End of the Season Party

EOSParty09

As usual the End of the Season Party started with a ride. With the sun shining on the snow left from the Friday night, Jim Peterson rode over from Menomonie to meet Tom, Linda, Scott, Joel, Wally, Dave, Paul, Scott K, Bruce, Bob and me for a nice October ride. We took Lowes Creek down to HH and then turned into the light south-west breeze. The plan was to work our way west and shorten Jim's ride home. At B, Bruce and I headed back to Eau Claire, while the rest of the group continued on to Rock Falls and then through Caryville, taking H up to C. Jim headed west and the rest of the group enjoyed a nice tail wind back.

At 6pm everyone and then some regrouped at Northwoods Brew Pub for some quesadillas, pizza and refreshments. We rarely get together without our bikes, so it was a nice chance to talk and catch up on non-biking related topics. After everyone had their fill, it was time to give away the door prizes and award the bike. A big thanks to Bike and Sport, FitELITE, Ironman Wisconsin (Mark Mastalir) and Bircher Chiropractic for donating great prizes. 22 members were qualified for the grand prize, a Giant Trance X2 Mountain donated by West Wisconsin Land Trust and Bike and Sport, but Linda Slowiak defied the odds once again to win for the second time in 3 years. Some would say if you are lucky enough to win a bike, you are lucky enough. Congratulations, Linda!

As the pizza was getting cold Matt and I shared some physics humor with those who had stuck around, bringing an end to the evening and the season. Though, from the looks of forecast there is still plenty of biking to be had before the snow gets too deep.

Eleva Wander

Eleva Wander

With summer winding down and the number of good riding days dwindling, a large group of Overdrivers met in Eleva for a wander through Trempealeau and Buffalo counties. The morning was cool but it didn't take long for the sun and the rollers to warm everyone up. There are two nice ridges between Eleva and Independence that add nice views and fun descents, especially Witt Hill Road. At Independence, we stopped at a gas station to refuel. Everyone was looking forward to having the freshening south east breeze at our backs. We took County Q west out of Independence and climbed mid-way up the Montana ridge stopping for pictures at the world famous Welek Knob overlook. From there Q follows the contours of the ridge wall, creating spectacular views, before crossing into Wulff Valley at the Quarry. The descent in Wulff Valley is truly exhilarating. At Lookout, the Adams sprinted for the sign, while the rest of us saved our energy for the two ridges between us and Cheryl’s hot beefs. On the way to the next climb, Adam and Adam spotted the gravel on Julson Ridge Road and had try it. After getting directions on how to meet up with us on the other side, they took off on their own. The rest of stayed on the pavement, heading for the Bennett Valley. Rick was the next one to leave the pavement. Unfortunately, it was an unplanned detour at the bottom of the ridge. Luckily, a cracked helmet, a beat up bike, and a stiff neck and shoulder was the extent of the damage. The Weirliens, who live in the valley, gave Cheryl a ride home, where she grabbed her bike-enabled bug and came back for Rick. The rest of us, with a new sense of caution took a shorter way back than originally planned and picked up the cars at Eleva. Bob took Rick to urgent care and the rest of us headed backed to Cheryl’s, because we had promised to eat her leftover barbeque. The hot meal and the excellent meal hit the spot. Of course, Jerry and Dave still had to ride home.

Cleghorn Harvest Fest Bike Race

HarvestFest09Race

The Cleghorn Harvest Fest Race takes place on the Sunday after Labor Day, with its proceeds going to benefit the Cleghorn School Park. It is held on a 21 mile loop over the challenging terrain south of Cleghorn. This was the 4th year for the race and the largest one yet, with 123 racers, a 20% increase over 2008. The race is the last stop for the WiSport Series. Most of the age groups and the other season long competitions were still up for grabs, so the pace was high in both races.

Overdrive Cycling was well represented. In the 21 mile race, Ricky Wells took 1st overall on his single speeder. Amy Young, Cheryl Olson and Sandy Blanchard, Terry Hintz and Taylor Blodgett each won their age groups. Sandy LaValley took second in her age group and Todd LaValley and Ann Franke each took 3rd in their age groups. This was the first race for Amy, Cheryl, Sandy B., Sandy L. and Todd. They insist they had a great time and can't wait to do it again. Paul Reid and I also had good races and a good time, placing 6th and 7th in our age group.

In the 42 Mile version, Joan Carlson won the women's race in a close sprint over Deb Landon. This was Joan's first road race after breaking her collar bone 2 years ago at Grand View's Firehouse 50. Jeff Sorenson was 11th and Wally LaFrancis took 13th in their very competitive age group.

In addition to the overall and age group awards, our sponsor, Terry from Bike and Sport, donated great door prizes, including A Campy Corkscrew, 2 pairs of racing tires and a Kurt Kinetic trainer.

HarvestFest09Sweeping

This race would not be possible without the volunteers. Saturday evening, Ricky, Ann, Steve, Bruce, Bill, Cheryl, Sandy, Todd, Dave, Jerry, Amy, Joel brought brooms and Troy brought a blower, to help me and Taylor clear the gravel and sand from the intersections and corners on the course. We broke up into teams and leap-frogged our way around, clearing it in under an hour. Many hands make light work.

Sunday morning Doug and Sharon came early to register the racers. Jim P., Craig, Dave, Jerry, Bill and Tracy joined the volunteers from the Lions Club to marshall the corners of the course and help keep the racers safe. Bruce and Linda drove the SAG vehicles for the 2 races.

In all we had a very successful and fun race.

Hudson Time Trial

Hudson Time Trial

It was a cold and windy day for the Hudson Time Trial on Saturday, August 26! With 19.3 miles to ride, it was not a long time trial, but the wind and hills made it a challenge. Luckily, the sun came out just as we were about to begin. Jim B., Dave, Ricky, Joan, and I made the trek over to compete in a field of around 60 riders. Joan had a great day and took first in her age group, as well as collecting a $50 check for first female finisher overall. Dave took second in his age group, and I collected a bronze medal for third in mine. Ricky and Jim both rode extremely well, but ended up taking a bit of a detour due to a poorly marked corner. We were all in awe of the overall winning time of just over 40 minutes--yes, 40 minutes! There were plenty of door prizes, and everyone had a good time, despite the cooler temperatures!

Overdrive Rides to Nelson

Nicer and Nicest Nelson 2009

Nicer Nelson: Provisions, rising sun, and marshmallows.

Scott, Wally, Jerry, Dave, Linda, Katie, Amy, and I roll out of Fairfax Park on time at 8 a.m. Sunday, August 23rd on a perfect looking weather day with the intent of enjoying quiet country rodes, challenging hills, good company and food (ice cream) on our way to and in Nelson WI.
Wives Mary and Linda drove off to their designated locations with enough provisions along to supply us on a ride to Nelson, Missouri.
We must have looked like a second rising sun to oncoming traffic with all that Overdrive yellow cresting the hills at the same time.
About ten miles out, we hear a gun shot and Dave pulls over with a sliced sidewall on his front tire. Dave replaces the tube, boots the slice and Wally airs and then later de-airs the tire a little as the boot is bulging at 100 psi.
Next stop comes a few miles later when I learn something I previously thought not possible. Jerry pulls alongside and says we should stop and put some air in Amy's tires as they "look" low. Understatement. They are as soft as marshmallows. Jerry pumps in about 40 shots to each tire using his hand held pump until we get to Mirror Lake and Linda with the floor pump. The floor pump shows 40 lbs psi which means they probably only had 15-20 in before Jerry's efforts. I did not previously believe you could ride a road bike with 15-20 lbs psi in the tires.
Linda's homemade energy bars, a brief comfort stop, a new front wheel/tire for Dave (part of the provisions from Wally) and we are off to the hills.
Amy is much faster now.
Car traffic is very light, temp is just right, scenery is pastoral, the bike feels good underneath me. All is right with the world.
A few hills and a nice pull a 21+ from Scott leading the train bring us through Urne to the intersection of County D&F where Mary is waiting with more provisions to refuel our engines.
I promise Amy and Katie there are only a couple of rolling hills left to Nelson. When you get older your memory tends to fade and details are fuzzy. After a couple pretty good climbs and great descents I promise that the toughest hills are behind us. I get the look from Katie and decide to keep my distance for a while, you know, a woman's scorn........
We roll into Nelson, meeting up with the Nicest Nelson gang, and commence to talkin', eatin', and card playin'. Cards were doled out along the way for prizes based on the best poker hand. Great prizes Jim!
This write up has gotten almost as long as the ride. Can't help myself, it was such a great day.

Joel

Nicest Nelson: Ruth and Taylor agreed to meet me in Nelson provided they got breakfast at Beth's and ice cream for lunch, so I rode down to Mondovi to meet Ann, Cheryl, Sandy and Bruce. As I headed south on Cty H the fog became increasingly thick until it was soup-like at Mirror Lake. I needed to catch my breath before we headed out, so I astounded the group with my death-defing lion-tamer tricks. As we headed west out of town the fog began to thin, but on every rise Ann's chain misbehaved, until she was forced to turn back. The remaining 4 of us continued on, enjoying the tremendous scenery of Buffulo County. One of the benifits of riding to Nelson is crossing the Eide Ridge, which we did at JJ. The 15% slope gave us a chance to practice our traversing technique. I needed to catch my breath again, so I started the poker game. Everyone seemed very happy with their cards and estactic that it was downhill all the way to Urne. After I explained how Urne got its name, we continued on to the refreshment area, set by Mary Roesch. Fortified, we tackled the next big climb and at the top continued our poker game. Unfortunately, Bruce lost his cards on the +40mph descent. Supposedly he had a flush, but I could only find 3 of his cards; the queen of diamonds was missing. We continued on to Nelson, enjoying the ups and downs of Pepin county until we could see the Mississippi Valley and smell the ice cream. After we got to the Cheese Factory I found Ruth and Taylor and reserved a table for the group. I waited for 10 minutes, but when the Fairfax group didn't show, I headed back up D to find them. I didn't get far though, before they came into sight, riding in a nice group of yellow and orange, clearly enjoying the day. Wally and Dave explained their adventure as we rode into Nelson.

MS150 - Pewaukee to Madison

MS150

Well, the first weekend in August was a great weekend for riding and another MS bike tour is done! Steve and I did the 100 mile "century loop" each day on the tandem--and we have the sore muscles to prove it! Day one was quite cool and a bit rainy in the morning, but we were soon were dried out by the 20+ mph head wind! Even with that, we had a great ride that day, and made it from Pewaukee to UW-Whitewater in about 5 and 1/2 hours (not counting rest stops). We had a good dinner and went to the awards ceremony to catch up with the rest of the team. I made it an early night--I popped some Advil and headed to my dorm room to rest up for day two. Sunday was much sunnier and warmer, but we still had that nasty head wind to contend with. We also found we had a broken spoke that delayed our start a bit--must have been all that hard riding from day one! Day two is the hillier of the two days, and took us from UW-Whitewater to the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. We found we were not quite as ambitious as we were on day one. Our 40+ year old bodies do not repair themselves quite as quickly as when we were in our 20's! Still, we completed the century loop on day two and made our goal of riding 200 miles over the weekend. All in all, our team, the Sonic Streamers, raised over $116,000 for MS research!

Frederic Lions' Classic Bike Race

Frederic Lions' Classic Bike Race

The Frederic Time Trial is one of the oldest continuously held races in the state. The 2009 edition was held on a new course with a significant amount of fresh pavement to go with large hills and a tough headwind on the last section. Kerri had so much fun at Rib Falls that she talked her husband Scott in buying a TT bike so he could do the race also. Jim B, and Ann, Joan and Jim P also made the trip to northwest Wisconsin. Joan continued her streak of wins after a close race with Iron Woman Maggie Fournier. Kerri also picked up a gold in her age group. Ann finished second in her age group and Scott scored a bronze in his. The Jim's made good efforts, but neither could get to the podiums. Regardless, the weather and the course made for a great test of June fitness and everyone had a good time racing with friends.