Trans Iowa Trans Iowa registration date is set. December 17th at 11:00am Pacific Time. Only 70 will be able to register. Are you ready Brian? I need to start building my Trans Iowa bike soon. Random blogging mode ON. Are there any Kona Major Jake frames available Pat? Thanks again for the tip on Cabela's pogies. Are you still going to put in an order with Mavic? I need the Ksyrium SL's if I'm going to win TI :) Anyone have an idea for a winter training camp location? What's on everyone's bicycling Christmas wish list? Hi Jen. Is Greg ever going to update his blog? Or Sears? I like how Brooks' site looks lately. I like the different areas on the sidebar. How do you do that? My biggest fear during the Arrowhead 135. Especially the last picture. Ouch. Random blogging mode OFF. Thanks for stopping by. Dave :)

Cold Went for a little ride tonight. It's starting to cool down. Forecast is for chilly temps for the next couple of weeks. I'm going to order some bike pogies for the Pugs tomorrow. They call them bike toasties in the link above. They are basically a big pocket for your handlebars. Should help keep the digits warm on longer rides. Also I'm going to try and bike or walk everywhere. Except when I go out of town. I might even bike then as well. I started on Monday, and it really isn't that bad. Just takes a little bit of planning. We'll see how long I make it. Any guesses out there? Not much else going on. I'll try and post more bike pictures now that I got it figured out. Goodnight.

Cold Ride Well I'm back from my ride. Two and a half hours out in the blizzard. 16 degrees, 30mph winds with gusts over 40mph. That's -15 degrees windchill! Good thing I was prepared with the best Patagonia and Lake shoes have to offer. I started out with my 36x18 gear ratio on the Pugs. It was tough going north into the wind. At times I was standing up and barely able to move forward. I made it to the bike shop and promptly swapped front and rear wheels to the 36x20 gear ratio. It made a noticable difference. I think I will be leaving it that way for now. Maybe even get a 22 tooth freewheel or a 34 tooth chainring. My legs are pumped after that workout. While at the bike shop I picked up a pair of ski goggles. They are a must have for riding in the wind in winter. No fogging, and they kept the skin around my eyes warm. I left the shop and headed north on my winter riding loop. It was tough going into the wind again, but even tougher with a cross wind. At one point I was crossing 42nd Ave and I had to get off my bike and literally crawl across the icy road. I must have looked pretty stupid. I couldn't believe all the cars that were out tonight. The roads were glare ice. At least I could ride on the sidewalk or where there was some snow on top of the ice. There were cars sliding all over. I got as far north as the loop takes me and started to head back south. That was fun but kind of scary going that fast, legs spinning wildly, on the icy spots. I came over the point bridge from East Grand Forks, and the wind was blowing me right into the guard rail. I had one hand one the rail and the other working the brake and steering. Skills training at its finest. Well I made it home with all my fingers and toes. Can't wait for the next ride. Here are a couple pictures. Two of the Pugs thawing out, and one of me thawing out. Hopefully I have this picture thing figured out. Enjoy.

Blizzard Warning Finally there is some snow on the ground and more on the way. Sounds like a good time to test out the winter gear. I'm heading out into the eye of the storm. Report in a few hours. Later.

Turkey Day Had a great Thanksgiving. I got to eat twice. Now I really have to start putting on the base miles to burn off all that holiday goodness. First it was off to the lake. My mom and dad made a most excellent spread of turkey, ham, potatoes(regular and sweet), stuffing and all the trimmings. I got to see my Grandma and the Oak clan as well. I hope I wore Christian and Bobbi out enough for you guys. After that it was off to Jen's family Thanksgiving. Another great meal, and the best pumpkin pie ever. Thanks Cheryl. In other news. I watched the movie "The Hard Road" last night. Thanks Pat for the copy. It's about a pro road cycling team, and the struggles they go through in a season. Gives a little insight into what it takes to make it to the big time in U.S. cycling. 15,000 miles of riding a year. Ouch! Over all I give it a three out of five. Again, if anyone wants to borrow any movies just shoot me an e-mail. Also, my cousin Rick started a blog. He's a sports performance trainer/coach in Thief River Falls, and a big Triathalon nut. Check it out in the links section. Well all the turkey sleep juice is getting to me. Until next time. Good night.

ND State Single Speed MTB Champion That's right. I'm the first state single speed MTB champ. And Dave Sears is the first state fixed gear MTB champ. After all the hype it came down to who showed up to race, or just plain showed up. I was the only single speeder, and Sears was the only fixed gearie. Oh how jealous Brian and Greg must be. I guess that's what happens when you move out of state. They'll just have to wait until next year to challenge the two best single speeders ever. What, you ask, did we win for such an illustrious feat? Hub pizza, beer and coke, and a live band doing a cover to Toto. That's right Brian, "Africa". We also get specialized license plates commemorating our titles. After we fueled up at "The Hub", we went for a victory ride down the greenway express. It was the best ride ever. THE END.

SS Wars The day has finally come. After months and months of planning Ssears is putting on the mother of all races tonight. The ND Single Speed Championships. I'm getting pumped up as I blog with some good sspeed metal, courtesy of Metallca. Look out boys, I'm coming to race! I think I'm at a little bit of a disadvantage though. You see, the only single speed rig I have is the Pugsley. Now don't get me wrong it's a great bike, but at 32 lbs it's a tank. And those tires are huge, 4". That's a lot of meat to be pushing around(sound off on that comment Greg:) We'll have to see how it pans out. The champion might just be decided by paper, rock, scissors. SStay tuned for an update later tonight. Vino out.

Insomnia I can't sleep so good. Not much new here. It's gotten really cold the last couple of days. Still no snow to speak of though. I see Sears finally started writing on his blog. Keep it up man. I like the pink layout. You need to work on your spelling though. Where is your blog Greg Ames? I can feel you lurking out there. Come out, come out, wherever you are. I'm going to try and get some sleep now. Good night all.

Off Road To Athens Just got done watching a new mountain biking film called "Off Road to Athens". Wow, what a great movie. It follows the top U.S. mountain bike racers during the 2004 season. Eight riders are all fighting for only three spots on the Olympic team. Very inspiring. Makes me want to quit my job and try and be a pro mountain biker. Definitely a must see for any cycling fan, and even non-cyclists would like this movie. Great scenery, and I'm not just talking about Shonny Vanlandingham. Buy it here or if you want to borrow mine, let me know. Looks like we might finally get some snow tonight. Winter storm warning in effect until Wednesday. Four to Ten inches possible. Hopefully I will be riding the Pugs to work tomorrow. How's it looking out in Denver Bill? Time for sleepy Dave

Duluth Trip Well, just got back from Duluth. What a trip. I left on Friday afternoon with my girl Jen, and her friend Sara. We were off to see the Sioux spay and nuetuer the Minnesota/Duluth Bulldogs. After some wonderful navigating by Jen and even better directions from Crystal we were there. Chad and Crystal , who we were staying with, had already gone to the game and we didn't have tickets for Friday night. So, after getting settled in we found some cookies Crystal had made for us and turned on the T.V. There was a public access channel on with a very intriguing show on. It was a conspiracy theory kind of show. The host I guess has a syndicated radio show and he liked to talk. For three hours we were glued to the T.V. as he laid out a case against the President and the government. He claimed that G.W. and the government not only knew that the 9/11 attacks were going to happen, but that they planned them as well. Not only that, but that they are a part of a secret society that wants to rule the planet. At first we just laughed it off, but after a while I think we were brain washed into believing this bozo. It was crazy the stuff he was saying, but he had mainstream video and newspaper clips to back it up. Check it out for your self on the website they kept flashing on the screen. I'm usually not very political, but it makes you wonder what the government is really up to in Iraq, and other countries where we have no business being. Enough of that. On Saturday we awoke to the air horn of a ship coming into the harbor. What a view of the lake we had. We headed down to the shore to get some coffee. We ate lunch at a really good deli next to Pizza Luce. Did some shopping downtown. I even got to see Brian at his hotel. Nothing happened Heather, I swear. Then I got drug around the mall by the girls for two hours. I hate shoe shopping with women. Chad was lucky he had an appointment that afternoon. So Saturday evening finally rolls around and we head off to the game. It didn't look good at first. The Sioux were down 2-0 nothing after one period, and they had two guys ejected for checking from behind. After numerous other Sioux penalties they got their act together and killed em 7-4 , and completed the sweep for the weekend. The Sioux football team also won. It was a great weekend for Sioux athletics. After the game we went and had some good Applebee's food. Then we went back to Chad and Crystal's and watched "Super Troopers". That was the first time I had seen it, and I would recommend it to everyone else who hasn't. Very funny. On Sunday, we left for home early since it was supposed to snow. Luckily there was hardly any snow and all the deer on the side of the road had already been hit. It was a fun weekend. Thanks Chad and Crystal for putting up with us. I can't wait to visit again. Except next time I'm bringing my bike. Could you imagine a gravity race down the hills of Duluth? Maybe not, but there are a lot of nice trails in the area I would like to check out. Well I better get to bed. Another week is about to begin. Later. Dave

06' Training Begins Well I decided to start getting back in shape tonight. I've haven't done a thing in almost two months. The 2300 and 8000 have been hung up for the year. So I dusted off the Pugsley and went for a ride and then a run. I took some pictures of Pugsley, but am having problems uploading them. Maybe next post. I'm going to start doing some weights next week. I'm striving for Fox like legs. See photo in earlier post. Speaking of Fox, he's started his own blog. It's pretty entertaining. Check it out in the links section. That's all for tonight. Simmons out.

Jarhead Went to the movie "Jarhead" last night with Jen, Sarah, Dave Simons, Dave Sears and Austin. There are a lot of Dave' s in the world. That was an awesome movie. It made you want to run out and join the Marine Corps. Very inspiring, yet makes you think a lot about what's going on in Iraq now. Everyone should see this movie. I give it two thumbs up. Hell, I wish I had an extra set of hands so I could give four thumbs up - Dave Chapelle. Not much else going on in my world. Working the Saturday shift at Rydells today. I got my Lake winter shoes yesterday. Very nice. The Boa lacing system is pretty sweet. Can't wait to try them out. There is a chance for snow tonight. I'll cross my fingers. I'm also putting together the mother of all Patagonia orders for winter clothing. Can you say toasty? That's all for now. Dave

Short an Sweet. Chance of snow tonight. Hopefully the Pugsley will get to touch the white stuff in the morning. I added "Bad Luck" Brooks to the links list. Check it out. Looks like he is harder on bikes than even I am. Is that possible Brian? Good night.

Snowboarding We had the Burton rep at the shop tonight. Really cool guy. I learned a lot about snowboards. Mainly that I want to buy one now. Custom board/P1 bindings/Hail boots. What do ya think? Just what I need, another expensive hobby. I think I'll probably rent/borrow a set up first. I'd hate to spend a ton of money and not even like it. Thanks to my new CFO, Jen. I drove down to the parking ramp the other night after work. It wasn't what I was expecting. I thought there would be new sticky blacktop covering that slick concrete. Great for fast cornering. Instead they just filled the cracks and potholes with new concrete and smoothed it out even more. It might be a little better. We'll have to have a G-race before the snow flies to test it out. Maybe a few races, then off to "The Hub" for burgers and beverages to warm up with. Any takers? I was on MTBR tonight and was reading about a race in Colorado. Here is a link to the discussion http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=141181. Want to try this one in a year or two Brian? Sounds like fun. Well I'm off to bed. Vino out.