Friday News And Views

Mike Johnson (foreground), from T.I.V8

How Many Miles Do You Have In This Month? 

I was at the shop today and the talk turned to local rider, Mike Johnson, who is accomplishing something pretty heady. He's about 2/3rds of the way through a 2700 plus mile ride. With just a bit more than 900 miles left to go, Mike has ridden over 1700 miles in two weeks. Off pavement for most of it. Over mountains, through snow, rain, and desert. By himself much of that time.

Over 1700 miles. In two weeks! That's more miles than many put in for a whole year! It's pretty amazing what you can do on a bicycle if you put your mind to it.

Follow along with the end of Mike's trek from North to South along the Great Divide Route by checking his Spot tracker page here.

Mike is on track for about a 25 day finish. There still are several mountain passes, desert, fire dangers, and more that he has yet to tackle. Oh......and check the Track Leaders main page. Lots of unbelievable feats of cycling going on this month!I'll be cheering on Mike from here, and continue being the "blue dot junkie" that I am.

The steed for the weekend.

Odin's Revenge:

Today I am not working, but I am traveling toward my date with some rustic roads in Nebraska. Odin's Revenge is a 150-ish mile long event that will be a good time and test my body and mind as I attempt to ride about as far as I ever have in one sitting. (My "PR" is something just over 160 in a day.)

I'll be bringing back a special report from Nebraska and possibly will post a couple audio-blog reports if I can.

The bike will be the Fargo Gen 1 and I've got her tuned and ready for a long ride. The bike shouldn't be an issue. Maybe I will be! At any rate, my main goals are to finish, have fun doing it, and have a good time with some people I don't get to see very often.

3GR: 

Obviously, I won't be here for 3GR, but if anyone wants to ride it on their own that knows the new route, they are welcome. I would suspect that Cedar Falls is still suffering from flooding, so my advice would be to satrt at Gates Park Swimming Pool parking lot at 8:30am.

Guitar Ted Death Ride Invitational: 

The GTDRI is getting fine tuned by the great folks over at the Slender Fungus Cycling Association. President Ari says that we'll be doing a 135 mile route and that there are fantastic spots lined up for breakfast at about Mile 35, and lunch at a sweet burger joint. There will be B Maintenance Roads, lots of hills, and suffering with like minded folks.

President Ari also advises that all be prepared to start in the dark. We'll be setting off at 5:00am sharp to make sure we can log all 135 glorious Jackson County Iowa miles. There is a "Short Route" of about 65 miles for those wanting just a metric. There is a leader assigned to keep those short termers in line as well!

The GTDRI is welcoming any and all intrepid gravelists to be there for this no-drop ride. But know that it will be a huge test of strength, fitness, and mental acuity. This will not be an easy ride! The date is July 14th. Be there!