Statrix Redux

Tomorrow’s the day when we learn if RAGBRAI will be held this year. Or, as I hinted, the day I decide not to go. But, just in case, and mostly because it was a gorgeous day, I got in that thirty-mile ride I hinted at yesterday.
I was astonished and gratified to note that I wasn’t in any way physically compromised by my lay-off from cycling. I was as comfortable at the end of the ride as I’ve been on past trips of that length. My only complaint today was that about two-thirds of the way through a cable broke, and I lost the use of my higher gears. I had to finish the ride, mostly riding a single-speed bike. But then again, that’s really just more exercise.
All in all, a good day. Tomorrow’s RAGBRAI decision? That’s tomorrow.
I finished my day with some gardening up on the roof of the building where I work when I’m not working from home, that is.
And now, a bit of meditation, I think, then bed. Tomorrow’s another workday, and it starts early.
Aloha!

It’s that time of year again, RAGBRAI is just around the corner; ninety-one days away as I write this. By this time of year, I’m usually up to riding about seventy miles a week and getting ready to hit about one-hundred a week.

Only this year, I’m not.

Right now, I’m mostly staying in my apartment, working from home, and visiting the grocery as little as possible. I’m guessing you are doing the same if you are lucky enough to be working. I’m grateful that I’m working.

But I could be biking, right? Well yes. In truth, I’ve been incredibly lazy since my last significant day of riding, last Thanksgiving. I did a fair bit of traveling after the start of 2020. And this year, the weather wasn’t always welcoming. So I got lazy.

I traveled to Tucson for a conference at the beginning of March, just before the Coronavirus lockdown, and was all ready to start building up my legs and toughen my saddle, when disaster struck. Yes, COVID-19 arrived. And, well, we know that story.

But still, I could be biking, right?

The problem was I managed to kick the heck out of my coffee table, hitting the flat top part of my foot with the pointy corner. Ouch! I didn’t break the skin, but I must have broken something in there. The next three weeks were a problem. My foot swelled up, but raising it on a pillow kept it right-sized, mostly. I could walk, barely, but riding was a non-starter.

That lasted for about three weeks, each week a bit better than the last. Finally, last weekend I was able to hop on my bicycle and start riding.

I was quite surprised. All the years I’ve been doing this seems to have left at least a little residual strength. I’ve ridden my regular short routes of about ten to fifteen miles with light hills or at least wind and have had no problem with power or my wind. Yes, I’m a little slower than I was in the autumn, but I’m lazy anyway. It’s normal right now. I’ll be faster by July. Or will I?

I managed to ride about forty miles this week, which is my usual distance for the beginning of March. So yeah, I’m behind. But I’ll be fine. I’m headed out tomorrow for what I hope is a nice comfortable thirty-mile ride. That and a couple of fifteen during the week, and I’m back on my pace. That’s not the real problem.

The real problem is it would be insane to go to RAGBRAI in July with the Coronavirus Crisis still in full swing. I suppose I could stay far enough away from people on the road, and yes, I’ve been riding with a mask. That won’t keep all the droplets people shed off me, but between the sun, the cloth mask, the sweat, and the fact I don’t ride in peletons, I’d probably be okay. But what about standing in line for food? And what about using a tent someone else used the night before? No, it doesn’t sound like a real winner to me.

Plus, and here’s the kicker, RAGRAI 2020 will probably be canceled. At least, I hope it is. The decision is coming down on Monday, April 20th. And as much as I’d like to go, I’d wish they’d make the decision instead. Because if they don’t, I’ll have to decide and wonder if I did the right thing, no matter what I choose.

I guess we’ll find out on Monday.

Until I write again, stay safe, stay healthy, stay mindful. I’m trying to remember this:

And, oh yeah, remind me to tell you all about my meditation practice. It’s beneficial during times like these.

Aloha!

Once again I’m at the airport headed off on another journey. This time, instead of Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa, it’s a relatively simple California, Oregon journey. Well, really it’s a California, Oregon, California journey.
First up is a retreat/camp in Idyllwild Pines somewhere in the hills outside of LA. I’m really not familiar with the area, but I’ve been told I’ll have a lot of fun. I’m stoked about being able to hang out with some really, really good friends. Really. Good. Friends.
In order to get a flight which lands in LA at an appropriate time, which is to say a convenient time for my friends to pick me up, I’m flying HNL-SFO-LAX. It turns out this has a super added benefit. One of my bestest, bestest friends, Barry S. from Idaho is flying in as well and, as he is getting the same ride from the airport that I am, is going to meet me in SFO and is on the same plane to LAX. We’ll get to have brekkie together. Yes!
We’ll both be at the event up in the hills along with my good friends Zoraida and Brian, as well as Joel, and, last but not least, Jen. I’m sure there’ll be others too, but those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head.
After fun packed Labor Day weekend, which includes a color war (my color is Green), I’m going to hop on a train and ride the rails to Eugene, Oregon. Yes, I have a sleeper car. That’s just a pit stop though. I’m dropping off my trusty Bike Friday New World Tourist, purchased in 2008 and ridden hard, for a refit. It needs it. I put about 2000 miles on it so far this year and that’s been an easy year for it. It could definitely use a bit of the spit and polish.
After the drop-off, I head to Brookings. Years ago, 2012 I believe, I wrote on this blog about a trip down the Oregon coast with my good friend Erich. We’re off again, this time picking up where we left off all those years ago, and heading to San Francisco by bicycle. Different bikes, a few extra years, but an even better friendship.
I’ll be writing it up here and a few other places, and including some pictures with any luck.
I’m really looking forward to this trip, even if it is my second bike trip of the year. It turns out I have a lot of friends in a lot of places and darn it all, I’m really grateful for that.
That’s it for this first report, more laterz!

I’m in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, just having had a pretty good omelette. It’s about 9:15 AM on the Sunday after RAGBRAI. I’m beat. But wow, what a good time. This year the ride was planned for about 425 miles, not long for a RAGBRAI. Further, the elevation gain was fairly low too, which is not to say there were no hills. There were, one after another.
This RAGBRAI, my fourth (2011, 2013, 2016, 2019), had a bit of everything except heat. Okay, it did get warm, but never up into the high 90’s as it did in 2011. Whew. We had rain on the first day, and one of the nights as well. We had the aforementioned hills. We had sun. And we had mile after mile of the lovely Iowa countryside. It’s not Hawaii, but it is charming.
I have a number of friends I’ve collected over the years, Stan, Nate, Jason, Sarah, and Sarah, Travis, Jim, Nils, Chuck, and Sam. I’ve probably left a few off that list, but I don’t get here all that often. Wow, I have a lot of friends in Iowa.
And it seems I may actually get back next year. I’ll be in Detroit at the beginning of July for a convention, then a bike ride to Milwaukee. If I’m already that far into the mid-West, it seems only sensible to do another RAGBRAI. We’ll see. I’m just off the bike, not even 24 hours and here I go planning another.
The only thing I didn’t do was make a lot of photographic images. I had great plans to do film photography on this trip and here’s the thing; it’s just too damn hard to bike all day and make great images – at least if you are me.
So, I’ll have memories, but no art. That’s okay, this was really about spending a couple of weeks with my buddy Erich in Colorado, South Dakota, and Iowa, of course. Seeing Rusty from Pittsburgh again. And, hanging with that long list of folks I know and love from Iowa.

Thanks guys, especially Erich for building that super bike and putting up with my moods, and Rusty for being so darn happy to be on RAGBRAI one more time. Until next time!

It’s the third day of riding here on RAGBRAI. So far it’s been great. By great I mean I haven’t died, hurt anything (or anyone), and am still in good spirits.
The first day, Council Bluffs to Atlantic was wet. It rained pretty much the whole day which dampened spirits a bit. I feel a little bit sorry for the vendors, especially the local churches, scout groups, and volunteer fire departments. When it rains people don’t stop as much, they just press on. I didn’t mind much, the rain kept it cool for the 60 miles of the ride. Besides the rain, we had about 2800 feet of climbing, but really, that’s not so much.
The second day, Atlantic to Winterset, was lovely. The hills were easier, though again, not really bad at all if you’ve trained. The snag today was wind. It seemed just like back home with some strong trades. So yeah, since I’m used to it, not a problem. It was a bit longer than the first day, clocking in at 68 miles. My favorite spot was the small town of Dexter, which has a little museum big on Bonnie and Clyde. They even showed up and I got a picture with them

I’ve heard folks complaining about the rain and wind, but I try to stay out of it because…well…not a problem for me. Besides, if I complained too much, Bonnie would probably chase me down and have Clyde shoot me.
Today was mostly perfect, cool, light breezes, no rain, short distance. In fact, at 39 miles it was so short that it felt like…a commute or something. Our camp wasn’t supposed to be ready till 1pm and I had to force myself to stop and look around, chat, eat, and snooze, just to make it in by 12:15pm. The good news is that the showers were already open and there was no line. I like ‘no line.’
The highlight of the ride today was Norwalk. The services in town were about what you’d expect, but then I found the park and wow. It had lots of space, lots of shade, and great music. I ended up spending about an hour there relaxing. And I still got in early. One of the highlights for me was getting my photo with the local fire department crew. I have a good friend who’s a firefighter in Honolulu and when I travel I like to send him a pic of the local gang.

I’d like to have written more, but I’m beat. Yes, it was a short day but it does add up and tomorrow is a log, long day at 84 miles.
More later.

We’ve been in Council Bluffs for over a day now. It’s the Saturday before the start of RAGBRAI, though in fact, this Saturday is a big part of the deal. The big bike expo is today; think major retail opportunity. I may or may not buy a couple of things, depending on what’s available, but that’s later today.
Last night was fun. Erich and I went to our traditional dinner at Cascio’s Steak & Pizza. I’m not sure they actually serve pizza anymore, at least I haven’t noticed it on the menu. But that’s how they started many years ago. Cascio’s looks like something out of a 1960’s movie set. It sits at the top of 10th Avenue in Omaha’s Little Italy. A family run restaurant, it has a loyal local following. And, while it does serve good steaks, the prices are reasonable. They also serve you a lot of food. They’re menu isn’t dedicated to the latest food trends or health conscious items. It’s comfort food for steak lovers. Yum.
Next up was a Triple A baseball game out in Papillion (yes, it’s a place). The Omaha Storm Chasers play at Werner Park. As far as I know, and I could be far off the mark, the team asked Omaha to build them a park and Omaha declined. Papillion, a few miles out of town said, “heck, yes.”

The home team’s dugout is on the third base side of the park, just like back home for my own – I’m taking liberties there – UH Rainbow baseball team. I suspect they do it as the sun sets behind that bit of the park so it’s in the shade. That’s been important because it’s darn hot here.
It’s been in the 90’s pretty much the entire time I’ve been here. In fact, the ‘feels like’ temperature has often been up to 105 F. Yikes. The good news, as such, is that there are thunderstorms predicted tonight and the temperature tomorrow should be in the 80’s. We can only hope.
We did get to watch the sun go down in the west (it’d had better have been the west) as we left the park.


Okay, it’s not a Hawaiian sunset, but it was still pretty good.
Today both Erich and I are up and have a plan! The gods are laughing.
We’ll be headed out in a bit to put his car in long term parking. That means one final pass through our stuff to make sure anything we don’t need doesn’t come with us. I’m having some of my things mailed home when Erich gets back to Evergreen. Basically it’s some bike stuff I didn’t need and some dressier clothing I won’t be wearing the rest of the week.
First though, we’ll be headed to Greenstreet Cycles. This has been a bit of a tradition ever since I bought a helmet here years back. I also get their t-shirts and need a new one. It’s been 3 years since my last.
We’ll also be cycling back from Omaha to the Council Bluffs side after the bike shop and dropping the car. It’s a lovely ride and we’ll probably dip our rear tire in the Missouri. While one would usually do this on the day of the ride, Erich and I are just enough out of step with the herd that this works for us.
When we get back we’ll check-in and begin the process of actually preparing mentally for tomorrow. This means rigorous avoidance of buying too much stuff at the expo because we’ll have to carry it with us to the end of the week. This is perhaps the most harrowing part of the ride – TOO MUCH CR%P.
Then this evening we’ll spend some time on our own. I’ll be off to meet with some friends I see regularly on RAGBRAI…or at least as regularly as I ride it. I’m really looking forward to that part of this event. I won’t be writing about it much as I don’t have their permission, but they’ll be a source of strength along the way…as will my most excellent friend Erich.
That’s it for now…time to be out and about.

Yesterday we drove from the Black Hills in South Dakota to Council Bluffs, Iowa. The route took both west and south, from the mountainous Black Hills, through Badlands, the grasslands, across the 100th meridian, from the arid West to the flood soaked Midwest. Basically we had a ride and a geography lesson.
This was a longer drive than from Denver to Hill City so we didn’t dawdle quite as much. It make for a long day, but we did have some fun along the route. Besides the mandatory rest stop breaks, both of us being in our sixties if you catch my drift, we had a stop in a small South Dakota town for lunch at Joe’s Diner. Eat at Joe’s. The food was good, and inexpensive, the crowd was definitely local, and it looked like Joe’s had been there, if not from the founding of the town, then at least from the time the highway came through. We had an errand to run for Erich, so we also got to drive down Main Street in Emery, where he needed to do a bit of business.
There’s something about small towns in the Midwest, for by now we were, if not in the Midwest, quite close to it. A sense of order, hard work, and cleanliness pervade most of these towns. As with anything, there are exceptions, but Emery wasn’t one of them.
We did stop at the public library, did I mention we are both in our sixties? The librarian was a wonderful young woman who we chatted with for a few minutes before we moved on to the new courthouse to conduct Erich’s business. The old one burned down, spectacularly if the photos are to be believed.
And then we were off to our destination, Council Bluffs.
I first came to Council Bluffs, that I remember anyway as it’s possible I was there passing through as a teen, in 2013 when it served as the starting point for RAGBRAI. At my first RAGBRAI, in 2011, I stayed in Omaha across the river. Sadly, as in 2011, the area is inundated with floodwaters from the Missouri which runs between the cities.
As we neared the cities we began to see more and more stunted cornfields, or worse, bare ones covered in standing water. Closer to the river, a few miles out, the standing water became shallow ponds, and nearer yet, it some simply became part of the river. At one point I noted that a fence in a field eventually became completely covered in water. This is not going to be a good year for farmers.

Much of that photo, at least the foreground was a field.
By the time we got the hotel it was getting on and we grateful to be done with the road. After checking in we dashed to the local box store to pick up some new, smaller duffel bags, as it seems we both realized that we’d brought, once again, too much stuff. Isn’t that the bane of existence for many of us? Too much stuff. We hoped to solve this problem by…buying more stuff. Actually the smaller bags are in hopes we can leave more stuff in the van, mine being shipped to Hawaii later, and take far less stuff on the road; less for the Pork crew to haul around.
After we returned, I headed out again solo, to meet up with some friend local to the area for an hour. I had a great time meeting new folks, sharing a few tales, and drinking coffee; a bit later in the day than I should to be sure.
Back at the hotel, caffeinated in the night, sigh, I watched a bit of TV and, thankfully tired from the day, got a great night’s sleep.
I’m not sure what’s on the agenda today, but I’m sure it’ll be blast.
More later!

Erich and I were up fairly early this morning for a planned ride on part of the Mickelson Trail. It’s huge trail system in and around the Black Hills. It was created from, or mostly from, old rail beds throughout the area. That generally means they are very rideable as trains can’t pull up, or descend, steep grades. Doesn’t mean there aren’t hills though.

We used a company called Mickelson Trail Adventures to haul us up to Lead, SD,..a town near Deadwood, yes, Deadwood. Our driver was a one-legged grandpa who looked like he could have been in Deadwood back in the day. A heck of a nice guy though, with plenty of stories of the area.
Once in Lead, we got ready to hit the road, but not before a photo or two.


The trail is very well maintained, but it’s not asphalt. It’s very well packed and groomed crushed limestone. That means it is a bit slow and there are places where it’s not quite so well packed – a bit iffy at times. Mostly though, it’s in great shape…hats off to South Dakota for that.
The road is mostly up and down, twice. It’s not a steep grade and this image exaggerates the steepness, but it is up, then down, then up, then down.

We rode a total of about 44 miles through simply stunning scenery. There’s really no way to describe it, unless you are Louis L’Amour. I am not. Here are some images.


I’m a sucker for B&W as you can tell.
I took a bunch more, but these seemed really special to me.
I also discovered that both Erich and I meditate and yes, we took the opportunity to sit for about 10 minutes along the way. Good stuff.
We made it back in the later afternoon, not late, but definitely not early. We stopped a lot for photos, for views, for food, to read informational signs and just because. Neither Erich and I really ride for “sport.” It’s an activity for us. So when some young fella blows by us racing uphill, we wish him well and go back to chatting and taking photos.
At the top of the final, read second hill, we took a nice break, then headed on back down to Hill City, well ahead of thunderstorms that are out and. About right now as I write this.
A great day on the road. There are many more to come this trip…yes!!!!

The drive from Denver to Hill City, South Dakota was, thankfully, uneventful. We traveled through part of Colorado, Wyoming, and, of course, South Dakota. The land varied a bit, but mostly was fairly empty, even the areas of high population are…well…pretty empty. It’s miles and miles of miles and miles.

My friend Sam says he used to live in the area and that there are some super views, but you generally don’t see them until you come right to the edge of the canyon, etc.
We ate at a great diner along the way. I’m going to brag a bit and say that my buddy Erich suggested Subway, I demurred. We ate at Deacons. If you are ever in Torrington, WY you should try it. Comfort food to be sure, but yum. A farmer having lunch chatted us up a bit and was a great guy, even though Erich and I are at best, outliers.
Then we moved on and came across this:

It seemed to be some sort of shrine to really cheap bikes. We looked and there wasn’t a quality bike among ’em. We stopped at a biker bar next door (the other kind of biker) and inquired, but their answer was mostly, “who cares?”
We moved on.
I wanted to stop at the Crazy Horse Memorial and so we did. Wow. It really is pretty amazing. It’s a tourist stop for sure, but well done. We got to see a bit of hoop dancing, had a retail opportunity or two, and saw this:

And then we were in Hill City.
Erich and I are sharing a room at the Harley Peak Inn. There’s only one bed and so we are sharing it. I’m was on the floor last night trying my camping sleeping stuff, tonight Erich will go for it. We would share the bed, we’ve no qualms about that, but since we sleep at different times, and as it happens, both like the same side of the bed, this seemed an easier compromise. Besides, if I get used the sleeping pad now, I’ll get some sleep the first night in the tent (this coming Sunday).
After a dinner at the Alpine restaurant, only two choices on the menu, one being a filet, we got ready for bed and hoped the weather would be nice this morning. It is. But there was a chance it might not be, this was the cloud formation over Hill City last night:

Lovely, but a wee bit frightening, eh?
Today we are up and ready to get picked up for a ride on the Michelson Trail…about 44 miles of it. Not a long ride, but it should be a good tune up for the coming week. Besides, I have to get used to the geometry of my ‘new’ bike. It’s great, but not what I rode 1725 miles since March 11th on to get ready for the fabulous adventure I’m on right now!

Last night Erich and I headed back down to the Denver city center to take in the Colorado Rockies play the SF Giants. I’ll cut to the chase right away. The teams had played earlier in the day in and the Rockies had lost 19-2. In the game we watched, they fared better, but still came up short 2-1.
The drive to Denver from Evergreen was pleasant as it was a Monday and folks were mostly headed in the other direction. We had a quick yogurt at the Whole Foods, which, had I known it was there, I’d have bought a few things for my room over the weekend. But, no matter.
Then we ate at a pretty good burger place before heading to the game.
I love a major league ballpark. I think I actually like just being at the ballpark more than I really care about the game. Given that there’s no pro ball in Hawaii, it’s hard to really care about teams across the ocean. But I love the atmosphere.

A storm was moving in, which seems pretty typical for a summer night in Denver, so the game was delayed by twenty minutes.

And yes, we did get a few drops of rain, but nothing that made us leave our seats.
We had a great time watching the game, though I’m going to admit we left at the seventh inning stretch because we still had to drive back to Evergreen and get up early this morning for our drive to South Dakota. All good.
While waiting for the light rail to get back to Erich’s car, I managed to grab one final shot of Union Station. I’ll be back.

And then were were off.
All in all, it was a great evening. After the rain passed the weather was perfect, cool (shorts appropriate cool), clear, and lovely.
I’m going to miss Denver, but I have several standing invitations to come back (thanks Erich and Lori), and undoubtedly I will. Soon.
And now it’s time to leave for South Dakota. More on that later.