Why I ride a bike: Reason #1

Finding the second shoe

No, it's not the number one reason I ride if I were to be ranking them in order of importance. I just figured I needed a place to put these reasons down as I think of them, to be reviewed later and possibly consolidated into a list to have on hand for answering that question that I am asked many times a year.

Ken and I were returning from breakfast on Sunday and I noticed a shoe alongside the road. Now this is not anything new. Somehow, and this is a very interesting subject that should be discussed and possibly even written into a thesis, there is almost always only 1 shoe along the road. How did it get there? And why is there only 1?

Too many questions to try to answer. The exciting thing about riding a bike, is that when there is a matching shoe to be found, it is much easier to do on a bicycle. Sure enough, roughly 1/4 mile farther (further?) down the road was the match to the other shoe. It still doesn't answer the how people lose shoes along a stretch of highway question, but there is satisfaction to matching the pair.

I'm in

I guess I am in for Trans Iowa V6. Last year my postcard disappeared in the mail. In the end, it was a good thing.

This year, it made it all the way to Iowa. I hope in the end it's a good thing.

Let the training begin (which means finding good eats farther and farther away from me, or maybe a golf course ).

Cyclocross Season

Having a Saturday off when working at a small bike shop is a treat. Having 60+ degree weather in November in MN is an amazing treat. Put them together, throw in free beer, hot dogs, and a bunch of bicycles. I could barely contain myself.


Joe and I rode up to the Velodrome in Blaine as a warm-up for his race. We were a little tardy so there was little time before he was off and pre-riding the course. I walked around a while and took some average photos. There weren't many really exciting places for great shots. I was hoping to capture something that I could use for our shop website since we are starting to have a little more presence at the track, and at cyclocross events. I almost tried climbing on the soccer goal to try to get rid of the fence.


I have heard it happens, but it rarely happens to me. To be in the right place at the right time. Looking for that one chance for a great photo, I try to take a fair amount in hopes of something turning out the way I want. Well when David decided to ride half a lap on a bike a little too small for him, it was a great opportunity for a photo. I had been taking some shots of him coming through the parking lot. I turned around after he started riding around the soccer field and ended up with exactly the kind of photo I was looking for...



Too bad I can't use it for our website. Plugging another bike shop on our website is probably not the most appropriate.

Biking Weekend

I was able again this year to partake in the Urban Assault Ride. Sponsored by New Belgium as "Beer, Bikes and Big Wheels", it is a "race" through Minneapolis to compete in some unusual events. Again, Ken and I were on the Schwinn Twin, and even made better time this year. I think we shaved 20 minutes off our time. Another 5 years competing at that same improvement and we have a chance to win.

I hosted a pre-race warm up with bloody marys. Mehgan and Pete were also racing, so they showed to get their game on. Joe stopped by to drop off a bike I had loaned him, all of which I did not account for in my supply purchasing I had done the day before. We were out of mix before we even left for the ride. Fortunately, I had enough fixins, and a quick stop at the grocer yielded a tolerable mix for the remainder of the ride.

We followed my planned route very closely, which means we put on 28 miles during the event. Add to that the to and from my house and we were very close to 40 miles for the day. My butt is still a little tender from the original saddles that still grace the bike. Next year, bike shorts.

Packed Sunday

I started out the day with a couple of nice laps down at Lebenon Hills. It's so funny riding with Ken. The classic, "I'm trying to stay ahead of you the best I can" vs. "I'm just trying to keep up with you" pretty much all the time. I have been riding the Surly 1X1 with a second-hand Manitou fork and IRD Dual Banger discs. It was riding well, but really started rocking when I let a few psi out of the tyres. After the first lap, I lowered my saddle because it just didn't feel right. Again, marked improvements. Just reminds me that the nicest of bikes can be made to ride like crap if not set up correctly. And also that a mediocre bike can ride just fine if it fits you and your riding well.

After a quick shower, I loaded up the trailer and Carrie and I went up to Como Park for a cousin picnic. I have a bunch of cousins in the metro area, so we decided that we needed to reconnect. Some of us had never seen each other before, and a lot of us had forgotten what others looked like and such. It was a great time. Cook'n out and getting to know family again. Something that gets lost in the fast charging lives of so many of us.

Unfortunately, I lost at bocce. (But what form!)

After the picnic, Carrie and I continued our quest at canning. We bought a box of tomatoes to save some freshness for the upcoming winter. Now, after several jars (why we still call it canning I can't figure out), we are approaching the end. Looking forward to nice pasta sauce come February.

Full of photos

A number of things have transpired since my last post. Biggest and best of all being that I was able to ride a couple days of RAGBRAI this year. Usually, it is the same week as the MS TRAM that I have been providing support for, for a number of years. Being the week before, Ken and I crafted a plan for a small loop to include a couple days of the route.

I can't really describe what happened. People ask me how it was and I just have to say that it is in the top 5 experiences of my life. From the food, drink, people, dancing, riding, tom foolery, and carousing, it was an almost perfect combination of everything. What I can describe is yet another adventure that Ken took me on in order to get to the route. We parked in Knoxville and rode over to Indianola to pick up the official route. Ken had warned me that we might have to ride some or all gravel, and I am not one to shy away from some lack of pavement. Little did I know that the rain from the night before had turned our closed road into a quagmire. After deciding that the road couldn't be THAT closed, we had to push our bikes because our wheels wouldn't turn due to the mud packing in under our fenders (so much for thinking I had ample clearance).





As you can see, Ken was simply in his element. Having the time of his life.













This is the view from our first night campsite. This is the entrance to the dean's office. Nice view.
Here is the porch where we spent the second night. We had a little rain, but all-in-all, not too bad.

So, we rode for a couple days and then headed back to Knoxville via paved roads. Great time. Almost the best time I have ever had on a bike. Can't say enough good things for this ride.

So after coming back from Iowa, I had a day to go to work and catch up on things before heading off to TRAM for 5 days. Fortunately, everything was pulled together so it was just a matter of packing the van and driving off to Ortonville for the start.

TRAM, was the best ever. Weather was perfect. No huge bike problems. Was able to hang out with a number of people that I hadn't had in years past. It was just great. At one town, we were shopping in the local grocer and came upon the paper bag that is on the ground. It says, "99 cents + tax. Grab bag. No peeking. All sales final". Well, we couldn't pass that up, so we bought it, didn't open it, and sold it for 99 cents (no tax). Turns out it had a beer baster.


The problem with having a couple of super fantastic weeks in a row, is that the real world calls. So this past week has been me getting back into the swing of things. Luckily, I enjoy my work so that isn't much of a problem.

Trying a new sport

Last year during one of our rides, Ken and I thought it would be a fun idea to throw some clubs in the panniers and ride to play some golf. Last week, we again thought this would make for a fun day's events. I think we could make a new sport of it.

The bike/golf duathlon. We were thinking of a few names, I like the "Pedal and Putt Classic". We rode out to Stacy, MN where there is a nice little executive course so all we had to bring were a few clubs. I wish I had taken my 9 iron or sand wedge as well, but the 5 wood, 7 iron and putter were sufficient for most everything. It was the first time golfing for me this year and it certainly showed. We hacked our way around and if it weren't for prior commitments, may have gone around again. It is probably best we didn't.

Riding 40 miles and then playing 9 holes of golf will make you a little hungry. We stopped at a pub in Wyoming on the way back and had some great grub (Blu cheese salad dressing you had to cut with a knife!). A couple of beers with lunch and it was all I could do to get back on my bike. Fortunately, the wind was to our backs most of the way home, so it was not much of an effort returning home. Just that my legs felt like jelly almost all the way home.

So we are going to try to round up some more people who may be interested. Possibly pick a course a little closer to home so we don't scare anyone off with excessive mileage. A little marketing and then maybe a 2016 bid for the Olympics.