Venteicher Updates

Here's a few updates from Lee and Andrea Venteicher. I think they are the first couple to enter the Cup O' Dirt chase together. It sounds like they are having fun chasing each other!

Hey Nick,

Since Andrea joined the chase I figured I should at least try to tag along.  So I headed out for my first gravel century of the year (and my first one for several years) on the 10th.  I thought the record highs would make it "easy" but between lots of sloppiness and a general lack of fitness I managed to finish after dark with a couple blinky lights (it really is amazing how much ambient light there is is the middle of nowhere).  I did get in some nice hills, a level B, and a road that appeared to be paved with wood before dark (the "wood" road was due to county workers clearing brush around the corner).  All in all, it was a good ride and will hopefully make the next one a bit easier.

-Lee Venteicher

And another one.

Hey!  You guys have gotten Lee and me so excited about the Cup that we've decided to try for both a full and a metric each month of 2012.  We completed a metric on Jan 15th, and finally found the mythic road in Allamakee county that has eluded us for 5 years:  Itchy Koo road!  (Formerly the site of the Itchy Koo school).  Tragically, the signs that used to mark this one-lane rocky descent into a wooded ravine near the Minnesota border have been repeatedly stolen (i can't figure out why?!), so we had no way to photo document our accomplishment.  A reliable source at the county tells me that they stopped bothering to replace the Itchy Koo signs at about the same time that they stopped replacing the Rubber Road signs.  We also got to ride on Hartley Dr, which is now largely abandoned and turned into a cornfield, but has a cool old steel bridge over the Upper IA river that we used "illegally," as it's posted as "SNOWMOBILES ONLY".  Super fun, super hilly, but i'm glad that my next long ride can wait until next month cuz i am sore from climbing, and crashing like 4 times on the ice rink named Itchy Koo. 
Thanks again for letting us play!

Lee & Andrea Venteicher
Waukon, IA

And yet another one.

Howdy,

Looks like Arrowhead went well - nice work.

Got another gravel century in yesterday, Thursday, February 2nd.  Started off with freezing fog and then the road got nice and squishy - ouch.  Had a few cramps by the end but I got to see a few nice vistas, ride a road named crazy corners, get over 10,000 feet of climbing in, and generally exhaust myself.  Hoping to get a metric in this weekend and maybe have time to look for some Mississippi Mud this month as well.  Thanks for putting this quest out there...it's a great way to get me motivated to get some miles in.

-Lee Venteicher
Waukon, IA

P.S.  Oh, and I learned how to geotag photos from my old camera:

And one last one.

I got in another metric today.  Started out with 4 friends, but they all turned off before the end...and before the creek crossing (pictured).  Ended up with 64.74miles...a good followup to Thursday's ride.  I'm a tired boy but still in the hunt for the Dirt and the Liter...hoping to get after the Mud soon.

-Lee Venteicher