On this beautiful Thursday morning, at about 7:45, I was surprised to see that I was the ninth cyclist rolling down College St. toward downtown, work, school, or wherever. I know part of this is certainly due to the fact that spring seems sprung, but I also hope last night's highly successful bike rally in Des Moines was a part of it, too.
I am sorry I missed it. It is not everyday you get to ride down a street with 8 other bike strangers, but it is even more rare to do so with 500+ riders. Hopefully there are more to come, but hopefully the need for such rallies does not increase. In the meantime I'll keep living the daily bike life here in Iowa City.
For the cyclist's perspective on the Des Moines Rally (since the normal media is not doing much to cover this) check out the write up at 30th Century Cycles.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Take Three
Tonight I went on my third group ride of the year, and as it happened, the group did the same loop as they did on the other two rides I did--the rather classic Sugar Bottom-Tiffin loop. On the first attempt I opted for the self drop and rode in via the bike paths. On the second attempt some crazy shenanigans occurred involving a tandem and some overly aggressive youngins. On the third attempt I actually did the whole loop, but I didn't quite make it all the way with the group.
I did take a few pulls, though. And a couple of them came when the speeds were quite high. But I'm mostly in high spirits because I felt pretty darn good for most of it (and I have two beers in me).
After getting dropped on the south side of Tiffin I rode in with a couple of Bikes 2 You guys before we picked up Steve a couple of miles later. Steve and I rode through town duking it out with the cars. OK, so it wasn't quite that dramatic. But still, there was a boxing glove.
Hopefully I will be able to make the whole ride on my fourth attempt, but if not, no biggie. In the meantime, while you anxiously await to see if I can finish the next group ride you can check out a selection of our wedding photos here.
I did take a few pulls, though. And a couple of them came when the speeds were quite high. But I'm mostly in high spirits because I felt pretty darn good for most of it (and I have two beers in me).
After getting dropped on the south side of Tiffin I rode in with a couple of Bikes 2 You guys before we picked up Steve a couple of miles later. Steve and I rode through town duking it out with the cars. OK, so it wasn't quite that dramatic. But still, there was a boxing glove.
Hopefully I will be able to make the whole ride on my fourth attempt, but if not, no biggie. In the meantime, while you anxiously await to see if I can finish the next group ride you can check out a selection of our wedding photos here.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Back Up and Running, er, Riding
For some reason my blog was not online earlier this week. I had my tech person work on it, and now we are back. She is so good I had to marry her.
The weekend has been filled with much socializing and riding. I managed to get in three good rides in three days. On Friday I went out in the howling winds with Sean, the only person I know who has an epic four part blog post on the 2009 American Birkebeiner. I encourage you to give it a read, but make sure you've got some time, or at least are at work.
After the ride we went to the Hudson River Gallery for an opening for Robert Caputo. It was a really fun and busy opening. We talked with many friends and then later in the night got corralled into going out for sushi. Sushi with Nick is always a good time.
Saturday started with a mostly mellow ride from the park. A small group of 7 or so rolled south into the crosswinds for an Eden's Loop. After that Steve, Joe and myself decided to stay out in the nice weather and add on a Sharon Center loop. The sun was shining and I even made the bold move of removing my knee warmers.
At the end of the ride Joe invited us over for a beer. Joe homebrews some mighty fine stuff, and last time he had us over we had a few too many pale ales. This time was not too different. We sat around in the sun reliving old bike riding memories and getting drunk on a super crisp IPA half a pint at a time. I spent the rest of the afternoon in tipsy bliss.
Sunday I woke up early and started reading the Paris-Roubaix coverage until I could get a video stream going. Robin and I watched it in French. Between Robin's knowledge of the language and my knowledge of bike racing we were able to mostly piece together the narrative of 2009's Hell of the North. As always, the race did not disappoint.
Following the race I went out to the park to meet up with Joe and Steve for another Sharon Center loop. It was windier and cooler than yesterday, but it was still great to be out. I have now ridden 8 out of the last 9 days, so hopefully some decent fitness awaits me just around the corner.
The weekend has been filled with much socializing and riding. I managed to get in three good rides in three days. On Friday I went out in the howling winds with Sean, the only person I know who has an epic four part blog post on the 2009 American Birkebeiner. I encourage you to give it a read, but make sure you've got some time, or at least are at work.
After the ride we went to the Hudson River Gallery for an opening for Robert Caputo. It was a really fun and busy opening. We talked with many friends and then later in the night got corralled into going out for sushi. Sushi with Nick is always a good time.
Saturday started with a mostly mellow ride from the park. A small group of 7 or so rolled south into the crosswinds for an Eden's Loop. After that Steve, Joe and myself decided to stay out in the nice weather and add on a Sharon Center loop. The sun was shining and I even made the bold move of removing my knee warmers.
At the end of the ride Joe invited us over for a beer. Joe homebrews some mighty fine stuff, and last time he had us over we had a few too many pale ales. This time was not too different. We sat around in the sun reliving old bike riding memories and getting drunk on a super crisp IPA half a pint at a time. I spent the rest of the afternoon in tipsy bliss.
Sunday I woke up early and started reading the Paris-Roubaix coverage until I could get a video stream going. Robin and I watched it in French. Between Robin's knowledge of the language and my knowledge of bike racing we were able to mostly piece together the narrative of 2009's Hell of the North. As always, the race did not disappoint.
Following the race I went out to the park to meet up with Joe and Steve for another Sharon Center loop. It was windier and cooler than yesterday, but it was still great to be out. I have now ridden 8 out of the last 9 days, so hopefully some decent fitness awaits me just around the corner.
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