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.

Oldest Bridge Across Mississippi R.

Today was the first Saturday in 6 weeks that we haven't either had rain or cold weather. I headed to the bike trail in the Quad Cities to try it out for the first time. The river has been above flood stage for several weeks and I was a little worried that I migtht not be able to get through on the trail. I did have to go through some mud and water was lapping at the edge of the trail in some spots, but it was good to get of the highways and ride amongst friendly people for once.

I started in Davenport and went across the Rock Island Arsenal bridge over into Rock Island. This bridge is the oldest bridge in operation across the Mississippi River. It is on a turn-style and I happened to reach it just as a barge was getting to ready to pass through the locks.

After Rock Island I went through Moline, Hampton, Rapid City, Port Byron, and Cordova before turning around and heading back. I ended up with 55 miles.

On a more serious note: our son-in-law, Casey was taken to the hospital on Thursday night in Cedar Rapids. After some prelimnary tests they moved him to Iowa City and the diagnosis is acute leukemia. We are awaiting the tests on a bone marrow biopsy to see what his treatment regimen will be. We will be going up to see Casey and our daughter, Jody tomorrow. Keep them in your prayers.

Club Ride

Tonight was the paceline ride for Melon City Bike Club. We didn't have a very good turnout. Six of us left the bike shop at 6pm and a seventh rider joined us later in the ride. We had a wide range of cyclists on this ride and we were unable to find a medium pace that made everyone happy. So as it turned out the faster riders would separate from the slower riders and then we would re-group every few miles. I was able to stay in the faster group until the very end and I can tell that my fitness and dedicated training is now paying off.

Switching gears: this past week-end while I was biking down in Missouri I saw several Amish in their buggies. I actually overtook one buggy and passed it on my bike. So I know I am not the slowest thing out there on the road.

Morel Mushrooms

The mighty "Morel" is one of the most hunted items in the Midwest during this time of the year. Since we haven't been having any warm weather, I really didn't think this would be a good season for them. Wow, was I wrong. This has to be one of the best years we have seen, since we moved to our farm in 1985. We have been finding them for over a week and normally their growing season is very narrow (5-10 days). But instead of tapering off they appear to be coming in greater numbers.

These pictures are from today's find. While I went out for a 2 hour bike ride Patti and our daughter Lori went out in our woods and came back with these 2 bags of big mushrooms. Some of them are 5-6 inches in length. They will make several nice yummy meals.

Just as I finished with my bike ride it started to sprinkle and then an hour later it started getting really dark and then we got hail. Some of the pieces were about 1" in diameter.

Cycling In Missouri

Over the Mother Day week-end Pat & I headed to northern Missouri to visit our family. It was a busy time for both of us as we had lots of relatives to see and work to do on both of our properties we own in this area. Pat's dad had just returned from Texas after being there for 4 months and is in a rest home in Bethany. His health has not been good, but at 90 he is still doing pretty good. On my side of the family, my sister and family came back from Colorado and we were able to spend a lot of time with them. My mother's "to do list" kept all the men pretty busy while we were at her house.

I took my bicycle on the trip and was able to get in 87 miles over the 4 days we were in Missouri. The weather is still very unsettling for this time of the year and the cold temps and high winds kept me from getting in all of the biking I had planned. The temps were in the upper 30's at night and only got in the 50's and 60's during the daytime. Sustained winds of 25-35 were the norm with gusts up to 50 mph.

This picture is North Harrison High School in Eagleville, where Patti and I graduated from (a few years back).

Club Paceline Ride

Tonight was our weekly paceline ride at the Melon City Bike Club in Muscatine. The wind was out of the northeast and we headed east of town with eight riders. After about 15 minutes we headed up Sweetland hill and two of the riders dropped off and went back.

The other five riders are much faster bikers than I am and so the pace was very brisk. I stayed with them until the last 2 miles and another person and myself dropped off the pace. Then a couple of minutes later two other riders dropped off. By the time we got back to Muscatine we had all re-grouped.

Before the paceline ride I made a stop at Weed Park to ride the road that circles the park. This is the site of the annual Melon City Criterium held every year at Memorial Day. This is a 1 mile course with a 1/4 mile steep hill on the backside. I am giving some thought to possibly entering the Masters-50+ race this year. My training is coming along pretty good, but know that the participants are all seasoned racers that have been at it for many years.

Biking With Grandkids

This past week-end I was able to take the grandkids out for a short ride. Lydia has her own bike and Evan prefers to ride behind me on the trailer bike.

It was rather windy and we decided not to go into town for the ride. Besides with the Mississippi flooding this spring, all the trails are either covered with water or mud. So instead we bike up and down our drive-way.

Planting Time

This year has been a difficult one for farmers & cyclists. The cold weather has lasted longer than normal and the moisture levels have been way above normal. This has delayed the spring planting season here in eastern Iowa. Normally most of the corn would be planted by now. As it stands right now, less than 5% of the corn has been planted to date. This means that the next couple of weeks are critical as farmers try and get the seeds in the ground. If they go much past the 3rd week of May they will have to switch to a shorter growing season corn, which will lower their yields. This picture is typical of what you see across the landscape in the Iowa farm belt. Farmers eager to get into their fields run their disc once or twice around the field and discover the soil is too wet to put in their crop.

The last couple of days I have been able to get in 32-33 miles of biking in. The weather today was a little questionable, but with storm clouds threatening I was able to beat the rain.

Tandem Time

The weather is starting to improve and Patti joined me for a 2 hour ride today on our tandem. The temps were near 70 degrees, but there was still a 15+ mph wind out of the west-southwest. This is the first time Pat has been out on a bike since last October.



We made a pit stop for both of us to take a potty break. I wasn't fast enough with the camera.

The Cove

I wanted to get in a long ride today (Sat.), but was dreading it because of the weather. The high today was only going to be 52 and the wind was out of the NW at 23-25 all day. This made the wind chill in the low to mid-40's when I took out at noon. I ended up with a 3 hour ride and it went pretty well. Once my body warmed up from the exertion I never felt the cold.



My turn around point was "The Cove". This was a restaurant that started in 1966 and was a great spot for the locals and people off of I-80 to go and have a good meal with friends. They were noted for their great pie and I made many a trip on my bike to this spot for that reason alone. The Cove closed in early 2008 and so far it hasn't re-opened under new management. I heard a rumor that maybe someone was going to buy it and start it back up.

After returning from my bike trip our friends, Jeff & Jackie picked us up and we headed to Iowa City to meet Ben & Cindy at Texas Roadhouse where we celebrated Ben's 50th.

Thursday Night Pace Line Ride

It's May Day 2008 and the first Thursday night pace line ride for the Melon City Bike Club. We had a group of seven cyclists: Greg, Mike, Wilford, John, Ira, Jim and myself. There was a 12-18 mph wind out of the south and so we headed out of Harper's Bike Shop at 6pm into the wind. The pace into the wind was 18-21 mph and when we turned around the pace picked up to 22-26. We ended up doing a 30 mile ride.

It was good to get the experience of riding in a group going at fast speeds. The pace line works by each rider taking turns at the front for a short period of time 10-15 seconds. Then the next person goes in front and you get to rest for a minute or two while you draft. This gives you a chance to get your heart rate back down before going back out front again.