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.