Bicycle Timelapse

The Road Guide

I completed the first part of my national book tour this morning, and
can report overwhelming success! The Road Guide is now available at
these locations:

Revelations
AJ's Bike Shop
The Meredith Hirsch Salon (61 Broadway, Suite 204--upstairs)

Looks like everyone is selling it for the same price as 21st Century,
$14. So buy a copy for yourself, a back-up copy (you can never be
sure what might happen), stocking stuffer copies, birthday gift
copies, bathroom copies (those are a must-have), etc. Remember, I'm
making a ton of $ off this, so help support my now-defunct 403b
retirement plan. It's a really good cause.

I may or may not ride this weekend. I'll likely be in Chicago
prepping for the Oprah show, which kicks off the national tour that
starts next week. You'd think I'd be excited, but all this national
attention and success is going to kill my training program. So will
it be worth it? Only time will tell. Right now, the cramping in my
hand from signing autographs is killing me, so I have to wonder. I'll
keep y'all posted.

Pasta lumbago!

Greg
July 28, 2009

RAGBRAI 09'

Several of us are planning to ride with RAGBRAI next Friday and Saturday.
Here is the proposed schedule.




Friday, July 24. Depart from BP Amoco at 8:00 AM and ride to Packwood where
we will meet up with RAGBRAI. Then we go with RAGBRAI to Mt. Pleasant. We'll
hang out for a bit in MP and then cycle back to Fairfield. Total distance is
approximately 90 miles.










Saturday, July 25. Depart from BP Amoco at 7:30 AM via car and drive to Mt.
Pleasant. From there, we'll cycle to Burlington and then back to Mt. Pleasant. Total distance is approximately 90 - 100 miles.


photographs by Carolyn Waksman

Six Hour Centuries

So guys,

The weather today was perfect for a fast century ride. Sunny, mid 70ties with a cool breeze all day. Jim, Sol, Jeff, Joe Dowd & Tom got everyone organized and working together. We hit some heavenly smooth roads, and the thought popped into my head "we're biking in heaven".

Pedaling along at a fast clip, working together for mile after speedy mile, Jim called out that we were hitting 19.9 MPH. Bless his constant inspirational talks. With all the bikers hunched over their handlebars, concentration etched on everyone's face, Jeff admired the newly adjusted height of Sol's handlebars, when suddenly, Sol's voice rung out: "Hey, Chaz. How do I look on my bike? Does my ass look good?". I gagged on my water laughing so hard that I almost drove into the ditch.

Joe Dowd spend the either ride either pulling an echelon setting a lovely, fast pace, or, rushing half a mile ahead of the first riders and doing serpentines, playing like a kid on his bike, or driving along my side, singing. Now, Coach Jim mentioned that if he heard chatting, we were going too slow. The rest of the group was busy breathing in and out, getting oxygen into our cramping extremities, never mind having the energy to chat. We were peddling at 19MPH and here was Joe, singing.....

Yes, Jim, we need a bit more discipline staying tight in the echelons both up and down the hills for the duration of the entire century ride, but each time we ride, hopefully we get a bit better....

All in all, I'd say we did pretty darn good pulling off a century ride in 5:18 hrs. Thank you for pushing me to do this. The ride today was fantastic!

The Dane

Mega Century ride - Iowa City (133 miles)

Gentlemen on Bikes,

Just an official 'thank you' for the fab bike trip yesterday.

After setting off for Iowa City in the glorious morning hours and waiting in the shade with Mr. Spitz, while Feist bike repair attended to Joe's flat, the day unfolded marvelously well.

Going into Brighton, Gary took off for the gas station, and a few minutes later, a select few of us were almost treated to the "Full Spitz" by the restroom....(Note to self: Consider managing gig composed of biker dudes, along the lines of "Thunder From Down Under". Motto (Jerry's suggestion) "We do it on the Road". Quick bucks for new, fancy bikes. Any investors out there? Sol, Alan....???)

On the way to Washington, Sol and the gang showed their true colors and blazed off into the beautiful morning, keeping a brutal & fast pace, while Jeff performed turtle rescue of a leather back which scurried away as fast as his fat little legs could carry him once released near the river's edge.

I was under the misapprehension that we were keeping a good pace, but once Jerry and Chaz joined the group in Washington, they took charge and set a proper fast pace. Tom departed Fairfield ages later than the rest of us, biking the back roads and joined up in Washington, yet looking like he'd never broken into a sweat. Next time, perhaps we'll just tell Tom when we expect to do lunch in Iowa City so he can join us there in half the time it takes novices like myself to bike 60+ miles.

In Riverside, sadly we missed the annual Star Trek festival. Imagine biking into town, fully dressed in Star Trek outfits. Who'll be our own Captain Kirk? Ran into Greg Titus who lead us on a fast sprint along the crummy roads into Iowa City. Thankfully, expert mountain biker Alan Marks was on hand to offer advice, specifically, how to handle road bikes on the obstacle course excuse for a road we traversed. Just for fun, Joe and Jim took off, again.

After a brilliant lunch at the Bread Garden, the group departed Iowa City along the splendidly fast and scenic roads towards Riverside. It was looking like a lovely, easy ride home to Fairfield, however, when we turned west on W22, what seemed like gale force winds hit us straight in the face. (And I want you all to know that as we were battered by winds going up towards Iowa City in the morning, Alan turned to me and said "looks like we'll have a tail wind coming home". Later, as I was frantically trying to staying upright on my bike in the nasty wind gusts, I considered mentioning that as a profession, heavy duty investments is the way to go for Mr. Marks. If Alan joined the Weather Channel, I for one, would complain.)

Arrived back in Riverside with gritty teeth and eyes from the fierce winds and enjoyed yet another lovely sit down in the shade before heading back to Washington. Going out of Riverside, I made the mistake, again, of trying to hitch onto the wheels of Joe, Jerry and Chaz. Thankfully, Joe took pity on me, circled back a bit and brought up Tom and Jim, who quickly set a nice (but brutal) pace going into the head-on gale winds. With Joe now in the lead, trying to catch Jerry and Chaz in the far distance, Tom, Jim and I did intervals, hitting 21-22.5 mph. (Note to self: After doing 90 miles on a bike, do NOT get fooled into thinking I can get away with 22.5 mph sprints going into brutal head winds).

Loud cheers and congrats to Sol, Jeff, Jim, Joe & Tom who did the entire round trip (did I leave anyone out? ). And thank you to everyone for making me laugh and keeping me entertained the entire day. You guys are the best!

Kristina

It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
-Sir Winston Churchill

TOMROV 09'

Tour of the Mississippi River Valley -
No faint heart in this group. Rally at 0600, the first eighty miles will be flat and simple along the Mississippi River. After a twenty mile warm up we will look for swift moving pace-lines: join in for close action. Double pace-line, no room for echelons, our wheels will be one off the next in close quarters - no hesitation lest we all go down. Totally in the moment, awareness levels high, for the value of future rides our bikes are worth more undamaged. Regroup at Hanover, we will attack in the bluffs along Blackjack Ridge. Like banshees, we will descend down the side of Chestnut Mountain at 40 mph+, cognizant that this is where Vern Willy sheared his front fork in ‘96, went down and became a paraplegic. To this day he still rides TOMROV, albeit hand-cranking a specially built bike.

Next is Galena, then comes The Wall and it is every man for himself to make it up and over to Scales Mound. On to Dubuque, 110 miles for the day, rest up and do it again the next day homeward bound.

Far from Fairfield, our bikes and our comrades are our home .

Let it go!