Stone Soup Musical

Hard to say Good-bye

We had to say good-bye to the last of our first family this week. Aldo was a Texas dog who had his moments, from the rogue puppy to the vigilant guard and running partner. He will be missed.

Trans Iowa Version III

A quick update on my latest adventure in cycling.

The race started with 64 riders as many bailed at the last minute, that left only the real freaks. Amongst these riders two were running fixed geared, one of which is from Denver. A neutral lead-out lead these 64 fearless riders into the dark country side of Iowa. White light drenched the us from behind whilst a sea of blinking red lights guided our way. The race started out fast as we climbed out of the first of many Mississippi tributaries with the eventual leaders going off the front. I held a good position in the top twenty not wanting to expend to much to soon. Soon settled in for the long haul on some of the hilliest gravel I have ever ridden, at times I could barely turn the pedals over without falling over ~ I did change up my gearing to a 32x15 which made all the difference. Rolled into the checkpoint at 3:15 pm with 137 miles in 11h15m and with an on bike pace of about 14 mph. I hooked up with two other fellows for the long push to the finish. We rode into the night stopping in towns to seek food and warmth. A 2am we had put another 100 miles in our legs and were feeling fresh. About 5am the reality that we had 60plus miles to go as the sun was just visible on the horizon was when we had to dig really deep! I just kept eating and drinking and turning over the pedals. Once the sun was up in full, the bodies started to react as we made the final push in. The last 9 miles were in full sun with two of the steepest hills in the area, I had to switchback them or I would have fallen over. Climbed up the last climb to a cemetary and made it to the finish.

Another life goal checked off the list!

Totals:

342 miles in 32h48m

24 finishers with half of those on Singlespeeds (one fixed)

8 packages of Perpetuem

8 packages of Heed

5 gel flasks with Espresso Hammer gel

20 homemade energy biscuits

3 Redbulls

3 bananas

1 package crackers

1 brownie

1 Powerbar

1 Lara bar

4 Oatmeal creme cookies

3 bottles of Gatorade

5 refills of Camelbak

plus other assorted junk calories