Blowing & Drifting

The second “30 Days of Biking” event kicks off tomorrow, on September 1. As the website says, The only rule for 30 Days of Biking is that you bike every day for 30 days—around the block, 20 miles to work, whatever suits you—then share your adventures online. We believe biking enriches life, builds community, and [...]

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That’s the famous demand that Jens Voigt, a superlatively tough pro cyclist, makes during especially hard rides. My ride today was hardly a Tour de France stage, but it was both the longest ride and the longest workout I’ve ever done. The ride took me further away from Northfield than any ride I’ve done, into [...]

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Summer is a great season for running, along with the other three. There’s something to be said for running in the heat of a summer afternoon (namely, “Holy shit it’s hot,” and “I wish I didn’t have to run during the girls’ naps/the lunch hour”), and I’ll bet there’s also something to be said for [...]

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Without really realizing it, I’ve created a habit of going for long rides on Friday afternoons. It’s not a bad way to spend a few hours, especially if work has been squared away, and it’s sure a good way to kick off the weekend. This Friday, I ventured south and west of town, toward Shieldsville, [...]

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After a long gravely ride today, I’m even more certain that I must do this race: the Almanzo 100, a hundred-mile event held on gravel roads just about fifty miles south of Northfield. The 2011 edition will be held on Saturday, May 14. From the Ground Up from Chris Skogen on Vimeo.

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Tonight, I ran out west of town, stopping at this road, just west of Grinnell, Iowa. Gorgeous. I wish this photo did justice to the incredible purple-white sky – and that I’d had my bike, because this road was begging to be ridden.

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Rather than heading south and east of town for today’s ride, I rode north and west over some wonderfully muddy gravel roads. As it turned out, my die occupied most of a ninety-minute interlude between downpours. Among other things, I saw scores of “red admiral” butterflies (a half-dozen hit me in the face!); a raccoon, [...]

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Since getting my Surly CrossCheck last fall, I have no need for my older mountain bike, a Kona Lava Dome. The Lava Dome is a great bike that’s held up well since its 1995 purchase. I’ve used it in the last five years mostly for commuting, but it is an excellent bike for off-road trails [...]

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With the weather promising to be decent and my body hankering for a tough workout, I decided to do a long ride today, one based on this route. The weather actually varied from cool overcast to light rain to cloudless sunshine, but the ride would have taken a long time in any conditions, and it [...]

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Thanks to the roofing project on my office building, my bike rack – and my bike – was cordoned off into a “caution” zone today. They can’t stop me: they can only hope to contain me! Tomorrow, though, just to be safe, I’ll use the other bike rack.

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So I’ve watched a bit of the World Cup so far, and more than anything else except the actual fun of watching soccer being played, I’m impressed by the presentation of it. The broadcasts are almost the opposite of American sports broadcasts. First of all, the commentary is relatively subdued. A John Madden is impossible [...]

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I had a sweet gravel ride planned for this afternoon, a 34-mile affair that would’ve probably taken a couple hours in the cool humidity. Alas, eleven minutes into the ride, I suffered a pinch flat, which – since I’m not exactly a wizard with the bike repairs – took a good bit of time to [...]

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My ride to and from Faribault was a lot of fun, though now I have fried legs and a vicious, bizarre sunburn: the tops of the middle third of each arm. The skin is roughly the color of the roof of this lovely little barn along the route. From the spot where I took this [...]

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Just as, at the top level of professional cycling, the fiction of superhuman athletes is being superseded by the reality of decades of doped champions, the fiction and reality of bike riding at my house (toward the bottom of the cycling world) have sharply diverged. In the movies, or at least the TV shows and [...]

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Yesterday evening, the girls and I braved an autumnal rain to go to the traditional “truck and tractor” event here in town. It was a big hit: both girls loved climbing up in the giant trucks, pressing buttons, turning steering wheels, collecting stickers, and having some ice cream. We stayed quite a bit longer than [...]

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