Cup Delivery to Courtney Hilton

In the spirit of the Cup O' Dirt, I decided that I needed to try and hand-deliver as many of the cups from previous years that Dave has given me. (You East-Iowans will get yours someday, I swears!) So, this past Sunday I rode down to Des Moines and delivered Courtney Hilton's 2010 cup. We met on the Neal Smith trail, and he played tour guide around a lot of the trails in Des Moines. We found some wonderfully muddy ATV trails near the river. We would ride about 100 feet (or less) and then poke all of the sticky mud that accumulated in the chainstays/forks of our Pugsleys.

After that, we ate junk food at a gas station, then checked out the Center Trails (which were also a bit muddy). Courtney had to be home later in the afternoon to watch the kids, and I had to head back to Ames. So we headed out north of town, and parted ways on a gravel road near Granger. Courtney bagged 70 miles for the day, and I ended up with my first full century of the year with 118 miles. It was a great day on the bike. Screwing around in the mud on a fat bike makes one realize that you never really grow up, and the little kid in you that would purposely ride through mud puddles on your BMX bike hasn't completely disappeared.

Courtney proudly holding his Cup O' Victory.

I collected enough mud on my Pugsley to fill all the cups with it for 2012!

The Moon reflecting of an icy creek on my way home.

Rob Schneider and Charles Showalter Join Up

Craig Irving is indeed delivering the New Year Babies. We have another two new cup chasers, both admitting association with Craig. Welcome Rob Schneider and Charles Showalter to the chase. They went with Craig and Courtney on a Jan. 1st metric that I am sad to have missed (family stuff...). More details and pictures are on Craig and Courtney's blogs. Kudos to all of you guys for braving the ridiculous winds and earning a metric on the first day of the year. This should inspire everybody to get out and ride this winter!

New Chaser Andrea Venteicher

Not one full day into 2012 I got the first Cup O' Dirt update! Andrea Venteicher is joining the chase for 2012, and is wasting no time getting out on the gravel. Here's what she had to say about the ride:

Hey--i'm new to this scene, but i'm super excited about trying to complete a Cup in 2012.  So excited, as a matter of fact, that i just completed 103.5 miles (from Manly, IA, to Waukon, IA) today.  I wanted to get out of the starting gate right away and get this party started!  It worked out nicely that i could celebrate a belated Christmas w/ my parents yesterday, then Lee dropped me off partway back home, and I rode the rest of the way to complete my century.  I did find out that sometimes Gmaps is a bit off on which roads go through, but any ride that includes a creaky suspension bridge is automatically legit.  (I hope that i attached the confirmatory pictures correctly).  Thanks for hosting this challenge, and i'll hopefully be emailing again in February to let you know about ride #2. 

Sincerely,

Andrea Venteicher
Waukon, IA

Baby New Year is Delivered

Craig has kept up the fake Richard craziness to the bitter end of the year. I think a new character is in the works for 2012. Maybe it will be the bringer of destruction upon mankind. Or perhaps not. In any case, here's the 2011 final update for Craig. Way to go on all of the rides, man!

Procrastination is awesome at first, but after a while it really starts to suck.  I'd been putting off my updates, but now here I am on the last day of the year scrambling up a Fake Richard pic worthy of topping off 2011.  Anyway, I have three more metrics to report on the year.  It was almost four, but I had a race that fell a few tenths of a mile short of that magic 62.  Since I'd already had that cup locked up, I didn't bother taking the necessary laps around the parking lot to finish it off.  Anyway, let's get down to business...

Nov. 25th:  Headed out with my new riding buddy Charles for a trip to the Amanas and back.  Hit the Hawkeye Wildlife area for five miles of DK rough roads and finished the day with 69 miles *snicker*

Dec. 4th:  Head out with Charles again and hit a long series of B roads north west of West Branch.  They were sloppy and we ended up hiking it though a few miles of mud and sludge.  We could have gone around, but then I would have felt compelled to shave off all my chest hair in shame.  Forgot to start my Garmin until a few miles into the ride, but I figure we did between 63 and 65 miles.

Dec. 17th:  Tuscobia!  First and only snow ride of the season to date (lousy winter).  I came in 6th place in the 75 mile bike event, which was my best result of the year.  My Garmin wouldn't pick up a signal, fought mechanicals and bonkage for half the race, and I dropped my sunglasses in the toilet in Winter because it seemed like the thing to do.  Still, it was good to get out on some snow.  Learned some valuable lessons along the way that I'll be taking in to Arrowhead.

That's it for me this year.  Starting off the new year proper with a gravel metric.  My goal for 2012?  Snag that one cup I'm still missing.  Cheers!

And here I always thought it was the stork...

Nick Wethington's 2011 Cup

Well, I didn't qualify for all three cups this year or anything, but I at least eked out a Cup o' Mississippi Mud. In total I had 10 metrics and 6 full century rides on dirt/snow.

Matt Maxwell and I did a ride down to Chichaqua Valley Bottoms on December 4th on our Pugsleys. We got 72 miles in on gravel/icy B-roads. It was officially the first time I had to ride in the grass on the side of a B-road because it was too slippery instead of too sticky. The day after that, December 5th, I took the Pug over to Jefferson to visit a friend, then rode down to Adel on the Raccoon River Valley Trail. It was icy/snowy enough in the northern part to get me about 85 miles on dirt/snow, and the last 15 or so on relatively dry pavement to get a full century. I also finished the Tuscobia 150 in Wisconsin on the 17th of December. 150 miles of crusty, icy snow with a few miles of rutted, mushy stuff in there. It was a great ride, despite some GI problems about halfway through.

This B-road was pretty sketchy. Image courtesy of Matt Maxwell.

Last Chance for 2011 Rides!

2011 is almost over. Kinda unbelievable. You only have today and tomorrow to get in those last rides for the Cup o' Dirt! Forget those New Year's parties that you've been invited to. Fill your Camelbak with champagne and get out on the dirt.

The list to the left has the current information for all of the cup chasers for 2011. If you notice that I have the wrong numbers, let me know. If you've completed enough rides for a cup, send them to me ASAP at iowacupodirt@gmail.com. I'll start looking into getting more cups made mid-January for the 2011 running.

I hope to get rid of some other responsibilities in 2012 and spend a bit more time with the Cup o' Dirt. Expect some more regular rides and challenges.

Here's to hoping that your resolution for 2012 is to get your very own Cup o' Dirt!

Christine Carragee's 2011 Rides

I got a message from Christine Carraggee about her 2011 rides. She had a question about rides she should do in 2012. I gave a couple of ideas, but I thought I would put it to the illustrious athletes of the Cup o' Dirt to reply as well. What rides are YOU planning for next year? Leave your ideas in the comments!

I ran across your challenge as I was looking for next year's races.  Do you make them yourself?  Ceramic mugs are way better than pint glasses and to earn one doing something you love is great!

This year:
I attempted, but didn't complete the Royal 162 due to getting horribly lost, got a good century out of it though.

completed:
Dirty Kanza
West Side Dirty Benjamin
Heck of the North
Dirt Bag (only 88 miles)

Next year my plan is to do as much of the AGRS as I can, but I already know I can't make Almanzo because its my sister's graduation.  I'm looking for some other ran races -- maybe something in the south east during the spring?  Any suggestions?

Happy Riding, Christine