24 Hours of Nine Mile I'm back from the cheese state. Lots of rain and hot humid temps, but lots of fun anyway. The weekend started on Friday morning with a 7 hour trip to Wausau, WI. We arrived at the race venue and set up camp. Then went on a night time pre-ride lap. The course was a blast. By far the best singletrack I've ridden, and lots of it. Tons of rocks and roots that all flowed perfectly. We went back to our camp site and tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately it started to rain. At first it was just a little sprinkle. Then it went from a light rain to a windy downpour and back all night long. Needless to say we didn't get a lot of sleep. The clouds had parted by the start of the race. I volunteered to do the first lap with the lemans running start. I saw a bunch of familiar faces in the starting shoot. Matt, Paddy, Kerkove and Endurosnob to name a few. 10:00am came and we were off. I felt pretty brave on the run, and tried to pass as many people as I could. Probably not the smartest thing to do. I passed Paddy and told him to pick it up : ) Once we got to our bikes and started down the course, he did just that, and flew by me. My first lap was decent. I definitely got caught up in the excitement and took off way to fast. I always seem to do that. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I finished in 1 hour 15 minutes and tagged off with Trent. The afternoon laps were hot and sticky in the sun. Brian set the fastest lap for our team at 1 hour 4 minutes. Way to go! Trent had great times as well. And Sears kept up fast lap times even though he was on his fixed 29er. Greg made a quick trip up from Madison to cheer us on. I was saddened that the infamous Fox was a no show in his lederhosen : ) As the sun set, it started to cool off a little bit. I took off with my lights and had my best lap of the day. There were three checkpoints along the course. The first one was all lit up, and had a good sized cheering section by the dirt jump they had built. I got some good air and roar from the crowd. That got me pumped for the rest of the lap. At the third checkpoint (Checkpoint Charlie) there was quite the party going on. There were people cheering and ringing cowbells all over, and the music was just as loud. They sure know how to put on a race in Wisconsin : ) On my second night lap it was starting to lightning and thunder. After checkpoint charlie the skies opened up and the wind started to howl. I made it back to the finish, and that was the end of the race. The race organizers had stopped the race and eventually cancelled the rest of the event because of a tornado warning. We packed up camp and hit the road. This is a must do event for anyone thinking of trying a 24 hour event. Minus the weather everything about it was perfect. Great course, loud music, hot showers, bike wash and food and equipment vendors as well. A first rate experience. Our team had a great time and a lot of fun. That was our goal for the weekend. Mission accomplished. Great race guys! A big thanks go out to Terry, Monty and the gang at The Ski and Bike Shop for sponsoring us. Thanks guys and gals. You're the best!

Off to Wisconsin Going to Nine Mile to have some fun : ) Report and pictures to follow. Later.

Random Mode Not much new here. I should be in GF again this weekend. Last weekend was fun. Sears was in EnduroSnob Epic training mode on Sunday. Check out his ride report. Sounds like he'll be ready for 9-mile next weekend. Greg is back in the area, and he showed up at the Sunday night ride. It was good to have someone to push me to the limit. The trails were really dry. Places that usually have some water on the trail were bone dry. Even the gopher hills section! Which is good because that means NO mosquitoes! I showed Greg the new section of single track in the horse trails, and we found that someone had extended it even more. They did a really good job too. We rode back to the Chalet for some water, and met a guy who said he was with Americorps. He said that they have been staying there for a week so far, and would be building a bunch of new singletrack for the next six weeks! He said they would be working on some new trails in the northern part of the park as well. I can't wait to see what they do. If it's anything like what they have already done, I might have to move back to GF : ) Anyway, sounds like Greg will be in GF again this weekend. It should be another good weekend of riding. I might even have to bring the Poprad for a Mangan Gravel Grinder. We'll see. Is Lane still alive? Simmons out.

Finally Friday Hey Friday is finally here tomorrow. Not that it means that much to me. Everyday is like Friday for this slacker : ) I ventured out to Maplelag on Tuesday. It was hot, and the deer flies were crazy. I had forgotten how tough the single track was out there. I did a loop of the Expert course for the Laddies Loppet race. It was brutal, but still a lot of fun. Trent we need to plan a trip out there sometime. Sounds like Greg is going to be in the area until September, so maybe we can all get together out there. Sears, would you be interested? On Wednesday I went on a group ride with some guys from Paramount Sports. There were six of us. It was hot and windy. There were some goods sprints. About 30 miles total. It sounds like there is a group ride pretty much everyday of the week. Lots of riding to be had. Jen and I are heading up to Grand Forks tomorrow. I'll be bringing the 8000 for some Turtle River action. Any takers for Friday or Saturday?

Fargo Well I've been in Fargo now for over a week. It's not that bad. Not Grand Forks, but not that bad. Still looking for a job. I'm in no hurry though. I have a sugar momma now : ) Just kidding Jen. Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute to the bank soon. Biking here is crazy. The traffic in town is horrible. On Friday Jen had to go to Grand Forks to do some wedding stuff, so I decided that I would bike up there and then get a ride home. I took the 2300 out of the stable and headed north. It took me 35 minutes to get out of Fargo! Once out of town it was nice. I bet I didn't see more than 10 cars until I got close to GF. It was a hot and humid day. In the 90's with a strong tailwind. I took two bottles of Accelerade and a 1 liter camelbak full of water and Elete. I had to stop in Hillsboro to refill with water and gatorade endurance. I love the look on peoples faces in small towns when a guy in tight shorts and tap shoes comes into the convenience store. Priceless. 3 hours 46 minutes of riding time. 84 miles. Should be good prep for 24 hours of 9 mile at the end of the month. Are you ready guys? It should be a fun race. Since we're in the team division, I should have plenty of time to harass the solo guys. Can I get a roll call of who's going to be there? I'd like to get some good pictures of the event, so stay tuned for that. Greg are you going to make it? Later

Dave Nice is my hero Just wanted to give a shout out to Dave Nice. I met him at Trans-Iowa. Super nice guy. Anyway, he is out in the wilderness of Montana starting the Great Divide Race. He is riding a fixed gear bike! For those of you that don't know what a fixed gear bike is. It means there is only one gear on the bike, and that there is no coasting. If the wheels are turning you have to pedal. Here is a picture of Sears' fixed gear Monocog 29er' as an example. Notice you can run it with no brakes, if you dare.

This is the longest off-road race in the world. From the Canadian border to the Mexico border along the Rocky Mountains. Totally self supported! I don't know how he can pedal with cajones that big : ) Good luck man! You can follow the race reports here. I'm heading to a fish fry, and then it's to The Hub for burgers with the Wisconsinites. Later

p.s. Hi Chad I : )

Still here I've been really busy/lazy lately. I pulled a Paddy and tried to stay away from the "time waster" as much as possible. But, here I am. So, what's new? Well I'm moving to Fargo at the end of the month. Bruce Furness is no longer Mayor, so it's safe for me to move down there now : ) Anyway, I can't wait. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for work yet, but hopefully something will pop up. Not much new on the biking front. Went for a ride with Sears and Squez on Sunday. We rode out to the TR sunday night ride, rode the ride, then rode home. About 55 miles of fun. Sears wanted to make it a challenge and rode his Monocog 29er fixed. He's an animal on that bike. No log jump can stop him. It really is unbelievable! Watch out at Nine Mile : ) Other than that I haven't been riding a whole lot. Well just thought I'd post a quick update. More to come. Hope everyone is having a great week. Good night.

Dirty Kanza 200 Race Report Well I survived the rocky roads of Kansas this weekend. What a race. The course was unbelievable, the weather was perfect and the "Trans-Iowa Slayer" became the "Dirty Kanza Crusher" : ) Rick and I left for Kansas at 6:00am on Friday morning. At about the South Dakota border I remembered that I forgot my rain jacket at home. Luckily there was big yellow store in Sioux Falls. After a quick pit stop for gas and a jacket we were off again. As we passed through a town on the Kansas border, we were shocked at the temperature on the bank clock. 100 degrees! We arrived at Emporia, KS and checked in at the Travelodge where the race headquarters were at. The race organizers were busy getting everything ready for registration. So, we went to our room and started to get our bikes and gear ready for the big day ahead of us. We registered and I seen a few familiar faces. Patrick Humenny, Guitar Ted, Dave Pals, Matt Maxwell and Paul Jaconson had all made the long voyage to Kansas as well. It was getting late by this time and I needed to get some sleep. I set three different alarms for 4:30am, and dosed off to thoughts of gravely goodness. The alarms rang, buzzed and beeped and we hopped out of bed to get ready. It was warm enough that I could wear shorts, a base layer t-shirt, a Ski and Bike Shop issued jersey, thin wool socks and full finger gloves. 34 brave racers gathered for the pre-race meeting at 5:45am. Then it was a cowbell start at 6:00am. The group pretty much stayed together for the short ride out of town. As soon as we hit the gravel things started to pick up. I had told myself that I didn't want to try and stay with the lead group. I didn't want to blow up like at Trans-Iowa. But, I found myself right in there flying down the gravel at around 20 mph. Amazingly I felt good, and continued to as guys were getting flats or dropping off the back of the pack. Pretty soon it was down to about 10 guys. Then two of them flew off the front never to be seen again till the end. Paddy H, Joe Partridge, and I were riding along. I got brave and put in a hard effort to pull away from them. They were on single speeds, so they were spinning out on the flats and down hills. They kept close with all the hills though. I am not a climber! I hit the first pass through town at 40 miles in, and stopped to refill my camelback, water bottles and relieve myself. I came out of the store and a few guys had gone by, deciding not to stop and refuel. The course up to this point was nice gravel with a lot of hills. They don't call it the Flint Hills region for nothing. I pressed on to the halfway point in Cottonwood Falls. The course got a little tougher at this point. There was a shallow stream crossing, more hills and a river valley that had the worst road up to this point. It was probably a good mile of rocky road. And I mean rocky. Popcan sized rocks from one side to the other. I thought I would get a flat for sure. I didn't and was glad when that section was over. Along the way a couple of nice locals had set out water at the ends of their driveways for us. That was very much appreciated. Almost to Cottonwood Falls I see this monster of a hill. I put it in the easiest gear I had and started to pedal away at it. As I crested it there was another one just as big waiting. Son of a B***H! That hurt. It was getting pretty warm at that point so it felt good to get to Cottonwood Falls and rest a little. I checked in at the halfway point at about 11:30am. 16mph average for the first half. I wasn't expecting that. Again I filled up my water reserves and grabbed a couple of turkey and cheese sandwiches. I went and sat down at the chekpoint and chatted with a couple guys. One was single speed legend DJ Birtch. He had just done the Kokopelli trail race last weekend, and here he was doing the Dirty Kanza this weekend. WOW! Anyway, Matt Maxwell and I headed out of the checkpoint for the next section of the course. It was rumored to be the toughest stretch, and it didn't disappoint. 50+ miles till the next pass through town of Eureka, KS. Matt and I stuck together for a while then we yo-yoed back and forth a few times. We were riding through open cattle range on the rockiest roads I have ever seen. Even worse than the one before Cottonwood Falls. It was weird riding along with cows right along the road with nothing in between you and them. A few darted in front of us. I've never seen a cow run before, but they sure can make the ground rumble. On a long up hill section a we saw a rider coming up behind us. I did a double take as I seen it was Patrick Humenny. I guess he thought the course was too easy, so he went and got lost for 45 minutes : ) Simply amazing! He gets lost for that amount of time, and comes flying up to us like its nothing. Crazy Canadians : ) After that we hit the mother of all downhills. It was a rock road littered with even bigger rocks and there was a good sized ditch down the left side. Paddy went flying down it on his Giant XTC. Not to be out done, I went full speed ahead after him on my 32mm cyclocross tires. That was the scariest ride of my life. It was steep and fast. I couldn't hit the brakes at all or I would have wiped out for sure. I made it unscathed, and had a good adrenaline rush for the rest of the ride to Eureka. I rolled into Eureka and Joel, one of the race directors, said that I was in third place. Shortly after me, Paddy and Matt both came flying in. Same routine. Fill the bottles and get some food. My feet were really bothering me at this point. I had to take off my shoes and rub em down a bit. Paddy and Matt took off ahead of me. I put my shoes back on and gave chase. There was about 60 miles to go to the finish in Emporia. About 30 miles to the next pass through town of Madison, KS. I caught Matt, but never saw Paddy. This part of the course was somewhat hilly, but not as bad as the open range section. I took it pretty easy until Madison. I stopped and topped off the water and had a slice of pizza. While I was sitting on the curb a rancher pulls up in a farm truck, gives me a funny look, and then says in his Kansas accent, "You need a shower!" I agreed, then he asked, "What the hell I was doing?" I told him that there was a 200 mile race going on, and I had about 25 miles to go and pointed at my map on the bike. He looks it over and yells at another guy sitting in his pickup truck, "Bob, you gotta see this f**kin' map!" I laughed out loud almost choking on my pizza. He wished me luck, and I was off. The last 25 or so miles I felt awesome. I had a slight tailwind and was cruising along at around 18-20mph. Contrary to the G-Ted's audioblog I didn't pass anyone on this section. But one of the guys that was watching the final stretch back to town saw that I was flying and said, post race, that I must have passed 5 or 6 guys. Not true, but it sounds impressive. So, just go ahead and pretend that it happened anyway : ) The sun set a few miles outside of town, and I switched on my lights for the last few miles. There was a few fireflys that lit my way as well. That was surreal after 200 miles of gravel and rocky roads. I came into the finish area to applause and cowbells. What a great feeling. I finally finished one of these long gravel endurance races. A 4th place finish none the less. Official time was 15 hours and 26 minutes. 12.96mph average. I got a nice cowbell for finishing, along with some other goodies from the sponsors. I went and showered all of the salt and dirt off of me. Then came out to watch all the other finishers come in. Out of 15 finishers, there was still one out on the course, and it was starting to rain. Then it started to downpour and lightning. The winds picked up and everyone ran inside the hotel. David Pals was still out there riding in the storm just miles from the finish. I can't imagine the ride he was having in that storm. Then just a few blocks from the finish. Some idiot in a car ran into him! I guess he slid on the wet pavement and got back up okay. Crazy ending to a great race. Maybe he'll start a blog and give us all the whole story. This was one of the best races I've ever been to. It was well worth the 12 hour drive. The race promoters were great. They had the course marked well, great maps to follow and really just made it a fun atmosphere to race in. Thanks guys! I look forward to coming back next year. Hopefully I can talk a few more North Dakotans into coming down. Brian, Sears, Greg? Anyone up for it? As for Mr. Mangan. He had a great race as well. He made it all the way to the midway checkpoint. 88 miles on the course. He decided to call it quits there, but then proceeded to ride/walk back to Emporia. For a grand total of 113 miles. Very impressive! For his next trick he's going to try and finish the 300+ mile EnduroSnob Epic. Anyone else going to join us for this one? That's all for the long race report. Here are a few pictures to mull over. Later : ) Lots of gear. Not all of it was used though. I really liked the modern bedspreads : )

Rick's steed and fanny pack. I can't say enough about those comforters.

The Dirty Kanza Crusher! Those skinny 32mm tires never got a flat. Unbelievably none of the cyclocross bikes had a flat! Hmmm?

The starting line-up. From left to right. Paul Jacobson in the blue jersey, Eventual winner Dan Hughes in the distance, Matt Maxwell in the green camelbak, the madman singlespeeder Patrick Humenny in the blue/orange jersey, Dave "I like to dent cars" Pals #605, Rick Mangan for team Ski and Bike Shop, and last but not least "the audio blogger" himself Guitar Ted in the white and red jersey behind Rick.

A nice shot of the grassy Kansas plains.

Mugshot of yours truly all covered in dirt and salt. Apparently I'm now balding as well : )

They don't call it the Dirty Kanza for nothing.

200 miles of Dirt Lovin' Good Times!

Top speed 37.8mph Weeee! The maps were perfect.

Make sure to check out the Dirty Kanza site for other reports and pictures. Also, G-Ted had some great audio blogs on his site. Check them out if you get a chance. He should start a satellite radio show like Lance Armstrong, but for off-road racing : )

Off to see the Wizard Well just finished packing up for the big drive down to Kansas. Rick is picking me up at 6:00am. Then it's about a 12 hour drive down to Emporia. Sounds like it's going to be a nice weekend. Highs around 90 and lows in the 60's. Should make for a good 20 hour bike ride : ) There should be some good audio blog updates over on G-Ted's site. I should have an update Sunday night if all goes as planned. In other news, a rather large sign toppled over at Rydells today. Right on a $20,000 mini van. Check out the pics I took below. Sully admiring the damage.

That's all for tonight. Hopefully next post I'll have finally finished one of these endurance races : ) Have a great weekend everybody!

The Carnage Tonight started out great! All the Ski and Bike Shop guys and gal got together for some laughs at The Hub. The good Dr. Dingle even made an apperance. Hub Specials for everyone.

Mmmmm! Hub Burrrrrger!

With our bellies full of beef and taters. We decided to head over to the parking ramp for the 1st gravity race of the season. I brought along the camera again. I hope the resolution is a little better than the last video. Sears drew first blood, and dominated the racing that ensued. Let the carnage begin! No pedaling fools!

Messing Around Inspired by this. I went out to TRSP tonight and messed around with my new camera. It was challenging to ride one handed on single track. Should help with the technical skills though. I still need to work on the editing. The auto production thingy wants to do its own thing. Enjoy! Hopefully the rain will stay to the east and I can get some more fun footage : ) Brian is in town, so you know what that means. Hub Burgers and Gravity Racing! I'll try and get a video of the first GGFGRPS race of the year. Foxy when is that new site going to be functional? Good luck to Mr. 24 at the first WEMS race of the season! One week to go till the Kanza!

Busy Bloggers Well it looks like some of you guys in the Bloggersphere are pretty busy. Brian took an 11th place finish at a road race in Wisconsin today, and is going to try and top that performance tomorrow in the first WORS race of the season. Way to go Brian. Give em hell! Greg has also been up to no good. He just started to 12 hours of Lodi Farm race at midnight. I got a pre-race update from him earlier this evening, and he said that he would be going up against a former world single speed champion. I can't think of his name right now, but he said that he had a sweet Ti Deluxe single speed IF. Good luck Greg on your fixed Klein single speeder! I hope those flamer flames make you fast : ) As for the Endurosnob Epic. It looks like no one wants to join me and the Mangan for another epic race. Brian, Greg, Brooks? Anyone care to join in the fun? I know Paddy H wants to, but he's whooped, waapaa : ) Just kidding Paddy. I wouldn't want to be in that spot. How about a update on who's in, and whose not? EnduroSnob? In other news I went out to Turtle River tonight. Sears, "The Professor" Yearwood, Randy Lieberg and his friends Steve and Sonya were all out there for the Friends of Turtle River BBQ. I did a couple laps on my own. Then Randy, Steve and Sonya joined for another. It felt good to be back on the old 8000. First time this year. The trails are in great shape with only a few soft spots in the low lying areas. The new single track along the horse trails has also been cleaned up. It is looking good, but could still use some TLC. It's fun to have a new section to conquer. Well that's all for now. Good night.

EndoroSnob Epic I just registered for the Epic. Who else got in? I'm going to ride now. Later : )

You Dirty Kanza Well I just dropped my Dirty Kanza registration in the mail. I hope there are still a couple spots open. I say a couple because I also talked the Budget Biker ,Rick Mangan, into registering as well. It should be a lot of fun. I can't wait to see all the crazies from TI again. In other news Patrick Humenny is back in bloggerville. Will he disappear again before the Dirty Kanza? We'll have to wait and see. I'm renaming the link on my blog in hopes of keeping him around a little longer this time : ) That's all for now.

Reflections Well I'm back home. Here are some random thoughts. I got all my stinky biking clothes all washed. I just cleaned up the Poprad as well. It was tough getting all the mud off of it. Especially the worm guts! There were some of the biggest worms I have ever seen laying in the puddled roads of Iowa. They were so big you couldn't swerve to miss them. Some I bet were a foot long. Anyway they really stuck to the bike. I also forgot to mention the skunk I saw. I was pedaling along and saw a skunk come running out of the ditch at me. It saw me and started running alongside me for about 20 yards. All I could do was keep riding and hope he wouldn't spray me. Luckily he didn't and ran back into the ditch. I could've really had a hard time finding a ride back to Algona if he did spray me : ) And how about those Badger holes alongside the B roads. That was kind of scary. Speaking of rides I have to thank Gary, Jim, Tom and Paul again for letting me tag along. Gary and Jim decided to keep riding on the paved roads after Paulina. They wanted to get a century in to finish out the day. You guys are hardcore : ) Thanks again guys. Hope to see you at the next one if it happens. p.s. that helmet must be someone else's. I have mine, and it smells. Bad! As for the next race. I'm really thinking seriously about doing the Dirty Kanza if there is still a spot open. I guess I didn't get enough suffering at TI : ) Anyone else want to do this one in a few weeks? Let me know. It would be fun. I promise. I mean, how much worse could it be than this weekends race? Did everyone check out the videos on Jeff Kerkove's site? The first one where Dallas and Lindsay were the last two standing was unbelievable! Those Canadians sure can ride. I wish I had talked to them, but they are so crazy it's intimidating : ) Maybe next time guys. You rock! p.s. Paddy are you going to start blogging again now that TI is over? I would like that : ) I think the Pugsley would have fit right in with all the hogs and cows we passed in Iowa. I don't know if it would have been a better choice for the race though. A cyclocross Pugs does sound good. Would that work? Well time to sleep. Good night : )

Soaked One word, SOAKED! Unbelievable conditions this weekend made for a race to remember. The race started at 4:00am with the best conditions of the day. Overcast with a light sprinkle and hardly any wind. Guitar Ted led us out for a three mile prologue on a paved road. From there it was a left turn onto the gravel roads of Iowa. The conditions got worse and worse. The first few miles were a set of grueling hills. The guys at the front of the pack, including Matt Maxwell, were setting an insane pace. I tried to hang with them, but only lasted a few miles. I overheated and had to slow down to recover. The roads were like peanut butter which made that hard. The rain just got worse as the miles ticked by. I was soaked from head to toe. I came to the first B-level road. A few guys were already walking in a small patch of grass on the side of it. I did the same. After probably 50 feet, the grass disappeared, and my tires were so caked with mud they wouldn't budge. I had to carry my bike for almost a mile. After getting all the mud scraped off it was back on the gravel. It was soft and it was slow going. I don't know how slow because my computer quit working from all the mud being wedged around the sensor. A short stretch later, and another B-level road awaited. Luckily this one had a nice wide ditch to ride/walk in. From there it was a short paved road to the first town, Alton, IA. There were a few cars parked on the side of the road waiting for their riders. I waited around and a few guys came rolling in. We decided to call it quits, and ride the paved road to the next passthrough town. Six hours and 45 miles from the start of the race I was cold, wet and ready to get off the bike. Paul Jacobson and I decided to pull the plug and his ride was kind enough to give me a ride to Algona. We called G-Ted to tell him we were DNFing. He said that there were only 8 0r 9 guys left on the course. They were still 80 miles away from Algona, and there was no way they were going to make the time cutoff at 6:00pm. Ted and Jeff decided to call the race at Algona. So the first one to Algona would be the winner. Matt Maxwell and Paddy H had both dropped out of the lead group that had been going all out from the start. Very impressive race for those guys in the horrible conditions. Great job guys. I picked up my drop bag, and Ted and Jeff were nice enough to hand out some freebies to everyone. A big thanks to those two for putting on an incredible event! Even with the bad weather it was still a great experience. One that I won't soon forget. Thanks guys. Sorry that I don't have much of a story to tell, but I'm sure there will be a lot of good ones coming on the MTBR forum and blogs. Stay tuned. Also check out the Trans-Iowa Radio broadcasts on the Trans-Iowa site. Priceless : ) Later.

Almost there Well it's almost time to head out for Iowa. I figured I'd get a quickie in before leaving. The bike is ready, the bags are packed, and I'm getting anxious. I can't wait to meet all the crazy Trans-Iowans tomorrow night. The forecast for the race is looking like rain and a headwind. Ouch! Oh well, it will be more memorable that way. I hope to have some good stories and pictures when I get back. So, until then here is a great quote from Kent Peterson's blog. Enjoy : ) To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest... "I've always wanted to sail to the South Seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are emmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine. And before we know it our lives are gone.What does a man need, really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in -- and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all, in a material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?-- Sterling Hayden, Voyage, 1976 (Thanks Doug Hackney)

Update Not much happening lately. Trying to get ready for the big event next weekend. I can't wait for it to get here. This time next week I'll be snug in a bed in Hawarden, IA. Then it's a 4:00am start to the other side of Iowa. Here's a picture of what it's going to look like at the first B-level road : )

One big log jam. Just imagine that those trees are all 70 Trans-Iowans converging at the first B-level road. Notice the "TRAVEL AT YOUR OWN RISK" at the bottom of the sign. Comforting isn't it. 340 miles of Iowa, coming up : )

Well it's off to bed. Get to work at the bike shop tomorrow. I'll try and post some pictures of the Trans-Iowa Slayer later this week. It's starting to look like a touring bike. Later.

Slacker Sunday I was a slacker today. It felt good. I had a long ride planned, but upon waking this morning I decided to sleep in. Oh well there's always tomorrow : ) I should probably start training for this little Trans-Iowa race soon : ) April 29th is coming up too fast. I did drive out to Turtle River State Park to check out the trails though. They are drying out nicely. I think they were ridable, but there were signs up asking not to ride on the trails because they are too wet. I did see a badass Jeep out there with some bike tire tracks heading away from it though. So someone was tearing up the trails. Anyway they should be good to go by next weekend barring any late week rain. Keep your fingers crossed Greg. Are you going to bring your bike up with you next week? Brian, Fox are you guys coming back to the promise land for a Sunday night ride? It is my B-day on Sunday : ) Everyone should plan for a Sunday night ride next weekend. Followed by a Hub Burger. In other news the flood of 06' is on its way out. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

Here is a marker that was put up after the flood of 97'. The river was up to the 1979 mark earlier this week.

The Sorlie Bridge with water still up to the bottom. Whitey's restaurant, in the background, has some good food if you're ever in town.

Some of the singletrack at TRSP. A little too sticky yet.

Some more trails. I wonder what happened to the no bikes allowed sign? Hmmm : )

Anyone know what kind of animal track this is? Probably just a dog.

That's all for now. Later.

Flood of 06' The Red River Valley is in it's flood stage this time of year. The river here in Grand Forks is around 48 feet now. Not quiet like the flood of 97', but still impressive. The river made it to an all time high of 54 feet in 1997. The dikes have since been raised to 60 feet, and are stonger than ever. So that means everyone heads down to the river to see what's happening. Including the Dingle blogger and I. We went on a little ride tonight and took a few pictures of the spectacle that is the Red River of the North. Enjoy : )

The Dingle blogger on the Lincoln Park dike striking a pose. Nice Surly Cross-Check!

The mighty Poprad with the Mighty Red River in the background. The river is usually on the other side of those trees in the background.

The point bridge was closed due to water running over it on Sunday night. The stink factory is in the background. Otherwise known as the beet plant.

The new floodwall was erected, closing off the Sorlie Bridge on Demers Ave. Only one bridge left between Grand Forks and East Grand Forks. That won't be closed unless the river goes above 50 feet.

The Sorlie Bridge with water bubbling under the girders.

On the left side of this picture is what's left of the old railroad bridge that was torn down after the flood of 97'. This is the center pier that the bridge would pivot on to let steamboats through back in the day. Pretty amazing to think that was possible back then.

I'll try to post some more tomorrow.

In other news Nathan, a crack mechanic at The Ski and Bike Shop, had an Ultimate Fight on Saturday night. I heard it was intense. Unfortunely he fell victim to a choke hold once again. That's okay though. It takes some big ones to get into a mixed martial arts fight with a guy who has a pay per view fight coming up. Keep your chin held high my friend. Or better yet keep it tucked in to defend those choke holds : )

Later