CIRREM
Ragnarok 105
Trans-Iowa v6
Almanzo 100
Dirty Kanza 200
Farmhouse Classic
Flint Hills Death Ride
GLGA
24 Hours of Seven Oaks
Heck of the North
Time to start training.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
CITA's Ales and Trails 2009
Spent Friday night through early Sunday afternoon at Whiterock Conservancy for CITA's second Ales and Trails event. Whiterock is 4300 contiguous acres of oak savannah, prairie, and farmland near Coon Rapids, Iowa. If you are a fan of the outdoors you owe it to yourself to spend some time there. We filled our weekend with camping, mountain biking, a 45 mile gravel road race, a few beers and an evening concert in the riverside barn by Des Moines' ownBrother Trucker.
The gravel road race on Saturday was a lot of fun, if a bit brutal. Squirrel managed to build a course where the B-road sections were the fastest thing we would ride on all day. Very few sections of flat, and a southerly course with a SE wind. After what I thought was a good start, hanging with Dave Lippold to the top of the climb we hit right out of the start, my legs just pretty much gave out. I couldn't get into a rhythm on the climbs and just couldn't get my legs to spin up the way I wanted. Squirrel and I stopped for a mid ride beer at Sammy's car, about 10 minutes behind Dave, and decided to just push in together and try to wrap up second and third spots. Squirrel just dieseled his way along and I yo-yo'd behind on the climbs and caught up on the downhills and on the flats. I had to finally let Squirrel go with about 5 miles or so left and just finish the race out. I ended up finishing in about 3 hours and change. I felt worse after those 45 miles than I did after the 10+ hours of the GLGA a month ago.
On Sunday, Matt McCutchen, Brian Sheesley and I took off after breakfast and spent the next couple of hours just riding around on the double track through Whiterock, taking in the scenery and just having a good time. Screaming fast downhills and some long climbs greeted us almost all of the way into Coon Rapids. On the way back, Brian and I took a different path back that involved some rough pasture land, cows, and barbed wire fence crossings. I hit something in the pasture and developed a slow leak once we were on the gravel back to Whiterock. A quick hit with the CO2 cartridge got me back to the truck and, after a change of clothes, on my way home.
I, and everyone else. had a lot of fun at this years Ales and Trails event. It would have been good to have had more people in attendance. I'm not sure if it's the location, the drive, or something else that prevented us from having more people show up. Hopefully we can increase the number of people, and the fun, for next year's event.
The gravel road race on Saturday was a lot of fun, if a bit brutal. Squirrel managed to build a course where the B-road sections were the fastest thing we would ride on all day. Very few sections of flat, and a southerly course with a SE wind. After what I thought was a good start, hanging with Dave Lippold to the top of the climb we hit right out of the start, my legs just pretty much gave out. I couldn't get into a rhythm on the climbs and just couldn't get my legs to spin up the way I wanted. Squirrel and I stopped for a mid ride beer at Sammy's car, about 10 minutes behind Dave, and decided to just push in together and try to wrap up second and third spots. Squirrel just dieseled his way along and I yo-yo'd behind on the climbs and caught up on the downhills and on the flats. I had to finally let Squirrel go with about 5 miles or so left and just finish the race out. I ended up finishing in about 3 hours and change. I felt worse after those 45 miles than I did after the 10+ hours of the GLGA a month ago.
On Sunday, Matt McCutchen, Brian Sheesley and I took off after breakfast and spent the next couple of hours just riding around on the double track through Whiterock, taking in the scenery and just having a good time. Screaming fast downhills and some long climbs greeted us almost all of the way into Coon Rapids. On the way back, Brian and I took a different path back that involved some rough pasture land, cows, and barbed wire fence crossings. I hit something in the pasture and developed a slow leak once we were on the gravel back to Whiterock. A quick hit with the CO2 cartridge got me back to the truck and, after a change of clothes, on my way home.
I, and everyone else. had a lot of fun at this years Ales and Trails event. It would have been good to have had more people in attendance. I'm not sure if it's the location, the drive, or something else that prevented us from having more people show up. Hopefully we can increase the number of people, and the fun, for next year's event.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Good weekend
Once I was able to put the job behind me on Saturday, I had a good remainder of the weekend. My former coworker, friend and fellow cyclist Lacey had a camping party to celebrate her birthday on Saturday. She swung by my house and we took off for a relaxing ride to Prairieflower campground near Saylorville Lake while our spouses drove up to the campground. The ride pace was good, the conversation was excellent and the cold road beer on the bench overlooking the prairie was a good way to start the evening. After arriving at the campground we all took a nice 10 mile ride up the bike trail to Big Creek and back before having dinner and drinks. Rick and Jana were waiting for us when we got back and a dinner of grilled asparagus and salmon was soon in our bellys. A campfire, a "few" drinks, and lots of talk rounded out the evening. I took my Salsa La Cruz and loaded everything for the night onto my Bob trailer. I forgot what it was like to pull an extra 40 lbs of stuff. Legs were feeling a bit more tired than I expected.
I got up the next morning around 6 and packed my stuff up as quietly as I could and hit the road. I made my way back towards Greenwood park to help with the first of two IMBCS mountain bike time trials on Sunday. More fun watching people race and talking with everyone afterwards. Between races, Kyle Sedore, Kurt Benson and I strapped a couple of pizzas on the Bob and hit the north half of the Sycamore trail to the start of the second race. The race finished with some music, plenty of beers and a nice schwag give away courtesy of Rasmussen Bike Shop and Kyle's Bikes. I hopped on the La Cruz and made my way home, arriving around 4:30 PM.
A good solid 60+ miles for the weekend, most of it with a loaded trailer in tow, plus good friends, good food and good beer. It would be hard to ask for a better weekend.
Going to be doing it all over again this weekend at CITA's Second Annual Ales and Trails event at Whiterock Conservancy near Coon Rapids. If the weather holds, I'll be riding up to Coon Rapids on Friday if anyone is interested in riding. I'm gonna try an ultralight camping setup with just a seatpost rack, Camelback and a Jandd frame bag to see how well that works out. There will be some gravel involved for sure, so bring a cross or mountain bike.
I got up the next morning around 6 and packed my stuff up as quietly as I could and hit the road. I made my way back towards Greenwood park to help with the first of two IMBCS mountain bike time trials on Sunday. More fun watching people race and talking with everyone afterwards. Between races, Kyle Sedore, Kurt Benson and I strapped a couple of pizzas on the Bob and hit the north half of the Sycamore trail to the start of the second race. The race finished with some music, plenty of beers and a nice schwag give away courtesy of Rasmussen Bike Shop and Kyle's Bikes. I hopped on the La Cruz and made my way home, arriving around 4:30 PM.
A good solid 60+ miles for the weekend, most of it with a loaded trailer in tow, plus good friends, good food and good beer. It would be hard to ask for a better weekend.
Going to be doing it all over again this weekend at CITA's Second Annual Ales and Trails event at Whiterock Conservancy near Coon Rapids. If the weather holds, I'll be riding up to Coon Rapids on Friday if anyone is interested in riding. I'm gonna try an ultralight camping setup with just a seatpost rack, Camelback and a Jandd frame bag to see how well that works out. There will be some gravel involved for sure, so bring a cross or mountain bike.
Friday, September 11, 2009
24 Hours of Seven Oaks
Labor day weekend brought about the 7th installment of the 24 Hours of Seven Oaks. I had been thinking about this event for a couple of years after seeing other people's race reports. A gracious Jacob Naumann had invited me, Mike Lebeda, and Ken Tague to form a 4 man team for the event. The shop's light, fast guys had decided to form a team with enough horsepower to keep the 4 man trophy in our possession for another year, so we decided to just go up, ride ourselves silly and have a good time.I could give a detailed report of what happened. Instead I'm going to give you this summary paragraph. If you love mountain biking, you owe it to yourself to make it to this event next year. Camping is free, you're surrounded by like minded riders, families and friends, and the atmosphere for the weekend is party-like. If you've never ridden a 24 hour event before, a 4 man team is, in my opinion, the best way to take part in your first 24 hour event. Find three other people that want to ride their bikes and form a team. Ride as many, or as few, laps as you want and have a great time. I rode 6 laps during the race, more than all of my previous laps combined on the course, and I had a ton of fun. Yes, you'll get dirty, you'll get tired, and you'll maybe get a few scrapes. You will also be able to challenge your body, your mind, spend a lot of peaceful time in the outdoors, and make some new friends along the way.
Thanks to the race organizers, volunteers, trail workers and everyone else that made this event possible. A special congratulations to The Rasmussen 4 man team of Alread, Anderson, Blackford and Cline for their 4 man 24 hour win (30 laps) and the two man team of Logan and Sherman for their 2 man 12-hour win. I was also privileged to see and ride with both my good friend Paul Jacobson as he scored a second place in the 12 hour solo and TransIowa finisher Charlie Farrow as he scored a second place finish in the always tough 24 hour solo race.
Although I came back beat up after riding almost 50 miles on my full rigid Karate Monkey, I plan on making the trek to Boone again next year for the weekend, riding more laps, and having more fun.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Bike for Sale!!
It's time to clear some space in the garage. I love this bike and waited for 3 years to buy it. Now that I've had it for a year or so, I've decided that it's a bit too small for me. It's too nice of a bike for me to race, so it needs to go to a good home
Asking $1100 OBRO.
Post a comment or email stevefuller at gmail dot com if interested.
- 56 cm 1990 Schwinn Paramount OS.
- Waterford built frame and fork
- Candy Apple Red and silver in Waterford Flade Pattern
- Full 9-speed Dura-Ace drivetrain with Campy Chorus brifters.
- Chris King headset.
- Selle Italia Flite Saddle
- American Classic seat post.
- 20 lbs w pedals.
Asking $1100 OBRO.
Post a comment or email stevefuller at gmail dot com if interested.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Upcoming stuff
24 hours of Seven Oaks is this weekend. I'm on a four man team with Jacob Naumann, Mike Lebeda and Ken Tague. Should be a good time, assuming my legs make a recovery from this past Saturday's gravel grinder.
No Heck of the North for me this year. I really wanted to attend, but decided that I have some things to get done around the house yet this fall. I'll be keeping my eye open for race reports and hopefully I can attend next year.
Might try and hit the Honey Creek 100 mile gravel race in October. I'll see how I feel and what else is on the calendar around then.
Cross season is likely a no go this year as well. I might do a race here and there, but I'm not really prepped to be gone every weekend during October and November. There will be plenty of time to take some nice long fall rides around the area to look at leaves and stuff.
No Heck of the North for me this year. I really wanted to attend, but decided that I have some things to get done around the house yet this fall. I'll be keeping my eye open for race reports and hopefully I can attend next year.
Might try and hit the Honey Creek 100 mile gravel race in October. I'll see how I feel and what else is on the calendar around then.
Cross season is likely a no go this year as well. I might do a race here and there, but I'm not really prepped to be gone every weekend during October and November. There will be plenty of time to take some nice long fall rides around the area to look at leaves and stuff.
Good Life Gravel Adventure
I took Friday off work and headed over to Lincoln, NE to take part in the second running of the Good Life Gravel Adventure. http://cornbreadblog.blogspot.com/ and the rest of the Lincoln crew hosted a great event. We signed in at the MOPAC trailhead, heard a few words from Cornbread and we were moving around 6:10 AM. We headed east on the MOPAC trail for neutral rollout. However by the time we had reached the end of neutral trail section, a healthy gap had already formed. After turning north onto the first gravel road, I was with a group of about 15 riders and moving along at a solid pace. As soon as we crossed Hwy 34, someone jumped off the front of the group and the pace went from solid to completely crazy. I attempted to stay with the group for the next three miles, but a 175 bpm heart rate was not going to allow me to finish the race. I backed the pace down for the remainder of the first leg into Valparaiso, riding a good portion of it with Joel Dyke, one of the Dirty Kanza organizers. Even so, the first 40 miles were behind us in under 3 hours.
After a short ride north, we turned south, towards the second checkpoint in the tiny town of Malcom. At this point, I started riding with Scott Bigelow. We had started chatting a bit earlier and were riding close to the same pace. We chatted on and off, both enjoying the brief bit of chipseal near Branched Oak Lake. Scott was fresh off a finish at Leadville just a couple of weeks earlier and was still riding strong. He had a bit more power on the steeper climbs we hit but seemed happy to settle in behind me on the many rollers we were still encountering. We hit Malcom in around 75 minutes and made a quick stop in the convenience store. With the next stop just 15 miles down the road, I didn't feel the need to stick around too long, so I took off. Scott joined me a short bit later and we headed towards the third stop in Denton.
Scott and I continued to roll on at a good pace. Not too far from Denton, Warren Wiebe, John Flynn and Kirk Hutson motored on by us. The five of us rode into town together about an hour after leaving Malcom and stopped at the convenience store for a break. With 85 miles behind us, I decided this was a good spot to refuel. I grabbed a bottle of tomato juice, a turkey Lunchable, and some Lemonade and proceeded to sit down for a meal. Soon, I was looking up at the grinning face of Warren Wiebe asking if I had something better than a pair of scissors that he could use to cut a couple of spokes out with. I made some comment about being a mobile toolbox for the Kansas crew. I had loaned some tools out to Joe Fox so he could repair his derailer during TransIowa. At that time, Warren was amazed that I had a chain tool and a hunk of bike chain in my camelback. After that, I handed my side cutters to Warren and returned to eating. I spent the rest of my break stretching and watching Warren and some others use an emergency kevlar spoke kit that I had inadvertantly reminded him he had with him. Since we weren't needed any more, Scott and I took off and headed towards our last checkpoint in Cortland.
Scott and I enjoyed our last section of tailwind. We had a nice 10 mile stretch that had some nice wide rolling hills, complete with a nice couple handing out fresh bananas at the top of a long downhill. More hills and 75 minutes later, Scott and I were outside of the Cenex in Cortland. I went inside, snagged my last Nebraska Powerball ticket, a Snickers ice cream bar, some gatorade and some almonds. We sat down next to Rafal Doloto from Omaha and had a brief chat. Not too long later, Rafal decided to head out on the last leg with Scott and I.
I left Cortland and headed east with Scott and Rafal. We cruised along at a good pace and then finally made the left hand turn north and started a 13 mile push north into the headwind. We all took turns bearing the brunt of the wind, taking pulls for around .5 mile or so. My flagging energy levels forced me to take a breather and eat some food with about 3 miles left in our northward push. After the break, I wasn't able to keep pace with Scott and Rafal so I waved them ahead while I waited for the food to enter my system. About 15 minutes later I was feeling better and began the final 15 mile push to the finish, crossing the finish area at the MOPAC trailhead around 10 hours and 45 minutes after I started.
I had a great time in Lincoln and plan on going back for more rides next year. There's a strong bike culture in the area and the town itself looks like it would be fun to spend some time in. I want to give a big thanks to Oliver and Katie Banta for hosting me for the weekend. Oliver finished the race in just over 13 hours, allowing his time to suffer a bit to make sure that others were ok. A big thank you to Cornbread for putting this thing together, as well as everyone else that was involved in gathering sponsors for the event. This was a great grassroots event.
A big thanks as always to Rasmussen Bike shop for ordering in the weird stuff I ask for, treating me right, and squeezing in a quick adjustment for me when needed.
GPS Track
After a short ride north, we turned south, towards the second checkpoint in the tiny town of Malcom. At this point, I started riding with Scott Bigelow. We had started chatting a bit earlier and were riding close to the same pace. We chatted on and off, both enjoying the brief bit of chipseal near Branched Oak Lake. Scott was fresh off a finish at Leadville just a couple of weeks earlier and was still riding strong. He had a bit more power on the steeper climbs we hit but seemed happy to settle in behind me on the many rollers we were still encountering. We hit Malcom in around 75 minutes and made a quick stop in the convenience store. With the next stop just 15 miles down the road, I didn't feel the need to stick around too long, so I took off. Scott joined me a short bit later and we headed towards the third stop in Denton.
Scott and I continued to roll on at a good pace. Not too far from Denton, Warren Wiebe, John Flynn and Kirk Hutson motored on by us. The five of us rode into town together about an hour after leaving Malcom and stopped at the convenience store for a break. With 85 miles behind us, I decided this was a good spot to refuel. I grabbed a bottle of tomato juice, a turkey Lunchable, and some Lemonade and proceeded to sit down for a meal. Soon, I was looking up at the grinning face of Warren Wiebe asking if I had something better than a pair of scissors that he could use to cut a couple of spokes out with. I made some comment about being a mobile toolbox for the Kansas crew. I had loaned some tools out to Joe Fox so he could repair his derailer during TransIowa. At that time, Warren was amazed that I had a chain tool and a hunk of bike chain in my camelback. After that, I handed my side cutters to Warren and returned to eating. I spent the rest of my break stretching and watching Warren and some others use an emergency kevlar spoke kit that I had inadvertantly reminded him he had with him. Since we weren't needed any more, Scott and I took off and headed towards our last checkpoint in Cortland.
Scott and I enjoyed our last section of tailwind. We had a nice 10 mile stretch that had some nice wide rolling hills, complete with a nice couple handing out fresh bananas at the top of a long downhill. More hills and 75 minutes later, Scott and I were outside of the Cenex in Cortland. I went inside, snagged my last Nebraska Powerball ticket, a Snickers ice cream bar, some gatorade and some almonds. We sat down next to Rafal Doloto from Omaha and had a brief chat. Not too long later, Rafal decided to head out on the last leg with Scott and I.
I left Cortland and headed east with Scott and Rafal. We cruised along at a good pace and then finally made the left hand turn north and started a 13 mile push north into the headwind. We all took turns bearing the brunt of the wind, taking pulls for around .5 mile or so. My flagging energy levels forced me to take a breather and eat some food with about 3 miles left in our northward push. After the break, I wasn't able to keep pace with Scott and Rafal so I waved them ahead while I waited for the food to enter my system. About 15 minutes later I was feeling better and began the final 15 mile push to the finish, crossing the finish area at the MOPAC trailhead around 10 hours and 45 minutes after I started.
I had a great time in Lincoln and plan on going back for more rides next year. There's a strong bike culture in the area and the town itself looks like it would be fun to spend some time in. I want to give a big thanks to Oliver and Katie Banta for hosting me for the weekend. Oliver finished the race in just over 13 hours, allowing his time to suffer a bit to make sure that others were ok. A big thank you to Cornbread for putting this thing together, as well as everyone else that was involved in gathering sponsors for the event. This was a great grassroots event.
A big thanks as always to Rasmussen Bike shop for ordering in the weird stuff I ask for, treating me right, and squeezing in a quick adjustment for me when needed.
GPS Track
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