Aug 13, 2020
Happy birthday the the #wadefranck! Thanks for showing me the love of endurance cycling #RideForWade https://www.instagram.com/p/CD1cSZnBAAZ/?igshid=ax90w0tmsahy
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Happy birthday the the #wadefranck! Thanks for showing me the love of endurance cycling #RideForWade https://www.instagram.com/p/CD1cSZnBAAZ/?igshid=ax90w0tmsahy
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As June comes to a close I am beyond blessed and grateful to have been able to ride 4 centuries in the month. Four 100+ mile rides with 2 minty plus mile rides. When I started my season way back in January I had ONE goal. ENJOY THE MILES. If I was NOT smiling, and was NOT having fun. Why was I riding? I have goals, yes. My goals are THREE week long rides. Key West bike ride with #endscycling, this upstart ride across Iowa in July. @ragbrai I think is the name, and finally Minnesota bike ride with #endscycling. My training this year is a lot of distance miles. Why? You may ask. I’m not 100% sure but I’m enjoying it. Yesterday’s ride was one for the ages. ZERO wind, trails were perfect. I had no choice but to get the century in. So that’s what I did. 103.5 miles for the day with a 16+ average. I was super excited. #endscycling #ridingwithhydrocephalus #hightrestletrail #neilsmithtrail #rideforwade #stophumantrafficking @endscycling https://www.instagram.com/p/BzN6UTsAxM4/?igshid=1asigwfv6t342
Riding to the #RideOfSilence tonight in central Iowa. Riding in memory of my friend who was killed doing what he loved, riding his bike. His second favorite love was history. But I got to know wade at @kylesbikes where he taught me a lot about bikes and history. #RideOfSilence #RideForWade #RidingWithHydrocephalus #PrayPedalRepeat @endscycling https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxf9veKBkQr/?igshid=1erux8jeddm48
2018 review
As I look back on the previous cycling season. I am reminded of all the triumphs that I accomplished. Of course there were also failures and lapses too.
The season started off with the annual BRR ride. BRR is the bike ride to Rippey, a nice and easy twenty-five mile round trip from Perry to Rippey and back. After BRR, it was sights set on the gents race in April. March was for building base miles as I decided to be lazy and not ride at all on the trainer.
As March came upon me I knew I had to get focused on my endurance riding part of the season. Since I had not ridden st all during the winter. First things first was to do a couple week training camp to just focus on the riding. What I did was, I’d ride long distance one day, hills the nrxt, long distance, and hills. I tried to repeat that all the way throughout the month.
I had two major goals for 2018 one the bike. The first was the gents race. The gents race is where you have four other teammates and Giuliani ride at the slowest paced rider all ride long for 100k(63 miles.) it is a fun way to ride central Iowa gravel and also donate need supplies to a local animal shelter. I had high hopes of crushing it this year, but the cold weather had other ideas. I had to back out last minute. I still rode that day. Just not gents race.
After the gents disappointment I figured I need to get serious in my training and I had to focus on my next and final 2018. Conpleting of the BTC200, of which I had attempted 3 previous years and failed each time due to different issues with either myself or my bike.
I had the BTC200 on my calendar since the last years 200 mile day. I adjusted my training a bit this season. Not so many long rides, 100+ mile days. I only had TWO going in to the 200 day. I had a goal, and that was to pull the team in to Arnold’s park. I not only accomplished that goal. I did with a smile on my face!
That Thursday afternoon as I was packing my dad came in to my room and asked me where I was going. I told him I was going to go finish what I started three long years ago. I was going to conquer the ride that had been my nemesis for three long years. His response. So you’re going to fail again at the 200. My response. It. Is. Mine. As I was going to bed that night I was struggling mightily if I could do it. My friend oete looked me right in the eye and said. This. Is. Your. Year. He was right. It. Was. Mine.
As we were rolling north and west I realized I was in the best spot physically and mentally. I knew I had to complete this ride. I did. When we got to Laurens Iowa 150 miles all the guys were serious not joking around anymore. I still had a smile on my face. They all knew. It’s Jay’s year to finish. At mile 185. A few of the guys rode along side me, and said you’re pulling the team in. I’m like OK! I got to finish whst I had started three long seasons ago.
After the 200 there wasn’t much of a break for me as I had to get ready for RAGBRAI. Here’s where one of my setback comes, riding on Fourth of July I ride into a friends rear wheel, I go down hard. Lucky not to have done much damage we continue on and finish. I then come home and realize my derailleur is bent out of shape. My bike is good. I feel sore but I’m good. I go up to my local shop and they fix it.
After the fourth I get back at it. I know I have a century on the horizon. My bday ride, a tradition of mine for the last few Years. This one was different though, as I got to do it with my best friend, riding buddy and my youth pastor, now administration pastor at my church, Abe Miller. We rode 100 miles from ankeny east to Bondurant, then up to the Hufh Trestle trail bridge. We rode it in just over 6 and a half hours of ride time. Then it was the fun season for me. RAGBRAI!!!
After RAGBRAI I decided to back down on the endurance aspect of the cycling and just ride socially. When I ride socially I ride just at a nice and easy 16 mph average pace so I can chat with my friends. I also do a lot of miles by myself riding at an up tempo pace by myself.
This fall I upgraded from my BMC to a specialized diverge. Best decision Bike wise I could make. When I saw the new diverge I knew It was meant for me. I also got a second chainring when I got the new bike, just for gravel. I upgraded to wider tires too. 38mm wise tires. Gravel roads are calling my name! I’m always looking for a challenge, whether it be distance or gravel roads. My favorite aspect of the diverge is the future shock. I was a sceptic when it came out, hints why I got the BMC. I quickly realized it was not a gimmick wjf I knew it was for me.
When I got my new bike I knew I had to adjust my riding style and position a little bit. I adapted quite nicely to the diverge. Granted I’m still figuring the fit and stuff out. Overall I know I’ll be happier and faster. I also knew I wanted to explore gravel roads with the diverge. With gravel on the horizon I knew I needed wider tires. So I got the Specialized Sawtooth 700x38 tires. They are the ideal all around tire in my opinion. I also got a smaller chainring to adapt to the gravel. I got a 40t chainring by wolftooth. I goy the bike in October and my goal was to get a thousand miles in one month. Did not get that however, I did get a century in and a few more long rides in.
2018 was a good year mileage wise.6500 total miles over three bikes with three crashes and some gravel to have been conquered. 2018 was also my first of hopefully many double centuries in my life. 2019 is off to a slow start but we will pick it up when we leave for Florida in March.
Yesterday was to awesome not to pass up on the opportunity to ride a century to cap off the long distance side of my season. It started out at 36 degrees and wind out of the north west all day at 10, which made it a bit chilly as I was pushing north towards Woodward. I started out heading south to Bondurant, then north via chautauqua to the north skunk river and back south. I then stopped at @kylesbikes to fill my bottle with water(which I forgot one bottle) and then headed north to high Trestle trail bridge and Woodward. The water levels were low up at the bridge. I stopped at slater for lunch and headed back home. 100 miles flat! Boo yah! Number seven century of the season. #specializedbikes #divergeandconquer #ridingwithhydrocephalus #rideforwade #hightrestletrail #hightrestlebridge @kylesbikes @iowawalkforha https://www.instagram.com/p/BqnlzPmhqTZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=13x3w3zjm4r1l
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Specialized diverge: first month
When I got my specialized diverge comp carbon I knew I had made the right bike choice for whet I have plsvs for in 2019.
I want to do more gravel roads and mixed surfaces for training to make my legs stronger. I also want the ability to ride endurance rides, 200 kilometers and longer abs not feel beat to death after. I am not the fastest rider or racer out there, but I can ride the longest.
What I have done differently with the diverge over my BMC I had the last two years is I put 38mm wide tires on it. The 38’s help not only with comfort on the pavement. They also help with confidence on the gravel roads that instead of avoiding I now hit them head on and go out of my way to find them. I bought the bike to not only push my limits but to also push my comfort level.
My two favorite things od my diverge are the future shock to absorb potholes and cracks, but to also make the bike more compliant when I’m getting on the pedals. My second favorite part of the bike is the cobble gobbler seatpost. The CG-R seatpost is one of the coolest features on a bike. It moves when you hit a bump so you don’t feel it in your back or neck. The future shock moves up and down to relieve pressure from your hands when riding as well. The whole aspect of the future shock is to make it so almost zero weight Is on your hands.
When I got my diverge I had a few goals: 1.) ride more distance miles. 2.) learn gravel routes around central Iowa. 3.) do more self supported rides. If any of you that follow me have noticed I hsve struggled with confidence when riding gravel. Not anymore. I’m riding all sorts of gravel roads in all sorts of conditions.
One thing I transferred from my BMC to the diverge was my the wolftooth chainring ring. I kept the 46 tooth chainring, but I also got a 40 tooth chainring for the bike for gravel riding. It also helped with my hill climbing ability. A drawback was I lost a bit of top end speed. That’s alright though, when I’m riding gravel I don’t care for top speed then. I also have a 46t chainring for the summer. Gravel is only fall and winter riding.
In the first month I put just over 400 miles on it with about 70 of those miles being a long ride with friends. No centuries as of yet since I haven’t gotten the bike dialed in quite how I want it. My goal is a century next Saturday with the weather looking good.
Today was an awesome day in more ways than one. When the diverge came out with the future shock I was a skeptic. I wanted to wait a model year to see how it would do as far as development goes and let it sort itself out. When I had my first diverge I loved it and couldn’t quit raving about it. Not don’t get me wrong there were some things I was not a fan of, but that out weighed the cons. When I had my bmc last year and most of this year I could do just about everything, minus gravel. I love gravel. So naturally I wanted a Bike that aloud me to ride gravel with wider tire clearance. I also wanted the future shock and a couple other small things. I wanted to go back to carbon fiber. I had been talking about it and had done my research and was set on it. So that’s what I and my local bike shop owner decided on doing. When I woke up today I didn’t really have a mileage goal, I just wanted to shake the bike down and get comfortable. Mission accomplished. I also wanted to see if I could find some gravel to test my skills and confidence. I was hooked and I had confidence like none other. I also had the biggest grin on my face! Job well done Kyle Robinson and the crew at Kyle’s Bikes.
RAGBRAI day seven with highlights from the week
On The last day of RAGBRAI this past summer I for some odd reason thought had to push to the finish line in Davenport.
I left Iowa city and I got on a pace line for awhile. And got to West Liberty in just over an hour. I knew that stretch of road because RAGBRAI uses it when they depart Coralville almost every year that they use Coralville. This time it went to West Liberty. From West Liberty the towns were right after each other.
When in West Liberty my friend Justin came up to me. Huge grin on his face. I knew he had something for me, but I wasn’t sure what. He had an Ends of the Earth century cycling patch for me. Not only that, justin found the Air Force Cycling Team member with the Adaptive Sports Iowa cycling cap on. So I was speechless. Which if any of my friends know is hard for me to be at a loss for words.
I only stopped a couple of times because I got some reason wanted to race the last day because I was feeling marvelous. I stopped in the meeting town and checked in with the team and then I rode on. Once again at a descent clip. By the time I got to Davenport I had a 17mph average for the day.
I had intentions on stopping for ice cream but that did not happen as the line was long and it was too far out of town to capitalize on the ice cream helping me with energy. So I just pushed on.
When I got to Davenport I had to look for the team meeting location so we can ride in to the finish town together of which is a RAGBRAI tradition for all teams. You roll out from the first town on Sunday together and you finish together. Am I fan? To a certain extent, but on the flip side I don’t care to sit around for hours to wait for the others, because my muscle lock up on me. When we rolled in to Davenport it is a tradition to dip your front tire in the Mississippi, which I decided not to do since I had not dipped my rear tire in the Missouri River, another RAGBRAI tradition. The traditional tire dip was started by RAGBRAI co-founder John karros stated in the Des Moines Register one year. “The ride will start by dipping the back tire in the Missouri and it will finish by dipping the front tire in the Mississippi River,” I have done the tire dip on multiple occasions but my philosophy is if I don’t dip my rear tire, then what’s point of dipping my front tire. I had quite a few highlights from this RAGBRAI. Some of them big milestones, others not so much. I rode my third 500+ mile week, 510 to be exact. I also got to meet new friends and reconnect with others. One in particular, Justin Hanneken. Justin and I met on the break the cycle 200 in June and roomed together in okoboji. I completely forgot he was on RAGBRAI, so when I heard his voice and saw him next to me, I knew it was going to be a good day. Justin and I rode that Tuesday for an hour or so just talking and encouraging each other. The next highlight was doing the century day with Justin, his Ends of the Earth cycling crew, project XII Lutheran me, and the break the cycle group. As much as I don’t want to take credit for organizing that day, it was flawless. Probably my third favorite highlight was riding in to Davenport with my mom by my side. When I asked mom to do RAGBRAI back in 2017 she told me she was 75% committed to riding with me. That was her mistake, I thought I heard 100%. So naturally I told people she was committed. It worked. No this year it wasn’t as hard. So when we assembled as a team in Davenport I didn’t even notice until we were rolling but she was caddy corner in formation, I had to change that, couple people moved without saying anything. So we got to roll in side by side. Gave me the chills. By far my number one highlight was hunting down an Air Force cycling team member to give an adaptive sports Iowa hat to their youngest team member. When I heard that the usaf had a fourteen year old on their team. My first response. “Okay, that’s cool, I kinda want to meet him.” When I heard his response to someone asking if he was doing the century option. Which was. “I signed the contract, I’m doing ALL miles.” I knew I had to find him. Now RAGBRAI has 20000 cyclists so it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. I told Justin on the century day that I had to the young man. His response was. “There’s 20000 people out here.” My response. “Okay. We gotta try.” We didn’t find him, but we found his teammates to give it to him. Fast forward to Saturday, Justin saw the hat, he saw me. He got us connected. God is good. Stats for the week. 510 miles. 20000 feet of climb. Longest day was just over 106 miles with 5000 feet of climb. My shortest day was just under sixty miles. My hardest day was Sunday with the option of gravel. Sixty-seven miles with 3500 feet of climb. Wind wasn’t a challenge but for Wednesday when it was a south wind in to Newton. We had a prevailing wind everyday out of the northwest except Wednesday. All in all, an awesome week with 20000 of my closest friends. No major incidents for me, a minor tip over on gravel, but other than that it was about as perfect as it gets. I’m super excited for next year to get here.