Photo Shoot and Ride

Another Sunday Ride on the Wabash Trace. Was a cool, Fall-like day. Temperature was in the upper 60s when I headed out to Silver City.

Like last week, I rode my hybrid (Trek 7200FX). Main reason was that bike has a luggage rack. Since my point & shoot camera is not yet back from repairs, I was carrying the Canon Rebel.

Had an enjoyable ride. No speed goal, the plan was to ride Silver City to Strahan. Stopped to shoot photos of the bridges and the Trace. Visited with a couple other riders on the West Nishnabotna bridge. My apologies since I quickly forgot their names. One rider (Webmaster for Madison County [Iowa] Cycling Club) from Winterset was on his way to Shenandoah. A guy and his son (?) from Ashland, NE are on their way back from an overnight in Shenandoah.

My ride covered 31 miles. I made it to Strahan (clocking the mileage of just 15.5 miles from Silver City to Strahan). Riding time of 2 hours 57 minutes, 3 hour 45 minutes elapsed time. Good ride, more photos for my collection.

Maskenthine XC Classic

The photos I took at Maskenthine XC Classic are posted.

There are 3 groups of photos: 1) Junior, Cat 3, Marathon
2) Cat 2, Cat 1, and rest of Marathon
3) Crew, spectators, misc.

Any additional photo re-touch needed will be done before a order is processed. This will cut my processing time as I will only re-touch the photos that are ordered, instead of working on all of them.

Enjoy. Here's the link: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=220828

Mileage Milestone

What a year it has been. Bicycle mileage for the year just surpassed last year's total. Now at 2209 miles for the year. And it is still August!

What has been contributing to the higher mileage? 1) I got a leg up on the year by riding most of the winter - partially thanks for the studded tires on my hardtail. 2) We have been getting a lot of rain throughout Spring and Summer. This has forced me to ride more pavement and more on the Wabash Trace. More miles for the same effort. 3) As I become a stronger rider, I ride longer before tiring. Last year 15-20 mile rides are long. Now I regularly ride 25-30 miles each time.

Now - just how many miles will I end up with? I think that 3000 miles is surely in reach (that's only 800 miles - and in one 7 day period this month I logged 155 miles!)

Here's some of the things I have learned:

To keep cramps at bay, I need to drink a 20 oz bottle of G2 about every 10 miles. That is in addition to the water I carry drink from my hydration pack.

Variety keeps me looking forward to ride. I change the bike I ride, the trail I ride, the trail surface I ride.

When riding, I sometimes will do "intervals".

On my hybrid and hardtail have have 2 bottle holders. My full suspension bike one. To lengthen my ride without cramping - I chew/suck on a "shot bloks (tm)".

The "ergo" grips (thanks Blaine) on my hybrid and proper position of the saddle are very important factors allowing me to ride longer before I have problems with my hands and feet.

Riding the right bike for the trail and conditions greatly improve the riding experience.

That's about it for today - getting to be bed time. Need to rest so I can ride tomorrow. Forecast is for awesome riding weather this weekend!

Sunday Ride - on The Trace

At our Sunday Morning Coffee, Dennis said he is planning to ride Imogene to Shenandoah on the Wabash Trace. Since I had just ridden that section and lost the photos from a camera malfunction, thought I would ride with him.

We met in Silver City (to car pool). I had the FX (hybrid) on the car already, and wanted to shoot photos, I rode that bike. The FX has a rack on the back and I have the bag to carry my Canon Rebel.

Dennis wanted to shoot some photos too, so we made a photography bike ride.

Headed out from Imogene about noon. Rode down to Shenandoah. Dennis was agreeable to ride on down to Ikes (another 5 miles).

At Ikes, we had 14 miles. Getting hungry, stopped at the Depot Deli in Shenandoah for lunch. Arrived back in Imogene about 4pm.

29+ miles, 2:37 pedaling time. Weather was awesome - in the 70s, bright sunshine, breeze from the SSE (With the wind back up to Imogene). Dennis was about done when we got back. I had still more energy. A+ ride.

BTW - this photo is of Dennis and me on the East Nishnabotna Bridge.

Imogene - Shenandoah

Threatening weather yesterday. Wabash Trace board meeting in Imogene. Some folks were planning to ride from Shenandoah up to Imogene.

I decided to bring my hardtail down to Imogene, and ride down to Shenandoah and back. The bike was ready after repairs (problem in the bottom bracket - bearing?)

With the rain Wednesday and showers yesterday, was pleasantly surprised that the Trace was pretty solid. No problem riding. This is the first time I had ridden all of the section from Imogene to Shenandoah. The hill between Walnut Creek and East Nishnabotna is a 2 mile grind.

Stopped several times to take photos. Took some more of the old depot. The my Canon A590 camera started acting up. Just back from repairs for losing date/time - that started again. It got to the point that every time the camera was turned on, the date/time had to be reset.

Last night when I got home after the meeting, tried to retrieve my photos from the SD card. The card had the folders, but no images. Lost the photos I shot that day. Tried recovering the photos with recovery software - no luck. The bottom line. I lost the shots and camera failed - AGAIN. And no photo for this posting :-(

Camera is going back to Best Buy. The camera is just short of 1 year in the 4 year extended replacement warranty. This morning I will start negotiations asking for a new camera.

Road Ride

Felt good to take the weekend off the bike. But, by late Sunday I was already having withdrawals. The only way to take care of that was some long rides.

Monday I rode from Xtreme Wheels to the Bob Bridge. Made a leisurely ride on the hybrid.

Tuesday, I needed to ride something different. Headed south on my hardtail. After the Wabash Trace Trailhead Park, I rode down US 275 to County H-10. From there on to L-31. At about 15 miles, I was at Vinton Equipment - almost down to US 34. That was enough, knowing that I had to ride back on US 275, so headed back.

As I rode, I seemed to get stronger. My first 1/2 hour was under 13 mph. By the time I hit 2 hours, my pace was at 14 mph (over the whole ride).

Other than the traffic on US 275, it was a great ride. Getting some noise in the drive train - once per pedal revolution. May be bottom bracket. Left the bike at the shop.

2000 Miles!

Had a great, Grade A+ ride this morning. Went to Silver City and rode to Malvern and back.

That ride took me to over 2000 miles for the year. That's just short of 600 miles ahead of last year's pace. Last year I ended up with 2203 miles. At this rate, I should make that by the end of the month.

The weather was ideal (about 70 deg when I started). I arrived in Malvern about 3 minutes faster than my last best time. Logged the ride at 1 hour, 12 minutes for the 17 miles round trip ride. That's over 14 MPH. Fastest ride for me on the Wabash Trace.

Later, I dropped off my Fuel EX7 at Xtreme Wheels. During my ride yesterday, I noticed it skipped on the chain a couple times. Surmised the chain and cassette are worn. That was the case.

Weather forecast is for showers the next 2 days. A couple days off the bike will give me some time to work more on my web site and burning DVDs.

Been Busy

Wondering where I have been? What's going - with no posts recently? I have been busy riding. Logging over 500 miles since I got home from the Southwest.

Also busy framing photos for a photography show. Plans are to bring some of my photos to Greenfield, IA to do a show there. Watch for details.

Last Saturday was Tranquility Tire Tantrum mountain bike race. Took over 550 photos there. You can see (and purchase) photos of the race at http://win-photo.photoreflect.com.

Still working on posting my photos are report of Echo in Arizona trip. That and compiling the photos for a souvenir DVD and conversion to B&W for the newsletter.

Oh, yeh - and 2 Full Moon Rides and a couple evenings of trail work.