Beyond the Ride

Cliff Notes: - June 19th:  - River Side Park, Vinton, Iowa  - Time 9am start  - Mile 24 C-Stop Center Point - Expect a group ride time of 6.5hrs total. - Post Ride Social: Tootsie Ice cream/Hamburger stand on the NW side of Vinton. - Group Size Unknown: At Least 3 of us.  But I have heard rumblings, so car pool if possible.  I am speculating about 30 -50 people. - No facebook post or event to follow about this.  If there is, it is someone else celebrating Mark and that is cool too and I recommend doing both rides. Today's Post: After talking with Mark (Guitar Ted) it is apparent to me I am re-configuring the route to be more like the original route.  With that said I took some liberties to keep it a large group capable route.  Two areas of awareness is the roll out out of Vinton north, and the roll into Center Point to a Caseys at Mile 24.  Mile 24 will be the last C-stop on the route, so top off.  Plan on a 45 minute pause for people to...

  Cliff Notes: - June 19th:  - River Side Park, Vinton, Iowa  - Time 9am start  - Mile 42 C-Stop Center Point - Expect a group ride time of 6.5hrs total. - Route to be publish via Strava in June. - Post Ride Social: Tootsie Ice cream/Hamburger stand on the NW side of Vinton.     I keep re-positing the same information because someone will ask for it, it also keeps it simple and reinforces the major points.  As I previously said in the first post, this day was picked based upon Mark's availability.  Yes it is on a Sunday and Yes it is fathers day.         A bit more about the ride, it is a social ride with a spirited pace.  In short it will not be a race of any sort.  If you are into that, then this ride is not for you.  This ride is also not a party pace ride, nor is it a drop rode. If you had to ask me for a pace for this ride to target for I would say 12.3456789MPH.  I have a few stops planned a long ...

Guitar Ted, I think 2021 July Saturday ride.         So if you are reading from outside of the glorious Cedar Valley you may not understand how close I live to Guitar Ted.  I am less than a 5 minute bike ride away from his front porch.  So it is fairly easy for me to coordinate a ride from time to time with him.  Oddly enough I think I am the only person outside of Tony in the area that askes Mark to ride.  I think a lot of people have a built up image of the "Gravel God" and his opinions on their rides.  In reality, I think he is just happy to share some gravel ribbon with others.  Often I have found he is more interested in the same things I am.  I think we both enjoy, bridges, old churches, and cemeteries.  And yes, we both have a thing for barns.  I wont dive in to barns, but occasionally you see some Iowa State developed round barns that are gorgeous, and occasionally I see a Western New York style barn that gets...

       So here are the routes.  I did move the routes around the B-roads to avoid them and even trimmed off a few miles to make the 63 mile route less gnarly.     For those of you who have reached out to confirm you are coming, thank you.  I hope you characters have Strava, because here is the 63 mile route , and here is the 31 mile route . Please note there is no town stop on the 31 mile route.  If you need a C-Store it is is Traer off route on HWY 63.  You have two choices, but I would suggest the BP Gas Station near Down town intersection.       Today's Post was about the routes, nothing more.  If you are following along, you know the time an start location.  I may even ride the 31 mile route as things are shaping up. Cheers & Godspeed Dave

W  hat a weekend of wind.  Tammy and I went an attempted the 66.6 mile route.  The roads were angry my friend as George Costanzia would say.  The 20-30 MPH head winds for 20 miles was not welcomed.  Tammy and I got north of Garwin and took the tail wind home.  The important part is that what we rode was all new to me and was a nice route.     The route allows for bail out options if you are paying attention to water towers.  Also, the bridge that is closed near Gladbrook is a dismount crossing.  You will need to lift your bike up and over the barricades.  Prior to getting into Garwin there is a steep climb with a wicked fast descent.  I think my Wahoo said 40mph at one point, so she is steep and fast.  The roads were hard and fast with no large chunk gravel.  All of that can change if we get an early spring.          The B-Road we took south near Union Grove was firm and also had a 100 ya...

G  ood Day All,     I have created the routes.  I want to ride them first prior to posting them.  I need to clarify this is not a race, it is in no way a race, it is a guy who is providing a time window and two course suggestions.  This 100% uninsured as I am not even gonna ride this thing the day of but be checking in on people to SAG them if needed.  If you want to ride with others on a single speed gravel machine then here is a viable option.  You are Responsible for you.  You could show up and unload your bike, decide not too ride and go home.  That is still a win in my book.  You at least got out of the house.   Post #1 as follows.    As  of now plan on a March 26th, 9am start time in Reinbeck, Iowa.  I will have to come up with a new route and will post it to the blog in a separate post.  I am going to remove a lot of B-roads, so this route will be more bland than tubular.   Expecta...

          As  of now plan on a March 26th, 9am start time in Reinbeck, Iowa.  I will have to come up with a new route and will post it to the blog in a separate post.  I am going to remove a lot of B-roads, so this route will be more bland than tubular.   Expectations: Single Speed Only bikes Do not care how you do it since it is a ride, but if you want to show up with gears, go for it. Bring a beer for yourself and one to share If you rode gears, you bring a 6er of the good stuff. Find some random person you do not know and share a beer The ride is on your own and is not a race I will post a 30ish and 65ish mile routes. You are responsible for you since this is a group ride atmosphere. Be prepared for inclement weather. Mud Rain Wind Ice is possible Large Ag equipment Naughty Dogs Rad Cats And possible cow sightings No Tigers No bears unless TJ Fort shows up and goes shirtless No groomed gravel (aka it may be big chunk)   ...

Post 29: I sit on the local bike collective board. And last week I took on the chair position for the board of "The Bridges Ride". It will be a family focus bike path ride that has a 60ish, 40ish and 30ish mile options. Being on the re-birth of the ride post CoVid social distancing is interesting. Some people still have reservations about meeting in person. And that is okay. I know where my level of risk is and I am able to respect those peoples wishes and meet virtually to accomindate their concerns and still have them particpate in a meaningful matter. Back to the ride, right now the plan is the Bike Collective leads the ride and we will take on other board memebers for the ride as it gains momentum and speed. I know we picked up two more board memebers this week from Cedar Valley Trail Partnership. They will provide the insurance and other things for a sucessful ride. There is talk of an actual band playing at the final formal stop (Not the finish) of the r...