Trans-Iowa V3

This past weekend I went to Iowa with a few members of Team Pegasus to support the racers we had entered in the Trans-Iowa race. Pete, Dan and I were the support crew for Ben, Julie and Cale. This is an incredibly hard race that was about 320 miles on gravel road and 'B' grade roads, which are basically dirt (or mud) roads through fields. Racers start at 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning and race through until they get to the finish, racing eachother as well as the 2:00 p.m. cutoff. There is no sleeping and there are no official breaks planned.
Luckily, I wasn't doing anything so crazy as that. As support crew, it was our job to drop the racers off at the start line and then pick them up wherever they finished. Julie had to drop out of the race because of mechanical issues at about 11:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, Ben had to drop around 5:00 p.m. because of knee problems and Cale actually finished! It was really interesting to see such a race, and it's pretty tempting to register myself for next year. I don't know if I could finish, but it would be great to give it a try.
I will, however, be doing a 300k brevet next weekend, which amounts to about 180 miles. It's on paved roads and gives you a good amount of time to finish, so hopefully I should be able to tackle it. I get excited just thinking about it. More on that next week!

Past Shenanigans

Here are some pictures of the other fun things I've done on bikes...
The first one is a picture of my summer self and my friend Joey. We're at a bar where the monthly Alley Cat races begin. Alley Cats are like a scavenger hunt, but for places. Often times you don't know what stops the race will have: when you get there they give you a list of places you need to go to.
The second photo (which is sideways?) is from a mountain bike race that I did outside of Milwaukee on a mountain bike I borrowed from a friend. Thanks Pete!
Third is a picture that a MIAD photo student took (Thanks Kat!) in Chicago before a race called Race to the Ends of the Earth.
Then we have a picture from a race called the Scaredy Cat, which took place in Madison on Halloween. I was a fire hydrant! I got lots of comments as I rode around.
Last but not least in the least bit is a picture of me on my tricycle. Did I need a tricycle? Mmmmyes. I got it at a swap for $25, and Cale helped me fix it up. Big thanks to Cale, even though you said fixing it was 'like polishing a turd'.

Warming Weather

I finally got that blog I've been promising everyone! It's obnoxiously pink, which matches Team Pegasus' colors. A big thanks to all of my sponsors, family and friends for supporting me. A warning to my rowdy friends: this is for my parents and relatives, so keep the comments clean!

So Team Pegasus is going into full effect with the warming weather. This past weekend we visited the velodrome (big oval track with banked corners for biking real real fast!) in Kenosha for a team meeting. What we met about, I couldn't say, but we did a lot of biking and I got a nice rosy sunburn. Yes, I wore sunscreen, and yes, I should have reapplied, shouldn't I have? Next weekend we're going to be travelling to Iowa for the Trans Iowa race, which is 300+ miles all in one shot. I won't be racing in it, but I'm going along as support.

My next race is going to be on May 5th. It's called a Brevet, and it's less of a race than a test of your gumption and sticktoitiveness. It's going to be a 300k ride that takes place during a specified time frame and your only goal is to make it to the finish line. I missed the 200k, and there are also 400k and 600k rides, but first things first.

The team kit (i.e. little spandex outfits) are expected to arrive this Friday, so look for pictures of one well dressed biker, coming soon.