Mission Accomplished!

I'm glad I met my goal, but man today was a biatch. 100 miles exactly, 10 hours of ride time, 14 hours from start to finish, it was cold, I wanted to quit, and I'm out of shape again.....ride report will come later.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Hundy update

Hundy update....2:45pm in Granger with 55miles down. Feelin much better. I had ridden to DeSoto and back to the house this morning. Forgot the wallet and bonked on the way home. Wanted to quit but hoped that the chili and water for lunch would help. Just might make it.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

One last attempt

Thanks to everyone out in cyber-world that wrote or called to motivate me to get out on the gravel again. Even my boss told me to get out and give it one last shot.
Plan is to leave at sun-up and ride west. Weather is calling for a high of 24 with light winds. Currently 5 degrees at the house. I better bundle up.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

No Cup O' Dirt????

Up at 4am, on the bike by 4:45. Dark, 19 degrees, slight wind, perfect day for a ride. No clouds, just enough light that I was using my small commuter light and could see just enough. I had planned on a long day, since I hadn't been riding at all. I figured the early start would give me 2 hrs of riding in the darkness and still allow for a slow and steady ride into the mid-afternoon.

All was good for the 1st 4 miles, the pavement to the gravel wasn't too treacherous and the initial gravel stretch was frozen but had traction. However, the next 2 miles was a frozen pond of death.....my pace was down to 6mph at best and I was riding the last 10 inches of the shoulder trying to find traction in what little snow that hadn't been blown off the road. After a series of linked recoveries, I hit the pavement just outside of Grimes. 6 miles total and 50 minutes. It would be a long day. I started north again and it just got worse (I didn't think that was possible). I decided that I shouldn't push my luck and road the pavement back to the house. 12 mile ride in 1:25. I suppose that if it heats up this afternoon and melts everything (without turning it to mud), that I could finish the ride. However, I think that my fate is sealed within the 1/2 inch of ice that presently appears to cover all of the local gravel roads.

I'll have to think of a creative solution if I want to get my December hundy ridden.

That sucked....

Not the ending that I was hoping for....the Griz played poorly in the 1st half and the D picked it up in the 2nd half, but the offense never played well. At least it was a fun trip.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Sticky Fingers

Finger licken good ribs, chicken and pulled pork at Sticky Fingers. It was as good as advertised.....with a full belly it is now time to attack the tailgates.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Arrival at Chatty

808 miles, 4 stops and 12.5 hours to Chattanooga. I made it safely. The roads were clear and I stayed ahead of the storms. I met one of my old college roomies, we had a quick dinner and went to the convention center for Griz pep rally. It was packed...and the faithful were drinking the place dry. Dave and I ran into a lot of old college drinking buddies and many lies were told. The best quote of the night came from coach Hauck. "game time is 8pm, I expect all of you to be tailgating at 4pm and lubed up for the game." Gee coach.....anything for the team.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Road Trip time....

This is how I feel tonight as I pack for my 13hour drive to Chattanooga. I'm headed to watch the Griz win a National Championship :)




Look for remote cell phone posts of the trip. I hope that the Griz win. If not, it will be a long drive back.

Big Mountain Ski Report

From my old home town ski area. http://www.bigmtn.com/ This mornings ski report. In the old'n days they wouldn't have shut down the lifts and I wouldn't have missed a day of skiing. Now I wonder why I have poor circulation in the fingers and toes. At least the scenery was alway good.

------------------------------------------------

12:41 UpdateWe've opened Chair 2! We're now offering skiing on Chairs 2, 6, and the Magic Carpet, with lift tickets still at $18. Dress warm, and we'll see you up here.

10:15 am update. Checking back with you all, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but no Chair 1 this morning due to winds still over 20 mph with wind chill values at -64 degrees from tower 10 and up. Chair 2 continues to be on hold due to weather driven electrical problems but we will continue to put up all exhaustive efforts to try and open that chair as the day goes on. We will however be riding on Chair 6 and the Big Easy Carpet. It is still blustery out there so please bundle up and keep a hot beverage at your side. Have a good one guys.

8:15 am update. Well guys just checking back with you, the jury is still out on what lifts will be running today, fortunately I did hear a report the winds are somewhat dying down at the summit but please check back in around an hour or so for our updated report.
We have plenty of wicked snow to open with on this balmy Sunday morning with 1” new inch of snow on the summit and in the village, the only thing we are dependent on at this time is the wind. Currently the summit is at negative 25 degrees not including the wind chill, with winds 25-30 mph and gusts 45-50 mph. So lets all pray, pray, pray that the elements take a lull so we can all play, play, play and rip it up! We are expecting to be riding chairs 1, 2, 6 & 7 when we get up and running. Please stay tuned for our updates on today’s conditions and opening terrain.

Pardon me boys....

is that the Chatanooga Choo-Choo?

THE Montana Grizzlies took care of business last night against James Madison. The Griz took advantage of several JMU turnover and won bigger than the score indicated.

Now I'm working on a road trip to Chatty for the national championship game. A 12 hour drive to see them win will be worth it. At least gas is now cheap :)

It will be against either UNI or Richmond. I'm pulling for Northern Iowa as they are local and I hate the east coast bias.

Any UNI fans out there?

'Anything ELSE you want to tell us?'

WARNING-IF YOU STILL BELIEVE READ NO FURTHER.....
We broke the news about Santa to the girls last week. Holly was getting tired of the statements. "Kids on the bus are saying..." so when we saw the opportunity we decided to take it. When we told them, I think that they already knew in their heart. It was still a little sad, a little bit more of lost innocence.

The funny part was tonight. We were discussing that they still needed to get their pictures taken with Santa. I asked them what they wanted from him and they scoffed at the idea. We explained that they would still get presents from the north pole. This just started the conversation again and brought up more questions..."Did you bring the presents down in the middle of the night?" One question led to another, but the funniest statements were how somethings now made sense. Like how Santa really liked sugar cookies but wasn't so hot for milk.

Then they wanted to know about the Easter Bunny. "I suppose you are the ones that hid the eggs in the yard!"

"Yes is was us"

"Did you eat the carrots as well!"

"Some got put back into the bag"

"What ELSE have you been hiding!"

"What do you think about the Tooth Fairy?"

10 degrees & windy = no riding for Tom

Well, I wimped out on the hundy yesterday. It was 10 degrees and windy at 5:30am, so I went back to bed. I ended up sleeping in until 8:30 so my body must have needed the rest. I did figure out that I may have a few more opportunities than I originally thought, so I should be able to complete by month-end.

The good news is that the Griz won this past weekend. This puts them into the semi-finals against James Madison. I have a co-worker that is a JMU alumni. She was originally talking about a roadtrip to the game, but a 16hr drive and a Friday night game will make that impossible. We do plan on getting together to root our respective teams on to victory. Tune into ESPN2 this Friday night to watch the mighty Griz. It will be a tough game but if they win then I'm drive to Chatty for the national championship game.

Big storm coming to Des Moines tonight. Hopefully it will go north so the biking doesn't get too screwed up.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

100 miles this Sunday? Anyone? Bueller?

I still need to get the details together, but I think that my final dirty hundy of the year will be this Sunday the 7th. The weather will be cold in the morning, but light winds and frozen ground could make for a decent day. Besides that, I'd like to keep next Sunday open for a possible day trip to the Cross Nationals in KC. After that, the in-laws are in town and I won't be able to break away.

If anyone would like to join for all or part of this ride, I'd like to have you along. I'm thinking of making this a ride to celebrate the finishing of my cup O'dirt. I'll probably leave early for a 60 mile loop and then head back to the house. I could then meet others that want to ride the remaining 40 miles. Maybe loop back to pick anyone that is only up for a short ride (last 20 miles?).

Depending on everyone's schedules the ride could end at my house for some chili and beers to celebrate. Or, depending on the route, the ride could end conveniently at a local bar :)

If that appeals to you, leave a comment and I'll work on a route with possible meeting points/times.

Holidays are for family

Wow, I guess I didn't realize that I hadn't posted for over 2 weeks. Even that last one was pretty lame. The short story is that I haven't ridden much since the last hundy, work has been busy, the economy and financial news are holding my interest, my parent's flew out from Montana for Thanksgiving week, fun was had by all.

It's too bad that we only see the Grandparents about twice a year. The kids really enjoy their time together (as do Holly and I). The logistics are just too much for monthly or quarterly travel. We have talked about sending the kids out to Montana a week or two prior to our normal summer vacation. It would be a good experiment for all involved.

The easiest way to catch up is by pictures (and it is the easy way out for me).

A mini concert by the girls for "Papa and Gram". They don't do too bad considering that they just started playing these instruments this year.

Papa, Maddie and I joined the annual Turkey day ride at Ashworth pool. We were late to the start and it was cold (28 degrees), but after we got to Denmans trail, we had fun. We rode the 7miles of singletrack and got back to the parking lot to see about 50 riders starting to warm-up with a few cold brews. We opted out and drove to Starbucks for hot chocolate and coffee.

Maddie led Papa through the woods to show off her riding skills. I'm sure that he was impressed as she cleaned the majority of the trail.The formal meal of the week.

Grandpa was on potato duty. He tried to get out of it claiming he never learned how in Vietnam. We didn't buy his excuses.

Gram and the girls prepared cookies all day Wednesday and Friday.Tom is showing off his "mad" carving skills.The grandparents and the girls.

11 down 1 more to go

Long story short is that I completed another dirt hundy today. I left the house at 5:15am and rode to HyVee to meet the guys for breakfast. Pete, Lou and Marco did the center trails with us and then Rick and I hit the gravel. Lots of wind made it a long day. Add 2 long stops (I even took a 5min snooze at the Cummings Tap). I finally got home at 5:50pm with a little over 100 miles. I'll be in bed early tonight.

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

We need your VOTE!

Tom has been going off the deep end in our house lately. 1st he cut his hair really short, now he's been growing a beard. He says it will only be a short one.

The girls and I think he needs to go back to the old way. He looks much older this way. Please sound off via the comments. Of course, our votes are the most important.

Holly

Smiling version
He says this is his MMA look

Sunday Hundy Sunday

As U2 would say "Sunday, Bloody Sunday

At least the current weather forecast looks favorable for my November Dirty Century. Stay tuned for details. I can say that the start will be near 7am and head into the wind for the 1st half. If anyone else is interested, leave a comment.

Project Weekend

The girls have been wanting to change the color scheme of their rooms. I think that they started working on Holly and I about making the change around mid-summer. Holly finally caved into their demands in September and purchased new comforter covers for them. Those were then used to pick the new colors. We had one stipulation....the color near the ceiling and near the baseboard trim had to stay. This would make it much easier for us to paint.

Below are the results. If you explained the colors individually, it would sound very bad, but I think the results are great. Most importantly the girls really like their new rooms.

Maddie's room was "go-go green" and pink before the weekend. We called it the watermelon room because it looked like the inside of a watermelon.Hannah's room was pink and blue. With the vast amount of pink in the room, we dubbed hers the "pepto bismal room".
Hannah contributing to the workload.

Madison doing her part.
The final product. Note the artwork on the wall that she did. Holly bought both of the girls real canvases at the craft shop. They enjoyed creating these last weekend.
Hannah's final product. That is her canvas on the left. They both have one more to complete for the other side of the room.

On a bike note - I planned on riding a dirty hundy this Sunday. Set the alarm for 5:30am, woke, made breakfast, dressed, got the bike ready and left at 6:45. Rode .6 miles down the road and turned around. Came home, took off the riding gear and sat in front of a heater and ESPN for the rest of the day. Sometimes, your mind just isn't into it....

Another great fall weekend

Another great fall weekend in Iowa. What a great place for cycling and cycling friends/culture.

I think that this place has a closer knit community of cyclists than anywhere else that I've lived. I believe that it is because of the smaller (yet still big) population of cyclists. This weekend had something for everyone. Partiers, racers, roadies, mountain bikers, cross riders, heck even runners were mixed in this weekend. Enjoy the photos that I stole from Squirrel and Justin.


Friday night started with the Spooky Woods ride. My guess is around 70 people found their way into the woods for a little chili cookout and party. Complete with flaming Jack-o-logs by Squirrel. We also held the 2nd nighttime quarter rage. I placed 2nd tonight which sounds good, until you learn that Andy crashed hard into a tree and launched over the bars and still beat me.
On Saturday, Holly and I took the MTB tandem into Denman's woods with the girls. As you can see by the pictures, Hannah and Maddie loved the ride. All went well until the girls got tired in the last mile or so.

Holly then switched out bikes with Hannah. With Hannah on the back of the tandem we headed back to the car via the dirty connector. Holly hit a tree and went over the edge of the levy. Pretty funny stuff now that she is OK, but her head hurt on Sunday morning.
This picture is from Sunday's Dirty Duathlon Kids race. Maddie gave it her best against 5 boys and placed 2nd. She might have tracked down 1st place if she didn't slip and fall during the start. No problem, she had the biggest cheering section as every female at the event was rooting for her to take on the boys.I then teamed up with a partner and did the relay event of the Dirty Duathlon. The course was longer and tougher than it looked on paper, but we finished 3rd and got a nice plaque for our efforts.

The end of the season races/events in Des Moines are the best. No pressure for most of the racers and all seem to be happy to just be outside and in the company of other like minded individuals.

Preview of my Spooky Woods Ride costume

Friday night throw down with the CITA gang at Denman's Woods. First the final Quarter Rage, nighttime version, then the Spooky Woods ride. I'll be attending in my Monte costume.

Hiding out lately

Not much going on with the family lately. I haven't been on the bike since the hundy, so I'm feeling lazy. It is the late fall/early winter doldrums. Not much light out to keep me motivated.

However, I might try Spookycross this weekend, and then lace up some shoes to see if I'm in any shape for a solo run at the Dirty Du. Of course, I'll be present at this years Spooky Woods ride. How could a person miss this years....Friday night 10/31....should be a good time.

Madison will have her final soccer game this weekend. Her team plays well, but is still winless. They have fun and I know that is suppose to be the goal (no pun intended), but I get really worked up over their lack of caring (about losing). As Holly and I recently discussed, if they were boys, wouldn't the parents be more up in arms over their effort (we disagree on this topic btw)?

I remember being 10 and playing baseball. It was competitive with yelling coaches and players getting pissed at each other. Why isn't it expected of the girls? Double standard? Maybe I expect too much at 10yrs old? Perhaps my memory has skewed what I remember of little league.

Of well, no need to push her in soccer. Her and Hannah will be the 2018 version of Phil and Steve Mahre anyway (you youngsters will have to google that one).

Ski season is just around the corner. I've changed my online reading from Velonews to Skiracing.com and have found myself checking the webcams daily to see how much snow is falling in the Rockies. I can't wait to get on snow this year. I even checked out Masters racing, but that got expensive in the past 15yrs. National license, local license, race fees and then I have to drive 4hrs to the closest race. Maybe 7-oaks will let me set some couses up and bash gates.

Center Hundy thoughts.....

Thanks for all the well wishes on the blog and via email.

Yes it actually was fun.
Yes I did get dizzy after 14 times through Denmans.
Yes I now have it memorized (middle ring, 3rd gear, 45 revolutions, slight left, 15 rev, hard right, 5 then root, etc.)
Do it again? Maybe.....

I did take a few hours off work on Monday afternoon to let my body catch-up. That was a 1st in my quest for the centuries.

Other interesting tidbit of info. Many of you might know how anal I am about tracking stuff like mileage, times, etc. It keeps my mind active during the ride. I wrote down lap times each stop at the car.
1- 1:28 (lights and dark for most of it)
2- 1:14 (met the fast guys halfway through denmans)
3- 1:18 (Rick kept the pace up)
4- 1:18 (I thought I had backed down the pace)
5- 1:20
6- 1:21
7- 1:19 (rode the loop backwards to see if it was faster, didn't feel faster)

I find it good (but odd) that I was soo consistent. Maybe it was the familiarity of Denmans by the end of the day. I would have thought my climbs in hillside would have slowed me down, but I was trying to push the short climbs in that section.

Lastly, a few have asked why?????

It all started with a Bicycling magazine article many years ago (10?). I remember reading the motivational last page, and the author talked about riding a road century each month of the year. I remember thinking how cool that he picked a challenge and stuck to his goal even through adversity. Flash forward to 2007 and Dave Mable creates the Cup O'Dirt challenge. I monitored from afar but didn't give it a try. For 2008 he upped the challenge to include a century or metric century for each calendar month. It triggered the old Bicycling mag article in my brain and I thought "Why not?". I probably wouldn't have started it if it wasn't for four other guys taking me under their wing on the 1st ride in January. I wanted to quite at 50 miles and they wouldn't let me.

So many thanks to Scott (Mr. BikeIowa), Brian, Dennis and Steve. If it wasn't for these guys, I'd be 30 pounds heavier and probably not as satisfied with life.

Tom

Center Hundy Completed

The pic is from my 1st lap. Started at 5:45am and did a lap of Coaster / Trestle / Connecter / Denmans reverse / Denmans forward / Connecter / then most of the time trial course on Hillside. 14 mile laps.

1st lap in the dark by myself then 1/2way through lap 2 I found Basso, Pig, Blackford and Jim(?). Did most thru most of lap3 w/them or Rick. Young Ryan and Dal joined me for lap 4.
Everyone was out today so I assumed that I'd find another to keep me company for laps 5-7. It was not in the cards and I rode those by myself. Probably a good thing as I could take it at my own pace. 7 laps = 98 miles so I added another coaster to hillside loop. My legs were screaming on the last lap uphills but I never gave in to the granny (all day).

A nice fall day on Hillside. Sometimes it seemed like it was snowing leaves.

Summary is 100.4 miles 9:38 ride time (lots of trail BSing) total time of 11:30.
A very long day and I'm now feeling it in my back. It's all worth it for what I think has got to be a first......100 miles all on the center trails in a day.

A pic at the end. I look like I aged a few years today. The car was my pitstop for each lap. Water, pop, clif bars, Hammer Gel and Sugar Cookie dough (yum).

BTW - thanks to all that I rode with, saw out there (Terri, Andy and others), and even those that called or sent a test during the day. Your positive comments and friendship really helped make the miles easier.

CITA - Take a Kid MTBing day

The 2nd annual CITA - Take a Kid MTBing day was held this past Saturday at Lake Ahquabi State Park which is south of Des Moines by about 20 minutes. The day was fantastic and despite the sparse turnout, those that were there thoroughly enjoyed their day.

I want to say thanks to Al and Jeff for helping mark the trail and all of the general support. Also thanks to Bruce Brown for allowing me to use some of his race materials to mark the course. It made a big difference and made me feel a lot better about making sure that no one got lost.

Thanks to the Hanser family for coming down and giving their support as well as those kids and their parents/family that drove them all that way for a 5 mile loop :)

Next year, this event will be moved back into town and back onto the Center Trails. It couldn't be done there this year due to the J11 trail construct/destruction. I'm sure that it will be back on track and a much bigger success next year.

Enjoy the pics and video from the day.

Lake Ahquabi is a very scenic place. We based the event out of the beach picnic area.
Jeff and Al relaxing after some brats (the food, not the kids).
Andre and Rachael Rethman
Miranda and Mike Lipp, Sam and Matt Gumm
Sam sez "Cheese" with a Cheetos

Some of the kids used their bikes to get closer to the lake and explore.

Madison and Libby picking some flowers (weeds) :)

Hannah pushes up the big hill to the Whitely Monument.

Madison pushing up the one other big hill.

This video of Hannah shows some of the beauty of the lake trail. It also shows how good of a trail this is for kids.

This video is of Maddie, notice how she doesn't allow me to pass.

She always has to be at the front.

Grade School XC Run

This past week the Waukee grade schools had a cross-country run (1 mile) for grades 3-6. Both of the girls decided to sign up and give it their best shot. Maddie was trying to improve upon her 4th grade performance of 7:56 and this was Hannah's first try. We were proud of Hannah to step out of her comfort zone and give this a try (she is our music and dance expert).

Both of the girls did well. Maddie got 12th overall and Hannah got 71st. I think there were around 125 starters for the girls. Maddie ran a 7:52 and we haven't seen Hannah's time yet, but I think she will be near or under 10mins (which would be a personal best)(UPDATE: a 9:45!). They both had a great time and Hannah even stated that she might want to do something similar in the future.

I was trying to emphasize with Hannah that you just need to do your best. "Look at Daddy, he never finished 1st and he still has fun". I also set personal goals for my racing or training and I tried to use that to motivate her. She had set a goal to run the mile faster than her school mile test (near 11mins). Once she met this goal, she seemed to realize that doing your best is all that is important.

Part of the girls starting line.
And their off!

Hannah in brown shirt, Maddie in green shorts.
Maddie has her game face on while doing the last climb.

Hannah pushing her self up the hill.

Madison's Fall Soccer

Madison is playing fall soccer again this year. I think this will be her 3rd full year of playing for the Waukee club. She plays in the U12 league, which means she is one of the younger ones out there. It doesn't phase her as she likes to get into the middle of the action and mix it up. Her team is having it's ups and downs. The 1st game they played to a 2-1 loss, which was against a club that usually beat them pretty good (they were tied until the last 2mins). The next game they got smoked.... The 3rd game they got smoked as well, then the 4th game was a tie. I guess it depends on their mood as much as it depends on who they are playing.

She does enjoy it, and she is pretty good because of her quickness and speed.

Just missed keeping this ball inbounds.
Playing through some pain.
Ready to pass up field.

Here is a link to a very short video of Maddie playing goalie.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22166623@N08/2914753341/in/set-72157607420913551/

September Hundy in the Books

Once again I waited until the end of the month to ride my gravel hundy. I purposely chose to ride alone so I could ride my own pace. My alarm was set for 5am, but after I woke at 4am, I figured that I might as well start. I strapped on my good lights and was on the bike at 4:40. My original plan was to ride a 30 mile loop to the west and meet a group of friends for singletrack near 7am. I completely misjudged.

My route went north then west to Dallas Center, then south to Adel. It was very dark and foggy so I was conscious of being safe. However, I still had two stealth farm dogs try to run me down - Scared the crap out of me both times. South out of Adel on Old Portland Road (btw a bridge is out - so I added 5miles for a detour into DeSoto). Then east until I found the Great Western Trail. Off the trail several times to find gravel side roads and I ultimately made it to Casey's on Bell Ave. for breakfast.

It was now 9am, I was feeling good and I had 55miles in. After eating I worked my way to the center trails. Headed to Denmans and rode it reverse, then forward. Then onto Hillside and Roller Coaster. Finally back to Denmans for a reverse and forward trip again. I didn't ever find the guys, but saw a few that I knew out there (Justin and Sarah, Mrs. Squirrel).

By this time, I had around 80-83 miles and needed to make it to my daughters soccer game out in Waukee. I went through Raccoon River Park, onto Grand and out Booneville road. It was nice to be able to string more gravel together that direction. Finally south of Booneville, then west to VanMeter then north to the Waukee soccer fields.

I finished with around 105 miles in around 9hours of ride time. I didn't feel too bad and this route was actually really nice. By eliminating Old Portland Road and riding the route via VanMeter, it would lose a few miles. However, you would gain it back as I had received a ride home from the soccer game (no need to get more miles, right?).

So this makes 9 gravel hundies in consecutive months. 3 more to go to complete the year.

Tunnel Run - over the top?

Is it me or is this over the top? A tunnel run video for a high school team? I'm sure that the have a student dept create it but come on......no wonder college athletes feel coddled. It starts at high school.

Don't know what a tunnel run video is? It is the video that is played to get the crowd physced for the entrance (from the tunnel) of the football team. Of course, the Griz have the best :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YlCEEP1NgQ

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Warrior Pride

Friday night and the girls invited friends to go to the Waukee Warriors game. They are all dressed up in their purple and gold, and are ready to get crazy.
LET ME HEAR YOUR WARRIOR SPIRIT!! (and the crowd says.....)

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

Birthday Bike Ride

Saturday was my 43rd birthday. So after the household chores were done, the girls and I loaded the bikes and went to ride in Denman's woods. Holly had to tough it out at home with work (she's been working 7 days a week lately).

The bike ride with Hannah and Madison was great. They are really becoming adjusted to the bikes. Each time they ride the trails, they learn something and always seem to have fun. The highlight of the day was when we tried to do our good deed for the day. Some idiot had his 4x4 Jeep on the old J11 trail and was ready to drive into the creek. I tried to tell him to stop and get out of the woods (in a city park no less), but he thought he knew better and drove into the creek. He promptly sunk in past his hubs and was stuck. I called the cops and hoped they would find and ticket him. After our ride was done, I sprinted back to find that he had a buddy trying to get him out. Now it appeared that both might be stuck. I recalled the police and waited 30mins for them to show up. I finally gave up on the waiting. However, the girls were proud of us for at least trying to do a good deed. At least they seemed to learn a good lesson regarding respect for the environment. More pics on Flickr, including a few of the idiots.
Hannah in white, Maddie in yellow. Weaving through the trees.
They even made the majority of the tight trees. Hannah skipped a few, but probably rode 90% of them.
Here is Hannah carving around a corner.
Maddie making the turn and smiling for the camera.

BTW - my birthday present (the new bike) continues to ride fantastic.

I had hoped to ride my September gravel century on Sunday, but was way too tired from this past week. I took a Tylenol PM and feel asleep by 10pm. Waking at 8:30 seemed to do the trick :)