for later, its a mini novel in the making)

Redline Monocog 29er.....added avid bb7 brakes, shimano dx clipless pedals, jeff jones h-bar (made by titec) and a couple of stickers that you cant see in this pic

 Kona Humu cruiser converted to a 26inch BMX bike: this bike is sooooo much fun to ride, if you don't have big BMX bike....GET ONE!!!! (ill be posting a conversion guide at some point, which will included frame selection tips, parts resources, and some helpful does and don'ts i learned along the way)

 salsa fargo: this is my wife sandy's bike, parts highlights include: paul mtb cranks, avid bb7s, king headset, and nitto albatross bars (even though they're not pictured here, this was the first incarnation of this bike)

 Cannondale R500 conversion a.k.a. "The Purple People Eater"...built this for my friend Buddha, used ODI lock-on grips, Brooks B17 saddle, and threw on some Animal BMX flats. he used it for RagBrai this year and has been commuting on it when the weather permits.

 Paramont MTB single speed conversion....another friend build (you need to ride this more matt!!!!) picked it up from the broken spoke in iowa city....when i test rode this after it was done, the geometry transported me back to when i first started riding off road in the early 90s.....this bike is so quick steering, hence the big riser bars, fit prohibited me from using a shorter stem. the riser bars mellowed the handling just enough not to make it super scary in the technical stuff.

 First Impression: Timbuk2 Hemlock Roll-top Backpack (SM)

Retailer: Timbuk2 online

Price: Small-$59 Medium-$65 (took advantage of a sale price, they're normally $90-$100)

Got this thing in the mail yesterday and was immediately impressed.....got the small, well because I'm not a messenger. The small is plenty big enough to carry anything you would need for a day of commuting, it easily fits all the essentials in the large front pocket and the main compartment would fit a change of clothes, street shoes and a laptop (13-15inch is the recommended size for the small, the medium will hold up to an 18inch). In iowa biking tradition the first ride was a booze cruise....i loaded the front pocket with a small digital camera, bike lock, wallet, keys, phone and an extra pair of  gloves. The main compartment had an extra jacket stuffed in it (and I'm not talking about some wunderfabric shell, it was a carhart fleece vest, can you see bulky, but really warm?), and there was plenty more space in there. Packed it sat great on my back and didn't move at all during my 7ish mile cruise downtown. the straps didn't cut into my shoulders at all....i cant wait to put some miles in with this packed! I'll have a full review after I've really had a chance to test it.

Ride Shot

found this picture from a ride last summer.....for those who dont know ashworth park here in des moines has almost 20miles of singletrack...my hope is that hipsters will start mountain biking before there knees blow out from all those super cool fixie tricks they do

first post

well here goes....hey world! i was inspired to start this blog after a fruitless search for a Des moines IA based cycling blog, i know there out there i just cant find them. anywhoo, i figured i have as much to contribute as the next yeahoo, so why the fuck not. i guess i wanted a forum for our little cycling community, and somewhere to rant. i'll be filling in the blanks of the spot as time permits.....late