Nick Wethington's Ride Reports

I have a couple of metrics of my own to report. The first is from my delivery of cups to Dave Giegerich. He is just as funny, quirky and fast as you can imagine from reading his blog and reports for the cup. Also, Creepy Baby is just as creepy in real life. As it turns out, she has a full wardrobe of hand-knit sweaters made by Dave's fiancée. At least she's well-dressed.

We had a great time burning up the Heritage Trail. We were looking for Lance Andre all day long, but word on the street was that he was passed out drunk in Dyersville. This was shortly after he was seen leaning over his aero bars and puking on the trail. Hey, we all gotta fill our Camelbaks with what works. Caitlin and I decided to make a weekend of it, so we camped at Swiss Valley Campgrounds after my ride with Dave on Sunday, then spent Monday at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. It was an awesome weekend.

My second dirty metric was one of my favorite rides. After a long weekend down in Arizona seeing some family and friends, but being off the bike, I needed to get a good ride in. The weather was gorgeous on Memorial Day, so I headed to the Seven Oaks mountain bike trail near Boone on my single-speed. I rode through Ledges State Park, then did a quick, dusty lap on the trail. The fee used to be only 3 bucks, so that's all I brought with me. Turns out, they've raised it to the outrageous price of $4. Can you believe it? $4 to ride on a tough, well-maintained trail that has no equal within at least 100 miles? The lady at the desk said it would be fine to pay the 3 bucks that I had in cash, but I insisted on buying the $40 season pass with plastic instead. It will at least get me out to the trail 9 more times to make it worth it. After my lap on the trail, I decided I didn't want to put too much hurt on myself because I had to ride back to Ames, so headed north through Boone. The wind was a stiff one out of the west, and was nice to have at my back on the way home.