Friday, December 06, 2013

Friday News And Views

Trans Iowa Clinic:

Tomorrow a few of us are descending upon Des Moines for the Trans Iowa Clinic. There are still a few spots available if you want to come learn about gear, techniques, and training tips for longer gravel events like Trans Iowa, Dirty Kanza 200, Odin's Revenge, or Gravel Worlds. 

Just e-mail me @ g.ted.productions@gmail.com and let me know if you are showing up. The evening will include experts Mike Johnson and Steve Fuller along with actual bicycles set up in the manner that Trans Iowa finishers would have them. It should be pretty informative, and hopefully fun!

The event starts at5:30pm at Tacopocalypse in Des Moines Iowa. Click the Facebook link above for more details.

Triple D Race:

Well.........I did it!  I signed up for my third time for Triple D. This is a snow ski, run, and bicycle race put on in Dubuque, Iowa and the bicycle part is about 65 miles, give or take a mile.

It is a really fun time to get together with like minded folks and talk and ride fat bikes. That it happens in the dead of Winter makes it even better, since it is hard to get your bike fix then, and this helps with that in a big way.

This also happens to be going on right before my birthday, so I have been kind of thinking of this as a "kick off" to my birthday celebration for the last couple of years. I mean, when you get to be my age, celebrating for just one day  ain't gonna cut it! I've got too much to be thankful for and it'll take a while to work that all out in observance of my birthday. Ya'all can do what ya want on yer birthdays, this is how I do mine. Triple D is part of that this year, barring any weird weather or other calamities.

So, here's the deal: I am shooting for a faster time than last year, and maybe even getting done before the Sun is completely gone. Maybe. Well, that's the goal, and weather will have its say. If it is as icy as last year....weeellll, I may not push things as far as I did. I went down only once, but I came out of it okay. The thing is, it coulda been really bad. Not worth that, but then again, it may not be icy. It may be really snowy and cold. Mid-January and all, that's a safer bet than how things were last year!

The Triple D Steed

 Global Fat Bike Day: 

Not that I particularly need  a special day to celebrate fat bikes, but there is a ride Saturday around these parts to observe the supposed "global" riding of these corpulent tired safety bikes.

Our ride is supposed to be happening at Ingawanis Woodlands, (formerly the South Side of the Boy Scout Camp), at 9am on Saturday. I'll be hitting this, (probably), very frigid ride up at least for a bit, then I'll have to get on home to be going down to Des Moines, Iowa for the Trans Iowa Clinic. (Mentioned above)

The only wrench that could get thrown into these "works" is that Mrs. Guitar Ted may be going to Des Moines with me and if she does, she'll likely want to leave earlier for shopping opportunities. That would effectively put me into another plan and I would ride earlier, and locally, instead of going up to Ingawanis.

Either way- I am riding, but it may not be with others. I have to get on board with training rides for Triple D, ya know. So there are my plans.

That's a wrap for today. Have a great weekend and stay warm!

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