David G. Is still rolling - and Nick W. wants a 1/2 Liter too!

Now, I think, with 18 metric centuries under his belt, Dave G. should be getting a 3/4 Liter O' Dirt... whaddya think? - Dave M.

Hi Dave,
Went for #18 100K ride today. Temperature changed quite a bit during the ride, went from lobster gloves to fingerless biking gloves. Light snow in a lot of places, and some places ice underneath, made riding a bit cautious. Ruts and mud in a lot of places made the ride slower paced.


The Road Less Icy!

All Hogs Go To Heaven!

Flood ravaged trail


Now Nick, it seems, isn't going for the extra large single Cup - but seems to be a generous fellow - as he's working on two cups - one for him, and a spare Cup for when company come's a visit'n. So nice of him to share! Read on:

Dave,
The ride the other day went swell! (a 125mile double metric on Nov. 26th) It was cold to start, and I had a bit of wind coming from the North, but I was going to Storm Lake and once I got past Fort Dodge it went alright. I ended up with 125 - just enough to make two metric centuries. I don't think I'll have the time to finish the full on cup, but what I was thinking of was this:

6 full centuries to qualify for the Cup o' Mississippi Mud
6 (after Wednesday) metric centuries, to get me halfway to the 1/2 liter.

I'm really just chasing the 1/2 liter as a way to motivate me to keep in shape for the Arrowhead Ultra in February. I should have enough time in the next month to get 6 metrics in, but probably not enough to get 5 full centuries in. I figure it can't hurt to have both the 1/2 liter and the Mississippi under my belt. Next year I want the full 1200 miles and the 1/2 liter! I'll keep you posted over the month of December on the metrics.
~Nick

Good luck Nick! To the rest of you (myself included...) We've got a month left! Tom, when's your December hundy?

To all of you - don'f forget the joys of winter running - December 6th is the 6th Annual Sycamore Trail Run- a 4 or 8 mile run down the Sycamore Trail. It's being promoted by CITA this year, to encourage use of the Sycamore Trail. Go here for info: www.centraliowatrails.com

Great Christmas Gifts!

Hey everybody - this is a helpful little commercial. My Mom is an artist, and has a shop in historic Valley Junction with a couple of my sisters.

She's opened an online outlet - and her stuff is cool - so I'm sharing it with you.

Folk Art Online

She makes super cool Santa figures out of locally collected driftwood. Her story is online - so click, read and buy! She does make custom Santas - and has been known to create a bike riding Santa or two (there might be one that adorns our mantle every Christmas season!!)

Merry Christmas! - Peace, Dave

Bell Lap For Mr. Anderson!

"One to go! One to go!" Tom Anderson is getting close to the fullest of Cups - only one more hundy, one more month - Rock out!


"Another hundy completed. Rode most of it with Rick Blackford. The miles into the headwind sucked…but the nap I took at the Cumming Tap was wonderful!!! I did find a magical piece of dirt that was 1.5 miles long that appeared to have a tailwind in both directions. I rode it twice to get the required dirt mileage in J. This makes hundy number 11, one in each calendar month this year. One more to go for the goal. A few more details on the blog. Tom http://iowagriz.blogspot.com/2008/11/11-down-1-more-to-go.html"

Tim and Dave - at it again!

Tim Beirbaum on Sunday:

"I went out today and headed out west to De Soto, adding a couple of side trips to
make sure I got enough distance. I must admit that the wind was pretty demoralizing at times, but the return trip home went by awfully quick. I finished up with 108 km."

He's getting close! Based on our combined math... this is his official 1/2 Liter O' Dirt! Check out the dates of his rides;Aug 10, 17, 24, Sept 6, 14, 21, Oct 5, 11, 18, and Nov 1, 2 & 16; - good things come in packages of three! Congratulations Tim!


Meanwhile, Dave Geiegerich just keeps going and going and going....

"Dave to Dave,
Took the day off work and rode. Did metric #16 on dirt and gravel. No pictures, my son snuck my camera. Enjoyed the day, drizzle, scenery and IPOD. Trek XO2 makes a for a nice ride. Will be doing more of the same soon. Appreciate your cups."
Dave Giegerich

Get on it folks - only 44 more days of 2008 left!

ed. note:
Hey - has anyone else noticed? Tim and Dave... Just like Dave and Tim.. Like Matthew's and Reynolds! That's cool! enjoy!

Tim's been busy, while Dave G.'s been doing extra credit!

From Tim B:

"Hi Dave. The roads have been busier lately with all of the combines grain trucks
but the weather has been absolutely beautiful.

October 11th - Headed west and then north over I80. I stopped on the way back for a
quick snack and to refill my water bottles at the Casey's in De Soto, finishing the day with 102 km.

October 18th - I headed south. I didn't really go anywhere, I just headed south just east of I35. Finished up with 102 km.

November 1st - I had a family gathering in Huxley. It seemed like a good excuse for a bike ride to me. I headed south out of town, then west to Booneville. I passed within spitting distance of both Waukee and Woodward; and stopped for a refill at the Casey's in Madrid. I ended the day with 112 km.

November 2nd - There isn't anything like riding a bike to use as an excuse for not doing yard work! Headed out west, up through De Soto and back for 101 km.

Thanks,
Tim Beirbaum"

And from Dave G.

Dave,
I would have never thought a year ago that the most expensive bike I have ever bought would be a dirt bike, a.k.a. Trek XO2. Its a sweet ride.
However yesterday I started out for #14 and I was riding down this path headed towards the gravel.

I was going about 12-14 mph, and rolled over a couple of branches about 1" in diameter, and the next thing I know, myself and my bike are doing a flip in the air. Somehow one of those branches caught my front tire and locked it, and I flipped with the bike. Not sure how it happened??? Glad I had a helmet on my head smacked the dirt good, I remember hearing myself grown. It happened so fast. Tried to keep riding my wrist was throbbing, so headed back home.

So today back on the road, with wrist brace and did a 100K on gravel/dirt/trail....:-)


Dave G."

A Full Dinner Set????

This post is from Dennis Grelk... There are centuries and then there are centuries... this is one that will go down in the old memory book - you know, one of those rides that gets told at the Telemark Lodge bar over pizza and popcorn the night before Chequammy EVERY YEAR! (You know... to the poor happless first-timer that happens to stumble past your table...) Enjoy - I know he did!

"So I wanted to get a test ride in on my Surly Big Dummy and I needed to knock out that last metric so I shot for both Friday night. Started my ride at 6:45 or so. I thought I was doing alright holding a 13.5mph avg on the longtail running Nokian Gazzalodi 2.4s, then my timing started to fail. I rigged up simple dyno light to test out my shimano dyohub and I was using my superbright modified cheapie headlamp for backup. For the first couple hours the dynolight seemed pretty weak, then it started looking brighter than my headlamp....because my headlamp was going dead. This is the advantage to the dynolight, you see. Unfortunately it was indeed a hastily assembled dynolight with no capacitors to smooth things out at low speed, so what you get is this incredibly bright and annoying pulsing light until you get up over five mph. Only a problem when starting and stopping, climbing, and bonking. Anyways, so I took a couple of wrong turns and ran into some dead ends. Got kinda bonky, as I rushed out and didn't bring any food, just two bottles, enough to get me to the halfway point. By the time I got to my halfway refuel point it was 9:45, and apparently the gas station in Bonaparte closes before 9:45. I scrounged around in my Wingnut and found a granola bar, yay! So I ride to the next town. By the time I get there it's 10:30, again all stores are closed. Ride on. Pretty soon the corners are feeling a little funny and my pace is really starting to struggle, the rear tire is flat. Friggen double wall DH tire goes flat on a gravel ride, wtf. The bad news is changing a flat double wall DH tire on the back of a longtail really sucks, the good news is you can ride a double wall DH tire flat and it isn't much different than being full. I ride it flat for awhile, air it up when I want to go faster, repeat until finished. Finished 63 miles at midnight. Thought about doing century but I ran out of October. Here's the data

So 6 more centuries this year and I get the full tea set right? Seven weeks for six centuries, hopefully mostly on the Pugsley, or so is my plan. - DG"