St. Patrick Day's Ride

Yesterday the Melon City Bike Club had their annual St. Patrick Day ride. Patti and I took the tandem and we counted around 25 riders in our group. We headed south of Muscatine on Stewart Road. The wind was coming out of the southeast at 5 to 7 mph. The sun was out and it was close to 60 degrees. Such a great day for a leisurely ride. We ended up with around 24 miles for the day. It was the first time getting out the tandem this year and the first time that Patti had ridden outside since last fall.

The weather is looking good for the next 2 days as it is supposed to be in the upper 60's to lower 70's. I am hoping to get out on the Tuesday night club ride this week.

The sunset picture was taken in late January during our vacation in Jamaica.

Spring Around The Corner

After a very long...long winter things are looking up. Yesterday it got up to 73 degrees (a record). There is still snow in ditches and on the north slopes, but it won't last long.

I went out and did a 50 mile ride yesterday, riding into the wind (15-25 mph) for the first half of the ride. The return was very enjoyable with the wind at my back.

I started using a different training program for my cycling a couple of weeks ago. It is called "Power To The Pedals". It's structure uses 2-1 hour sessions per week that are very intense and work on different approaches to building cycling strength. It's too early to tell how this compares to my previous cycling training methods.

Will be taking a couple of days off and going to an in-door water park with our daughters and grand-kids.

Warm Weather In February

It has been a long winter and it isn't over yet, but today it got up to 58 and tomorrow we are expecting much the same. I went outside for my first bike ride since late November. For the past 2 months I have been spending time on my trainer and doing a spinning class at the YMCA. I did a short 17 mile ride today and averaged a good pace of 18 mph on a fairly hilly course.

I didn't get a chance to go snow-shoeing today, but will go in the morning. I suspect that most of tghe snow will be melted by tomorrow night.

It looks like we have a 5 day recourse from old man winter before it turns cold again. It felt good to get outside and bike along a road with some scenery. I didn't get chased today by any dogs, but did have one bark at me for a while.

Winter Training

It has been 6 weeks since I have updated my blog. The Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Holidays have been a busy time for me and my family. And to top it all off, December was one of the worst for the amount of snow and the cold that we have had here in a long time and for that reason it was mid-November since I have been outside on a bike.

I started riding my bike on a trainer in our rec. room on November 17th. I set a goal of doing 6 to 7 hours of riding per week on the trainer. Last year I put in more time on the trainer, but found it boring and difficult to go much more than 1 hour at a time; so this year I have decided to do some cross-training to supplement the bike riding. I began in late November and early December running 3 miles per day. When the snow hit, I switched to snow shoes and am doing 1 to 1.5 miles per day. I also wear a 35-40 pound pack to put a little more stress on my legs. Snow shoeing give you a good aerobic workout.

I also was working in 1 session per week at the YMCA on the spinner and in a Pilates class. I wasn't able to get in those routines during the Holidays, but hope to begin again this week.

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.