spin inside !

Yesterday I got in almost 3 hrs on the road,a good ride with some hills...Today spin inside watching the 500 race...1-1/2 high intensity intervals.

Monday rest day then back at it Tuesday and Wednesday !

30 miles today

Bob G came over and we got in a quick 30 miles,weather has been nice well, lets say temps have been good mid 50's bit windy...cold coming back next week.

I hope to get in some good miles tomorrow and Sunday before the rain hits.


See ya !

Trying to get the miles

Getting the miles under your belt in February can be tough but the weather is getting better and I'm running out of time.My bike choice for TIV7 is still up in the air but I decided to get the rig set up for now,I have a cross frame but don't want to spend the money getting it set up.

Run today and spin intervals for 1 hr...ride outside I hope tomorrow !

Back in the dungeon

Iv'e been back down in the Dungeon for a few weeks hitting the cyclo core workouts and doing some running...Midz came over Wednesday for our first workout of the winter,he has some big goals to hit with some long endurance runs and I hope to keep him on top of his game.I hope to keep running this winter so I can help him with the 50 mile race this April,I'll get up a full sked. of my races for 2011 soon !

Road bike

Tuesday and today's miles were on the road bike WOW ! I forgot how light and fast I can be with a 19 pd bike.Midz joined me today for a quick 27 miles that's 5 rides in 5 days with 28 more to hit my goal of riding every day in March.

Thursday could be tough but I think I'll do a 12 mile time trail and then a easy ride on Friday to set myself up for some long hours in the saddle Saturday and Sunday.


See ya

Sunday ride on the Rig

I woke up Sunday morning wanting to get some good mileage on the Rig but I wanted the temps to get up a little higher before I set out on my ride.I took off with a goal of 2 to 3 hrs of ride time depending on how I felt and how late it was getting but I hit 2-3/4 hrs and 42 miles so all was good.

The Rig felt great I love the gearing on it,it's perfect for Trans Iowa and the drop bars make it feel great with no pressure on the back.I have the big MTB tires on it right now but I will go with some cross tires soon.

Midz came over for a quick 25 miles tonight...cold and windy !

I'll hit it again in the morning maybe with road bike !

Day one 25 miles !

New Rig made it home

The Gary Fisher Rig is a single speed bike that I have wanted for some time but I also need a bike for the TIV6 race.I didn't want to buy two bikes or tell Cindy I want two more bikes,but I knew I could get the Rig and make it my special TIV6 bike then cross it back over to a single speed. I had Bob Woo from Bushwhackers go to work on it for me,I knew he could make any adjustments to make it work.

I made it into a 2x9 with drop bars so I would be more comfortable on the gravel roads,this should help keep me low and faster which is my main goal for the TIV6 race.I'll get a few rides in with these huge tires then switch out to some cross tires,maybe sooner than later.

I got in a good 60 miles in last Sunday in some pretty shitty weather that made it a good suffer fest 4-3/4 hrs by the time I made it home.

I hope for some good back to back mileage days soon and I'm setting a goal of riding every day in March or aleast a run on days I can't ride.

Thanks to Buchwhackers on helping me get the Rig !

Try to some miles

I hit the Rock Island Trail Sunday for some much needed saddle time,I knew the snow would slow me down a little but I didn't count on it taking a toll on my legs.I had planned a 2 hour ride to the 20 mile mark and then 2 hours back but I didn't stop when I should have to refuel and I payed for it at with about 9 miles to go...The snow was just a couple inches deep but was like going through sand and the legs were getting a hell of a workout.When I got to Dunlap with 5 to go I hit the quick mart for a cherry pie and coffee a good 500 calories to get me back to the truck

The snow between the 14 and 16 mile mark had driffs to big to ride through so I did some hike a bike,I think the worse was where hikers had walked,their foot prints left a hole and made the trail almost unrideable at times...It need more hikers to pack the trail down.With 6 to 8 more inches of snow this morning that was the last RIT ride for a while.


Ice fishing on Saturday fun time !


beaver dam flooding my properyI'll

I'll be looking for this guy in April

Back on the spinner for the day !

See ya !

a little to cold

I did get in a ride at Farmdale Friday a good 1-1/2 hrs but it was a slow ride and not much of a workout,Saturday I hit the spinner for my 1 hr race pace ride and today I ran 35 min. and did a recovery ride for 45 min.

I still need some good long RIT rides,lets hope the weather warms just a little bit more for the 4-6 hour rides I need to get in.


See ya !

Hey Wind ! Bite me !

The NRS with some fenders
Temps were in the 40s over the weekend and I was planning on some good road miles but the wind and rain came in hard and fast so I spent my time down in the dungeon.

I need to get consistence om my training so this week I decided to ride every day or run if I can't get the ride in,spinning is the plan with some outside riding weather permitting and getting some core workouts.Spin today with the race dvd at 80-90% of heart rate for a hour...I'm spent !

Midz might be able to make it for a Wednesday morning spin ! WELCOME TO THE DUNGEON !


see ya !

Not going to spin for hours

Getting ready for Trans Iowa and I'm not going to spend that much time on the spinner,unless weather dumps on me later next month.I'm running and keeping my spinning to 45min. to 1-1/2 hours,the workouts have been structured and at high leval of intensity.The goal is to raise my LT so I can withstand the long rides at a high rate of speed.I don't want to train slow and steady,then you become slow and steady.

The trainer dvd that midz and I have done in the past workouts down in the dungeon is all I need,it still makes me work hard and then I do my own version of intervals on other days.Today was a 50 min. run a super set of close grip pulldowns,pushups,sissy squats 5 sets and 10 min. on the speedbag.

Can I get a century in before the end of January ? I'm going to try! maybe Rock Island Trail maybe road.

I need to pay off the Rig and it ready for some training rides...Brad Newman will be joining me at Trans Iowa,he was e-mailed by Mark on Friday that he was in.


See Ya !

Midz can you ride or spin on Wednesday mornings ?

X-mas party 2009

PAMBA had their X-mas party last night and as always a good time was had by all,I drank my red bull and vodka and didn't get out of control...feel pretty good this morning.I need to cut some more wood this morning then jump on the spinner while watching football.







See ya !

A long time ago !

Cindy and I have hit that 25 year mark on our marrige today ! We met in June of "84 and November 17th of "84 we were married...Yeah in 5 -1/2 months we knew we were ment for each other so why wait !

I'm off this morning and she is working so I'll take her to lunch today so we can spend some time together.

Happy Anniversary Honey !


This what I'm getting into !

My winter has changed because I'm on the roster for TIV#6 I hope the weather is good so I can get in as many miles outside that I can,if not it's going to be a lot of time sitting on the spinner down in the dungeon ! I need some more movies !

Mohica 100 is going to be June 5th next year so it works good with the I-74 series

TIV#6

I sent off my entry into the Trans Iowa race yesterday,I should hear back Monday or Tuesday that I'm im.My winter will be spent riding as much as I can outside and a lot of spin time in the dungeon.Race is set for late April so lets hope fpr a good March so I can get the long miles in outside to see how my training has gone.

I'll post back up when I hear when I'm in !


see ya !

Bike Patrol

Friday night a local running club invited PAMBA's bike patrol to come out to the oldest cemetery in Peoria to watch over the runner's at a Spooky Marathon race.The race started at 6:00pm to midnight and had close to 200 people run a 5 K and 25 run the whole marathon.



It had been raining for two days but it finally had stopped for the race.We set up a fire pit and paired up the patrol riders to keep a eye on the 6 mile course.

It was a lttle smoky from the pit but kept us warm.

Morgan made some chili that helped keep us warm and fueled for the riding.

The run had some steep climbs and long I think a rode around 24 mile by time we were done.We only had one sprained ankle out of the whole night so it was a good night of patroling for us.

Carrie got a magic wand for her efforts !




Hope to get some more riding out side before winter sets in,I don't want to get in the gym to soon but look foeward to some dungen workouts with Midz.

See ya !

End of the season

Tough end to my race season with a DNF at the Matthieson race last weekend,I went way to hard for the first 2 miles that was out in the open prairie and suffered for it once I got in the woods.I was hoping the legs would come back but they said "you blew it" and once I got in my first lap I knew I wouldn't make it for another 2 laps.

getting ready to race with Midz,Kelsi,Steph and Zack looking on.

getting warmed up riding with Tony amd Stauby

racing down a hill right before the creek

Tony with a flat tire carrying his bike thru the rock section

Mike Staub making it up the monster climb for the last time.


Kelsi posing on the Vermillion river at Matthieson State Park.

The place will be part of the I-74 series next year, I can't wait to get back up here and redeme myself for the DNF.

I'm looking at next years season and I need to decide if I want to shoot for Trans Iowa #6. I need to make up my mind before Thanksgiving to make the roster.If I do that means I need to start training at the start of December and really get going in January on the trainer.

Mohican 100 is a must do race and the Wems series.I should be able to do the I-74 XC series and a 24 hr,I'll be hitting the road endurance races also.

I have taken about 4 weeks off from any real training or hard riding I guess thats why I had such a bad race last weekend so after this weekend I'm hitting the gym and get back to eating good.

By the way if you see a wallet on the highway up around Matthieson State Park it's mine ! THAT SUCKS !

See Ya !

Still here ! 7 oaks race

Pic from the top of the ski hill at Seven Oaks September 5&6 24 hr race I did with Tony,Brad and Andy,we took 2nd place with a hard fight with Team Rasmussen from Iowa.


Me coming in from my second lap,going hard trying to make up some time.


Tony cooling down from another fast lap


Andy grabing his bike for another lap with Brad in the back ground coming in from his lap



Brad all done with his last lap of the 24 hr race and pulling a nose wheelly !


Me enjoying a hot cup of coffee while the fog rolls in at 3 or 4 am waiting for Andy to come in from his lap


Race is over and were hanging out relaxing waiting for the awards


Team PAMBA Brad,ME,Tony and Andy


I know Tony and Brad had to drive the 4-1/2 ride back to Peoria and Andy stayed in Des Moines but I had Cindy driving me back and I just had to close my eyes !


Fun race with Bob and Peggy making the ride over to watch and help support,Cindy and Kelsi as always was there for support and cherring us on ringing the cowbell,Thanks guys!

Yep I'm Here !

Wow ! Starting to get some time to get on the bike and try and salvage some of this season,I rode Jubilee today after work with only 3 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours.Wouldn't know my legs felt great and I did the full race course for 3 laps at race pace and could have kept on going...Expert did 4 laps a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to stop feeling good.

Missing 24-9 was killing me this weekend but I kept on watching Paddy,Naomi and Ray Nees and a big YEE AHH for Ray ! he does his first 24 solo and gets the win ! When I think of the battle we could have had it would have been a blast !I'm really Happy for him...and of course Cindy and I missed seeing Paddy and Naomi maybr next time Paddy and Congrats on the wins !

Getting the Jubilee race out of the way has really let me get back on the bike we now need to get I-74 #4 at Black Partridge done on August 9th.

I did get to race a couple of weeks ago and did ok I raced Sport with the legs lacking saddle time and have hit the road for some good miles.I'm doing a Endurance road race on the 8th and shooting for a 12 or 24 hr. road race in September.


See ya !

Trailwork and riding

I have been trying to get Jubilee ready for the I-74 race that we moved back to the 28th of this month,it's almost there with a little more back work to be done.Tony,Bob and Betsy and a few others have helped out with knocking down the weeds so the whole course is ready,except for knocking some burms down that hace chaneled water.

Cindy and I rode the Rock Island Trail today I had my Bike Patrol garb on so I can put that in the books,It was nice getting Cindy on the bike,we also stopped in Dunlap and had a coffee at Joes.

More Trail work in the morning and a afternoon ride if the weather is good !

A small group of PAMBA members have over 200 hours of trail work at Jubilee since March !


See ya !

Mohican 100k in the books

Finally getting to the Mohican 100k race I did on Saturday and I finished and that's what I was wanting since this was my first point to point race.It was tough with more climbing than I have ever done around here and a lot of it was on the county roads connecting you to one trail to the other.


We stayed at the Mohican Inn before and after the race and enjoyed the quiet( no TV's)

Getting lined up for the mass start of 400 riders


Were off and I'm in the upper half of the racers

Riders coming in to the first aide station

Finally made it with 20 miles done and mostly all single track I did take a bad fall coming down a steep hill with wet roots only four miles in the race,shook it off and tried to get in a grove but I was all over the place and needed to let some air out of my tires.

Coming into aide station 3 with 46 miles in and feeling pretty good, I hooked up with a couple guys and we rode the rest of the race together.

No respect LOL!

15 min. later pro's come by aide station 3 and pass us on the rode like we standing still,they were on maybe mile #88 and we were on #52 but all were hurting !

No post race pic's due to logistic's and me being me (crotchety) The race was fun and I could have done the 100,I think I did have it me...The great part about this type of race is you don't need to worry about carrying all your food and water the aide stations have every thing you need unless you want a specific type of food but they had fruit,P&J,oatmeal pies,Hammer products and water.

This is the type of race you want to do with some friends so you can all help each other get through it and talk about the war stories after the race.There was no need for me to get in a hurry since you know your not in the top ten so I just enjoyed the ride and scenery...I'll be back for this one !

See ya !