Jared Morford and Nick Wethington Updates

I'm making Jared share this post with me because he didn't send much for lengthy updates on his activities, and he also loves sharing. He did 70 gravel miles in the greatest state of South Dakota around the 26th of June, which should maybe count as a full because it's in South Dakota, but he did it in the eastern half of the state, so there's really question as to whether it counts at all. Jared also did another metric through Stanhope and Story City from Ames around July 3rd.

I did a nice, hot metric to celebrate my birthday on July 29th up to Dakin's Lake Park and back to Ames through Colo. I have to say that the public park in Colo has some nice drinking water.

Keep sending in those updates, and all keep posting them, and will try to do so in a more timely manner!

Craig Irving Metric and Full Updates

Craig Irving had this to report for his June and July activities. If you're reading this in a feed reader, you will see two of these posts because I was too dumb to scroll down to the bottom of my email reader to see Craig's latest update. Sorry 'bout that.

I have a couple more rides to report, one full century (6/19) and one metric (6/26).  I'm doing these singlespeed now since DK ate my second derailleur of the year.  I can tell the blackbirds don't approve though.  I think it's because they were displaced from their native land by early hipster settlers.  I tried pedaling backwards to show them I wasn't riding fixed, but they had already mistaken my bike shorts for skinny jeans so it was too late and I was forced to ride through the relay kamikaze attacks for miles at a time.

So...  Yeah.

 He had this to say about July. I'm curious as to if the goat caught him or not, and what the goat did with him if that happened...

I've got two more rides to report.  On the 4th of July I did a metric hitting many of the B roads in the area.  After 50 miles my knees were bothering me and I skipped some steep rollers, but otherwise it was a good ride.

On July 16th I was down in Lathrop, MO to take part in the Farmhouse Classic.  This was my first race since converting to singlespeed and it went well for the first 70 miles or so.  After that the suffocating heat finally started wearing me down and I struggled to keep moving over the last two hours.  Of the four bottles I had with me, two went over my head in a futile effort to keep cool.  Our group was the last one in on the day at a little over 8 1/2 hours for 99.2 miles.  The course was actually 93 miles, but of course it's not gravel racing unless you get lost.  I figure I did at least point eight worth of warmup so I'm counting this as a full hundy.

One more thing...  I can finally cross "get chased by a goat" off my gravel racing wish list.

Dave Giegerich Metrics 12 and 13

Dave Giegerich had this to say about his metrics 12 and 13. This qualifies him to be the first winner of our Cup O' Dirt for metric centuries! Way to go, Dave!

Metric Gravel #12 6/23/11

Starting out today the air was thick with moisture. That soon turned into a mist, and then light rains, and  then thunderstorms. With the rains came solitude out on the trails. The longer I rode the less everything else became. If was I worried about anything, I had forgotten what it was. I was pulled into my own little world of endorphins as I was viewing the trail in front of me and rotating the pedals. Flying down a dirt trail. I love the simpleness of that. Riding was now lost in my daydreams, no cell phone calls, no time restraints, no reason to care what time it was. Feelings like these, is why a lot of bicyclers bicycle. Health gains are only a side benefit of something done for the sheer joy it.

Metric Gravel #13 6/25/11 Power levels were good today, was able to push the pace most of the Metric. The last 5 miles I ran out of gas, and labored to get home. Beer and food next on the agenda.

Thanks for the Chase
Dave Giegerich

Courtney Hilton - Full Centuries 4, 5, 6

Here's what I got from Courtney Hilton, who jumped ahead in the full century category and has 6 total. This makes him the first person this year (that I'm aware of, anyway) to get what Dave Mable calls the Cup O' Mississippi Mud. Here's what he had to report from his individual centuries:

I got Century 4 on June 4 at DK200.  I failed to complete the race at 158 miles in....
Here is the link to the video from the end the rest of the videos I took from the road are on my blog and Youtube.

Did century #5 on my single speed yesterday (June 29th).  Went north to Boone, Luther, Madrid, Woodward.  Very warm outside.

 

Got number 6 yesterday (July 15th) 130 miles.  Took the Heart Of Iowa nature trail for 70 of it.

Updates from July in August

Holy crap - I didn't post any updates for the Cup O' Dirt in July. Sorry about this, guys. Work and more work and some other crap got in the way. But that doesn't mean people weren't racking up rides to qualify for some cups! Read the next few posts to see what people have been up to.