Back on the Web

I'm not sure if any of you had any problems, but BooksBikesBeer was not working on any of our home computers. Thankfully our in house technician was able to get to it.

In our absence though, many exciting things have happened. I turned 27 on Thursday. It was exciting and relaxing and, in many ways, I'm still celebrating. For my birthday I got a bunch of snow, some cool argyle socks, a travel coffee mug that I can drink out of, lock the top on, and then carry upside down in my bag should I get the notion. There were also a few other fun things like Scotland Yard and a magnificent dinner made by the wonderful Robin.

And with the birthday snow I have made it out to the Hawkeye XC course twice. Yesterday Robin and I swung by the bike and ski shop so she could purchase her very own cross country skis, which were a semi-belated birthday purchase. From there we went directly to the course and skied until our arms and inner thighs were quite fatigued. This morning we got up, enjoyed our coffee and breakfast, and went back out for more skiing. This time I used my skate skis instead of my classic skis in order to more evenly distribute the soreness.

We did not get a lot of snow in the storm, perhaps about three or three and a half inches. They (I don't really know who they are, but I appreciate them) groomed the course though, and it is pretty nice. Thankfully it has been cold enough to keep the snow from getting too soft, but not cold enough to turn it into ice chunks. Today my skating skills improved rapidly thanks to some short drills and pointers from Bart. And Robin was also making great improvements.

The bikes are on hold now (except for the usual transportation from home to work to store etc.) as we will continue to ski everyday that we can. We are supposedly getting some kind of snow/ice mix tonight and tomorrow; hopefully it is more of the former and less of the latter.

Metric Century

Early this morning I met Steve at the park for a hundred mile gravel road ride. I had my doubts about finishing the whole ride. I figured there was a chance I could do it with proper eating, but it turns out the 8 minute commute to the EPB everyday is just not enough to get one prepared for a dirty century. But that's ok; it was a great ride anyways, hopefully Steve's final forty miles were great too.

It was a whacky weather day. When we started temps were in the high thirties, there was a light wind, and a super heavy fog. It was like riding through a cloud. The forecast said it would be in the lower sixties later with the sun making an appearance. Some of these forecasters felt the fog would burn off by nine A.M. or so. That particular person was wrong, but others happened to be right. Steve and I had our doubts, but we still both dressed in intricate layers so that we could peel off the the warm pieces and stuff them in our pockets if the sun ever decided to actually show up.

We started rolling to the East, as it is one of the quickest ways to get to dirt roads. After just a few miles we were riding up and down gravel hills and I could not see a thing. My glasses were full of condensation, on the outside and inside of the lenses, so I decided to take them off. My vision is not horrible, but I do prefer to keep my glasses on most of the time. In this case though, my fuzzy vision just matched the natural surroundings. It did, however, lead to a little bit more disorientation for me as I was often a little but unsure of exactly where we were.

After forty or so miles of riding I was definitely starting to feel my lack of fitness. I was hungry, still not seeing clearly (it was long after nine and still no sign of the sun), and the headwind we were fighting was making me a little bit grumpy. But a few miles later we arrived at the West Branch Casey's, just ahead of the lunch rush too. I had a couple pieces of pizza and a coca-cola classic and got some cheesy crackers and gatorade to go. That made me feel great. Going outside though was a little bit tough. Riding through clouds makes one extraordinarily damp, and putting the wet gloves back on was not good for morale.

But we headed out of town on a nice, quiet bike path. We had some shelter from the wind and it was also flat. My hands warmed up and my body was feeling great as we chatted about W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge, one of my all time favorite books.

Unfortunately the path did not last, and we were soon back in the wind and hills. It was about this time that my legs decided they were in fact tired and didn't want to play these silly pedaling games anymore. I told Steve that I would have to be heading in. He understood.

Luckily we were only about five or so miles outside of Iowa City. So I turned West to take some pavement back home and Steve proceeded East and South towards Lone Tree and another Casey's. At this point the weather was not much different than at the start. It was a little bit drier and a little bit warmer, but still very, very dreary.

Overall it was a great ride. I came home wet and mud spattered and took a nice warm shower. It was sometime during my shower that the sun did in fact come out. The day warmed rapidly and hit 65 degrees. Hopefully Steve had to make use of his many pockets as he finished his ride in the warm sunshine.

Super Social Weekend

This was a people intensive weekend that involved no reading or writing. It also involved no bike rides, but I'm hoping that accompanying Steve on one of his hundred mile gravel road rides tomorrow will make up for it.

My sister Jen was visiting for the weekend. She teaches math to highschoolers in the Chicago burbs. For the most part she had a very relaxing visit. Saturday morning she borrowed Robin's singlespeed and we rolled over to Hickory Hill Park. She ran and I walked around. It was a beautiful late morning. Cool and crisp with lots of leaves on the trails. I wish I brought a camera.

Later that night we went out for Thai food and then had a few friends over for beer and silly games and conversation. We also pulled the hookah out. It was quite nice, but then we had a hose mishap and some coals fell to the carpet. It got a little singed, so this morning we went out and got a new piece of carpet. Now we have a hookah party piece of carpet.

And then this afternoon we had a somewhat surprising visit from my old college roommate Chad and his fiance Cara. It was fun to catch up; I had not seen them in over four years. We hung around and had some more nice conversation.

I was going to grade this afternoon, but I think I will stay home and have a nice hot cup of tea and watch the dreary drizzle outside.

Happy Birthday Robin

Today is Robin's birthday, and for the next three weeks we will be the same age (26). It is a very exciting time.

Last night we went to a nice little birthday celebration at Katherine and Scott's that involved four people. Well, there were more than four people there, but there were four people celebrating a birthday too. Paul, Scott, Erica, and Robin. Amazing. Good drinks and tasty treats were had by all, and Robin walked out with jelly beans, some wild wild west figures, and a whole lot of chocolate bars.

Today we will continue the festivities. We will have birthday coffee and crossword puzzles. And later tonight we will have a nice dinner and more nice gifts for Robin.

Hooky

-noun. unjustifiable absence from school, work, etc. (usually used in the phrase play hooky): On the first warm spring day the boys played hooky to go fishing.

Well it was not exactly warm, but it was sunny, so I played hooky. There is certainly more to it than that, but I will just say that I was not mentally ready for class and I really wanted to ride my bike. So I skipped and went for another reservoir loop. It was extremely windy and I think I can say that it was the first cold ride of the year for me. I had my snuggly long underwear top under my new Don't Quit Your Day Job fleece lined long sleeved jersey. The combo worked great for the chill and wind. The legs felt great on the ride and they continue to feel better about my plans to ride more.

Unfortunately, I was not as productive this afternoon as I told myself I was going to be. But that happens. On the plus side I voted and went to the bank and the grocery store. The Co-Op had a new New Belgium beer there that I had never seen. So I bought it. It is yummy. Though I find it a little bit misleading. The packaging and name make it look like a true red ale, yet it is quite hoppy and reminds me more of the hearty hoppy ales that come out during the winter. It is still good, perhaps partly because it is actually cold out now, I just don't think it should have this picture on the label:


And as promised, here are some pictures of the new non-team kit. Pretty outstandingly ugly, but in a stylish way. Unfortunately for me though, these bib shorts are the only piece of medium sized cycling clothes in existence that do not fit me. Robin got an extra pair of them because of this and you possibly could too. If they look cool to you (and you are perhaps 5' 9" or less), drop me a line and we'll see if we can work something out. But enough about the size issues, here is the style:


Oh, and if you are reading this Mr. Stewart, first I would ask why? But then I would say I'm sorry; sometimes you just have to skip class. At least I haven't skipped yet this semester.

Extra Hour

Last night while most of us were tucked away in bed we lived the two o'clock (or is it three o'clock?) hour twice. In the morning I kept telling myself that I used my extra hour in bed. It certainly did feel nice to sleep in a bit. But while I spent the rest of my morning reading I decided I needed to force myself to spend that extra hour on the bike. So I went out into the sunny and windy Fall day for a quick reservoir loop. It was quite a nice way to end the week, and it marked my third ride of the week. I love being back on the bike with some regularity.

The other rides of the week were group rides, of a sort. This was the last week of the "official" Iowa City group rides. I met Steve, John, and another dozen or so riders for the Tuesday night version. We set off into the setting sun, lights on our handlebars and seats, and made our way to gravel, then B-roads, and then a short stretch of four wheeler trails. It was great fun, and I had not ridden that hard in quite awhile.

The other group ride was a bit smaller. On Friday night I met the Eppens at the park for a single speed ride up to North Liberty for enchiladas and Negra Modelos. This was the first time I've made the ride since I built up my single speed town bike. Single speed town bikes are more or less a requirement for these Iguanas rides. Other bikes are welcome of course, if you can handle a little bit of teasing. Anyways, the ride was nice. It was a beautiful and slightly cold Fall night. And despite the large plates of food and adult beverages, the Eppens made it quite the workout (my legs were still a little sore on Saturday). Perhaps there will be another Iguanas ride in the next couple weeks before the real cold sets in.

Sweet Pump!

It has been a little while since my last post. This is mostly because the weight of the grad school world has been crushing down on my shoulders. Bike rides had dwindled to less than one a week. Despite getting new cycling clothing from my new non-team, Don't Quit Your Day Job (photos coming soon), I thought about quitting all the time anyways. And I still do. But the real point is I'm riding my bike more again and it feels great. I got four rides in this past week. I haven't done that since the beginning of August.

Fridays are generally tough. I get up early and teach one class to a bunch of extremely unenthusiastic freshman and then I go to my office and try to read until five. Today I got sick of it in the early afternoon and decided it would be better to keep the ride streak going. So I called local fast guy Brian Eppen. I'm certainly not in shape to ride with him, but he is a very relaxed guy and I haven't seen him in awhile. Plus I knew that the Iowa state cyclocross championships were this Sunday and I was pretty sure that he would be going there to defend his title.

Sure enough, he was up for an easy spin. He suggested riding mountain bikes on some of the local "secret" trails in Iowa City. We met at the park and rolled to the woods at a leisurely pace. Brian had gears, and I was on a single-speed. The first stretch of trail we went to was new to me. It was covered in pretty yellow leaves. The singletrack was so new it was difficult to follow. It twisted and turned and had a lot of short steep climbs. This exhausted me right away. As you can imagine, my fitness is not great.

But by the second half of our first loop I was starting to get a little bit of a rhythm. I was smoother over the logs and was keeping my speed up through the turns and into the steep drops. And then I hear Brian a little up the ways talking to someone. I catch up and see Jason McCartney, hacking and coughing, in his Discovery kit. Olympian. Recent Vuelta Stage winner. New signee with the #1 ranked team in the world, CSC. This is great. I do love seeing Jason. But I was already struggling, and MC with a cold is not enough to allow me to keep up. A minute later other local fast guy Ryan Neninger rolls up to. Jason says, "Sweet, lets just roll up this way."

For the next hour and a half I struggled to follow those three. My legs and back burned as I entered the red zone for the first time since summer. The hills were so steep that I was dismounting and running up them cyclocross style (I also haven't run since the summer either). Eventually we took the path over to the other section of local, and flat, trails. This was much better.

Except that my driveside crank was loose. Shit. In my haste to meet Brian at the park I had left my allen wrenches in my road saddle pack. No one else had the right tool either. Brian did have some wrenches that we tried to make do. While the two of us were crouched around my crank trying to bunch up three small allen wrenches to tighten the large crank bolt, Jason says "Hey man, sweet pump!" I glance up at my old black Zefal frame pump velcro-strapped to my top tube. Nowhere near de rigeur for singlespeed mountain bike style. But then I look over and see an identical black Zefal pump velcro-strapped to the top tube of Jason's bike.

Pro style. That is the only way to describe it. Sure, my bike was failing me due to lack of maintenance. And my legs were burning despite the lengthy break. And I didn't ride road shoes and road pedals on my mountain bike like Jason. But I had the frame pump. And he noticed.

Welcome to the Family

I would like everyone to take a moment to offer a warm welcome to the newest member of the booksbikesbeer family. The Kuwahara Single Speed Townie. It was ready to go last weekend except for one final detail. I know I could have posted a little something about it, but I'm a mix between overworked and lazy. It is a weird place to be.

Last weekend though, I finally decided to get the bike put together. On Saturday I rolled down to the wonderful Bike Library to get some wheels. The place was hoppin. At least 15 people were in line ahead of me to check out bikes, and many of those people rolled away happy. I also rolled away a happy owner of a new (old really) set of 27 inch wheels. And they are actually fairly light.

Sunday afternoon Robin and I went down to Geoff's Bike and Ski to get some big and squishy tires and an 18 tooth freewheel. Robin loaned me her old busted ten speed dura ace chain and things started to come together.

All until I tried to clamp the rear wheel into place. At first I thought the skewer would not screw down tight enough. But closer inspection revealed that the axle of the wheel was actually sticking out beyond the dropouts on the frame. Hmmm. Was I going to need a new wheel? I worried so. Robin and I decided to walk it down to the Bike Library to consult with townie guru Steve G. Like us, he was perplexed. But then he said, "well, we could just hack saw off some of the excess axle." Really? Would that work, I asked. Steve shrugged and said that it should, but if it didn't there was a pile of wheels in the back.

So I held the axle in place with a wrench while the guru lopped off the precise amount of axle, measured, of course, by his own eyes. The wheel now fits perfectly. Cheers to you townie guru (if you were here you would see the raised pale ale in my hand).

The final items I was waiting for were some nice orange grips. I thought they would compliment the bike in an odd, somewhat ugly and endearing way. You can decide for your self.


And the final token on the townie is the goat. This is the very goat that adorned the wonderful brew Steve gave me the night he introduced the Kuwahara and I. They were truly meant to be together.

Gettin Fat

Nerdy Me

I stumbled on this internet nerd test. Sure enough, I'm a nerd. At least I scored well in literature, I'd feel pretty stupid if I was a non-literate nerd.

Good Times

Much has happened since my last lament about summer ending. School is in full swing and I'm ok with that, mostly because fall is fast approaching and I love sweater weather. It makes it easier to read books and drink coffee in the afternoon. And all the Oktoberfest brews come out too, yumee.

If you are interested in my happenings these last couple of weeks I will give you a rundown in topical order.

Books: I read a lot now. Too much. Some of it I don't understand, like Georg Lukacs, but the big Victorian novels are good. I am particularly enjoying Miss Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. I have never been to Northern England (or any part of England for that matter), but the descriptions of the windswept moors make me want to wander through the rough rocky landscape for many days, or even weeks.

Bikes: I managed to ride my bike twice this week. I think that will become my goal for every week. There is a chance I could get more in, but with my teaching and class schedule twice a week will be hard enough. Yesterday I got out for an hour as part of my efforts to get rid of a hangover. It worked. And Tuesday I went on part of the 'B' ride with Steve and John. Just as we were leaving the 'A' guys showed up, but it turned out to be a good thing since I got to catch up with Brian Eppen for awhile. When we reached Hills Steve, John, and I turned around and spun home at a nice, easy pace. I went over to Steve's to check out an old Kuwahara frame that he found in the trash. It was quite nice and should make a great townie. We stayed for a really nice Double Bock, and by that time it was getting dark, so Steve suggested I leave the frame for another time. Being the nice guy he is though, he delivered it to my house this afternoon via his cargo bike. Hopefully in the next week or two I can get it up and running with some help from the Bike Library.


Beer: Well, I guess I already started talking about beer in the last section. Those two categories have a habit of blending together sometimes. But Friday night Robin's work, The Hudson River Gallery, hosted an opening for the paintings of Steven Erickson. The work was great and so was the turnout. Robin and I invited all our friends back to our house for beer and a couple hookah sessions. It was a grand time and I drank more than I had in a long time. Not horribly bad, but enough to feel pretty shitty for most of Saturday.

And tomorrow marks an extremely momentous beer occasion in the state of Iowa. New Belgium brewing will now be sold here. John's Grocery is having a little party for it all which includes a short bike ride and adult beverages. Unfortunately this starts at 7:30 in the morning and I have to teach an hour after that. But you can show up anytime during the day to sign up for a drawing for a candy-apple red New Belgium cruiser, complete with rear rack and a case of beer. If I win then I will have two townie bikes, just like Robin.

The End of Summer

My summer is officially over. The end started last Monday, when I started learning how to be a teacher again. But tomorrow is the real end. At 8:30 in the morning I will be standing up in front of 23 sleepy undergraduates trying to convince them that understanding the rhetorical process is indeed important for a happy and fulfilling life.

Anamosa/Stone City Century

Yesterday was gorgeous. The temperatures were in the low 70s. It was dry. The winds were light and out of the northeast. And I had the day off. So I decided to set out on my bike towards Anamosa. I figured I'd get around a hundred miles in and get to see some new places. Numerous times I have been very close to Anamosa, but never all the way there. So it certainly held some sort of draw for me.

The route there was beautiful rolling farm land and I saw very few cars the entire ride. A few miles south of Anamosa it started to get significantly hillier. When I rolled into town I had not quite reached fifty miles and I still had some fluids so I continued north a little ways and came to Stone City. The road dropped steeply down towards town, with a quarry and and nice slow moving river. Like the name suggests, everything was made of stone. There were stone houses, farms, and churches that looked to be well over a hundred years old. They had so much stone there that parts of the road were lined with gigantic slabs of limestone. I did not have my camera with me, so I don't have any pictures. But I did find a painting of Grant Woods called "Stone City." He was born in Anamosa and used to run an artists community in Stone City during the summers.


On my way back through Anamosa I stuck to Main Street rather than the neighborhoods I zig zagged through to get to the county road that led to Stone City. The first thing that stood out was a sign for the Anamosa Penitentiary. Only about a block away from downtown, this eerily beautiful monstrosity houses numerous criminals, and has for well over a hundred years. I don't know anything about the complicated nature of the prison system, and I wont pretend too. But it was odd to think that the stone used to construct this prison came from the quarry just up the road in Stone City that most likely supplied the stone for the houses, farms, and even the churches. They were quite possibly built by the same people.

This is the view on the ride up the street.


And here is a nice aerial view to give you an idea of how big the stone structure is.


The rest of town had small shops, bars, and restaurants. It was quite nice. I would definitely go back again. They also have the National Motorcycle Museum there. I didn't stop in, but I looked through the windows and noticed that they also have a few interesting samples of the motorcycle's great predecessor, the bicycle.

The ride home was nice and uneventful. I had chocolate milk, gatorade, coke, and a tailwind. I had one low spot that lasted a few miles, but I came out of it and felt quite good the last twenty or so miles. I got home with 102 miles in 5 hours and 55 minutes. Pretty good for a hilly, solo century.

Fighting Gravity

Many moons ago, Robin suggested that we hang some of the bikes in our basement. Well, that day finally came. We have spots for five bikes, two frames, and a set of wheels or a bunch of tires.



We snuck two others (including Robin's newly reclaimed Jamsis) between the stairs and the washing machine.

And after you walk up the stairs and into the kitchen you will be enticed by our newly hung wine rack, courtesy of Robin's parents.

Travels With The Radler

Last night, while walking along the streets of downtown Iowa City, Robin and I were astounded to run into her Jamis that was stolen from our porch three months ago. Due to our detailed description in the police report, the cops sided with us, chopped the lock off, and let us walk away with it. You can read more about it here.

That was a very welcome surprise in general, but coming on the heels of a very nice Friday made it even better. Late that morning I took off on my new Brooks saddle (firmly affixed to the Pacer, of course) for a long ride. I had gone on a short ride with it on Thursday and it felt pretty good. I loved the smoothness of it, and my sitbones felt very secure on the back of it. The only thing that was a little different from my Selle Italia Flite was the higher and harder nose. So I continued to play with the tilt and the fore and aft adjustment, but I think it will continue to loosen up.

Back to the ride though. It was quite warm out, but not as bad as the few previous days. And I was intent on getting a long ride in. With a few snacks and three bottles of water and gatorade I rode north into the hills. My legs were a little sore early on because for some reason on Thursday's ride I thought it was a good idea to sprint up a bunch of the hills. Oh well. They loosened up shortly.

I took Sugar Bottom rode out towards Solon and then continued north and east on Sutliff Rd. I really enjoy this route to Sutliff. It is quiet, pretty, and hilly. When I neared the famous old bridge I resisted the urge to stop at the bar for a cold beer and turned north to ride up to Lisbon. I had never been to Lisbon before. It was nice. Upon riding into town I was greeted by a large banner welcoming me to Sauerkraut Days. The town was full of vendors and carnival rides, but none of it was starting until later that afternoon. So I had to pass on funnel cake and cotton candy and settle for refueling at the Casey's. I skipped on pizza this time and went with the potato wedges, cheesy crackers, and more gatorade and water.

I rolled back south towards Sutliff. Again the bar was calling to me, and it was stronger as I rode right by it this time. But it was really hot out and baking in the sun with beer or sitting in the smoky bar did not sound like fun. Instead I found myself on some dirt roads outside of Sutliff. I was hoping that I would be able to find a paved road that would lead me to Cedar Bluffs, but that was not the case. After a few miles of poking around on gravel I decided to head back to Solon, the way I came, rather than blindly picking dirt roads and ending up riding hours longer than I intended.

When I came into Solon I was hot. Damn hot. The kind of hot that makes your head throb. I had been riding for a little over three hours and I needed a short break. My mind was conjuring up memories of the Millstream pilsner that I had the day before at the brewery. This time I decided I did need a beer and sought out the Savvy Cafe that I had heard about but never visited. When I walked in it was cool and empty. I strolled over to the big beer cooler looking for the closest thing to a true Czech or German pilsner. The friendly owner mentioned that they had some beer on tap too and suggested I try a Leinie's Summer Shandy. I skeptically asked if it was a wheat beer, as heavy wheats don't wholly agree with me. She said it was a light wheat, but infused with lemons and was very refreshing. This description reminded me of the German beverage the Radler, which literally means bicyclist. In Germany and Austria thirsty cyclists would drink a mixture of about two-thirds pilsner and one-third lemon-lime soda. In England the term for a similar beverage came to be known as Shandy. The Savvy owner's suggestion did not disapoint. I quickly downed one and ordered a second to savor. The cafe is an excellent place to stop for cold or hot drinks, depending on the weather, and I have every intention of returning in the near future.

The rest of the ride home was still hot. And having only consumed beer and no food on my resent stop, I started to get the weak pre-bonk feeling. I quickly downed the rest of my cheese and crackers and bottle of gatorade and made it home five hours after I left, with four hours and fifteen minutes of riding. Oh, and my butt felt great too.

And here are the pictures I promised. Only a day or two late.

Of Bombs and Saddles

I always question names, particularly of things. In general they are meant to sell a specific object. Cars have some of the more silly names out there. I'm sure Ford would like the buyers of their Escapes do believe that they are in fact capable of escaping life's challenges and those paved roads that "society" tells them they need to drive on. And my Ford Focus could mean anything from the small size of the car and its supposedly meticulous craftsmanship to the way drivers like me approach a road, or a problem, or some such nonsense. Then there are others that seem to make no real sense, like Celica, which Don DeLillo, in White Noise, lumps with Toyota's Corolla and Cressida, marveling at the fact that they are "surpranational names, computer-generated, more or less universally pronounceable" (155). Very strange stuff. And equally as strange are the models that come with numbers and letters, like Acura's RL, or the computer I'm typing on right now, the HP dv1000.

So when I ordered my Brooks B-17 the other day, I wondered about the letter and number designation. What does that mean? They also have saddles with names, like the "Swift" and the "Finesse," but then there are also others with letters and numbers like the B-66 and the B-72. These strike me as surprisingly militaristic, and I was not at all surprised to find that the B-17 was in fact an aircraft in World War II. It was known as the "flying fortress" and it participated in numerous strategic bombing offenses over Germany and other countries. I could not make any connection between saddles and bombs until this afternoon though.

My own B-17 came in today, my last day at the shop, and it was definitely a bright spot on an otherwise disappointing stretch of summer. But I wont go into specific details here, I will just say that there are some people and some places that you respect for their actions, and others that you do not. And today there were a number of bombs dropped that I wasn't comfortable with, but would in no way describe as strategic. Nevertheless, they were destructive and left a few lasting marks.




Back to the bright spot though (and I would like to point out the my particular B-17 did not do any of the actual bomb dropping). It looks great. The leather is extremely smooth and stiff, and I look forward to breaking it in. For the next few weeks it should ensure that I do not ride more hours than I think I'm capable of. I can't wait to see it on the pacer. I think the classic silver will go very well with the antique brown leather. I promise pictures in a day or two, but at the moment I'm preparing for some visitors. Robin's parents and sister are flying in from Tucson. They will be staying with us for a week. They understand bikes though, so I should have some time to tinker and post more pics.

The Post Where I Get Soft Things and Announce Silly Intentions

Sorry for my lack of posts. For the most part my life has not been post-worthy. I doubt many of you are interested in the fact that we got new pillows for the couch (though they are really soft and cushy) or that I got a new bath towel (also soft). And yes, those are the highlights.

I have been doing a better job of riding my bike though. Over my four day weekend I managed to ride three days. I can't remember the last time I rode three out of four days, it might go back to Spring Break in Az. Anyways the new tires are really great. They do not offer the gravel traction that I hoped they might, but that is alright. They work well off pavement so long as the gravel is not fresh and loose. And they are a dream to ride on the road. Very sticky rubber, a wide and plush footprint, and they are light. For the protection they offer I can't believe how light they are. So they are definite keepers.

Today and tomorrow are my last days at the bike shop and I'm looking forward to being done. I like the shop, and I like the people I work with, but it can be hard to be around bikes all the time but not have time to ride. So now I will have a few weeks before school stuff really starts to get back into the pretty good shape that I was in this May/June. And while I do not know my teaching schedule yet, there is a good chance that I will have three day weekends and can use one of those days for a very long bike ride. This will help my sanity. And it will also help me prepare for the somewhat difficult and silly task of riding a double century. I am still a little bummed that I missed the big ride with the Eppens earlier this summer, so I'm going to shoot for a late September or early October double. Maybe by informing you of my intentions they will actually happen (it worked for Robin and her novel). And this way if any of you would like to come along you are welcome too.

Bike Goodies

The QBP order came in at the shop today and that included a few new things for both Robin's townie and my Surly. Robin has been patiently waiting for me to get her a new seatpost and is thinking about a possible bar tape switch to blue or tan. My Surly is getting some tan bar tape (over the existing black, of course) and some new tires, Continental 4 Seasons in 28mm. They look pretty beefy and could be the perfect in between tire that will function well on both gravel roads and asphalt. I also got a very stylish Salsa Cro-Moto stem in 100mm. It's zero degree rise and shorter length should bring the bars a wee bit closer to me and end some of the stretchy feeling I've experienced in my back and shoulders the past couple weeks.

The order also included some CO-two cartridges, a box of spare tubes, and a front derailleur clamp. I've only got another week to decide if there is anything else that I should get. I'm feeling pretty satisfied at the moment, but I also think a Brooks B-17 would look quite nice on the Pacer. But we'll see. If I get too much at once, then I wont have exciting things to look forward too later.

Rescue Me

Those were the words I said to Robin on the phone while I sat hunched over my handlebars some 30 miles outside of Iowa City. Being the wonderful person she is, she dropped Harry Potter and picked me up instead. So I gave her directions to a gas station in Lone Tree and hoped that I would make it there before she did. After I hung up the phone I limped north at about 11 miles per hour, on a flat road, and with a tail wind. Each seam in the concrete brought a pang of nausea. Both of my quadriceps had been cramping for some time, so any attempts at standing brought little lightening bolts through them. And just recently, my left hamstring started to cramp also. Dealing with cramps from both sides of a leg is not much fun. Plus couldn't stretch my back by riding without hands or my hamstring would cramp. And of course, I was out of water. This is not what I had planned when I left the house hours before.

It was a beautiful sunny late morning, with light winds out of the south. I had just finished watching a rather grueling mountain stage in the Tour de France. I had not been on the bike for a week and I was excited to have nothing to do that day but ride. I headed out on a Lone Tree loop with a vague idea of heading further south and east, perhaps to a town called Letts that I had scoped out on the map. Letts is about 38 miles out of town, so riding there and back would make for a nice mid-distance ride.

My initial thoughts on the ride were that I would just cut it short and take the lower mileage route. But when I approached the edge of the loop I was feeling quite good and still had some food and water, so I figured I would at least go a little more. I continued on towards Muscatine with the intention of turning south and going towards Letts. From G-28 I turned onto Cranston road. I was not sure if this was correct, but it looked quiet and inviting, so I went. It turned to sandy gravel a few miles later, but it ultimately got me to the correct road and eventually to Letts.

Letts is a quiet town with a population of 398. There are a few blocks of neat old houses and a very nice looking city park. The town was rather dead though, I saw two kids outside, and that was it. And for a town that size I was expecting perhaps a general store or a gas station, what I found was a Pepsi machine that had a giant hole in the plastic front. Thankfully it still worked. Unfortunately it was out of water. So I got a Mountain Dew and a Sierra Mist. They tasted quite good, and kept me feeling good too. But with only these sugary drinks and no more food I thought I should look around the area for something more substantial. Knowing Lone Tree was quite a few miles away I foolishly road just a bit further south in search of something that sold cheese and crackers and Little Debbies, or if I was really lucky, slices of pizza. No luck, just a large, crowded state highway.

On my way back through Letts I double checked the streets to make sure there was no establishment that I had missed; but the results were the same, Pepsi machine, closed bar, closed Post Office, and a closed Library. I did see an extremely large funeral procession heading towards the cemetery. This explained why I did not see any person or open signs in the town.

Riding back towards Iowa City started out pretty good. I had a small tailwind, a couple sugary drinks, and little bit of water. Only the tailwind lasted. The demise crept on slowly over the next hour or so. It was not nearly as dramatic as I made it sound earlier, but I still felt thoroughly rotten.

All in all I ended up riding 70 miles in about four and a half hours. Pretty close to my original goal, of course I was still over 20 miles away from home when my ride came. From this I learned that I need to drink more (I wasn't too dumb on this one, I did have three large bottles with me) on hot days, which I guess for me is anything starting around the mid to high 80s. I should look into bail out options when attempting to ride to unknown towns, or at the very least bring more food (again, I had three granola bars, not enough though). And finally, don't try to ride your bike for four or five hours when your fitness levels have been declining for the past many weeks from only riding about 1.35 times a week. Not enough.

Visitor

Right now Robin is picking up her brother Jesse at the airport. He'll be spending the weekend with us and we are very excited about it. I believe it is his first visit to Iowa, so we will be busy making sure he sees a lot of stuff and gets some beautiful photographs that he can distribute to the various corners of the globe that he frequents.

Bikes, Beer, Bikes, Beer and More Bikes (but no books)

Today was a wonderful Sunday. The morning started out a bit rushed, as Robin and I slept longer than we expected, but I made it to the park to meet Steve, Joe, and Ryan for our ride and I was only a few minutes late. We headed out south and west for the Fry Town loop. The ride was a perfect pace, a little on the fast side in the wind and easy spinning in the draft. It was fun to ride with Joe. I had not really seen him since I've moved back to Iowa City, so we had a lot of things to catch up on.

After the ride Joe invited us to his house to sample some of his very fine homebrew. Ryan declined, as he had family matters to attend to, but Steve and I were not going to pass up such an offer. Inside Joe's spacious garage approximately a dozen bikes hang from the ceiling. He has a geared bike and a singlespeed bike for just about every occasion, and a few extras thrown in just for good measure.

Sitting below the hanging bikes are about a dozen small kegs (a keg for every bike? Perhaps a good rule to live by). Many of them are full, and four of them are hooked up to a tapper that runs the lines through a refrigeration system. Joe switches them around to meet his tastes. We started by sampling a very hoppy, and very tasty, IPA. We enjoyed these out on the porch with Joe's cat Harry. We talked about everything from racers and drugs to morons and bikes. It was lovely. I cannot remember the last time I had a beer at 10:30 in the morning, but I doubt it was as good as this one. Joe's IPA is perfect for early drinking on a sunny day. The brewmaster kindly offered us samples of his other fine brews, but I had to be at the bike shop to work in a few hours, so Steve and I rolled home before we got really carried away.

The afternoon went by slowly. The shop has been packed recently as RAGBRAI is looming large on the horizon, but today was an extremely quiet Sunday and it seemed like forever before I could leave. Now I sit resting my weary legs in the recliner with a sweet wheat beer at my side. Tonight should be a relaxing one as the replay of the tour starts in ten minutes. It has taken all of my strength to not read any cycling related pages this last hour. So if you know who wins this first mountain top finish, please keep it to yourself.

Morning Productivity

In the past few weeks, or maybe a couple months, Robin and I have been struggling just a bit to get out of bed at a descent hour and get things done. So we decided that two mornings a week we would go for a short run right away and two mornings other mornings each week we would take advantage of our very nice and very close recreation center and go swimming. Today was the first day of implementing our plan. We went running.

I had not gone for a run in over a year. It felt awkward at first. And my legs got a little tired of the pounding at the end. But there were a few minutes in the middle where it felt great. And the rest of the day I felt quite good. Breakfast and coffee after the run were fantastic. Work was better than yesterday. And my afternoon bike ride was also good, though in the final hills my legs were feeling sluggish. All in all I am very happy with this new plan.

Tonight we are going to bbq. Tomorrow we have no plans other than to watch the first mountain stage of the Tour de France. We have found a way to watch it online for free, if this sounds good to you, go here, download the player, and look for the channel Versus. They air it four or five times a day, but the live one is in the morning.

Test Ride

It has been a long while since I last wrote. I can’t necessarily say that things were busy in Arizona, because for the most part, we relaxed with bikes, horses, and a beautiful pool. I also had plenty of time for updates, but something about being away from home makes me less likely to do the things I normally do. It was a nice vacation though. A bit on the hot side, but that’s Arizona in July. We attended a mildly stressful, but exceptionally beautiful and sincere wedding. For some pictures and a bit more info (and animals) see Robin’s blog.

After a few days of being tired and working I have finally had a chance to really test the new Pacer. I have been playing around with all the available stems in the house and have almost decided on what size I need. It now has a 115mm on it with a pretty big rise, so I have it flipped upside down. I think I will end up purchasing a 110 or a 105 with a small rise on it, say 5 or 6 degrees. That should be about perfect.

But the 115 was good for my ride the other morning. I headed out Sugar Bottom way with the intent to go through North Liberty and Tiffin and come back in on Melrose/IWV to test it in the hills. There is a small weight difference, which is to be expected as my old frame was made of really light aluminum, but for the most part it felt the same going up. I think the biggest factor was that I have lost some of the fitness I had in late May and early June. So my lungs were burning a bit when I tried to charge up the hills.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was some light construction on Sugar Bottom road. I’m not saying I’m a fan of what Edward Abbey would call the progress of civil engineering on one of my favorite roads to ride on, but in its current stage I was able to test the Pacer on a bit of dirt. At the moment I only have 23mm tires on it, but it felt great over both the packed gravel and the loose gravel.

By the time I crossed Mahaffey Bridge and started the climbs to North Liberty my legs and lungs were feeling great and I had a nice rhythm when climbing out of the saddle. The handling was slower than my old road bike but quicker than my cyclo-cross bike, so basically exactly what I was looking for. I weaved around seams in the concrete and had no problem jumping onto the shoulder when large trucks came a little too close.

The stretch shortly after North Liberty and north of Tiffin is also one of my favorite sections of road. Smooth blacktop, low traffic, twisting turns and rolling farmland make it aesthetically pleasing and easy to make as challenging or relaxing as I want. On this ride the traffic was particularly low, as in I did not see a single car. This had to do with some more construction on the three short hills just north of highway 6. This time I could not ride through. Well, I probably could have, but large dump trucks being filled by numerous earth movers changed my mind. So I turned around and road the nice stretch of road again and it was still traffic free.

The detour routed me over some very smooth gravel roads. Even on this longer stretch the skinny 23s still felt pretty comfy. There were a few rough, washboard sections though. So I’ll have to put some slightly larger, higher volume tires on for a serious dirt road test.

Coming in on IWV with a slight tailwind I kept it in the big ring and hammered up the hills. It felt good and the Pacer felt considerably better than my old aluminum racer on all the fat, open seams on that road. In fact, it was on a big, fast group ride this past April when we were coming into town on that same road that I decided I had had enough of my butt and hands being beaten up. So it was fitting that this ride finished up on the same road with me feeling much fresher. The Pacer is definitely a keeper.

Of Crashes and Titanium

The bike is all together now. I'm quite pleased with both the look and the ride. The stem I have on it now is not ideal, so I'll have to play around with that a bit. And I'll most likely get some wider, squishier tires, but other than that, it is great. I took it out on its maiden voyage last Thursday. It was a beautiful and cool evening. The bike felt great. Very smooth. I noticed an immediate difference over the aluminum. Unfortunately the ride was cut a tad short by a little mishap between Robin and I. The short version is that I stayed up and she needs a new helmet.


There were a few moments of disorientation and short term memory loss for her, but we got home alright. And aside from a few small scabs and a little bruising on her hip, she is just fine.

I have not been able to get back on the new pacer since then because we are now in Arizona for a week. They are having some slightly higher than normal temperatures, but it isn't too bad. The mornings and evenings are beautiful, and the Stephens allow me to use their spare Titus on all the trails that surround their house. It is quite nice. The full squish titanium frame and XTR components take some getting used to after riding the rigid 1x1, but they both have red stems, so that makes the transition a little smoother.

Mostly complete

Well the frame is here and almost entirely put together. The silver paint job is cooler than I thought it would be. And I dig the new pacer graphics.

Half of it went together quickly, the other half took some ingenuity. The front derailleur clamp from my C'dale is too big. I solved this by creating a shim that is one parts electrical tape two parts aluminum A&W Root Beer can. It seems to work fine and should last at least a few days until I can get the correct sized clamp ordered.

The biggest road block came from the derailleur hanger. The threads were not in great shape. I had cleaned them out to the best of my ability but the derailleur did not want to call that hanger home. For the next few minutes we put the derailleur in and out from the inside of the rear stays. That helped, but the screw was not long enough. We looked for other screws of the same size but longer. We found one from the scrap parts of Robin's Fuji. Why did we save those? We have no idea, but we're glad we did. A few turns of that screw and everything was just fine.

I still need to cut the steerer tube and figure out which size stem would work best, so I haven't taken it for a real ride yet. It does feel nice though.



Here I am sitting in a chair pondering my derailleur dilemma.

Bigger, more complete photos to follow.

It is somewhat funny that both of my setup problems came in the form of my derailleurs and that Robin's best picture was of our derailleurless bikes. Hmmm.

Slackin on the UPS

The UPS people did not bring my frame today. They brought the rest of my order, which was comprised of very unexciting things like a seatpost, seat clamp, and a headset. I'll spare you the boring pictures (plus I left them at the shop).

I had planned on doing the group ride tonight, as it has been awhile since my last attempt. But it was damn hot and riding hard did not sound fun. Instead I met my coworker Andy and his girlfriend Kristin at Sugar Bottom. It was still hot out there, but we rode nice and easy. Conversational pace on mountain bike trails is a wonderful thing.

Tomorrow I should have the frame, but since UPS didn't make any promises, I won't either.

A Change of Pace

For the past few months I have spared you, my readers, the numerous thoughts that I have had regarding new bicycle frames. I have been disenchanted with my cannondale CAAD 5 for quite some time now. When I got the frame seven years ago it was more or less the cream of the crop for aluminum racing frames. I raced quite hard on it for over three years and then continued to train as if I were racing for another three or so years. But I can no longer handle the rattling in my butt and hands. For the past few months I have found myself riding my cyclocross bike more and more. It is also aluminum, but it takes nice big squishy tires.

So, in brief, I think the perfect frame for me would be a steel road bike that has clearance for larger tires, say up to 35 maybe, but wouldn't look stupid with a faster set of 25s on it. There are very few frames around like this. Sure, there are lots of cyclocross frames, but as I have no intention of riding around twisty courses and bunny hopping barriers I don't need their geometries or higher bottom brackets. I want the stableness of a bike that can comfortably be ridden all day. This is hard to come by. Rivendell makes a few, though I don't believe they emphasize speed quite enough for me, I mean, just because I'm not racing doesn't mean I don't like to go fast on the occasional Tuesday/Thursday group race. Then there is Ebisu, beautifully crafted Japanese bicycles named after the God of Good Fortune, the Ocean, and Fishermen. From there the list drops off rather dramatically with Heron and Velo-Orange, great bikes, but I'm not sure they are what I'm looking for. And beyond that you must enter the realm of custom builders like Ira Ryan. I'm leaning towards the latter, but even if I went with a production frame like the others, I couldn't afford it for a little while.

So I have decided on an interim frame so to speak. It is steel. It takes pretty big tires, so it can handle dirt roads with the best of them. And I was able to purchase it through my shop for a very very low price. It is a Surly Pacer. It will be the perfect step between my super stiff and pingy aluminum frame and my perfect custom steel all day road/dirt/brevet frame. And when the new frame comes this could shift right into an amazing commuter or even become a 650b project.

The frame should come tomorrow. I'll post pictures when I get it.

Oh, and if you were worried, I fixed my headset. I put one of the many pieces back incorrectly, but it is all better now.

Keep Both Hands On The Wheel At All Times

Today I did some work on my cyclocross bike's headset. It is not in good shape. There is an unhealthy amount of rust on the outside, and for the past few rides it would creak while I was climbing out of the saddle. It would only creak when I would lean the bike to the left though. This made for a relatively enchanting rhythm and is perhaps the reason I've waited so long to clean it.

But today I pulled it apart. I cleaned all the innards up and re-greased the important parts. I even used some fine sandpaper to get most of the rust off. When I put it all back together the creaking was gone and it felt smooth. But now I can't ride without hands. I don't understand it. The steering seems to stick and the bike becomes very intent on veering off course. I have loosened and tightened everything numerous times, but still no easy no-handed riding.

I can also feel a subtle difference when riding with hands. In general, the bike just feels more sluggish, particularly at low speeds. If any of you other bike people have thoughts on this, please let me know. Riding without hands makes me feel like a big kid, and now I feel like I'm getting older by the minute.

Love Porto

Robin and I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon at a matinee. We rode our bikes to see Shrek the Third and brought our lovely Portuguese friend Port along with us. I don't feel I am up to adequately asses the movie at the moment, but a good time was had by all. I do remember a few other highlights, my first experience with a photo booth, riding through the tunnel under the railroad tracks, and coming home to find that we had just a little port left over. But not as much as we would have liked.

Double Tape

I went for a ride today. It has been awhile since my last ride. Well, only three days, but it seems like a lot.

I took the cross bike out on some dirt roads south of town. Early last week Robin put some new bar tape on her townie bike and I put some on the cross bike. I have had the bike for four years now and this is the first time I have put new bar tape on it. Many hundreds of miles of riding through frigid winters and sweltering summer had worn away pretty much all of the padding. I should have replaced, oh, about three years ago. Surprisingly, it had very few tears on it and left almost no exposed bar. So I decided to just put my new bar tape over the old bar tape. It is lovely. The larger surface is a pleasure to hang onto while bumping down Level B roads. I've known many people who enjoy the double tape, and if you haven't given it a shot, I suggest you do. Unless you have small hands, then you might not like it as much.

So I cruised south on gravel and slowly meandered over to Lone Tree. It was quite hot and I had already consumed half of my liquids so I decided to stop at a gas station for a refreshing root beer. Again I got the "training for Ragbrai?" question from the clerk. "No," I said, "just out for a ride." This response brought a puzzled look to her face. She thought it strange that Lance was going to be at Ragbrai and I wasn't, as if all people with tight bright clothes and two wheels stick together. I tried to come up with an equivalent for convenient store clerks but couldn't, so I just smiled and went outside to enjoy my beverage.

I left Lone Tree heading east on gravel and then shortly turned left onto SE White Oak Ave, a Level B road. As many times as I've been through Lone Tree I have never taken this gem of a B road. The dirt is smooth, there are a few lovely rolling hills, and the grass has grown over most of it so that it resembled nice doubletrack more than a farm road. I took it until it dead ended and I think there were three very nice Level B sections. I give SE White Oak Ave two thumbs up. I then continued to zig zag with the tailwind all the way back to IC. It was warm, but very nice.

On a sad note, Joe, my compatriot at the bike shop, had is De Rosa stolen from right outside the bike shop. Absolutely appalling. It is a beautiful bike. The signature De Rosa heart is subtly laid over the main triangle. If you see someone on it who doesn't look like their name is Joe Lazio (and yes, he is as Italian as his name and the bike's name) push them into a lamp post or do whatever else you see fit. Down with bike thievery I say.

Seeing Clearly

Lately I have been in the habit of getting in the shower while my glasses are still on my face. I don't remember ever doing this before. At least I always notice before I stick my head under the water.

Back to Work

Yesterday I started working at Geoff's Bike and Ski. It will be my second job this summer as I am also continuing to advise young English majors. The shop is nice, as are the people that work there. So far I have been able to work in small apartment that they use for storage and bike building. It is really quite nice to be alone with a new bike. The grease is all clean and has that sweet, somewhat fruity smell. Some would say I don't get to talk to many people, but I like to think of it as not being bothered. I think I will be building bikes for a little while, but there will be sales and some tune-ups too. It should all be enjoyable.

Tomorrow I go back to my advising job. It is also a transfer day, so I will spend the afternoon looking at transcripts of students who have transfered from other schools to be English majors at Iowa. Sadly most of them come to be the next big thing in creative writing, so most of the meetings begin with me explaining that the Iowa Writers' Workshop is a graduate program only. I often dread these days in the office, but for some reason I'm rather ambivalent about tomorrow. Hopefully it will be ok.

I went and did the group ride tonight. It was a beautiful evening with big puffy white clouds and very little wind. Evenings like this are rare. The ride was fast, perhaps in part due to this guy's presence, but I felt pretty good and thought I'd make it into town with the lead group. But then my chain started rubbing my front derailleur. As I looked down I noticed that I could see a sizable chunk of my bottom bracket axle between the frame and the crank. At first I just went to the back of the group to sit in and spin. But that was not going to last long, so I pulled over, got off, tightened the crank back down as fast as I could and jumped back on the bike.

With the slight tail wind I thought I actually had an ok chance to chase back onto the group. Luckily for me Steve waited up to ride with me. And I was even more happy when he said he just wanted to cruise in. Good company and conversation are usually better than hammering with your head down, and judging by how tired my legs are now, adding a ten or fifteen minute all out time trial to my ride would not have felt all that great. So cheers to Steve.

Tomorrow Robin and I go to the Chicago burbs to hang out at my parents house. We should get a cool night or two to enjoy the hot tub, and its almost Jen's birthday, so we might have some celebrating to do.

Oh, and Robin is currently changing the design of her blog, it looks fun. It might not be up quite yet though, so be patient if it is still light green and wind-chimy.

One Speed

Robin's new townie bike became a one speed much sooner than we expected. After cruising around the bike paths this afternoon we stopped at Geoff's Bike & Ski to figure out my work schedule and get a freewheel. They not only had it in stock but also threw it on the wheel too. Great service. So we spent the rest of the afternoon stripping off the superfluous parts and playing with some old cranks I had in the basement to get the chainline right. She is quite happy with the outcome. We still look for the Jamis when were out and about, but the new Fuji is starting to ease the pain.

Here is a picture of Robin and her new ride.

The seat stay on the Fuji used to proclaim how advanced its shifting technology was with a "12 speed" decal. Robin took a razor blade to it to set the message straight.

Biketastic Weekend

This holiday weekend was filled with bike stuff. There is too much to write it all down, so I'll leave you with the highlights.

Saturday we went to the Bike Library and picked up a sweet red Fuji, complete with world champion rainbow stripes, for Robin. After taking some fine sandpaper to the rusty sections it shines with quite a luster. In the next week or two it should be turned into a single speed. We're all very excited for Robin to become a single speeder.

Sunday I rode out to watch some racing in Muscatine with Michael, owner of The Broken Spoke, and John and Steve, mechanics of The Broken Spoke. We took a mix of gravel and pavement and arrived just in time to see Kim West finishing his race. I watched a couple more races before heading back to Iowa City. I called Robin on my way home and she came out and met me on her bike. It was nice to end the ride with her, she also brought me some much needed liquids and ensured that my ride for the day was just over a hundred miles.

Monday Sean and I met up with a bunch of folks affiliated with Geoff's Bike and Ski. The day started with much coffee at Kevin and Britteny's as we all sat under their porch and watched the light rain. Eventually someone made a move to go and Nick ended up leading us through some very fun trails on our way out of town (they might be a secret, so no more details here). And then we took gravel roads almost the whole way to the Amana Colonies and the Cajun Festival. It continued to rain on and off the whole way there and the festival certainly wasn't dry either. The sun was out, but the beer was flowing and we all had a few too many. The route home involved gravel and bike paths and some stellar mechanical work fixing broken pedals. I'm still impressed Nick and Sean's bikes made it back.

My legs feel thoroughly used, so I'll probably sit around today. Perhaps a little spin to the grocery store, but probably no more.

400$ Brakes

The mail came right when I was sitting down to some nice leftover pizza for lunch. I've always liked mail and so the arrival of the post each day is an exciting moment. You never know what you are going to get. Today consisted of the usual junk stuff, another credit card offer for Vitzys, an alumni magazine from the school I graduated from years ago and continue to attend now, and a new cycling catalog. The perfect thing to flip through during lunch. I love shiny new bicycles and picking out various things that would be fun to own if I had the money.

But after flipping for awhile I tend to get a little angry at the cycling industry. Is there any reason at all to charge 400$ for a pair of road brakes? They are not at all ornate, or beautifully handcrafted. They are simple, black brakes and they are light. But 400 bucks? C'mon, that's ridiculous. And the worst part is, they are on sale. As a potential consumer I am supposed to feel good that I would save 30$ on these things.

This is just one example of the silly expensive bike things that fill these catalogs, 200$ bib shorts 330$ handle bars are just two other examples. While I have plenty of nice, relatively expensive, bike things, I'm happy to say that my seven year old brakes that cost a fraction of what those black ones cost are still doing a great job of slowing me down when I want them to.

Beautiful Afternoon Ride

Yesterday I went for a nice afternoon ride with Sean. Our rides are always fun and we haven't ridden together in awhile, so I was looking forward to it. The temperatures were a bit cool, but the sun was out and the wind was light. We headed north talking about bikes, school, and rabid dogs ruining derailleurs. Sean's, not mine, and it is whole story on its own, though you will be happy to know that both Sean and his titanium frame are going to be alright.

While trying to decide where we should ride Sean suggested a little town north of Solon that had a nice bar and grill. The description of how to get there sounded somewhat familiar and now I'm sure that I had ridden there, but it was years ago during all the frigid winter miles. Now that the weather is nice, and that my priorities are not centered on racing, we sat on the bridge and enjoyed cold Budweisers before heading back to Iowa City.

The Sutliff Bar and Grill is an interesting one. We saw old and young people fishing, riding bikes (leather, not lycra), young families, and a mini-bus-load of people in their 70s and 80s. The burgers looked great, and Sean swears they are, but I stuck with the liquid calories this time. I'll have to go back for a longer stay and a burger in the near future.

For the ride home we had a light tailwind and rode at consistently hard pace. It felt great until we were about a half hour from home and all I could think about was the big hamburger that I didn't eat. I made it home, but if the ride was much longer I would have been in trouble.

Today is another nice day, but I might take a break from the bike. My legs are sore. I haven't ridden this much since my own mini-training camp at the Stephen Ranch. But we'll see, I don't really have anything else to do but take our mountain of bottles to be recycled.


We don't really drink that much, we're mostly just a little lazy. Ok, I'm lazy. Robin has made numerous attempts to get us to take care of this pile. I bargained and said that if I got to spend my free time at the end of the semester adding empties to the pile and riding my bike that I would take them back once school ended. So today is that day.

Two Root Beer Floats

It is starting to feel like summer. After a few cool days and rain, the sun has come out in force and I have that wonderful 'I don't really know what to do with my time' feeling. It is quite nice and I hope it lasts.

In order to not shock my system too much I have immediately started reading again. I selected an extremely fat book that gave Robin much pleasure earlier this spring. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It involves the return of magic to early nineteenth century England. And Clarke does a wonderful job making the book feel like it was actually written two hundred years ago. I remember Robin continually checking the copyright date while reading it. I suggest it. And it goes remarkably well with coffee or tea.


And then of course there are the increased hours on the bike. It has been nice exploring more dirt roads that in turn lead to new paved roads and all of this with no particular goal in mind other than to ride. Yesterday I went back to the Tri-County Bridge area for a little exploring. It is some of the more beautifully rolling and treed countryside in the area. But it left me a little famished and I was still over an hour away from home. When I got to a town I decided I needed a root beer float. They had a special for .99, so I got two, and that was more than enough to push me through the crosswinds and back into Iowa City.

Good Beer Kharma

I finished my last paper this afternoon. It was a good feeling. I savored that feeling as I slowly rode through the densely treed streets on my way to school. In the gutter I noticed a beer bottle. A common site in a university town at the end of finals week. My first thought was something along the lines of disliking stupid people who litter, my second thought was 'oh, that is a New Belgium bottle.' I used to drink New Belgium beers all the time in Flagstaff. You don't see them much in the Midwest and I miss them.

While I was rolling past the trash and waxing nostalgic about past drinking experiences I then noticed that the bottle had a bottle cap on it. I figured it was worth investigating further, and much to my delight I found the bottle of 1554 to be full. It was rather hot, but a little time in the freezer would get it ready in time for happy hour.

Robin and I split it and it was delicious. Tonight we are meeting some friends to go cruise around town on bikes, eat Mexican food, and drink beer and/or margaritas. Cheers.

STOLEN BIKE

When I went to get the paper this morning Robin's bike was missing from our enclosed front porch. It is a Jamis Aurora touring bike, we don't know the exact year, maybe early 2000's. Dark blueish with a hint of green. It has some brand new black SKS fenders on it. The downtube has a sticker that says it originally came from "Johnny Sprockets Cycles." We're working on a picture. If you see it, grab it, it isn't theirs.

Please contact us if you have any news: brian [at] booksbikesbeer [dot] com.

2/3 Done

The printer is noisily spitting out my second paper. This afternoon I'll stroll around on the bike turning it in and gathering some sources for my third and final paper which is due at the end of the week.

Long Ride

It has been well over a week since my last post. I wish I could say I had a real reason for not posting, but not much happened. I've done some work on my papers (even finished one and turned it in). I've wasted some time. And on Tuesday I got dropped on the group ride.

My biggest paper is due tomorrow afternoon. I unsuccessfully worked on it Saturday; I got distracted helping Robin put some new, and very pretty, fenders on her town bike. She also gave me one of her old computers to put on my cross bike, so I did that too. After bike stuff going back to writing just didn't seem like fun, so Robin and I had some adult beverages and conquered some mean alien races in a little computer game called Starcraft.

Despite getting very little work done yesterday I had already decided that for my health it was best that I go on a long gravel road ride with Steve. He is doing some nice rides to get ready for the Dirty Kanza, a 200 mile gravel road race across Eastern Kansas, and I wanted to tag along.

We met at the park at 7 in the morning. It was cool and cloudy and the Iowa winds were already blowing 20-some mph from the east. Steve had mentally mapped out a number of loops that would minimize our direct headwind time. This pleased me.

We started going south and then weaved our way over to the town of Hills for an early stop. The clerk was enjoying an early morning smoke outside and greeted us with a puzzling, but not necessarily cold, look. When she asked how far we were going Steve said that we weren't really sure but hoped to get in six hours. She promptly told us that we would be riding six hours too many. When we sat outside to consume our iced coffee drinks and breakfast pizza she came out to inform us about a bench around the building. That was nice. Or perhaps she didn't want us sitting in front of the convenient store scaring all the locals with their rumbling one-ton pickups.

Either way, it was only a few moments before we were riding into the wind to do a big loop over the Tri-County Bridge and ride some nice rolling and partially wooded roads that I have never been on before. The loop worked out great in terms of wind too. Only a small amount of direct head wind in the beginning and then a bunch of crosswind that was surprisingly easy to ride in. And the loop sent us back to the same convenient store we had visited only a couple hours before. Steve got more pizza and I was content to just fill up my water bottles and eat the plain, dry bars that I had in my pockets.

The remainder of the ride was nice. It stayed cool and cloudy all morning with the western sky looking very dark and ominous, but we didn't have any problems. My legs started to get pretty tired when we hit the five hour mark. I haven't been doing any long rides, so I was pretty happy that I felt good that long. Tomorrow I'll spend the whole day recovering, which means sitting in the brown chair finishing my paper that's due at 4.

55 Minutes of Standing

The weather was nice today. After days of dreary rain we woke up to a teeny bit of sun. Over the course of the morning and early afternoon that turned into a healthy portion of sun. I spent the morning reading about realism, but the whole time I couldn't help thinking about going for a ride.

I took my cross bike. Aside from being filthy from last weekend's gravel ride, it required no tinkering or pre-ride maintenance. Plus that last dirt road ride was so much fun I was itching to explore more.

The afternoon was windier than I was expecting, but it was still nice to be out. So I just got down into the drops and rode at a relatively relaxed pace and listened to the wind.

After an hour or so I came out on some pavement. It was a very short section but it was enough to relax. I did, however, notice that my saddle was a little lower than I would like it to be. I pulled over to raise it a half a centimeter or so. When I had it all lined up, I tightened the bolt, but just when it was about perfect the threads in the seatpost clamp snapped. Shit. I stood there for a few minutes thinking about what to do. But there was really only one option. Ride home.

I was lucky in that I was near a paved road that I normally ride on and so wouldn't have to take any gravel back. But it still took me 55 minutes. Standing the whole way. My legs, somewhat surprisingly, were not too bothered by this. I just kept it in the big ring and in many ways it felt like I was climbing some smooth single track on the single speed. But my hands and back were extremely fatigued. I'm not in the habit of doing anything like pushups, so supporting my upper body on the handlebars for that length of time was not fun.

But I made it home. Now I'm sitting outside enjoying a Leine's Red and am very thankful that I'm not racing my bike this weekend. And it is quite the weekend for racing. Iowa City has its big weekend. The road race is tomorrow and the crit is downtown on Sunday. Decorah is having its mountain bike time trial on Sunday as well. Those are some sweet trails and I highly recommend checking it out. And if neither of these options are really your cup of tea you can take on the entire state in the third annual Trans-Iowa race, a 325 mile gravel road race. If you attempt this, I suggest that at the very least you make sure you have a new and functional seatpost clamp.

Wet Dreams

It has been raining here. A lot. For days. This makes me restless, and when I'm restless I tend to dream about new things to do. After wasting lots of time reading bike stuff online I found myself dreaming about the Paris-Brest-Paris ride. I had heard about it before, but I did not know any of the details. It is, somewhat obviously, a ride between Paris and Brest and back to Paris. Thousands of riders attempt this 1200km journey and I'm pretty sure that well over half finish it under the ninety hour time limit.

And the nice part is, anyone can do it. Well, they have some silly rules about carrying three spare light bulbs for you bike lights, and a glow in the dark vest (though it seems helmets are optional). But other than that all you have to do is complete a series of rides (200, 300, 400, and 600km). And then you are on your way to Paris. There are qualifying rides in every state and many, many countries. I missed the first ride for Iowa, but I still have a chance to do either Minnesota's or Wisconsin's. The Wisc. series runs all four qualifying distances in nine days or so. In between there are off days that include things like BBQs. And we all know what BBQs have. Beer. You might be thinking beer is not so good when training for such distances. Au contraire. Did I mention that it is quite customary in France to drink beer and wine with your wonderfully large meals while riding the PBP? It is true.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to go this year (Money is tight, though I am willing to accept sponsorship. Contact me within the next two weeks if you are interested in such a unique opportunity. Or you can buy the rights to this novel, it might be the better investment.) So I will have to postpone my dreams until 2011. Like the Olympics, PBP only comes around every four years. But that will give me all kinds of time to hone my randonneuring skills. And to acquire the obligatory new bicycle. Sure, any bike with wheels can be used in the PBP, but in my rain-induced dreams I have decided that I need this bike to complete my 1200km jaunt. With a name like that it has to be ridden on such trips.

Easy ride

Brian Eppen called this morning and invited me on an easy two hour ride that would probably include some gravel. Perfect. After weeks of no riding, the more easy rides I can get this week the better. I was also at an advantage in that I was the only one of us six who was not in attendance of local fast man Doc's big birthday bash the night before. And when Nathan rolled up on a ss road bike with a gear ratio of 53:20 and some rather skinny looking 25cm tires I felt even better. The Eppen duo was on mountain bikes with cross tires and Jack, The Rock, and myself had cross bikes.

When it is a nice spring day in Iowa it often has to do with a crazy wind from the South. Today was no different. It was supposed to be worse in the afternoon, but by 10:30 the going was already quite tough, especially on the very loose gravel. At least it wasn't gusting.

After a couple hours of battling the wind I had a vague idea about where we were, but when we turned on to something less than a B-level I realized that I had absolutely no idea where we were. The road, though I don't think we can really call it that, went down rather abruptly. It had a mix of thick grass, heavy mud, and a few downed trees. Nathan bombed the descent on the ss and at this point I no longer felt that his skinny tires and gearing would aid in my keeping up.

We crossed a highway, went over a bridge that has not seen a car or truck for a few decades and hopped on some 4 wheeler trails. The trails were quite fun, they mostly consisted of twisty trails of dry dirt with lots of logs to hop over. I'll definitely go back. The only downside is there are plenty of thorny branches hanging over the trail. Generally not a problem, a few scratches on the arms and legs are pretty normal, but one branch stubbornly grabbed my jersey and when it jerked free all the force went right to my nose. There is nothing like a little bloody nose when you are two and half hours into a two hour ride and have not yet turned back towards town.

The second part of the 4 wheeler trails I was much less excited about. Despite the dry weather recently, they were soaked. Many puddles were ridable, but there was a lot of time spent scrambling through brush looking for downed trees to carry us over creeks. Nathan got sick of it and took his shoes and socks off and just walked across the knee deep muck. It did buy him some time

A few more miles of gravel and we made our way to Riverside, the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. The ride back to I.C. was quick, but one small bottle of gatorade and a little granola bar are not enough for four hours of dirt. I have no idea how far we actually rode, but my guess would be somewhere in the sixties.

The afternoon will be spent recovering with Matt and Robin. The weather is perfect for day-drinking and we're taking full advantage while we play around with a new section for Matt's Site, it will be up and running on May 1st, so don't forget to check it out. And if you can't wait that long you can fill some of the time by watching the Amstel Gold Race tomorrow. There aren't any big cobbled climbs, but there are plenty of windmills and it is sponsored by a beer company.

Slop, Silly Slop and the Academic Marathon

I never thought there was much in common between the academic marathon and the exercise marathon, but as I sit here in my post paper writing glaze I have come to realize they are much closer than I originally believed. To begin with the obvious, they are both invariably followed by that statement so many of us have uttered numerous times before but so rarely followed, "I'll never do that again." The same thing happened to me today. Well, I didn't actually say those words, by now I know better. Well, a little better. But I did make a checklist for the rest of the week in hopes of keeping me on track for the last three and a half weeks of the semester. Perhaps it will work, perhaps it wont.

Another major similarity comes from the cloud like fuzziness that follows lengthy and arduous endeavors. That oddly nice sensation of a light tingle pulsing through ones veins. After running on trails for more hours than many people work in a day or pedaling well past the century mark a welcomed numbness begins to develop and lasts long after the event is complete. And I've felt that for most of today as well. After many pages of typing into the late hours of the night, pausing to sleep for a few hours, and getting up in the dark to resume typing, I've almost floated through my day. And I was also lucky in that we had a beautiful sunny spring day that provided ample people watching opportunities while I tried to get work done from a slightly uncomfortable bench.

Illness is another common factor. Hours of heavy exertion in any kind of weather can leave one run down enough to catch a number of opportunistic bugs. And the same can be said of the all night paper chase, which for me is often accompanied by poor nutrition. Hopefully luck is on my side this week as I am very much due for some nice bike rides.

Since you probably know I have done many marathons of both types and will most likely continue this trend, you might possibly be thinking that I am a glutton. And perhaps you are right. I myself cannot say for sure in my current state. But the one thing I can say is that there is nothing like sipping a cold beer when you are already drifting in that tingly state of satisfied completion.

One Week Anniversary

Not a big milestone by any means, but I'm really surprised so many of you have come, most of you more than once too. So that is great. In the near future posts will appear more frequently. I don't know why I started this during the end of the semester, well, who am I kidding really? I procrastinate, simple as that.

But today I got some work done. Outlined things for a paper. Read descent sized chunks from two novels. And I even managed to write a short paper about Fitzgerald and bicycles. I will share a few of the more interesting quotes.

Of Dick Diver, "At the Glion funicular he checked his bicycle and took a small beer on the terrace of the station buffet."

And, "That he bicycled a lot, was much admired by the ladies."

Ah, trains, beer, and bikes in the Swiss Alps. Very nice.

Tonight, we have beer and margaritas in honor of my sister Jen's visit. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by.

Oh, and how could I forget? Tomorrow is Paris-Roubaix. The Hell of the North. I'm sticking with De Ronde as my favorite for now, but this is a close second. No other race breaks more bodies or bikes. So don't miss it.

Snow, but not enough to ski on

At least not yet. In the meantime I'm doing my best to convince myself that this is a good thing. Although it has been over two weeks since I have been on a real bike ride, at the moment it is best if I get my homework done. And 34 degrees with big wet snowflakes in the air is perfect paper writing weather.

Unfortunately that is all for now. If I kept going I'd probably digress into a whiny state about how much school sucks and how I would be better off getting some fenders and riding anyway instead reading theorists I don't understand and using them to back up a thesis that I don't have.

The view from the study. And yes, those blurry objects are big wet snowflakes.

Perhaps a couple more hours of articles and then a tasty adult beverage. Thankfully the weather is perfect for that too.

Tender is the Muur

If I were a good graduate student I could say that I have been reading Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night all day. But I am merely a mediocre graduate student and so have only read a small portion of it. This portion, however, was enough to convince me that I really like this book. I had those expectations, having thoroughly enjoyed the other works of his that I know (Gatsby and This Side of Paradise), but now I think I can safely say that Fitzgerald is one of my favorites. Perhaps I should become a Fitzgeraldist. I'm not sure if there are any pure Fitzgeraldists out there. They are probably also Modernists, and that just wont work for me.

This semester I have come to learn that I am an anti-Modernist. Joyce, Stein, Faulkner, and those other high brows have the tendency to make me feel like I am reading something in a foreign language where I am able to understand the vocabulary but not able to discern any real meaning. I should probably love texts enough to give them more time, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I think much of this has to do with the rather large streak of practicalness that runs through me. I have inherited a different form of practicality from each of my parents, a rational/mechanical practicality from my engineer/pilot father and a more relaxed Occam's Razor practicality from my mother the nurse.

I know what some of you are thinking, 'you are a graduate student in literature. You get paid little to no money to study for years and then run the risk of not being able to get a job. There is absolutely nothing practical about that.' But I beg to differ. I also get plenty of free time to ride my bike, hang out with some pretty cool people, travel, and read some really great books (admittedly, I also read a lot of really bad books). And as for the money part, well, I'm practical, remember, I don't need a lot frivolous things in my life.

Which brings me to my main point. Tomorrow is the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. The Tour of Flanders. What I believe is the best one day race of the year. But what about Roubaix? You might be asking. Well, it is no doubt one of the best, and I love watching it every year as well. But it is lacking in the elevation department, and elevation makes races. It's as simple as that.

So tomorrow morning I suggest you get up and watch what happens on the cobbled Muur. You can get it free at cycling.tv. And they have some pretty good announcers too.