Chris out did him self!

F**K FOTOSHOP!

rock and roll and the narative

Photoshop?? I dont need no stinkin photoshop!!!

Hmmm well, I thought this thing would look good in black, but I dunno. I planned on spending alot of time givin the ol blog its '09 look, but a couple whiskeys convinced me to go simple. That logo is almost there, but needs a little work. Im figuring that the crushing boredom of my unemployment will give me plenty of time to get it right. For now this look sticks, for better or worse.

The impending doom.

December 30th is my last day at UP, sucks to get laid off but Im lookin forward to getting out of this mold and rat infested office. A couple weeks of unemployment is gonna be nice, do some biking, gonna remodel the blog, get out on some epic winter sufferfests. No luck on any jobs yet, time to start applyin out of state. The feds are hiring cartographers in Belle Fourche, SD, 20 minutes north of Spearfish. That definitley sounds appealing. Dakota 5-o every weekend.

news flash!!!!

Here is some important news. If you live in the midwest and there is a large scale zombie attack. The first rule is this.

Own a Pugsley. In my foretelling dream, everyone with a Pugsley Lives.

Why not?

Last week I rode the LHT over the bridge and over to Manawa and it was pretty interesting. I put the cross tires on the bike for snowy weather commuting, then I got sent out of headquarters to airlite (
back to driving to work) and it still hasn't snowed. So that's zero use of these tires for their intended purpouse. So I thought, whats this thing like on singletrack? Minus the fact that the bike has zero clearance so bunny hoppin any sort of decent sized log is out of the question, it was fun as hell. Not sure I'd do it again, but it was fun.

What up dog.

Never thought watching the Dog Whisperer would ever come in handy. Im watchin Walter Meldrum while Joe is in Cedar Rapids for a couple days. This is the most emotionaly needy dog ive ever met. Not to mention he wasnt gettin comfortable in his new temporary surroundings very well. Way to fix that? Three miles of walkin in the cold at 8 am, now hes passed out under my desk. I think Joe's eventually gonna train him to go biking, ive always thought itd be cool to have a trail dog. When i move out of this apartment, might have to get one.

Bike Hero

Flippin awesome.

Soooo....

The other day at lunch one of my co-workers asked me if i had any good biking stories lately. To his and my dissapointment, no. Lots of commuting and miles but zero good stories and nothing to blog about since South Dakota. That ride from my apartment to Mineola was pretty awesome, but I brought a camera with no memory card and got home with no blog worthy photos or stories (total bs, the fall scenery was awesome that day). Doesnt help that Bob and I have been sick all fall, although Im feeling real good right now, bronchitis seems to be mostly kicked. Just in time for the winter sufferfests.

I stopped in Boulder during my Denver visit...

How many bikes do you spy? It was so awesome to see so many people riding.

Hey Tim

Bring on the suffering.

So Monday I roll up to the bike rack at work soaking wet and freezing, and how many other bikes are there??? One. Far as I know two dudes rode to work Monday. Weak. Other dude, mad props (I know we've bs'ed, don't know who you are though.) Im lookin forward to the first nasty, cold, snowy day when the Surly is the only bike on the rack. But I hope I am wrong. The more the merrier when it comes to hardcore commuting.

wades pics.

yeah thats a big train

The one day I dont bring my camera......

Is the day while riding towards the ped bridge that we see a man walking a dog, and a donkey loaded with stuff up Burt street. Needless to say it was one of the more ridiculous things ive seen lately, so there you go, to make up for no pic of the donkey, have a picture of a lol cat. After that we hit up the bridge and headed over to xtreme to tell them that it looks like they finally fixed the LHT. FYI you cannot run 5mm cable on an LHT. 4mm cable looks to have solved all of my problems. On the way back, we ran into UP's Challenger locomotive, and as a railroad employee and a dude who is fascinated by machines, that giant train was awesome. And about the bridge, all I have to say is that it is extremely usefully, but aesthetically disappointing. Hopefully wade will post some pics of the bridge and the train.

Holy Crap

When i hit 24th street this morning, it was like riding in a cloud. Which was cool at first, but riding in that and sharing the road with cars is kind of frightening. Wish i would have brought a camera, from the 16th floor you cant see anything. Outside its a wall of white.

D5-0

I can stand again!

well, I didn't finish. I got 32 miles in and could no longer pedal or walk. Cramps abound. Thinking back, on the drive to Spearfish, i didn't even drink one full bottle of water. That was my biggest mistake. I will fix that next year.

Yep, I am already excited for next year. I can not climb a flight of stairs without pain or spasms, but i am excited.

The first 4 miles is the other thing that killed me. I will do that different next year. I was running a pretty easy gear. 32X20. So i was spinning my guts out on the first half-mile through town. then the gravel started and a 3.5 mile climb. There was no coasting, no rest, just pedal. This is something that can not be replicated in omaha. At one point, not knowing how long i would be on gravel, I stopped. I even called lynden and said i might quit.

But then something funny happened. This car stopped beside me. It was over heating. that is how this hill was, the car was over heating going up it. They needed me to move to turn around and go get their truck. So i slowly started pedaling and decided I would at least stay out 2 hours.

The people that turned around came back by in their truck and said that i am almost to the single track and that made me feel way better. I wanted off the gravel road.

Once i hit the single track i think it was 4 more miles of climbing. But, there where little breaks. like downs and some coasting. I was having a ball. It was after the 1st aid station and before the second that cramps started. So i just drank a lot of water and kept saying i will continue to try for 2 more hours. I lasted about 4 hours after the first cramps.

To be honest, i do not remember a whole lot. I remember falling over in a Cow pasture about 5 feet from a cow because both legs locked up. I remember going through the creeks. I remember "heart attack" hill or something like that. Old baldy. And I remember that i did not have my camera.

I took some with my phone. One of them is funny because other omaha people took one at the exact same place it sees like.

the creek about 50-60 feet below...













here is what i took...













here is someone else's from omaha...
























I can say it was really fun. An 8 year old rode the whole thing. I will go up 2 day early next year. I was not ready for it. And I really want to do it again.

5o

Well the 5o went about as I expected. My bronchitis/asthma kicked in about 3 miles into the
race and I was done. I was chugging along feeling good then all of a sudden, the oxygen was gone, and I was in real bad shape. I didnt have any buisness trying to race but Im so glad I tried. I dont know if I just didnt give myself enough time to get better (only a couple weeks) or its worse than I though and need to go see a specialist. But at any rate, Bob has a much better story to tell than I do.

Its go time.

My knees hurt, my lungs are still full of gunk, and my allergies are killing me. South Dakota here we come.

Awesome

"I saw you riding to work, couldnt tell if you were wet or crying"

Thanks guys.

I am the only dry cyclist in the office. Woe are those without rain gear.

Fall is almost here.

Well the 5o is a week away and im about as prepared as I could be. 1030 miles so far this year, a ton of jogging, I quit drinking and have been eating pretty healthy. Im in the best shape Ive ever been in and am actually hopefull that Ill survive the race pretty well. Some where in the 6-8 hour range is my goal. Sucks I wont have a chance to get one last weekend of hard riding in this weekend, but hey, Joes getting fucking married.

my first race ever....

Disappointed. I am working on a longer post about with pics.

Has the pugsley met its match?

The Best Bike Ideas.

F YEAH. BACK IN THE SADDLE

I finally feel well enough to get some decent riding in. Tranquility Saturday, Swanson Sunday. Still no-where near 100% though. Had to hit the inhaler on the second lap to keep going, all that soupy air just made my lungs want to fill up with gunk, and thats just what they did. With only a month till the five-o, this is not good, if I'm having breathing issues after two laps at Swanson, the five-o is gonna be suicide.

Medical Update.

After the breathing problems ive had riding and my near death experience on the Lincoln ride, I figured i better go see a doctor. Well, I walked out of the doctor's office with scripts for two inhalers, an antibiotic, orders not to touch a bicycle until I get better, and to get a new job in a healthier environment with better benefits. This kind of sucks.

Omaha-Lincoln Gravel Grinder #1

We did it and it was ridiculous. Here are the photos.

Today, these facts were learned.

1.Fuck the wind. All of it. Everywhere.
2.I have some sort of asthma and need to go see a doctor.
3.I am as tough as I think I am.
4.The Long Haul Trucker is probably the best money ive ever spent.
5.Google Maps can be wrong. Painfully wrong.
6.I think Bob and I are going to do just fine at the 5o.

Dry Trails

Last time I hit up Lewis &Clark was about 600 miles ago. With all the wet weather, Ive been getting in some serious road mileage and wondering what kind of shape I'm actually in. After a few climbs I was just.. wow. Lewis and Clark feels like Swanson now. Seems like my routine of easy riding/commuting/jogging during the week, and riding till i pass out on the weekends is paying dividends. I am almost confident that i will survive the 5-o now. I just watched the forecast for the week and Bill Wrongby is saying rain Wednesday, so its looking like Swanson Tuesday evening and taco ride thursday.

FYI

Commuting in the rain is totally worth it just for the looks on your co-workers faces when you show up soaking wet with a huge smile on your face.

Yesterdays ride...

Chris and I had a good ride yesterday. I am getting more comfortable on the new bike, though I will probably change the seat.

here is a map of the ride

The Ride home and the drive in...

2 days and about 70 miles. that is 12 dollars in gas.

I rode the new bike to work two days in a row. I have a decent route home that seems pretty safe. There is a great short hill around 79 to 75th street right before Pipal Park.




My back started hurting on the ride home yesterday. I am not sure what happened or why, but it was really bad when i breathed deep on the right side right around the last lower ribs. So, I drove to work today. Driving is STRESSFUL. Bleh. Maybe not having that stress first thing in the morning is the reason my days at work seemed better.

I think the hardest thing is getting up earlier to eat and the extra time to ride. I have found that if I don't try to go fast and just keep a steady pace I am not worn out at all. I think i use to try to get to work as fast as I could and the made me really tired all day. Now I feel great if i take it easy.

Taco Ride

Hey taco ride people, I need to know whos coming so I know how much beer to bring.

How much beer can I haul on my bike?
The better question is how much can you drink on your bike?

New Bike First Impressions...

First, I am glad I got the Long Haul Trucker over the X-Check. I got to work today and I do not even feel like I have been on a bike. It is really smooth. The parts of the ride that use to vibrate me to death on the LeMond were smooth rolling today.

It only took me 45 minutes to get here but I also cut the route down to about 11.5 miles. I took the direct approach. I will have to see if I can do this riding home. But it is nice that riding to work and stopping out of the way for a quick coffee is only an hour.

The weird thing is that the bike feels more like a 58" than a 56". I have ridden two 56" and i thought the stand over was lower. Also the bar reach seems longer than I remember. I will have to let it settle in and see if it positive or a negative.

I love the higher stem. I actually used the drops and it was really comfortable.

It is of course way heavier then my Lemond was and I noticed it on starts especially. But once I was rolling I just kept the momentum up just like I do on my SS MTB and it was easy to get up the city hills.

Well go take it for a spin over lunch now also.

Mass Transit

On my way to work this morning, I saw a fancy new bus with a bike rack on it! Looks like after years of MAT saying they are coming, they are here. Question is, how are we actually going to use these things? I guess taking the bus out to westroads or wherever out there it stops and riding the rest of the way to tranquility wouldnt be bad.

I aint got time to bleed.

Dakota 5o training has officially begun. Mountain biking is fun again.

today...

first do you read the Surly blog?

people riding fixies in the RAAM is pretty amazing. One of the videos on their page shows one of them pushing 48X16 up a huge hill.

Tranquility is a go this evening. Jim, Lynden and I are gonna hit it. Then stop at Whole Foods for some steaks and a tuna steak for lynden. Then we are gonna cook them (barely) then we're gonna eat them. good times!

submerged!

Not going to Manawa for a while.

Check out the pics taken by our extreme friends at the xteme wheels blog.

a little dirt...

rode a little at tranquility tonight with broken rib girl. ("BRG") She did great, the interior hill was easier for her than she remembers and there was water only in one little spot. The rest was dry and dusty.

I pushed a 36 X 18. 2:1 is not bad, and i rode it slow-ish, which makes it harder. If i can get use to that gearing I know i can get down to 25 minutes for the beginners lap and may even try a 36 X 17 or 36 X 16 to get to 22 or 23 minutes. We will see.

Has any one who checks this out ridden the Dakota_5_0? I have some questions.

happy trails!

Ramblings.

With the rain keeping us off the single track, Ive been spending alot of time riding the roads and trails along the river north of downtown. Nice flat, low traffic and somewhat scenic roads. Scenic except for barb wire that runs from around the airport all the way up to the North Omaha power plant. At least when you get north of the airport, you get on top of the levee and can see the river. BUT thats when the barbed wire get serious and gives you that maximum security prison cycling atmosphere. The fences are there for a reason though, trash dumped everywhere. Bob summed it up well Sunday (in so many words), its too bad human beings are so horrible". Sorry about the bad qoute Bob.

Long ride. Longer walk.

Rides like this make me begrudgingly admit that I like living here.

522 for the year

Lots of good riding this week, getting back on track for my riding goal of 100 miles a month. Ive got nothing on Up in Alaska, but 100 a month is an accomplishment for me.

Frakin Awesome.

Only took me three weeks, but I found a way around the filters at UP that have kept me from blogging at work, success! Now if i could only get the mobile blogging thing to work out so i could post pics from my phone, id be one happy blogger. Wednesdays Boyer Chute ride was the longest solo ride ive done, 38 miles. Ive never really bothered riding long distances, ive always been content with sticking to the single track around here. But you can only do so many laps at swanson and tranquility before it gets boring. Heres the route i rode to Boyer, think were gonna do a similar route through the hills this weekend.

Time for some mileage

Well, were not going to be hitting the dirt anytime soon, so non-dirt riding it is. Wednesday after work, roads and trails up to Boyer Chute, or the Wabash to Silver City.

Life in the slow lane.

Since I started working at UP two weeks ago, my car use has plummeted, I am thoroughly enjoying this new, near carfree lifestyle. New fenders on the commuter, it looks pretty sweet. Cant believe I almost got rid of this bike not too long ago, i love riding it.

tacos....

since bob is busy wearin out tranqulity, ill be headin out on the taco ride thursday around 6-6:30 ish.

tranquil...

I think Tranquility will be my first try at the whole 'race' thing. I rode it saturday with Jim and Lynden. Then sunday did 4 more laps. One with Chris, One with Lynden and 2 alone. The two i did alone I pushed pretty hard and had some decent times.
Today I went out and Did a lap alone and then did another slow lap with Brad before band practice but I attacked the last hill that they are going to cut out of the Beginners race. I was shocked because I went to a 36 X 20 (from a 32 X 20 I had on from Platte) and I just sprinted right up it. I could almost say it was easy. That felt really good.

Maybe I am getting in to OK shape, plus losing 12 pounds in the last few weeks and gaining 3 pounds of muscle probably helps with the hills.

I will probably be there tomorrow with jim and then again thursday with Lynden (if there is no rain) if anyone wants to ride.

I am loving this weather but it looks like the rain is coming which may push camping out a week.

maybe i will try 36 X 18 next week and see what kind of times I can get.

New beginning!

I am proud to make the announcement that I've gotten my lazy bum back on my bike! Yesterday Bob, Jim and I went to Tranquility and they were patient enough to let me keep up with them. My lungs tried their best to keep up, but there were several times where I wanted to reach for an oxygen tank. My leg muscles also had a hard time, I have a lot of building up to do. I really love being on my bike and am glad that my rib is cooperating.
Bob and I went back to Tranquility today and he went at his speedy pace, while I tried my best with a reallllly sore gluteus maximus and pissed off adductor magnus and gracilis.
I'm hoping for a nice transformation in my body at the end of the summer.

Pic of me now








Pic of me hopefully by end of the summer

For Sale

Well, its time for the Pilot to go. Just was never the right bike for me.

Heres the listing on Craigslist.

friday ride...

after work i am either going to Swanson, Tranquility or Jewell. If anyone is down let me know.

Great Rack

So, a few weekends ago I bought a Yakima Load Warrior off Craigslist.

I also wanted a roof top bike rack but didn't like how the typical roof top racks cover up so much of the basket. That would mean being able to carry less camping gear.

Sunday I came across the Yakima Boa. It came in today and works like a Charm! I just ordered a second one. No Rails!

New Commute

New job at UP, new commute to 18th and Nicholas. Super boring but super short and easy. I miss the aesthetics of my old commute to UNO, but I do not miss having to ride up and out of the Saddle Creek valley everyday. That is 130 feet of climbing I do not miss.

more cartography

heres the newest version of my trail mapping site im slowly working on. the site is finished for the most part, but ive got a ton of maps to still put up, and more improvements to the google maps to be done as i figure out the code.

Gmaps
http://myweb.unomaha.edu/~cclowers/trailsite/main.html

I took the leap

So it is all set up. Kristen is ordering me a crosscheck. They only have the Grey ones available, but i could care less about the color. Just slap some fenders and rack on that baby, Ride it to work 20 weeks Straight and it paid for itself. :) just 3400 - 3500 miles. hahahhaha

but being able to buy it and not having to spend 45-50 dollars a week on gas will feel like the right decision either way. If I fill up once a paycheck the would even rule. Of course i will need more bike shorts, I like the new Pearl Izumi boxer/brief thingys... and summer rain gear. and a water proof computerator sleave.

bout the coolest thing ive seen in a while

A bicycle lift in Norway, I need one of these on California Street.

Bicycle Lift

Cancel the Fat Tire Festival Idea...

Lets all go to Ponca. Camp, ride, eat, ride, eat, eat, eat, ride, sleep... head up the morning of Sat. the 24th of may.

I did not know that the FTF was so expensive. well not really expensive, but we could eat steaks every 3 hours at Ponca for the price of going to the FTF. I was told to ask Mike the park ranger where the good trails are although I like the last one we found last year. I can use my tent!

Who is in?

Opps I like this idea but i think there is a wedding Saturday. We could go Sunday and come back monday. But will get the details.

TORN!!!!

I have a dilemma, I need a geared bike to ride to work. I have been talking to Kristen about getting a Surly Cross-Check the way I want it built or a complete from Surly. The problem is that I would have to wait at least 1 month to afford a Complete Cross-Check and the first thing I would want to do is change stuff. So more $$$. A Custom Cross-Check is probably 2 months out of saving. So, either way I am losing 1 - 2 months of Riding to work. That blows.

Now, the other option in go pick up a much cheaper commuter bike on Wednesday and start riding to Work next week. It already has fenders and All I would need to add is a rack. So my though process this.... I may buy the cheap one soon. Then Buy the cross-check frame soon after. I pay off my car in July and start using that money to Buy all the parts for the Frame and build it up. That way I end up with the bike I want in the long run, I can start riding very soon, and have an extra bike if a Friend wants to go for a ride. I could also just have flat pedals on the cheaper bike so if I just wanna go get coffee or run to the store, I would still use it.

Those are my thought, any advice?

Maps!

Ive slowly been working on project for school, mapping bike trails with google maps. Its taken me forever to figure out the code, but ive got most of it figured out and finally have something to show. I only have data for swanson and tranquility, and i still have to add in things like trail head markers, and a text area on the right side of the map to display trail info. But its enough to show around and get some feedback from the people who ride these trails.

MTB Trail Mapping with Google Maps
http://myweb.unomaha.edu/~cclowers/mtbtrails.html

-sorry no linky goodness, UNO uses a character (~) in our public html folders that isnt web safe. copy and paste gentleman.

Swanson report

So, what we added sunday makes Swanson seem faster and a lot more fun. It is not like the old Downhill fast, but a lot faster than it was. I got out there for a lap before band practice and afterwork while Ms. Broken Rib walked the back half. She is a good trail walker, always looking out for bikers and gets off the trail when the are coming. :)

There are to 'gotchas!' though. (working in web development, a "gotcha" is something small, that you don;t really suspect, and makes every thing go seriously wrong.) So the two 'gotchas' are close together. After tetanus ridge and after the newer cut backs right after it; there is a new straight line through the trees. when you leave the trees you can have decent speed. About 50 yards after the there is a mild right then and fairly tight left that is downhill a bit. I will learn a good line and correct speed for that. 

When you recover from the first one you can pick up speed again and you hit a straight away with a little jump (can you make it over clearing?), it is little and then you jag left only to run straight into an really tight hair pin turn to the right. You almost have to pull the front wheel up and pull the whole bike around. It is pretty sweet. From there on out it is speed if you take the not so well hidden 'alternative routes.' 

I will be back out there tomorrow around 6 and thursday if it does not rain. I sent Chris GPS readings for the trail, so he may post it. 

best...

Robert

And i thought the three bikes in my living room was alot.

the long weekend...

So I woke up saturday morning and headed for Platte River State Park. I didn't even know how to get there, so I thought walking the trail and fixing it up would be the best way to learn it. I got to meet some new people and learn that it may become my favorite trail around here, beating out Jewell. 

I am going to head out there tomorrow after work. I should be there between 5:30 and 5:45. Broken Rib girl (Lynden) is gonna get her walk on while I ride it. If anyone wants to come let me know. We can meet up.

Saturday night was Julie's Wedding. There was an open bar and they had Dr. Pepper. So it was Vodka/Dr. Pepper time. It was too many Vodka/Dr. Pepper time. I felt it when i woke up this morning to head to Swanson to meet someone about a Yakima Load Warrior on craigslist and then do more trail work.  I think most people will like the changes. the Uptop after tetanus ridge is a faster line and no longer Just milage for milage sake. I also learned a hidden line from Mark that makes the end of it more speed oriented. I love that. When the new parts harden it should be pretty sweet. 

So after that I rode two laps with Anne, Mark, Troy, Charlie, and .... one other person whose name escapes me. I was the slow guy. :)    But for only being on a Bike for two years and having a mountain bike for less then a year, I did not feel that bad about it. On the second lap, the calfs were cramping up and that kinda sucked but I just remembered riding in Zero degree weather and sucked it up.  Oatmeal for breakfast, I found out, is not enough for spending 6 hours working on and riding Swanson.

Some know that I had a weight loss goal of 7 lbs and gain 7lbs of muscle mass by June 24th. Well I changed that. It is now lose 17 lbs and maintain or gain a little muscle mass by June 24th. Since I have already lost 6 lbs in two weeks and Probably 2 more this weekend alone I think I will make it. It is a lot less expensive then a lighter bike. 

There is the wrap up let me know if anyone wants to meet at Platte River State Park tomorrow.

Best...

Robert 

my big day....

so i just woke up with cramps in my thighs and my calfs. sucks.

so today i did two things i have never done before.

1. 3 laps at swanson. I know it is not a big feat but it was for me. the best thing was that my legs gave out to cramps while my heart and lungs were a-okay.

2. i got to the road at Swanson and did not stop, just went right up the hill to tetanus ridge. I did this on lap 2 and 3. on lap to a 2 I forced it and stopped for about 10 seconds at the turn to the new part to get my heart back in my shirt and the 3rd lap I just crossed and tried to make it all the way but failed and pushed about 15 feet and hopped right back on. I may have made it up the 3rd lap with a 32 X 20 but was running 32 X 18 and it just didn't work

laps times were 39, 34 and 37 minutes. that is really good for me. total was just under 2 hours with breaks in the parking lot between laps.

well, the legs are chilin' out so it is back to bed.

more gps fun. (sometimes i enjoy school)

Made with an Ancient Garmin GPS III, better than the etrex, but bobs blackberry is still on top. Hopefully ill get out with the Trimble in the next couple days or so.

Spring has renewed my will to live.

First taco ride of the year this thursday? Lemme know if your down.

More GPS fun

Bobs blackberry + some program from Trimble. Pretty cool.

Check it out.

Cheap GPS+Bicycle=

A really bad map of tranquility.

Tranquility today..

I am going to Tranquility to help with trail maintenance. It is from 1 to 3 today. If the rain holds off we can ride a lap or two afterwards :)

the choicest product

I want this jersey bad.

March

Rollin through manawa sunday, it was pretty awesome. especially considering the last time i rode there this is what the trail looked like. I almost miss all that winter riding.

BikeWire

i make a profile at Bikewire.net. find it here. I have no idea what the elevation is for Swanson or L&C so i guessed. I wish Chris would hurry up and Map them so I can have some elevation info. :)

Stupid bikes...

i assume most people have seen this by now. In case you haven't, politicians can be so funny.

i think he is trying to be sarcastic.

Swanson

Saturday. 1:30.

Time to cash in my reward for all the ass kickingly hard riding i did this winter.

Fn Dirt.

Dirt still too wet? You can make a short but fun as hell hill climbing ride out of a trip to South Omaha. I even got hassled by a cop!

And mapmyride.com is my new best friend.
Tonight's ride.

Do you read 'Up in Alaska?'

this is a blog of a woman that lives in alaska and loves the cold and endurance riding.
I have this blog in my RSS feed and it is always pretty good. If you have a few minutes look in the march log and there are "day one: ..." posts. These are recaps of each day she rode the Iditarod on a Surly Pugsley. It is pretty interesting. Sleeping in a bivey at 20 below, trying to get a 70 pound packed bike across a frozen waterfall...

http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/

Spring Showers

So I was listening to some old Iron Maiden and cleaning my kitchen and I noticed that the Rig was a crusty tan/grey color and decided it needed a good spring cleaning, wash all the gross winter debris away.

I had no idea how i should clean it so I just put in the shower and barely turned on the water, used a sponge to sqeeze water on the parts that the shower head could not reach and then just patted it down. I then re-greased all greezy parts and now it looks so happy.

Is that a better way to do this?

The Wabash aint dry and it aint pretty right now, but it was a good day to be out in the middle of nowhere.

Lincoln

Bob, Jim, fellow sufferfest veterans, here is the lincoln route, when we gonna do this, its about 70 miles longer than i can handle

SUFFERFEST-LINCOLN

Flight of the Conchords rule.

My new theme song 4 lyfe.

Sunday

Some people go to church on Sundays, I ride my bike. Im thinking maybe ride from bellvue down to the platte river bridge, depending on what the wind is doing.

Warmth and Sun

Today was about the best commute to work ive had since i lived in Lincoln. Weather is gorgeous, days like today make me realize how much i hate cars.

Wednesday evening.

Hope the single track drys out, but regardless of the dirt condition, were riding somewhere.

Bob heres that route to Lincoln, should be able to shave 15 miles off it no prob.

Lincoln

best drunk wreck ever.

Why You Shouldnt Drink And Bike - Watch more free videos

weathers kind of gonna suck, but sunday riding is go. meet at noon at dodge riverside restaraunt for lunch, the pain train hits the trail at one.

Friday evening. Manawa, im gonna check it out, if it aint icy, ill be riding. Who's comin with?

Sunday Sunday Sunday

I just realized i need to make a distinction between "personal" mapping time, and "work" mapping time. Shouldnt be mapping out bike routes when ive got real maps to make. Here is the proposal for this Sunday. Meet for breakfast here at noon. Then do a loop around Council Bluffs. 27 miles with two big hills.

gmaps

heres a handy website for planning out rides, www.gmap-pedometer.com

A Formal Introduction.

Alright. To make it easier to get in touch about the weekend group rides, ive invited peeps to this blog so we can post rides, maps, pics and so on. Basically im trying to save myself the trouble of calling everyone about riding every weekend. If its a ride i came up with, ill try to post a map, so you arent surprised when ten miles into the ride i tell you youve still got fourty left to go. Any ideas for the weekend sufferfest?

Oh come on.

Spent all day doing Google Earth Stuff, was all exicted to post a map in here, but blogspot freaks out about my html. Theres all kinds of services to embed maps, but Im pretty disapointed to not be able to do it from scratch. Ill figure it out eventually

Gotta get it out of the way.

First post. I dont know what to say, other than that winter needs to end. Fast.