Training Resumed

Yesterday I got back into my exercise routine. Mid-September was the last time I was really doing some consistent training. In the last two months I have only been on the bike 3 times and put in about 50 miles.

I have decided to add running to my biking routine this time. What I plan on doing is a 3 mile run each day and bike maybe 60 minutes per day on the trainer. Longer than 60 minutes is quite boring. Last winter I put in some 120+ minute rides on the trainer and it was hard.

The weather right now is not very accommodating to bike outside as it was 18 degrees this morning and the high will be in the 30's. I am hoping that there will be more good days during this winter period than last year to get outside. This helps break the monotony of being on the trainer all the time. So yesterday I did my 3 mile run out in the woods behind our house and then later in the day got on the trainer for a 60 minute ride. Let's see how long I can keep this up. Last year I started my training program on December 31, so I am getting a head start this time.

Elk Hunting-2008

Back in mid-October I drove out to the Montrose Colorado area to my sister's home. Riding with me were my mother and sister. We made a two day journey out of it with an overnight in Laramie Wyoming. On the first day I met with a customer in Louisville Nebraska and had dinner with a customer in Laramie.

Joining me for the elk hunt was my brother-in-law, Robert, and his son, Jason. Jason is only 13 years old and this was his first time to join us. This would be my 5th elk hunt. The first day was spent packing into the backcountry of the Lizard Head Wilderness area, near Telluride. Besides the three horses we rode, we also took two horses for packing our gear. After sitting up camp we rode around the area to do some scouting. The scouting didn't turn up anything and for the next three days we would hunt in this area. Unfortunately, after covering a tremendous amount of country during those three days only one elk was sighted (by Robert) and it was legal (needs to have 4 points on one side to be legal).

We packed out the afternoon of the 3rd hunting day and went back to my sister's house. The next morning we hunted on their ranch property with permission from the outfitter that has the hunting rights for this land. During one period when I was walking through an aspen forest, I had just finished taking a break and was putting my pack back. A loud noise in the timber alerted me to something moving very fast toward me. I grabbed my gun just as I saw a cow elk and a bull following her emerge near the edge of the timber. They quickly made a 90 degree turn and entered the densely wooded area again and by the time I drew my gun and brough the bull into my sights, the timber was obstructing my view. I took one shot, but the bullet was deflected by a tree and I lost my chance for this year.

After returning to the house and getting a birthday dinner, we left early the next morning back for Iowa. I normally fly when I make these trips out to Colorado, but had taken my truck this year so I could haul back my trophy from last year's hunt. Last year was my most successful hunt of the 5 years I have been making this trek. I connected with a 6x6 bull elk. My brother-in-law, Robert, had went around behind me and walked through a growth of aspens and scared up a herd of elk. The first bunch had 20-25 elk, including some small bulls that weren't legal. The next bunch followed about 10 seconds later and included a few cows and this big bull following the herd. They were moving fast across the open meadow angling away from me, but I managed to hold my cross-hairs on the elks right shoulder and connected. I wouldn't know for another 20 minutes that I had connected as the bull never slowed down and vanished across the meadow into the dense timber. Once Robert returned we got on our horses and went down to the area that I made my first shot and found a blood trail that we followed. As we got to the edge of the timber we could see the bull down just 20 feet inside. Now our work was just beginning, as it took us 3 hours to field dress the bull and skin out the hide to preserve the head mount. Then we had to load everything up on our two horses and walk and hour to get back to the truck.

This year the weather was way to warm and we believe this was the primary reason we didn't find elk at our first location. Elk move to different areas and different elvevations depending upon the prevailing weather conditions. Hopefully, next year we will not have a repeat of this year's experience.

In Memory Of Casey

It's been six weeks since I posted an entry on my blog. Sometimes events intervene in life that change everything. In late September our son-in-law, Casey, lost his 5 month battle with acute leukemia. Words can't explain the loss of a close member of our family. Our daughter, Jody, has been coping remarkably well and we know this is possible only with the Lord's help and all the friends and family that have offered their support.

Casey will be missed, but not forgotten. Memories of his warm personality, sense of humor, love of the Lord, kindness to others, ability to work with his hands on all kind of projects, dedication to Jody, Sponge Bob fanatic, and a general love of life still live with us. Thanks for the short time we have known you and we look forward to that day when we are re-united in Heaven. Matthew 7:7-8

Harvest Hammer-Final Training

I am beginning to taper now for the race on Saturday and will take a complete rest day today and maybe do some low impact exercise tomorrow.

The last two days, I went out and did some low mileage running and biking, but at high intensity. On Tuesday I had a personal best (PB) of 6:45 on a mile run. Then yesterday I bettered that PB and turned in a 6:23 minute time. I switched yesterday from my regular running shoes to a light-weight shoe called racing flats. They do make a difference.

We are having some beautiful weather for this time of year. Better enjoy it while we can.

Harvest Hammer Training

My grandson, Evan, keeping up with grandpa on the trail.

The Harvest Hammer duathlon is nine days away and is held in Morrison, IL. It consists of a 5K run and a 20 mile bike ride.

On Tuesday I went out for a 10 mile time trial ride on a hilly coarse and averaged 21.5 mph, slightly higher than my speed on the QC Triathlon coarse back in June. I noticed afterwards when I put my aero-bars on my bike that I didn't get them adjusted at the same angle that I use. So I made a minor adjustment for my next ride. One of these days, if I continue to do these events I may need to get a tri-bike. Most people I have talked to indicate that it will increase your speed over a regular road bike.

Yesterday I went back to Wild Cat Den with family members, Lydia, Evan, Lori

and while they hiked the trails I ran the route of last Saturday's race and added some additional trails. I ended up with 4 miles of running, which is the longest run I have done at one time.

Our son-in-law, Casey, received a stem cell-bone marrow transplant on Monday of this week for his leukemia. His sister was the donor and he now has 6 to 8 weeks in the hospital as they chart his progress. There are a lot of friends and family lifting Casey up in prayer. Thank You!

Sept. 6-7: Savanna Bike Ride

With much enthusiasm and a decent weather forecast we left the Farm & Fleet parking lot in Muscatine at 8am on Saturday heading for the bike path in Moline. I decided at the last minute to run my very first 5K run at Wildcat Den State Park and the race started at 8am. My wife, Patti, dropped me off for the race and went ahead to meet the group. She returned just before I crossed the finish line and helped me limp over to the registration table to turn in my ID info. It would be Monday morning before I would find out that I placed 1st in my age group.

We reached the eastern parking lot at the Ben Butterworth Parkway in Moline just a couple of minutes past 9am and the group was ready to go minus the Olson’s who had a flat tire on their car a mile back. The delay was minimal and we started on our 60 mile journey heading north into a slight headwind. Our group did a great job of staying together with a comfortable pace of 13-14 mph. Mark & Julie would leave Moline about 2 hours after we left as Julie competed in a triathlon at Scott County Park and she took 1st in her age group. Congratulation Julie!

Over the next 3 hours we passed through East Moline, Hampton, Rapid City, Port Byron, Cordova and finally Albany. Anytime I am on a bike up in this area, I make a point to stop at Julie’s Restaurant. You get more food for the money than any other place I know and the staff was very hospitable to our group. Originally we had planned on stopping in Fulton for lunch, but we couldn’t wait. The Nepple’s had taken out ahead of our group and did stop at Cousin’s Sub shop for lunch in Fulton.

In Fulton we took the trail that goes around the eastern edge of town and on the return trip the next day we will take the western trail that goes by the big windmill. Dan had a broken spoke on his bike in Albany and had taken a ride with one of our sag drivers to the town of Thomson for repairs at Arnold’s Bike Shop. He met us along the route in a nature preserve area that has a sandy/pea gravel trail. This trail has some soft spots and we had to be extra careful maneuvering the 2 miles through this area. In Thompson we took a short break at a Casey’s General Store.

North of Thomson we had to get on Hwy 84 for a short section before re-joining the trail for the last 5 miles into Savanna. The wooden bridge over the railroad tracks was the steepest climb of our trip. About half of the group elected to stay at the Super-8 and the rest headed north for a 3 mile ride to Palisades State Park, where we were camping for the night. The campground was pretty quiet as there weren’t a lot of campers. However, one little detail I forgot to tell the camping group ahead of time was the hourly train that passes by all night long. It kept Patti and me up till after midnight, then either the trains quit or I fell into a deep sleep.

That evening our group gathered at Domenics & Maria’s Restaurant for some home made pasta. I think everyone had a great meal that night. Some of our group made the rounds of a few bars before calling it a night.

The next morning we met at 8am for breakfast at Aunt Mannie’s Kitchen. We were essentially the only patrons they had, but they were ill-prepared for this large of group. About two-thirds of our group took the buffet and the rest of us ordered off the menu. The last of our group finally received their food around 9am. Not a good start to our day. We all agreed that this place will not be on our list for next year’s ride.

The weather forecast the night before had mentioned showers after midnight and into the morning. We were fortunate that the weather forecasters were wrong again. We had beautiful weather on both of our days with daytime highs in the low 70’s. Today we would have a slight headwind and crosswind all day long.

On our trip back we stopped for a short break in Fulton to see the large windmill along the Mississippi River. After a few pictures we passed through Albany and on into Cordova for lunch at the Farmer’s Table. None of us had eaten here before, but by and large it was an ok stop. There weren’t many patrons there when we arrived and we got decent service and the food was ok.

We arrived back at our vehicles a little before 3:30 and ended up with close to 123 miles for those that had also biked to the campground in Savanna. The scenery along this route is just gorgeous as it follows the Mississippi River most of the way. Our average speed for the whole route was 13.5 mph. This pace allowed us to enjoy the scenery and carry on conversation with our friends. We had 17 riders and 8 non-riders join us for this first ride. Look for this route to be an annual event.

A special thanks to our sag drivers: Joyce, Bill, & Becky.

Sept. 6-Wildcat Den 5K Run

With some trepidation I decided to go ahead and run my first 5K run. The venue was at Wildcat Den State Park and the 5K (3.1 mile) run consisted of about 1/3 pavement and 2/3 trails. The trails were vertically challenging to say the least. The race started at 8am and before I decided to do this race, I had already volunteered to be the leader of a bike ride over this week-end and about 20 riders were supposed to meet me at 8am in Muscatine that morning. I sent my faithful wife, Patti, to meet the group after she dropped me off.

There were 87 runners for this race and I believe this was the second year they had offered this particular race. I did not recognize any fellow cyclists at the race, so believe that all participants were true runners. The odd thing about this race is that once I completed the run this would be the longest distance I have ever ran at one time. Since I began my running career back in mid-July the longest distance I have ever ran was 2.5 miles. Most of my training runs consisted of 1-2 mile runs.

The race starter fired his pistol and we began a 1/4 mile descent down the pavement adjacent to the covered picnic area on the top level. Running at speed downhill is harder than it looks and is very hard on your legs and especially your quads. At the bottom we turned south on the pavement and went to the end of the pavement and turned back west on a trail through the woods. This trail had a slight ascent and eventually crossed the paved road we had initially come down. Once we entered the western area of the park, the terrain became very hilly and one descent was so steep you almost had to walk it to avoid slipping. The opposite side was much the same and I was unable to run all the way up the steep grade. The first 2 miles seemed to go pretty fast, but the 3rd mile was like slow motion. I could coax my legs into moving faster, but only for a short time as my cardio-vascular system was unable to replenish my oxygen to my muscles fast enough. I didn't have anyone pass me during the first 2 mile stretch, but during the last mile I had 7 runners go by me (all much younger than me).

I finished 21st out of the group and 1st in my age group (8 runners) with a time of 24:55 (Race Results). Once you pull up this web-site, schroll down to the appropriate race and click on results.

That's not me about to pass out, I am in the blue going through the finish area.

Wildcat Den State Park 5K Run Preview

This Saturday there is a 5K (3.1 miles) run at the State Park 2 miles from my home. I have been toying with the idea of running this race. This race is like a cross-country race, since it follows paths and trails in the park. I went down today and ran a 1.5 mile route over some of the trails. It is a very hilly course and difficult. My running at home is mostly on a trail that I keep mowed back in my wooded acreage. This trail is also hilly and resembles what I would encounter at the State Park.

This race doesn't include any biking and therefore all the participants are true runners. I checked the results on-line for last year's race and think I could run a pace that could place me 2nd or 3rd in my age group. The only wrinkle is that our bike club has a ride this week-end that starts very close to the same time as this race and I am the organizer or leader of this ride. So I will have to see if I can coordinate this into the schedule without causing any problems for the riders joining me on the bike ride.

Du State Du Silver Medalist

Today was race day and it was up at 5am and off to the races at 5:30. Patti and I arrived at Loud Thunder Forest Preserve around 6:15 and we were one of the early birds. It was a good thing, as it gave me plenty of time to get my stuff set-up at the transition area and get a good location at the front of the bike racks. I went out and rode my bike about 5 miles to get warmed up.

The race started at 8am. There were around 120 individual athletes and another 50 or 60 that were doing this as teams. The temps and humidity were ideal this morning. The race consists of a 2.0 mile run, then you go into the transition area and change shoes if needed, put on a helmet and get your bike and run out to the road area and get on your bike and go 15.0 miles. Then it is back into the transition area to switch from riding gear back to running gear and back out on the track for another 2.0 mile run. The goal on transitions is to do them quickly so not to add to your total time. My goal was to do them in 30 to 40 seconds and I think I did pretty well at keeping it near that area.

The first leg of running went well and I didn't give it all I had-so to keep some energy for the second leg. My biking leg was my worst leg of all and I am disappointed in my time. And I call myself a cyclist. I am waiting for the Corn Belt Running Club to put the split times on their web-site, but based upon my cycling computer, I think I ended up with around 20 mph, which would be 45 minutes for this leg. My goal was to be closer to what I did at the QC Triathlon back in June, where my time was 42:14 with a speed of 21.3. By the time I brought my bike into transition and switched my shoes, I was feeling the effect of running/biking for nearly an hour at a heart rate near my maximum. Running that last 2 miles was difficult and I thought on more than one occasion about walking. But I kept going and made it to the finish line.

Overall I ended up with a time of 1:14:35, which was good enough for 2nd place in my age division (55-59) out of 7 entries. This put me 51st out of 174 entries (33rd if you take out the team competitors)(Du State Du Results) . In looking back at the numbers, if I could have biked as well as I did at the QC Triathlon I would have taken first. Something to think about for next time. The most interesting aspect of this race was my ability to run. I have to go back to my track & field days in high school back in 1967 and 1968. I was a sprinter with my speciality being the hurdles. On occasion I would do the 100 yard dash. I despised running long distances and once ran the mile for my coach when someone else didn't show up. I hated it. Fast forward 40 years: I never included jogging as part of my exercise routine, since I wasn't enthused about running.

So after competing in June at the QC Triathlon, one day I was talking to my friend and team-runner, Mark and he asked me if I had ever considered running. I don't remember giving him an answer, but that thought stayed with me and everytime the question came into my mind-my only answer was I didn't have a good reason for not giving it a try. So 4 weeks ago, I began jogging 1 and 2 mile runs. My longest run was 2.5 miles and to tell you the truth I think that is the longest distance I have ever ran in one day until race day-today. My legs have been used to cycling and I found out very quickly that I had muscles I never knew were there and after every short run I had muscle and joint soreness. So my preparation wasn't that great and I really should have started training 2 or 3 months ago. But once I sent in my registration fee, I decided to go through with it. After extrapolating some of my 2 mile runs at home, I felt I could place 3rd or 4th based upon 2007's results for this race. So I was pleasantly surprised when I placed 2nd. I received a lot of encouragement from my fellow Muscatine participants and as it turned out, we were well represented and had 13 participants that placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd. I feel good about my results and may try another race in September: the Morrison Harvest Hammer. As I typed this blog posting I was watching the Olympics and heard an NBC reporter interviewing Dara Torres, the 41 year old swimmer that is piling on medals at middle-age. As the interview ended she left the viewers with this statement: "don't put an age limit on your dreams". I couldn't say it better myself.

Du State Du Training

This last week I have been doing more running than biking. When I do bike I am only putting in about 10 miles a day. Running is not near as much fun as biking and I have a hard time spending more than 15 minutes running, which usually means about 2 miles. This week I am taking it easier and tapering for my race on Sunday.

The Du State Du is a duathlon and it starts at 8am Sunday at the Loud Thunder Park near Illinois City. Last week I went over and rode the bike course (15 miles) and it is very hilly. The running course is flat and shouldn't be to difficult.

Earlier this week I ran on an asphalt road near my home and did 2 miles in 14 minutes 23 seconds. If I can maintain this pace for both running legs and do ok on my biking leg I may be able to place 3rd or 4th in my age group, based upon last year's results.

Dew Drop Inn

Last night was Wedneday-Dinner Ride for our bike club and we went to a new location-The Dew Drop Inn located in Durant, Iowa.

For you history buffs, you may remember that another Dew Drop Inn was featured in the family show-The Waltons. In the 4th season, son Jason goes to work as a piano player at the local bar in town much to his mother and grandmother's dismay.

Patti and I rode our tandem on the ride last night. The club left Harper's Bike Shop at 6pm in Muscatine and since we live close to Durant, we parked there and started riding toward Muscatine and turned around at the half-way point. Some of the riders caught us about 5 miles out of Durant. It was a good night for riding as the humidity that has been a problem the last week tapered off and the temps were mild.

The Dew Drop Inn really wasn't prepared for our 20+ riders as they had one waitress and 1 cook, but surprisingly they put out the food at a reasonable pace. The food wasn't anything special, but hungry bikers usually aren't choosy.

Dog Days Of August

Today is one of those hot sticky days that always tends to remind me of my great-aunt Peggy. She was quite the pessimist and back in the 60's I can remember that August was her favorite time of the year as it gave here a stage to talk about how bad these "dog days of summer" were.

Today was such a day. The morning news warned of a heat emergency that was impending upon our community. I was scheduled to run with other club members this evening at 6pm to practice for an upcoming duathlon race. When I heard the forecast this morning I changed my plans and went out for a morning run around 10am. It was already closing in on 80 degrees and the humidity must have not been much lower.

I tried to stay inside most of the day and at 4pm I checked "weather.com" for Muscatine and it was 99 and the heat index was 128. We are truly in the "dog days" of summer.

Post RAGBRAI

Well I have been very remiss in updating my site over the last couple of weeks. I rode on RAGBRAI-July 19-26. While I was away, we had a huge storm come through the Muscatine area and we lost dozens of trees on our property. Four of these trees were in our yard and I spent this past week-end cleaning them up with help from family and friends. Thankfully, we had no damage to our house and no one was hurt.

I finally was able to do a short 10 mile ride today. This was the first time on the bike since RAGBRAI ended 5 days ago. Earlier in the week I was on a business trip down south of St. Louis. I also ran a little this morning. The weather is not very conducive to exercising outside as we are having high temps and high humidity. The heat index is running 100+ this week.

Our son-in-law is back in the hospital after finishing his 3rd chemo treatment. We will make a much needed trip to Iowa City today to visit.

Running Improvements

Back on July 13th I did that 2.5 mile run on our gravel road out in front of our house. I averaged an 8 minute mile on this run. Yesterday I went out and ran on a path we keep mowed back in our woods. This course is fairly hilly and the path is not very smooth. I measured it on my mountain bike and one lap is exactly 0.5 miles. So yesterday I went out and did 2 laps. I ran a 7.5 minute mile.

So I am improving and I wasn't as sore today. If I do the Du-State-Du I will need to get my times down in the 6.5 to 7 minute mile rate to be competitive.

Run/Bike/Run

I have been giving some thought to participating in the Du-State-Du, which is held at Loud Thunder State Park in Rock Island. My friend, Mark has invited me the last two years to do the biking leg and he would do the running part. My schedule the last two years hasn't allowed me to participate.

This event is a duathlon, which includes a 2.0 mile run, followed by a 15.0 mile bike ride and then finishing with a 2.0 mile run.

After returning from Colorado I began running behind my house on a path I keep mowed in our woods. This path is roughly 0.4 miles long and I have been doing two loops. This didn't seem to cause any difficulties, so yesterday I took out on the gravel road in front of our house and did 2.5 miles. My time for this run was 21 minutes, which translates into an 8.5 minute mile. If I want to be competitive in a duathlon I need to get down below 7 minutes.

I found this to be extremely difficult and I have some sore muscles and ligaments today. I haven't did any running since high school (40 years ago). Back then I was a sprinter and did the 100 and 220 yard dashes and the 120 and 180 yard hurdles. I tried to think back and can't remember ever running this length (2.5) of a run before. My cardio-vascular system is accustomed to exercising at a high heart rate. The difficult thing is that you use different muscles when running vs. biking. My feet are a little sore today, but I used an old pair of tennnis shoes that weren't designed for running. Today I went to a running store in town and purchased a pair of shoes designed specifically for running.

I plan to do some more running this week and possibly some running during RAGBRAI and will evaluate how I am progressing and decide whether to enter the DU State Du race and do the whole thing or to enter with my friend and enter the team section and just do the biking leg.

Post Colorado

Well, my Colorado bike tour #4 is in the bag. This year a friend, Tony from Detroit, joined me. We rode 5 days in the San Juan Mountains. The weather was good and we had no mechanical issues with our bikes and no health issues. I did come down with a sinus infection upon my return from the dry Colorado humidity back to Iowa's oppresive heat/humidity.

I have been taking it pretty easy since I returned. I have spent 5 days off the bike and have only rode 3 times with a total of 43 miles. I have did some jogging and hiking on the days I didn't ride.

Today I went for a short 10 mile ride before we celebrated our grand-kids birthday this afternoon. Evan turned 5 and Lydia turned 8. I set a new personal best today of 21.7 mph on a hilly course that had 135' of ascent. I eclipsed my old record of 19.7 mph by two-miles per hour (a 10% improvement). Not sure if it was my Cherioos for breakfast that did it or maybe I gained some leg strength from all the mountain climbing last week in Colorado. Back in June I reached 21.3 mph on a 15-mile triathlon coarse, but usually when you are racing against competitors your adrenalin is pumping and you do much better than riding by yourself.

Our son-in-law, Casey visited with his doctor this week after completing two chemo treatments over a 2-month period. We were looking for a good report, but found out he needs to go in next week for more chemo. Please hold up Casey and Jody in your prayers.

Getting Ready For Colorado

I haven't been very diligent lately about keeping my blog updated. Summer is a busy time for everyone. I have been busy packing for my 2 trips to Colorado and keeping in mind the new rules for baggage. I think I can get everything into 2 large suitcases and carry one on the plane and check one. United's site indicates that I won't have to pay any surcharge. On the other hand if I would have checked both bags then I would have to pay a fee for the 2nd bag.

I am combining my business trip to Denver this week with my biking trip in the Montrose area scheduled for next week. Only 6 more days until Tony and I get on our bikes and head into the mountains pulling 50 pounds of gear in our trailers.

With all the last minute packing and other things I need to get done, I have kept my training rides short this week (15-20 miles). I did bike the last 4 days, but took today off.

One other activity that Patti and I have been enjoying the last several months is dancing. We took up dance lessons late last year and are starting to get proficient at doing the: Foxtrot, Swing, Texas 2-Step, Cha Cha, Rumba, and Waltz. This past Saturday we had some of our friends come over (9 couples) and gave a beginner's dance class. It was a blast. When I return from Colorado we will give lesson #2 to our friends. Our friends Dave & Sylvia are also helping us give these lessons.

I probably won't get time over the next 2 weeks to update this site, but will keep my Colorado web-site up to date: www.iowacyclist.crazyguyonabike.com

Flooding In Iowa

For the last week+ we have been experiencing flooding in eastern and central Iowa. All the water from the north has now made it down to our area and most of the rivers have crested and are now starting to slowly recede.

These two pictures along the Mississippi River east of Muscatine, I took tonight on a bike ride. The paper last night said that the crest of the Mississippi River in this area will be recorded as the fifth highest with the 1993 flood being the highest. Further down river the Mississippi is expected to meet or exceed the 1993 crest as the Cedar, Iowa and Des Moines Rivers dump their overflow.

Quad City Triathlon

Today was the annual QC Triathlon held in Davenport, IA. The weather was great, but the flooding that the Midwest is experiencing reduced the normal number of entries. Interstate 80 has been closed about 15 miles west of Davenport for the last couple of days and it doesn't look like it will reopen anytime soon.

This is the third time I have competed in the QC Triathlon. Since I am not a swimmer or a runner, I enter in the team section. Our runner, Mark has been competing in running events since he was in high school. His goal this year was to complete the running stage (3.1 miles) under 20 minutes. Good job Mark, as his time was 19:20 (12th overall).

Our swimming member, Jimmy got sick the day before the race and we made a quick substitute (14 hours ahead of race time). We were glad that a mutual friend, Muffy agreed to help us out. This was her first time competing in a triathlon. Muffy's time was 10:40 for the 600 yard swim. Good effort on such short notice.

My goal in the biking leg (15 miles) was to reduce last year's time of 44:55 by 4 minutes. This might have been a little too optimistic. I ended up with a time of 42:15.

Our aggregate time was 1:16:44, which was good enough for first place in the coed team division and first overall (teams). This year there were only 8 teams competing, which was less than previous years.

Our bike club (Melon City) had several participants in this year's event and we placed very well in the standings. This picture captures the majority of our triathletes.

This year I dedicated the race to my son-in-law, Casey; who was diagnosed with acute leukemia 5 weeks ago. He has been in the University Hospital in Iowa City since the diagnosis, but is responding well to treatment. Patti and I tried to go up and see him this afternoon, but all the roads from Muscatine to Iowa City are closed due to the flooding. Our daughter lives in Cedar Rapids and it has been under siege from the flood waters for the last 4-5 days and she has been unable to go visit Casey. With all the water we have in Iowa I am thinking it might be time for me to take up swimming. As I log this journal entry at 5:30 this evening there is a severe thunderstorm watch for our area. The news media is talking about this event as being a 500 year flood. It may be time to build the ARK.

Why Do Cyclists Like To Climb?

Only 18 more days before I start biking across the mountains of southwest Colorado and today we are getting lots of rain in eastern Iowa. The flooding up around Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids has been making the national news the last 2 evenings. Several local towns near Muscatine are bracing for record (500 year) floods in the next 3 to 4 day period. At my sister's home in Colorado, they had ice on their grass this morning. I am hoping that the weather warms up a bit before I get out there.

This will be my fourth ride in the Colorado mountains. I am always cognizant of a question that lingers in many non-cyclists' minds that read my blog entries and journals. That question is why am I doing this? Sometimes it is hard to put reasons into words and when I recently came across the following answer to that age old question I thought it was appropriate to publish it.



Here is an excerpt printed on a blog by former pro cyclist, Jonathan Vaughters, who is now the director of the U.S.-based pro-cycling team Slipstream-Chipotle. As a rider for the U.S. Postal and Credit Agricole teams, he was so good against gravity that he set the record for the ascent of France's Mont Ventoux, the extinct volcano of racing legend that appears on the venue of the Tour de France on a regular basis.

"Why do people want to climb? Climbing, at its very core, is just a simple and hearty battle against gravity. The basic law of nature that oppressively pins us to the earth seems to be the one we feel the greatest need to fight against. Perhaps, this is why we are always trying to climb? Whenever we climb, we are proving that we can take on a force greater than ourselves. We're pushing against something that holds us down. It's the fight for freedom, freedom from the oppressive laws of nature (designed by God) as laid down by that rather aristocratically named gentleman, Sir Isaac Newton. We all know humans have a long and volatile history with the pursuit of freedom. Climbing is just a facet of this same fascination with being free.

With this noble and never-ending battle between gravity and the human race permanently underway, it would only be logical that when the greatest invention known to man, the bicycle, came into existence, the first thing we would want to do with this mechanical marvel would be try to climb hills with it.

And, of course, when the greatest sport ever known, bicycle racing, came to be, the most immediate and most illogical thing to do would be to put the largest possible mountains in the race.

And if the fact that we are so very enamored by the ability of those who can pedal their way up hills swiftly and gracefully wasn't enough, this is where the irony really sets in: because of the sad fact that we don't seem to be able to power bicycles up hills as fast as we can on the flat, that 30 percent energy savings that one can derive by drafting another rider at 30 m.p.h., is useless while plodding up a hill at 10 m.p.h.

Because of this simple fact, the most important parts of bicycle races are always uphill. The tactical genius of those who stealthily hide behind the dolt plodding away into the wind up front is lost on hills. Hills put bike racing back into the realm of Darwin and the grunting cave man. The laws of nature rule on the hills, and only the strong will survive.
Of course, due to our twisted need to watch nature weed out the weak, we gather, in the millions, every year in France to watch men climb really big hills on bicycles.

God help us.

That's my amateur psychoanalysis of the human race on a bicycle.

Rule 1: Get on with it. Climbing mountains on a bike is not fun. So, to do it properly, you need to accept this fact and get on with it. I see so many people looking for that secret technique or training method that will make climbing painless and suffer-free. This will never happen. Training and techniques will make you suffer slightly faster up hills, not suffer any less. Climbing is painful, period. The sooner you just accept that and stop looking for ways around it, the better you will learn how to climb. Let the suffer-meter serve as your internal tachometer, letting you know how close to your limit you are. Accepting and really allowing yourself to feel that pain will make you a better rider. Trying to ignore it will distract you from the task at hand and make you ride slower.

Rule 2: Don't be self-conscious. Suffering isn't pretty. It isn't meant to be. If you are going about your business of climbing properly, you will be breathing like a water buffalo, sweating like you were on a chain gang, and probably have snot dribbling off your chin. If this is not the case, you aren't doing this correctly. Over the years I've ridden with so many people who are always worrying about breathing too hard in front of their buddy. You're supposed to be in pain and you're supposed to be breathing hard, I mean the harder you breath the more oxygen you'll get to your muscles, so let the image thing go, and get down and dirty with the hill. Anyway, if your buddy is two miles behind you, he can't hear you breathing anymore, can he?

Rule 3: Relax. O.K., I know this seems a bit contradictory to rules 1 and 2, but this is the real Zen of climbing right here. You have to learn to accept the pain, breath like a warthog, and keep everything else relaxed. Gripping your handlebars with white knuckles and doing brake lever pull-ups does not make your pedals go around any faster. Your hands should be so relaxed that if you had to, you could play the piano. Your shoulders, arms, and upper body should be so relaxed that you just sort of rhythmically flop along with the pedals, like Stevie Wonder in concert. Also, if you look at all the pros, notice how they look like they have a pot belly when climbing? That's because they let their diaphragm relax and drop. They breathe by expanding the soft tissue of their belly as opposed to trying to expand the bones of their ribcage. This is the opposite of what you do at the beach, where it's belly in, shoulders back, chest out. This is belly out, shoulders relaxed, and forget about your chest.

Rule 4. Pedal all the way around. Momentum is what you don't have very much of when going up a hill. So, if you just push the pedals down and let the chain go slack the other 250 degrees of the pedal stroke, you will be losing momentum with each and every dead spot. On a flat road this doesn't matter too much, but on a hill this will cost you dearly. So, keep the tension on the chain the whole way 'round, especially at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock pedal position. Push outward with your quadriceps at the 12 and pull back, like you're scraping mud off your shoes, at the 6. This will help keep that precious little momentum from slipping away.

Rule 5: The Little Engine That Could. 'I think I can, I think I can, I think I can ' .Think I'm joking? No, I am not. The rhythm of your breathing and thoughts are crucial to grinding your way up long hills or mountains. You must synch your breathing, your pedaling, and your thoughts in one monotonous, focused, and plodding rhythm. Exhale forcefully and inhale naturally in time with every contraction of your muscles; let your body sway to the rhythm that it creates; then set the metronome in your head and be The Little Engine. Laugh all you want. It works.

If all else fails, you can just stop on the side of the road and rest, right? Maybe ask for your mommy and curl up in a fetal ball while you're at it? Which brings me to the most important rule of all when it comes to climbing: Never give up."

This last phrase in Jonathan's article reminds me of one of Winston Churchill's famous speeches. The speech was made in October 1941 at his old school, Harrow: "Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.''

And the enemy we all face as cyclists is gravity.

Rivers Rising

I went out for a 90 minute training ride today during lunch hour. I headed northwest of Muscatine and crossed the Cedar River. Severe flooding is occurring throughout a good share of Iowa and all this water is making it's way down the various rivers that dump into the Mississippi. All of the houses that I could see along the bridge on F70 were un-accessible by auto. Some were already taking water in their structure. The crest is yet to come and it's not going to be easy for those that live along the rivers around here.

My training ride went well and I did some power intervals, fast pedal and a 6 minute time trial at maximum effort. During the time trial I was going 22 to 23 mph. I am hoping I can maintain that rate during Saturday's race.

TOMRV 2008

I completed my 5th TOMRV (Tour Of Mississippi River Valley) ride this weekend (two day ride). This is one of the top rides in the U.S. and there are usually 1,200 to 1,500 riders that come from various Midwest States. I believe the number of riders this year is down, due to the high cost of gasoline. My friend, Bill and I started out yesterday morning at 5:45 am from Bettendorf, IA and made it to Dubuque, IA around 2:30. The route takes you through various small towns in Iowa and Illinois along the Mississippi River. It is very hilly in this bluff country and my altimeter showed 3,645 feet of climbing with 108 miles of riding for the first day. We had a good tailwind all day ranging from 10 to 20 mph. It was very humid and the heat index reached 100-102 by mid-afternoon.

The Quad City Bike Club sponsors this ride (31st this year) www.qcbc.org/tomrv. It is a well supported ride with a sag stop every 15 to 20 miles with plenty of refreshments. Our stay in Dubuque is at some of the college dormitories and the bike club has a banquet meal upon our arrival. This picture is one of the sag stops and my friends, Ira and Dave are enjoying the snacks.

Today Bill and I were on our bikes by 5:30am and headed into a 10-15 mph headwind. When we reached Bellvue around 9 am we ran into a thunder shower and got completely soaked. It continued raining for at least 30 minutes. Our next sag stop was in Preston. We both reached the city park shelter just before a major storm came through the area. I heard later that there were 60 mph winds. Several small tree branches tumbled down from the trees in this park and the wind whipped the rain sideways. As the storm subsided bikers that were caught out on the highway came into the rest area and told us how the wind swept them and their bikes completely into the ditch. We wondered if we would hear of some serious accidents later on. This picture shows Bill climbing one of the many hills.

We weren't very optimistic about heading south towards Bettendorf and several riders began to make other arrangements with local residents to drive them to the finish line. Bill and I decided to go ahead and try it. As we reached the outskirts of town we discovered that the south wind had completely reversed itself and now was coming out of the north. We enjoyed the tailwind for most of the rest of our ride. By the time we reached our truck the wind had shifted again and was coming out of the southeast. Today we rode 92 miles with 3,415 feet of climbing. The ride today was 4 miles longer than the previous year's as they have changed some of the route.

It was a good ride and I got a chance to practice using my aero-bars and get in some endurance training before my big race on Saturday. I look forward to doing this ride each year as it is the premier ride in the Midwest.

Aero-Bar

Today I purchased an aero-bar attachment to fit on my bike. This device allows the rider to tuck into a low-profile position to minimize the drag coefficient. It is typically used in time trials and can shave precious minutes off your elapsed time for a 25 to 40 k course.

On June 14th I will essentially be doing a time trial at the Quad City Triathlon event held in West Lake Park. I will be doing the biking portion of the team event. It is a 15 mile (25 k) course along Locust Street and Y40. I should have done this much earlier so I could get some practice in, but will need to bike with it every day until the race to get used to it and condition my muscles. Down in this tuck position you end up using more of your hip muscles (gluteus maximus) rather than your quads and hamstrings.

Today I went out for a 90 minute ride (23 miles). It was very windy today (25-30 mph). Not a good day to experiment with the aero-bars. When you are layed down in these your arms are used to guide your wheel and it takes a little getting used to. With the wind it made me try and over-correct every time a gust of wind hit me. So I was weaving all over the pavement. I am sure if someone saw me they would have thought I was drunk. By the end of the ride I was starting to master it and found it very relaxing. I am thinking of taking my Trek Madone racing bike on TOMRV this week-end instead of my Trek 5200. This will give me 2 long days of riding to get used to the aero-bars.

Tuesday Night Group Ride

Tonight I decided to ride on the Tuesday night fast pace ride with my bike club. This is the first time I have done this ride since March 25. My schedule has not allowed me to do the ride for the most part and I haven't been in good enough shape to keep up with our racing group in the past.

Our ride starts and ends at Harper's Cycling & Fitness in Muscatine (thanks to Greg & Charlie for letting riders use their shop as a staging area). Tonight we had 9 riders show up. The route we took tonight was a hilly course and 3 riders were dropped early in the ride. The rest of us stayed together through the turn around and then about half way back 1 rider was dropped on the last hill. I ended up getting dropped before we got back into Muscatine, but was surprised that I was able to stay with the group that long. My conditioning has really improved a lot since I rode with them back in March. My training has targeted the QC Triathlon race on June 14 to reach my peak fitness. I could tell last night that I was riding better than I did at the Melon City Criterium a week and a half ago.

Endurance Training

Today was one of the nicest days we have had all year. It was up in the low 80's and sunny most of the day. I needed to get a long ride in to get in shape for the TOMRV ride I will be doing next week-end. TOMRV is a two day ride with the first day at 112 miles and the second day at 88 miles.

Today I parked at the south end of the bike trail that begins at Sunset Marina in Rock Island and headed to Albany. This round trip ride is normally around 72 or 73 miles, but I added some other miles on a side road and ended up with 80 miles.

This is one of my favorite rides and I like to do it 3 or 4 times each year. I was on my bike at 6am and arrived at Julie's Cafe in Albany around 8:30. This is a great restaurant that serves excellent food. Julie decided late last summer to sell the cafe. I was glad to see it was still open, but the for sale sign was still in the window. One of the young waitresses told me when I checked out that she was hoping to be able to buy the place and keep it running.

I normally get one pancake (12" diameter) and one or two eggs. Usually this is like $2.50. Can't beat these prices. Today I picked one of her huge whole made cinnamon rolls and an egg with coffee for $2.60.

The ride went well, but the wind had picked up to 20+ when I left Albany and it was oblique, but still in my face some of the time. This slowed me down a bit. My average when I turned around was 17.8, but by the time I arrived back at my truck my average had dropped to 16.9.

Melon City Criterium

Yesterday was the annual Melon City Bike Club Criterium held at Weed Park in Muscatine, Iowa. This first picture is the Masters 40+. Our club had three riders enter this race: Bill Ford, Greg Harper and Bill Harper; all on the front row. Ford got 4th place and Greg got 13th place.

I decided to enter in the Masters 50+ division to get some experience. This was my first race and at 56, I guess you can say I am a later bloomer. Perhaps, you can say that I am getting so old I don't have any sense anymore.

I knew that the racers that enter this event were all seasoned veterans that have been bike racing all their life and they come from some of the surrounding States in the Midwest. I believe the guy that placed first place was on the Olympic cycling team when he was younger and most of the others are former Cat-2 and Cat-3 riders. I was the only local participant in this age group from our local club. Keep in mind that I was 52 before I purchased my first road bike and the last 4 years I have been putting in the miles to start building my fitness. I guess everyone has to start somewhere. It looks like I have some more base building to do.

The pace was fast and furious and I was in the middle of the pack after the first lap. By the end of the second lap I was dead last and hanging on (picture shows me in last spot). Then on the big hill on the north side of the course on the third lap I couldn't keep the pace and the other 15 riders vanished. Since it was still early in the race, I made a decision to give up rather than ride around for the next 11 laps by myself with a good possibility of getting lapped by the pace car. On

the 3 laps I rode our pace was running between 23 and 25 mph average per lap. My top speed was 38.1 mph on the downhill portion of the course, which has the speed bump at the bottom. I did ok going over the speedbump and going around the curves; although I lost a little position on the 90 degree corner on the south side of the course; so I need some practice going around this curve at high speeds. On the uphill portion we were running 18 to 20 mph, which is amazing for a 4 1/2 to 5 percent grade hill that runs for 1/4 mile. As I watched some of the other racers ride the rest of the day this hill is where many a racer was dropped.

Looking at next year, I know what I need to do if I want to be able to stay with the pack for all 14 laps. I need more stamina and strength so I can keep my heartrate down below my anaerobic threshhold level. I guess I will worry about that later. My next race is June 14 and is the Quad City Triathlon event. I am participating in the team event and I will be doing the cycling portion. This is a 15 mile route (out and back) that has 3 hills in it. This will be my third year and I am hoping to improve upon last year's ride.

The Dreaded Speed Bump

I went out and did a short 60 min. ride this afternoon. I spent some of my time on the criterium route around Weed Park in Muscatine. This picture is of the dreaded speed bump at the bottom of the long hill on the east side of the 1-mile course. I've practiced going over this speed bump a few times at race speed (30-40 mph). There is indeed an art to this. On Tuesday morning I rode the course with Greg Harper, our Cat-2 racer. He has learned to keep pedalling while going over the bump. I haven't been able to accomplish that and need to stop pedalling and coast over.


I am looking at doing either the plus 50 race at 9:30 am or the Cat-5 race at 3:30. I am still not 100% sure of myself and will probably wait until race day to decide. Tuesday morning when I rode with Greg I couldn't seem to get my legs to cooperate and most of the laps were averaging in the 17-19 range. Today I did one lap at almost 21 mph, but I am not sure I can hold this pace for 14 laps in the 50+ race or 8 laps in the Cat-5 race.


Casey is doing pretty good today and Patti was able to spend the day at Jody's house to do some cleaning and baking.