The Jacarandas are in full bloom.  We were riding through Castle Point, Pitwater is on the left. 

This morning Brent took me out through Pitwater again and we went into the bush.  

The bush is not what I thought - nature-y is "the bush".  Like the trees and empty lot behind Brent's house... that is "bush".  Maybe it is bush and outback, I don't know.  

This shot  happened to be in a national park, very scenic. 

off to Oz

I am off to Australia tomorrow, and I signed up for Trans Iowa yesterday.
Both will  be an adventure.  More when I have something to tell.  

The Royale

Made it through the royal(e) and ended up in 10th spot. 12 1/2 hours elapsed, 11:40 on the bike.
Rain, cold, mud. And wind.
Soft roads just suck away all your speed - imagine riding on a cheese, soft and slow.

Almanzo is Saturday

Riding the Royal(e). 162 miles o'gravel.
Leaving at 4:30 in the morning to get to the race for a 7am start.

Those wacky Euros

Just a few fun photos:

the "American Soft-Car Wash" in Deinze, Belgium. You should have seen the cars lined up to get in.


France's version of the family Truckster. Talk about getting the groceries in STYLE! If your kids are anything like mine, they might never ask you to take them anywhere if this was the only set of wheels. I don't think the photo can convey the true awesomeness that is the Citroen DS. From the front it looks about 25 feet long. This is the car that defines "land yacht".


Check the fins and tail-lights, not to mention the big white wheels with chrome hub caps.
Au Revoir!

From one big ride to the other

Did you ever see "Breaking Away"?

That's me in the Cinzano hat, with a smiling Cutter on either side. Ragbrai is strange like that.

Rotterdam to Paris.

Sioux City to Dubuque.

Arguably two of the largest and best known rides in the world.

Both draw an international field of riders.

Both feature multiple stages, and a different course every year.

Both have organized teams, and posh team busses.

One has a spotty jersey, one has somewhat spotty jersey wearing (and kilts, and banana suits, wigs, tattoos, leisure suits, Elvis suits...and Team Muh-ven)

Muh-ven rode Ragbrai from Wednesday through Saturday, gaining both speed and riders as we progressed.

We camped here on Wednesday night, if you look very closely you can see my tent in the background - beside the pickup. Posh digs. At least we were able to mooch a shower.

We rolled in about the same time that every day's tour stage gets done, roughly 5:30. Our soigneur had camp all set up, and the beer on ice. We had a bevvie and

some crackers, then went out to look for supper. The church we picked was running out of food, and we were the

last diners through the door. Since supplies were running low, the kindly pastor gave us the bargain basement price of $3 for big slices of ham, buns, a heap of green beans with bacon, and all the brownies and ice cream we wanted. pretty good for the price.

At RAGBRAI, most teams don't have domestiques to carry water to the leaders. In fact, the leaders may not even want water because they're leading. That means they have already made it to the first bar on the right, unless it is on the left. (an old ragbrai joke)
Eating is a little different.
Here's Bordeaux:
And here's Rockville:
I liked them both, but it was nice to eat at a table where your neighbors were speaking the same language.

more later, there is plenty

Au Bientot!

Hautes Pyrenees

Le Tour is back in the high mountains, now we have moved from the Alps to the Pyrenees. John and I had a chance to squeeze in a ride, and what better ride to do than a climb to the top of the Col du Tourmalet? Though you can just see the top of the Tourmalet from where we are staying, we're still working and need to check in daily with the teams when possible. Hence, we did not have time to ride the 55km from here to the top. We decided to drive partway, then hop out and ride. On the drive, we went past riders who did have the time to ride from further away, and as we went there were more and more of them. By the time we started riding, there was constant bike traffic.

Above is the view from La Mongie, 3km from the top.

about 15km into the ride we were definitely climbing, and the valley opened up enough to see the top of the Tourmalet.

There are little towns along the road at the lower part, where there is still enough surrounding flat land to hold an entire town. I don't know why, but in this town someone was very excited to see me.
Here's the view to the top from very early on in the ride. At this point I just assumed that the one with the towers on top was the right mountain.
Up at La Mongie the scenery was this. There were thousands of people too, but I liked the rocks better.

We got to a spot where there was a little break in the crowd, just enough to stand right on the roadside. Now we just had to wait. The caravan came through, and John and I got some swag - spotty hats, water, and a pack St Michel madeleines"le Madeleine officiel au Le Tour de France" (some sponge cakes). Here is me and my hat:

We waited and waited, and got in a little nap. And then waited. Eventually we saw the helicopters and everyone jumped up and got excited.
It was a tease though, the helicopters were just getting long shots for scenery I guess.
Finally, the real race came through - a small break. Lance was in it! Pretty cool, especially because they had a BIG gap. The break would stay away all day, and the stage would have the fastest time ever for that route through the Pyrenees.
I got a photo of Chris Horner:



Here is what happens when sprinters have to climb. Bernie Eisel towed Mark Cavendish up the Tourmalet. They did manage to catch on on the descent, but they were well back here. Eisel saved his bacon. They were the very last riders to come through.

When the road was clear(er) we climbed the rest of the way to the top.

And posed for the photographers.

they'll be climbing up this side on Thursday. It looks even worse than the side we came up. (as I write this, it is an hour to the start, and still raining)

Good luck lads, you may need it on the descents today.
Bon Courage!