Oh what the heck...

why not? I think I'm going to try something stupid tomorrow and try a century. 55 miles pffffft....100 sounds more impressive. After this post its shower, tuneup the road bike, and head to MI for a century tomorow. They have shorter versions as well. Really I just want to do the 50 or 75 but I may take a shot at the big miles if its an optional extension. I won't have the route until I get out there this afternoon so I can decide what to do in the morning.

So a couple weekends ago my ultimate frisbee team moved on in the national series from sectionals to regionals. And all the other guys decided not to go to the tourney in Tulsa. Almost all the women on the team were willing to go. Not pleasing to me. So I get an email this week that some people in Minneapolis I know are playing Masters (which series doesn't start until Regionals) and need more people. So I'm back in! Thats next weekend.

Then I thought to myself, gee....I'm pretty far south already in Tulsa. Check map... Hmmm....Grand Canyon is just a little west (ok, 10 hours or so). Never been there. Then Moab, UT would kinda be on the way home. Be a shame not to head that way to the greatest mountain biking. Moab has a lot of climbing, but based on how strong I felt on the climbs Labor Day weekend I should be ok.

Richmond, IL firefighter's have a fall bike ride / pig roast on October 14. If everyone is feeling better, that would be fun. I'm not positive I'll be back yet from vacation. I figure on getting back sometime between the 13th and 18th.

Check out rollthetollway.org. This is something unusual that I thought would be fun. I signed up for it. Hope you guys do too!

And btw, Todd and CK....I killed another crackberry. So I managed to lose phone numbers again. It wouldn't be right if one of us didn't lose everyone elses's numbers each month! lol

September recap

I suppose September was the month for me to be the designated Delinquent Blogger. So I'll recap the month weekend-by-weekend with this post:

Labor Day Weekend - I spent 3 days on the South Fork American. Saturday we had a nice easy Class II run. Then on Sunday a group of 8 headed did a Gorge run. What was special about that is that for 4 of the people it was their first time running Class III, and they all did great! I didn't much care for the Gorge when I first started running it, mostly because of the 2-mile flatwater paddle into Folsom Lake at the end of the run. But this year the lake level has been so low that the river has been flowing all the way to the take-out, plus there are at least 3 new beefy rapids at the end (or old rapids if you consider the river in its natural state before dams were put in).

September 8-9 - This was the "Grand Opening" weekend for Golden Gate Kayaking, the new kayak school that I'm starting. I had been teaching through a local shop the last few years, but since they closed down at the end of last year, I had been planning to start teaching on my own. On this weekend, I held a couple free clinics for the local club as well as a paddle out to Angel Island.

Setpember 15-16 - The Moke Races! The races consist of a downriver and slalom race organized by the local whitewater club on a fairly gentle stretch of Class II river. Once again I used my sea kayak for the downriver race, although this year there were some genuine race boats that outran me. On Saturday I was using my old-school whitewater boat to practice on the slalom course when one of the club members offered up her slalom boat. Of course I couldn't refuse, even though thoughts of accidentally smashing a borrowed glass boat into the rocks ran through my head. I ended up racing in the slalom boat, but in the end it wasn't enough to break out of the novice category. For the second year in a row, I missed first place by less than 2 seconds. But on the plus side, I took second and had a lot of fun. And now I'm shopping for boat number 11.

September 22-23 - On Saturday, I held Golden Gate Kayaking's first "real" class. Though I had only one student, it went well. And on Sunday a group of us did a tour of the bay, starting at the north end of the Golden Gate, heading south toward San Francisco, then along the waterfront, then back north around Alcatraz, continuing up to Angel Island. After lunching on the island, we completed our circumnavigation and headed back.

Not Much But a Little's Better Than Nothing

We haven't gotten much riding in. Just a couple of short rides 13-15 miles. Since it rained quite a bit over the last month the mosquitos have hatched and they are brutal. We have these stripe legged mosquitos that are about three times the size of a regular mosquito and they actual hurt when they drill. Not to mention the fact that the welts they leave are twice the size.

On the biking front we've decided not to share crop our 5 acres this year and we are going to be making a bike/walking loop around our property as soon as the mosquitos die down a bit. When the wind blows the mosquitos away Dirt Jr. and I have been throwing the football and I think we're better then Grossman. We can't be worse right?

I too have been sick going on day 6. It started as a little cold but then spread to my chest and now I'm hacking up chunks of green and brown junk. Probably more than you wanted know, but as I haven't blogged about anything lately I thought a little word was better than nothing.

8 Days and counting being sick...

Well today is day 8 of the I can't eat anything diet. On Monday of last week I became rather ill and figured it was just the Flu. Tuesday, Wednesday feeling bad, but not too worried. On Thursday I woke up feeling pretty good and had a light breakfast and all was well. Lunch came around and I shared a little Pizza and Crust with 3yo and not too bad. 5:00 The puking began, 5:30 the Dry Heaves hit, 6:30 the pain and bloating hit, 8:00 the pain was at a 6 or so and finally at 10:00 the pain had reached about a 9 and I could hardly move without being in extreme pain... Call the Dr and he said go to the ER. 11:00 Dad shows up to take me to ER and we spend the night at the hospital. CT Scan, Test and Test but no answers...

Saturday see the Dr and still not too good. More tests and exams... Saturday Night up ALL night feeling awful!

So I have had almost NO solid food Since last Monday and have been living on Meal Replacement Shakes, Gatorade and Applesauce. Anything even remotely solid is PAINFUL!!!

So I have been unable to ride at all...

On the Plus Side the OMG that HURTS to eat diet has dropped me 4 pounds in 6 days...

55 Miles Per Day

Saturday I met some random people at the Des Plaines River Trail up at Russell Road. Three of us headed down to Independence Grove and met up with another 6 people. Those first 14 miles were a good pace around 13 MPH. Once the others joined we slowed down a little bit. We biked down to Lincolnshire and had lunch at Flatlander's then rode back up to Russell Road....about 55 miles round trip. That might be the longest I've done yet. I pushed the pace (not sure on speed, but it felt harder!) for 4 of the last 5 miles. Still felt good at the end, but it was plenty for the day. I took the Schwinn on this trip and it did a fine job. I'm tempted to try a century! Anyone game next Sunday? :) There's one in Three Oaks, MI. I think its supposed to rain though. :( Either way I need to get the roadTrek tuned up and properly shifting before trying that. I took it out last Thursday and it clearly needs work.

I found the group I rode with on Meetup.com. They were a fun supportive group.

Fender Bender

Not riding much and grad school and work and other work was getting to me and my mood. My wife has been tolerant but at shortly after 7PM Sunday I headed out and spent some time with the trike. The downhills were very washed out and I could feel the back end sliding around like an egg on Teflon. Upon shooting down the 2nd hill (Near the barn) I almost ran over some future road kill raccoons and decided that this was crazy so I turned around and headed home. I was cruising nicely between 8-12 or rarely 15 mph. On the last uphill I downshifted and totally lost the chain. I was attempting to back up and go down the hill to reengage the chain when I went backwards off the edge of the hill and into the thick steep weeds. Whenever I tried getting up the trike would unload and fall back even more. Upon finally wrestling out the left fender was bent and missing a nut. I limped home and removed the fender. It was a short, destructive and frustrating ride but, a day with a bad ride is better than most without any ride at all.

Dwarf ride

2-3, times a week I ignore my super tiredness when I awake and get the blue bomber out to go to work. I make it in about an hour round trip including pushing through the halls at work so that's not too bad. On the way to work I shoot down 176 to Hawley, on the way back I opt for the trail once I get to Fairfield and 176. There's a lot more traffic at 6 AM than at 5 AM (my old wauktown commute start time) With grad school in the city I am tired after Monday but better to ride than to not. The ride home is even more unnerving because it's bumper to bumper stop and go. I play leapfrog with cars but often they pay so little attention as to be cutting me off and slaloming from yellow line to edge of shoulder as they yammer on cell phones. I need an air horn. 13 miles a day is weak but I guess I have to take what I can get until I am done with gradual school. It's called gradual school because you gradually figure out you don't want to go to school anymore.

Nothing wrong with nothing special

Darth and I got a late start (rolling at about 8:30) to the singing hills run. It was not to hot and not too wet and not too windy. Darth mostly did not power ahead. The washouts at the bottom of hills were a bit extreme and I was glad to be back on 3 wheels. I rode the 2 wheel 2 or 3 times to work last week. I don't think I averaged 10 mph, but I felt a bit faster than I had been. We had no flat tires. I am toying with the idea of slanting the seat back more. I would have to send the boom further out and not be able to push against the seat as much but it might give me better breath as I am in a constant crunch in the current position and I need to get more oxygen and better breath. We will see. It was good to ride and talk with my friend and I hope we can all ride soon.