Alex ...

The final step

2010-05-12T17:19:00.001-07:00

It's been a while, and the project mentioned earlier has been done for a while as well, so here it is! Oh yeah, and there are many projects like this all over the house. Reason enough to not ride the bike...

Before

After

At the right place at the right time

2009-12-14T17:17:00.000-08:00

Can't beat big powder days! Greetings from Deer Valley.

Facts

Proof

Feeling productive

2009-12-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

You might have heard that I suffered a serious lack of bike riding motivation this last year. Too much travel early in the season and then just getting busy with life stuff. Enjoying the house now to the fullest and I can finally put my mad handyman skills to use again (only took a 9 year break from it). And it feels even better to fix your own stuff rather than someone elses!

This room needs a new closet and the existing one is too small

So build a frame

Move some ductwork and electrical

Drywall (first time)

Mud (first time as well)

Add paint and you have a pair of new closets!

All green

2009-12-08T13:30:00.000-08:00

Looks a lot like I'm staying.

Sunset Road

2009-10-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

Bought a house on 9/3. Moved in today.

Public announcement

2009-09-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

I'm older again. Happened 9/13...

Yes

2009-08-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

Today.

More than expected

2009-08-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Headed out at 9 to meet the Dirty 30 Folks. Somehow I must have ignored the email with the ride cancellation info... so after a short moment of confusion and frantic texting to figure out what's going on, I decided to head over to Pontiac Lake for a lap. Since I was out there I might as well try the Frankenstein bike at Highland. And since Milford is then just around the corner I decided to go check out the trail-modifications now that the new paved path crosses through the trail area. Quick tailwind spin home and here you go:

100 miles of Milford, Pontiac and Highland.

21.12

2009-08-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

Dude, a palindrome just for you - you know who you are! It's the weight of the bike that's known in the Dolpp household as Frankenstein. Simply due to the fact that I own 4 mountainbikes but only one is now in ridable condition.

One Frankenstein

Another one...

6000 feet

2009-07-04T10:19:00.000-07:00

Or somewhere in that area... rode the old MTB I borrowed again and got concerned about the downhill on that thing following the long uphills. Cool views from the top! Those are the "Mammoth Mountains" (I think?)

4000 feet

2009-07-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't the overall distance I covered for the year (although it feels like it could be), but rather the elevation gain over 15 miles of today's ride. All on gravel, 1 car, 1 bottle of Gatorade. Love it.

Maybe tomorrow a right turn at around mile 17.5 for this?

A ride worth a blog

2009-06-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

Solo-ed the HIP100 route on Sunday...

Only skipped C/D at Highland, but threw in some miles on the Milford trail instead. Also modified the original Jim Leikert route by taking the new bikepath from Kensington into Milford.

Day was perfect. Trails were perfect. Bike is perfect. Best 6 hours on the bike in a long time.

HIP 100 in the past:
2008
2007

Onroad with an offroader

2009-04-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Warning: this is not a cycling related post... well, maybe it is. After all it kinda explains why there was just not been enough time lately to ride the bike a lot.

You'll find the full story here!

If he actually knew...

2009-02-15T19:45:00.001-08:00

... that I rode my bike for only 18 miles in the last 7 days he probably wouldn't want to be my friend! Turned in my bike for ice-cream...

Speaking German?

2009-01-13T19:34:00.000-08:00

Then you'll understand this. Otherwise check out the picture and guess who's driving???

Man in the Wild

2009-01-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

What's older, the Saloon or the helmet?

Man vs. Wild

2008-12-30T16:15:00.000-08:00

When was the last time you had to take off your socks and shoes on a ride in order to cross a little river? Well, mine was today - and even though the river was more like a creek, the cristal clear water coming out of Yosemite Natl Park was pretty cold...

Great view

Slippery roads

Tricky trails

December review

2008-12-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

Riding a "classic"

LA's beaches without smog

The original home of the Dolppinator

Night skiing in the local hills around the "The original home of the Dolppinator"

Unusual but great apres ski location

Sunny Abaco Island

Cloudy Bahamas

Finally

2008-12-19T04:08:00.000-08:00

Looking back at the last couple of years I lived here I feel like I missed all the good snowstorms. No complaints today...

Fun

2008-11-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

and yes, I'm not racing the Iceman.

Tripple D

2008-09-21T07:56:00.001-07:00

2008 was another year when all the stars aligned, so the
- U of D night ride
- Beat the train and
- Tour de Troit
all fell on the same weekend.

So why not head out at 7 PM Friday night and start an epic day in Detroit. Throw in a couple of beers at the beginning of the ride, pedal till you're sober again at 5 in the morning and back on the bike at 6:30 guarantees you an interesting state of delirium by the time you get back home after 147 miles and just over 12 hours on the bike (yes, this clearly wasn't a race).

Typical Friday evening 7:30 PM at 8 Mile

Meeting up with the U of D crowd at 10 PM

Canada at night

Things you do at 3 in the morning

This picture was actually taken inside my brain

Mattmtb's fine work

Out at 6:30 to find the Beat the trainers

Found

Riding around Detroit's landmarks

New day has almost arrived

Perfect day for the Tour de Troit

Looks to me like more riders than ever, how many???

Well, count for yourself

Good friends

Just can't get enough of the D today

The end

Last remark - I wasn't by myself, always good to know people that got nothing else to do on a nice late summer night

Tuesday

2008-08-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

The Tuesdays all kinda look alike...

Roadies everywhere

More of them

Even behind me

And this guy in between...speed of a roadie

Ray setting the pace

Thanks!

Drunk happy family

...

No worries, I'm still alive

2008-08-01T13:09:00.001-07:00

100 years ago

2008-07-09T08:25:00.000-07:00

I wasn't born yet, but Ford built the first Model T. So Todd took Dale (Kona Rep), Adam and myself out for a 100 year anniversary ride.

We ended up riding illegally (none of us had the much anticipated bike licence) through Palmer Park, Dearborn, the Rouge River area and downtown on a perfect sunny 4th of July.

Stop by the Dodge brothers during the Ford ride

Woodward...

Heaven found in Dearborn

Brought to you by Kona - thanks again!

Adam and Dale

The T on the Turntable

Giving us a reason to ride today

Slippery when wet

Now entering the D

Meeting up with Matt and Amanda

Goodbye

The goats of Detroit

Fire

2008-06-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

They sure love to blow things up in Detroit... the town was packed with people, cars and busses, and weaving through them certainly was fun.

Didn't expect that we'd end up drinking too much beer on the way home and then stumble over a Donut shop at 1 AM that was still open.

Gone babe gone

2008-06-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

What is happening here? Since the last post I spent more time on planes than on the bike. 2 trips to Germany, and Spain in between. And no bike on these trips...

So of course you always think about how much fitness and speed you lose and everything, but honestly I was glad to have time off the bike. In years past I was a lot more ambitious on work trips to try to find a gym and get a workout in, but just chillin' in the hotel room was the way to go lately.

On the other hand it feels good now to be back on the bike. Don't know if it is a good idea to ride almost 100 miles with the Hermitman after 2 weeks off the bike, but it was fun, that's what counts.

On a side note - know how bikers always talk about almost crashes? The same happened here, besides it wasn't on a bike, but on the plane. Last time out of Atlanta we had to turn around 30 min into the flight after a loud bang... they told us we lost an emergency slide in mid-air, but I think that only was an excuse. Probably better to not know what really happened...

Who cares about Obama or Clinton?

2008-05-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Vote for the important stuff! Finalist #3 here. Friends helping friends.

Thanks.

I raced...

2008-05-18T20:45:00.000-07:00

... and almost won the 6 hours of Addison Oaks. Glad the big win went to teammate Christian, who is simply fast.

So I ended up 2nd (out of 17) in the 30-39 group, but also out of all Solo 6 hour riders. Did not expect that at all, which makes the result even more enjoyable.

Props goes to the other 2 WOLVERINE/AMERICAN C& F teammates Bill, who won the 40 and up category - and Robert, still placing high despite lower back pain lately.

Pretty nice video from "mattmtb"

Anybody took pictures at the race?

The big BLIP

2008-05-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

The big rides just keep on coming... Brent invited for the PILB 100, but due to the Hermitman creativity the ride turned into the BLIP 100.

That sounds good, so good that I think it could be right up there with the latest BOOBS 100, Jim's clsssic HIP 100, the infamous PIMP 150 and the untitled 162 mile day.

Perfect day yesterday for a long ride, thanks to
- Brent for setting it up and showing us new routes
- Bill for riding faster than the speed of sound at the Poto
- Cruise for being honest about the trails he liked and disliked
- Robert for the name and the artwork
- Jim, always good having you around

Even though I had to cut the ride short and skipped Brighton I was still able to witness the highlight of the day. Don't know if the squirrel was on a suicide mission when it ran into our group on the dirtroad, or just out mixing up it's daily routine. Maybe it just wanted to step it up a notch... Hope that was the case, since we could totally deliver it for the little guy. It ran into Brent's rear wheel, was catapulted up 4 feet in the air, where it flew by Bill's Camelbak, just to land in another set of spokes and catch some serious air again. Good thing is he ran away afterwards - not in straight line though...

Woah - Check out Chile

2008-05-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

Remember my bike trip to Chile in January 08? On day 6 of that trip I arrived in Chaiten from where I started one of my most epic bike days I ever had.

Now I read in the news that the "Chaiten" (the vulcano 6 miles away from town) erupted last week. They had to evacuate the town itself and an area of 30 miles around the mountain.

Nobody expected this vulcano to be still active, based on some crazy geology math they calculated the last time it erupted was 9430 years ago. That's a long time.

Do some math, and you'll realize that the duration of 1 sec in relation to one day is pretty much as long as 5 months are in relation to 9430 years... man, that was close.

The pictures I could have been taken if I had been there...

How did this just happen?

2008-05-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

Big sorry to all the members of the SLR (Stupid Long Riding) Series... we did the HIP 100, the PIMP 150, and kept talking about the one special ride, and it all came together today out of nowhere.

Met up with the Hermitman for some leisurly miles, and when we rolled out we decided to ride Bloomer, Bald Mtn and Stony - maybe even Addison Oaks. All of a sudden it dawned on us that we should replace Addison by Orion and bum - there we have it.

Bloomer, Orion Oaks, Bald Mtn, Stony - all connected with a start out of Royal Oak will give you 100 miles (and an empty stomach).

HIP 100

2008-04-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

Great epic day, too many stories that even those pictures (and the video) can't tell...

NOT SAFE FOR WORK!

Ride the D. Ride the D again.

2008-04-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

5:20 AM departure for a long day on the bike - pretty much started rolling straight out of bed.

Arrived at the old historic Fort Wayne just in time for the BeatTheTrain ride. Hijacked downtown with about 15 riders, and put knobby tires in Germantown, on Belle Isle, between burried bodies and through the Heidelberg Project.

Bring on the sun

The German and his town

BTT crowd

Heidelberg Project...

... more of it

Wake up, Detroit!

Rise, Shine and Bike Belle Isle.

Mike and I then abandoned the ride and made our way back to Ferndale, just in time for HoDaddy's event. We found ourselves in the position of being the honorable ride leaders and had over 60 people chase us on Woodward back into the heart of the D. Ventured off onto Cobo parking roof, Riverfront, Belle Isle (again...), Elmwood Cementary (again...), Heidelberg Project (again...) and split of with a fine small group into Hamtramk for the last highlight of the day - the somewhat hard to find Homemade Disneyland. 2 beers at mile 95 sent me into a state of complete dizziness, and I finally crashed 5 miles later... luckily I had my coach under my ass, so that was actually pretty nice.

Mike (just back from an internship as Alaskan fisherman)

Lame attempt to capture 60 riders on Woodward in one picture

More success this time

Joe Louis and Matt, no Red Wings

How much Detroit can you put in one picture?

Riverfront

Hart Plaza

You won't believe it until you see it. Homemade Disneyland.

Representing the Wolverines on a big day

Geek factor = 100%

2008-04-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

"What are the first 6 digits of Pi (π)?" was Caribou Coffee's trivia question this morning. They give you 10 cents off if you know the answer.

Well, I saved 10 cents this morning...

Starting all over again

2008-04-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

They say "you never forget how to ride a bike". Not true. I've been off the sport for so long, I had to go back and start again with training wheels - still managed to crash.

Another finisher photo

2008-04-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

May 2005... 8 h of Pando in MI...

Good ol' times

2008-04-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

So I'm still not active on the bike, that leaves plenty of time to think about the days when I used to be fast... like '96, when I won the Tour of Flanders.

Me, crossing the finish line

Thanks for the picture, Chad!

An after Easter miracle

2008-03-30T08:16:00.001-07:00

I rode my bike yesterday. 2 hours 5 minutes. Yeah!

Another trip

2008-03-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

Out of town again... this means another period of not biking. I used to freak out about that, but for some reason I'm lacking bike motivation anyhow lately. Too much other stuff happening. So I'm in Germany at the moment for family business.

Got a chance to visit all my old friends during their ski vacation in Soelden/Austria. There are many things I love, and skiing is certainly one of them...

Great snow, great sun, great beer

Friends

Brother Dolppinator and Dolppinator himself

Hydrate or die

Do you know how they make Pringles?

2008-03-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I do. The benefits of being stuck in hotels is that there is cable TV and thus a chance to learn important things for life. The Discovery Channel is the closest I can get to any sort of cycling at the moment...

Too many holes

2008-03-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Know that problem? Well, Nick at the socksite can help...

Riding

2008-03-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, I actually rode once I got back. But heading out of town tomorrow again. This bike season is off to a rough start...

Five days turning into too many...

2008-02-23T21:54:00.000-08:00

Hmm, kinda got stuck in S-Africa. Days off the bike: 15.

Really feels like the season is already done without the usual WRCS basemiles... especially when I see a lot of serious bikers here. But then I also wonder, why someone would want to ride his bike on completely flat roads in 100 F.

Where am I at?

2008-02-16T00:48:00.000-08:00

Somewhere in S-Africa, thinking about riding my bike (yes, it's a work trip this time) and other things I miss...

(other than that, it's pretty sweet here).

For the very first time....

2008-02-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

... yoga.

It felt really good and I'm not sore today. Looks like beginners class will do that to you.

Sold

2008-02-09T20:02:00.000-08:00

The vanagon might soon take a one way trip to Portland, but the memories will stay in MI.

Dump

2008-02-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

What's a bicycle again? Skiing is the perfect way to forget everything for a moment...

Next destinations

2008-01-31T22:35:00.000-08:00

Was at the doc's office this morning to get a Typhoid vaccination, since I'm heading to South Africa next week.

Nurse Andrea (when she pulled up my sleeve to stick the needle in my arm):
--> "Wow, you got some crazy tan lines for January"

Me
--> "Just got back from a bike vacation in Chile. Autsch"

She
--> "Wow, that's awesome. So do you have to go back into the office now?"

Me
--> "Yes, but only 2 hours, because I then have to get to the airport since I'm flying out to Salt Lake City for a weekend ski trip"

Back

2008-01-23T18:52:00.000-08:00

Been off the bike for a while, trying to figure things out... the only thing I know for sure is Michigan's Winter hasn't changed.

Almost a "seperated at birth"

Carretera Austral in Chile - the report

2008-01-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

Too much text and too many pics that simply don't show how amazing Patagonia really is... enjoy!

Day 1 (12/28/2007)

Route: Puerto Montt (Airport) - Contao
Miles: 43
Ridetime: 4 h 3 min
Weather: sunny all day

Touchdown at the airport Puerto Montt around 1 PM. Get luggage, rip open the bike box, and assemble the bike right outside the front door. I have no clue where I am exactly, but I just start riding from the airport door and follow the signs that say "Puerto Montt 15 km".

Funny, after about 2 min of riding I get passed by a guy in work clothes on an older fully with Camelback. Keep myself under control and don´t start to race him with my 30+ pounds of luggage on me...

Navigate based on good luck through busy Puerto Montt and end up on a road of which I think it could be the "Carretera Austral". A couple of miles later I get confirmation by a sign on the road reading R7 (Route 7 = Carretere Austral"). Wow, I realize this is where I wanted to be for the last couple of weeks.

Keep riding and know I need to take a ferry to get over a fjord. See the boat from the top of a hill, let it roll, right onto the boat and off we go. Never paid for a ticket, but I figured that compensated the big tip I gave the luggage carrier at the airport (didn´t know the currency conversion at the point of tipping, but had 40 km to figure out he got way overpaid).

Keep riding after the 1/2 hour boat trip - simply because I have no clue where I should sleep. Finally ask for "una habitacion" (a room) in one of the tiny towns I roll through, and get pointed to a B&B that costs $10 for a night. Oh yes, including breakfast.

Pretty much slept a solid 10 hours, only interrupted by some weired dreams. Also hear rain on and off. The Patagonia rain everybody talks about...

Let's get this party started

Take off from the airport

On the right road

Welcome, Mr. Dolpp, to the world of gravel

Exactly what I expected, and even better...

Day 2

Route: Contao - Hornopieren
Miles: 42.5
Ridetime: 4 h 17 min
Weather: around 60-70, rain in the evening

Rolling out late morning. Get to my destination in just under 3 hours of hilly gravel riding. Hmm, what now? Only way to get further south is via boat. Read about it, and that it officially starts to run in January, but sometimes they have unscheduled early surprise departures. Well, not this time... so I wonder around town, and meet Cullen and Kathleen from Alaska, who also counted on the unscheduled trips. Stuck.

Well, for now I check in a nice cheap lodge (Hosteria Catalina), and chat with the host. The conversation wasn´t too beneficial, since he only spoke Spanish, and I only German and English. But I understand that there are some hot springs about 10 km away, and I should go there. So I jump back on the bike, find the spot, and soak alone in some outdoor pools in the rain forest in the rain. Sweet.

With all the Salmon farming going on in the are I get Salmon for dinner. Perfect.

Good Patagonia gravel roads

Dropping into Hornopieren

On the beach

No smoke --> safe

Skinny dipping in the rain forest

Day3

Route: Hornopieren - Puelo
Miles: 50.9
Ridetime: 4 h 53 min
Weather: colder again, heavy rain. Too much rain in the end...

Big storm blowing through Hornopieren all night long, winds so strong and loud they feel like they are blowing right through my sleeping bag, even though I´m inside the lodge.

Rain still coming down in the morning, but I decide to ride anyhow. After all, that´s why I came here, and I did not come unprepared. So put on the rain gear and pedal back towards Puerto Montt. Boats going South leave from here as well.

The weather slightly improves, the rain stops for a while and the sun shows up. Fun. So I decide I´ll take a detour towards Puelo and ride around the fjord I crossed 2 days ago by boat.

Just when I start climbing into this fjord it dumps water. Well, I guess it is called rain forest because it is supposed to rain quite a bit.

No, I´m not turning around now. Rain keeps coming down... Meet a couple from Switzerland that is bike touring as well, and we stand in the rain in the middle of the road. They remind me to put my rain gear back on. Good point, but not really worth it since I´m soaked already. Shortly after, there are bikers everywhere. A supported group from Germany. Slackers...

And then it happens. Bang. My beloved Old Man Mountain Sherpa rack drops behind the bike. WTF? How can this happen? Panic. Can temporarily fix it, but get really cold doing it. Should have put on the rain gear in time...

Keep riding for another hour until I find a spot to crash for the night. Sweet fancy fishing lodge in the fog, and I´m the only guest when I check in. Almost spooky.

Riding in the rain forest

Climbtime # 1

In between the rain...

So what happened with the rack? Well, usually it is mounted to the brake bosses with angled aluminum brackets. But a weight weeny like me opted to use the alternative - a pair of standard clamps around the tubes - and those broke. To my defense, this worked on the last 2 trips...

Day4

Route: Puelo - Puerto Montt
Miles: 47.4
Ridetime: 4 h 38 min
Weather: drizzle early on, more and more sun towards the end

Woke up due to another crazy dream - once I got home from this trip I find contractors in my place remodelling it to look totally ugly. Should have seen the kitchen...

Due to the bike rack incident I decide to not go around the fjord now, but head back to Puerto Montt, so I can completely fix the rack.

Couldn´t see a thing yesterday, but today gave me an idea of what to expect in terms of scenery for the next couple of days. Blows me away that I´m riding in rain forest, but can see snow capped mountains.

Hear this randoms squeaky noise - first think it is some crazy type of bird, but then realize it is the front hub. Hmm, wonder how many more mechanicals will pop up on this trip... at least the improved temp fix to the rack seems to work perfect.

Legs are pretty tired once I get to Puerto Montt. Certainly feel that I have more luggage on the bike than on any other trip so far. So besides tomorrow being the first of ´08 I have another good reason to take a rest day. Crazy grocery shopping - the store was packed, so navigating the shopping cart through them all was the most technical riding of the trip so far.

On the way back to Puerto Montt

Back on the ferry

Day 5

Rest and do nothing.

OK, not true. Lubed the front hub and watched TV. Met up with Cullen and Kathleen (bumped into them yesterday on the boat again, so we decided to grab some coffee together). Nice chatting, plus I know now where to go in Alaska...

Realized the boat to Chaiten already runs today. So I head to the boat launch in the evening, and thanks to Wibke and Martina (2 girls from Switzerland) we get on via standby. Lucky. Glad I met them, since they spoke Spanish and arranged everything for me as well (while I distracted other standby travellers so we could cut in line).

Clouds ease up a little when taking off, and I get an idea what the volcano´s behind Puerto Montt could look like. Big.

The next 12 hours are spent trying to figure out how to sleep on 2 chairs...

Home for the next 12 hours

Martina and Wibke - the Swiss girls

Parts of the volcanos behind Puerto Montt

Day 6

Route: Chaiten - La Junta
Miles: 88
Ridetime: 8 h 02 min
Weather: heavy rain at the beginning, then cloudy, 55-77 F

Wow, the tailwind blows me right back into the rain forest. Hit dirt after an hour of riding. But even though it still rains, the dirt sticks to the ground, and I´m not getting dirty at all. Nice. Can we get that for MI, please?

Get passed by the older German couple I met on the boat. They pull over their rental SUV, and the lady tells me "I have the highest respect for what you do" and "aren´t you getting cold with your naked legs?" (somehow get the feeling she is trying to figure out what I´d look like completely naked...)

Hit the first really big climb of the trip after about 30 miles. Guess I probably pedaled up the hill for about 1 hour. All of a sudden it goes down again, and I can´t believe the view I have when dropping into the valley. Get goose bumps imagining that I´ll have to ride through this now. Sweet. So green, mountains so big, waterfalls to the left and right, crazy plants everywhere, some leaves are at least 2-3 feet in diameter. Simply do not want to stop riding today. Especially not after I see 2 tire tracks in the dirt. Sure, need to catch up to whoever that is now.

A little while later I chat to 2 girls (again from Switzerland) touring for 6 weeks. They are pretty impressed to hear that I started in Chaiten today and made it that far already. Always feels good to impress the ladies...

Besides a broken chain, navigating through cow shit, getting tired counting waterfalls and a little rock stuck in the tire making a freaky noise hitting the frame, I can say that today was by far the most amazing and scenic day I ever had riding my bike. Thanks.

Lago Yelcho in Patagonia

Lago "whatever" in Patagonia (there are too many to remember)

Me, riding in Chile

Hard to see, but dropping into this valley was simply amazing

Squatting while I took this pic...

Just to show what the road looked like

Crossing from Region 10 to 11 - feel like this is a big deal...

Day 7

Route: La Junta - Termas de Puyuguapi
Miles: 37.4
Ridetime: 3 h 41 min
Weather: perfect for riding a bike

Cleaned up all the bread at breakfast. The host laughed when she asked if I wanted "mas pan?" (more bread)..

Got to the next town after 2.5 hours. Rode a long time along this lake and got annoyed by myself taking so many pictures. Didn´t really know what to do - continue riding or make this a shorter day. Ran into 3 girls from New Zealand, touring for 3 months. What do people do so they can take so much time of?

The weather is good, the scenery mind blowing, so I jump back on the bike.

Find the boat launch to "Termas de Puyuguapi" a couple miles later. Read this is the leading hot spring resort of Chile, so I decide pro luxury, and jump on the little shuttle boat (resort is on an island). Get greeted by half the hotel stuff and some fresh squeezed orange juice, and head straight to the pools.

Met the older German couple (Andreas and Ulrike) again around the pools, and we make plans to meet for dinner. Too bad my laundry didn´t get done by 8 PM as promised, and I really did´t want to show up in the bath robe at the resort restaurant.

La Junta in the morning

This guy - again?

One of the 3.8 billion waterfalls along the way

I just like the mountains. Really

Downhill

The scenery past Pujuguapi

Tanlines? - Check.

Personal shuttle to the island with the hotel for the night...

Believe it or not, but this was the view from my room

Day 8

Route: Termas de Puyuguapi - Villa Amengual
Miles: 47.8
Ridetime: 5 h 02 min
Weather: ... can´t remember

Stopped under blue skies at the "Hanging Glacier" at Natl Park Queulat. Pretty famous in Patagonia, and totally worth to take a touristy walk to get a little closer.

2 hours later a long climb, another huge glacier on the left, big view into valleys, trees everywhere, massive granite rocks and it kept getting colder with every foot I climbed. Legs felt great, but went downhill - just as the road - afterwards. Didn't help that I hit some loose gravel in which it was impossible to find good lines. And just when I got really annoyed, I found it: pavement. Yes. What a surprise, my map didn't show it that early.

Enjoyed not being bumped around for a couple more miles and was glad to finally hit the next town, and didn't even care that the place I stayed for the night only had cold water in the shower...

Wondering around town I met another biker from Germany (Christian) touring Patagonia, but going the opposite way. We exchanged little info about what to expect on the next section of the road, and I went to bed hoping the legs would feel better again tomorrow...

Another sweet day on the bike

First glimpse of the famous glacier

Interesting bridge

Famous: the "hanging glacier" in Natl Park Queulat

Hard to see, but that glacier hanging there is huge

I actually did it - riding in Chile

This picture shows about 10% of all the singletrail I rode in Patagonia...

One more waterfall (Spanish: salto)

Climb through the rainforest

More gravel

Massive moutains

I really got excited after each climb what the next valley would look like, and I never got disappointed

Day 9

Route: Villa Amengual - Coihaique
Miles: 79.6
Ridetime: 7 h 22 min
Weather: 65-81F, and enough sun to get burned at the end

Left early in the morning, knowing I'll have to cover a good distance today and due to Christians info yesterday I knew what to expect. And he didn't even mention the wind...

Went through a little town and found an ATM. Perfect timing, didn't have too much cash left. So all happy about winning at the ATM I bought icecream, coke, some fruit and chocolate, refuelled and felt great afterwards.

But the wind. Got too annoying, so I decided to take a left and climb up into this valley, hoping I'll have a good tailwind descending into town. Luckily this worked out, and I had so much fun riding my bike, it took me quite a while to notice that the scenery changed quite a bit, and the rainforest seemed to be gone all of a sudden. Felt more like Switzerland than Chile...

Pullend into Coihaique Sat evening, had a lot of food (I like candy, but even more a big piece of meat), a tasty adult beverage and was probably the first one to go to bed that night in town.

Pedal pedal pedal

That's where I come from...

...and that's where I'll go

Hmm, why can't we have that in Michigan?

High meadows, the rainforest is gone

Wow, a reall town!

Tanlines still there? - Check.

Day 10

Resting. Laundry. TV. Coffee.

Day 11

Route: Coihaique - Puerto Ingeniero Ibanez
Miles: 71.3
Ridetime: 6 h 03 min
Weather: everything but snow

LBS fixed the shift cable. And this even though I don't know how to speak Spanish.

Pretty nasty today for the first 1.5 hours, rain and cold. And then the sun shows up and it gets warmer faster than you can take of the rain gear.

More wind. I read the further S you travel, the windier it'll get. True. Funny thing is that the wind changes so often, you can't really tell if it's a head- or tailwind... But you know it is a headwind when in addition to the wind it rains and it feels like hail in your face.

Even though I spent the whole day on pavement I had the roughest conditions to ride in of the whole trip. You start to wonder when you have to shift down int the middle ring on steep donwhills.

Rode through the region of "Cerro Castillo", a mountain range that can be found in every coffee table book about Chile. Too bad I only saw Chile's finest clouds there, and nothing of the massive granite formations... maybe it was a sign to come back here again at one point of time?

Bike shop Figon in Coihaique

Tailwind and sun

Headwind and rain

Lucky me - talked to some guys who crossed this path 2 days ago in snow showers...

Dropping towards Villa Cerro Castillo

Day 12

Route: Puerto Ingeniero Ibanez - Puerto Guadal
Miles: 63.8
Ridetime: 7 h 10 min
Weather: headwind and more of it, and did I mention the crazy winds?

A day that started with a 3 hour boat ride accross S-America's 2nd largest lake ended with the Dolppinator almost crying when climbing at 3mph on the worst gravel into ridiculous winds.

I was told about the "dramatic scenery" on the road S of this big lake, but couldn't really see too much other than big rain clouds. Luckily not too much rain, but they simply blocked the view of some amazing mountains. Guess that's why they have books to look at them...

Just when I got of the boat I ran into the 2 girls from Switzerland again. They recommended to stay at the cabins "El Mirador", but that would have meant I need to cover 100 km that day. That seemed impossible they way I felt, the direction the wind blew from and what I heard about the route. Many climbs, often not more than 1000 feet in elevation gain, but over and over again. Halfway through I found a good potential spot for a night to bivy, but then again it was only 6 in the evening, and there would be another 4 hours of sunlight.

So I hopped back on the bike and was hoping my 8 mph avg speed would increase from now on so I can make it into the next town before sunset. But instead of picking up the pace I felt slower and slower, and the roads got nasty. I got really frustrated and started to wonder about myself, why I'm doing this, bla bla bla, when all of a sudden the terrain flattened out, the wind changed, and I saw a sign that said only 20 miles to go to the next town, rather than the 25 miles I calculated. Big ring action from now on, and I made it into town at 9:30, wet from riding in the drizzle the last hour - and even got one of the nice cabins.

View of the port of Ingeniero Ibanez

Pilchero - today's boat

Impossible to capture on my tiny camera how big this lake really was

Just before I got unhappy

Some laguna alont the way

Repeat this for pretty much 40 miles...

Looks easier to ride than it actullly was... I wasn't too happy today

Day 13

Route: Puerto Guadal - Cochrane
Miles: 46.6
Ridetime: 5 h 5 min
Weather: little rain at the start, but then sun, yeah! (and some wind...)

Met the 2 Swiss girls again at breakfast. They were "shocked" to hear from the host that I actually made it there yesterday. They were gonna take the bus to Cochrane later that day, which was also my destination. We were joking who'd get there first... guess who won?

I had a late start, waiting for laundry to get dry and outwait the rain. Hit some rough gravel roads again, and on every climb my legs reminded me of yesterday. Pretty cooked once I got into Cochrane. Glad the day was over, but I also knew this would be as far south as my trip would take me. Pretty sad.

Of course I ran into Wibke and Martina again... who got there later than I did.

Business as usual - a lake and mountains

Ups and downs...

Another climb coming up - looks short, but guess what's behind the corner?

Always going up before going down

You're probably getting tired by now looking at mountains and lakes... well, I didn't!

Somewhere along Rio Baker

Last downhill going South

Day 14

Back to Coihaique in the bus, a rough 9 hour trip.

Almost no clouds in the sky, and I got a chance to see many of the peaks I missed the last couple of days. So that worked out perfectly.

Spent the next 3 days in Coihaique doing nothing (OK, I rode my bike a little one day).

Finally. Vacation. That was fun.

Scenery in Puerto Rio Tranquila

Famous view of Cerro Castillo (2675 m)

Cool - on the flight back I could acutally see the Carretera Austral leading up into the Cerro Castillo mountains

... and more of them

Thanks to all you guys who encouraged me to really go on this trip... now go yourself!

Back in the D

2008-01-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

Teaser...

more to come soon

Quicky #8

2008-01-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

Survived the bus ride.

Did some math on the bus and added up all my daily miles and time on the bike:
--> 11 days of riding
--> 61 h 19 min
--> 624 miles (1004 km)

Legs are heavy. Enough for now.

Quicky #7

2008-01-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

So this is it... Cochrane, as far south as this trip will take me. There are still 150 miles of the Carratera Austral left, but busses don´t run on the days I´d need them to get back to my departure town.

The last 2 days were tough. Lots of climbing, crazy winds, and roads conditions kept getting worse. But again, the scenery made up for all the hard work. And there was even sun!

Taking a bus back tomorrow to Coyhaique, should be a bumpy 10 h ride...

Quicky #6

2008-01-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Chile Chico. Just got off the boat and ran into the 2 girls from Switzerland again... small world.

Yesterday was pretty rough. Haevy rain and crazy winds. Sometimes even felt like hail. But short periods of sun made up for it. Chilce Chico is the ¨Sun City of Chile¨, so I hope that is true.

Looks like a day of headwind and big climbs is waiting for me...

Quicky #5

2008-01-05T21:02:00.000-08:00

So I´m in Coyahique now - the last big town in southern Chile.

The last 2 days were pretty rough in terms of road conditions. Most of the time washboards, loose gravel, bigger rocks, potholes...riding faster than 8 mph simply hurt my ass.

Drastic change in scenery today - at one point of time I didn´t feel like riding in the rain forest any longer, but more like being in Switzerland.

Ended up 7 h in the saddle today, total ride time on this trip is now somewhere at 42 hours. Enough to take a rest day tomorrow... then I´ll head further S and try to cirlce this big lake in a couple of days. Might even take me into Argentinia.

Need food. Now. Out.

Quicky #4

2008-01-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

Made good ground yesterday once I got off the boat after spending 12 hours on it. Once into the ride, everything was simply too perfect to stop, so I went for 8 hours. It must have been the most amazing terrain I ever rode through, dropping into valleys and can not believe what I see...

Today I made it to Puerto Puyuhuapi so far. It is only 2 PM right now, so I think I will keep riding. No rain today...

Meeting more and more tourists now as well, 3 girls from New Zealand just showed me the way to this computer.

Quicky #3

2007-12-31T14:00:00.000-08:00

Back to where I started... Puerto Montt.

Didn´t feel like checking a bunch of the smaller hotels here in town, so I just headed straight to the best looking one. Pretty nice, and www-access is free.

Resting up here tomorrow, and jump on the boat to Chaiten on the 2nd day of 2008.

Need a bunch of things fixed up, in addition to the bike rack (yesterdays temp fix still works fine), the front wheel starts to make squeaky noises. So I think the last 4 days were pretty successfull in terms of checking equipment before heading back on the more remote part of the Carratera Austral.

Quicky #2

2007-12-30T20:01:00.001-08:00

Changed my plans... rather than spending the days until 2nd of Jan in and around Hornopiren, I decided to head back towards Puerto Montt, but take a right turn after about 30 miles towards Puelo.

The road goes along this endless Fjord, so the scenery is supposed to be great. Went to check it out, but got hit by Chiles finest downpour... Finally, riding for 2 hours in heavy rain made me look for the next best shelter. Turned out to be this amazing fishing lodge (www.andesloge.com). Funny thing is that I´m the only guest. Might be my chance to finally pull a fish out of the water...

Had a little mechanical incident with the frame mounts of the bike rack, which made the rack drop behind the bike (OK, so the incident was fatal). Shock. And all this happened in the rain. But nothing that couldn´t be fixed with some extra straps. Rather than riding around the whole Fjord now for the next 2 days I´ll turn around tomorrow and head on the most direct route to Puerto Montt (should be around 50 miles). Maybe I can find a hardware store with the necessary tools to fix the rack for the next 500 miles...

Quicky #1

2007-12-29T15:01:00.000-08:00

Scenery already blows my mind...

I´m in Hornopieren, about 100 km into the ride. Looks like I might stay here for a couple of days, since I need a ferry to get me to Caleta Gonzalo. Note quite Caribous, but this place has access to the internet machine (I´m sitting inside, you can´t see me)!

And the keybaord has lots of funny characters....¿ Ç Ñ ª

Chile: Carretera Austral

2007-12-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's where I'm going. What is it? Basically a 770 mile gravel road winding through Patagonia.

Schedule:
12/27/07:
--> depart Detroit 3 PM
12/28/07:
--> arrive in Puerto Montt (start of the route)
next 14 days:
--> pedal pedal pedal
1/14/08:
--> fly out of Balmaceda 2 PM
1/15/08:
--> arrive Detroit 2:20 PM

This means I basically have 14 days to cover 2/3 of the route. If I have time left I'm planning on riding beyond Balmaceda, and then take a bus back to that town. Just don't know what to expect in terms of conditions, so that is the plan for now.

I'll stay in contact through Tim, he'll be guest posting here the next couple of days.

Pontiac Lake reloaded

2007-12-25T19:00:00.000-08:00

Decided to head to Pontiac today for a loop. What took me 38:30 in August took 1:20:00 today... possible reasons:

1) trail covered in thick layer of ice
2) 15 psi tire pressure
3) studded tires front and rear
4) first time riding a trail on a SS (ratio 32:15)
5) riding/walking up the ice hills not possible
6) all of the above

Departure 12/27/07 - 3 PM

2007-12-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

Big big trip coming up. The bike is in shape for it, but I don't know if I'll be...

Added rear disc, you never know what conditions to expect:

No more skinny tire action, let's meet dirt this time:

My December

2007-12-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

Pretty low mileage for this month. Too busy taking care of other things...

But I headed out for a 3+ hours ride today with the typical gang. That ride pretty much doubled my Dec ride time. Headache today, probably de-hydrated. Hardly drank at all during the ride, but the waterbottle just had too much of a salty taste from all the spraying of the wet roads. Post ride bottle...

Trying to make up for tha lack of drinking here...

Now: Winter is here

2007-12-16T06:53:00.000-08:00

Not sleeping so good lately, but at least I could keep myself busy last night every time I woke up by walking over to the window to make sure the snow is still coming down. And it did. And still does.

Getting up all excited this morning to go for a walk in the snow. And I officially hate walks. But you can't beat putting first traks on the sidewalk...

Winter starts: now

2007-12-15T19:39:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I skied in 30 cm of fresh powder in Austria - I wonder what I should do with that amount of snow tomorrow here in MI where it is still flat?

On a sad note: I think posts about the weather is like talking about weather in real life. That's what you do when you don't know what else to say, or if there is stuff you don't want to say...

Greetings from Germany

2007-12-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

Not riding lately, but practicing other essential skilzz. You never know when you need them...

Finally - Pontiac Lake

2007-12-01T17:04:00.000-08:00

Skipped another hammerfestgroupridedeathloopaction today for a couple of final 2007 trail miles. Wanted to ride Pontiac for a long time, and I finally made it out there today. Only could do three laps, then my waterbottles were frozen, and I was too thursty (ok, tired as well) to continue...

Ran into a couple of friends, always good to know you're not the only one who likes to ride a partly iced over and snow covered trail at 24F.

I can't tell you how happy I was today that I could ride my bike.

Heading out to Germany tomorrow... and I'll eat Sauerkraut again.

I like the winter - I really do

Those guys make it look colder than it actually was

Pete Favata, just done robbing a bank

Proof that I was there

Success

2007-11-28T17:43:00.000-08:00

Good work trip to WV, stuff works, big relieve, one less problem in my life...

Wow, this blog post was not bike related at all.

Wanna make it 60? - No

2007-11-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

Besides
--> eating too much,
--> too sweet,
--> lack of sleep,
--> sleeping too much,
I actuall rode over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Skipped the rainy Thursday Thanksgiving morning ride at P-Lake, but went for a quick heavy legged Birmingham ride instead.

Just realized I just posted the Friday ride already...

Saturday another scenic Metamora ride, past windmills and on natural beauty roads, guided by the Simonster. Only the Hermitman and myself joined him for his singalong /German Grammar Part I (der/die/das) ride.

And on Sunday Robert and I headed out to burn off the calories consumed at Toast in the early morning. Always good times at that place, especially with the company of Kelly and Jay.

Heading to WV tomorrow - without my bike!

14KK

2007-11-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

Crossed the 14 000 km mark on todays ride. Blue sky, sub 0 degree C temps and legs that didn't really want to go. Sounds to me like the end of the season is near...

Dolppinator and special guest Greg Kuhncappie

The man Robert H.

Layering was dialed today. Hermitman suggested to take a picture of all the clothing I had on, so I would know what to wear next time it would be 24 F again. Sorry girls, no picture of what these clothes covered... use your imagination!

#1

2007-11-18T19:30:00.000-08:00

And we're back!

New stuff

2007-11-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Cold today, but sunny. Couldn't figure out if I wanted to ride or not. After a quick trip to the bike shop to pick up some fine new Trek shoe covers and shorts (since Tim noticed holes in a very private area on yesterdays ride) I had a good reason to go out and try the new clothing.

Didn't get cold on the bike, the shoe covers weren't slippery walking around the coffee shop and the shorts stretch enough around a hot chocolate and marble loaf filled belly.

Friday off

2007-11-17T23:06:00.000-08:00

And I rode my bike only a distance that is not worth mentioning.

Made up for the lack of riding on Saturday with Simonster, Hermitman, Dan and Tim. At a "cruising-speed" of 17 mph for 4.5 hours through the chilly Norther O.C.

It was a fun ride, but next time I'll try to drink less beer the day before and not only sleep for 3 hours... on the other hand, I could continue with this training routine (after all, it is fun) and go for the Rock Star award next year.

Fun stuff from the Iceman

2007-11-14T15:01:00.000-08:00

This video is posted on Youtube, with the following title:

"2007-11-10 Iceman Cometh womens leader @ W-burg rd"

But check who comes up the hill first. Yep, that would be me - and nope, I'm not a women.

Some more TV?
--> Our group (Pro Men) start
--> 5 miles into the race
--> Winner and JHK crash (kinda hard to see)

Iceman

2007-11-11T16:31:00.000-08:00

Yep, I actually raced. 2nd XC race of the season, and rocking the "Pro/Semi-Pro" field. OK, no, that didn't happen, but at least I finished before they took the finish sign down. Pretty happy with how I did, even though I might have been able to push myself harder. After all, today is Sunday, and nothing hurts. Who knows...

A typical Iceman morning in Kalkaska

Ray Dybowski - there is only one

Alan realizing what MTBing is all about

Our fast team - nice work!

Big news in Sunday's paper

But more important than 2500 people racing was the party action afterwards. Don't recall too much from that night, but looking at the pictures now it seems like it was a lot of fun.

Partying with Michigan's finest: Michelle, Simonster, Robert, and the Duloppinator

Soupy and Shawn

Paula and the guy who hasn't showered since he had to take Shawn to the hospital (yep, that would be me)

If someone wants to forward this to Velonews, go ahead. Hard to see, but it is Brian Matter (Iceman '07) wrestling the Simonster (Iceman '06), all under supervision of Danielle Musto

Tim DNFinkel

DEEE-troit Basketball

2007-11-05T17:27:00.000-08:00

Does watching a basketball game count as cross-training? Enjoyed the game as well as the half time Cheerleader show - even more though when I started to imagine which of these girls had made out with each other before...

Running the team kit at the game - will this be the last year?

Showtime

Quick bike ride before the big game

Mission accomplished

2007-11-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

At the end of August I took a couple of co-workers, that all bought new bikes, on a short ride. Back then I was concerned that they wouldn't make it home...

Yesterday I went out with the same group of Germans again. We rode more than 3 hours, and a good amount of time on trails. Once the ride was over, they all had a big smile on their face, even though they were in shock that we actually rode 40 miles and that they were still alive.

So they are happy about their ride, and I'm happy that I could talk a bunch more people into biking.

FYI - German group ride recovery drink of choice:

Let it snow, let is snow, let is snow...

2007-11-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

Even though I sent in my registration late, they actually let me race the Iceman. Too bad, I was hoping I'd miss the deadline...

First race in a while, time to start to freak out!

Massive Fallout

2007-10-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

Left Royal Oak at 8 with Jim, rode up Rochester Rd for 15 miles right towards Starbucks. Pretty funny, almost felt like riding in Moab - the closer we got to Main Street, the more cars with bikes on them we saw. Quick coffee and snack, and off we rode with 149 other bikers.

Hung out in the back to take some pics, and lost all my fast friends. Got stuck in bike traffic at Bloomer, and finally caught up to a group again on top of the "big hill" at Stony. Joe, Pete, Trails-Edge, the MSU gang and so on.

Quick lap at Addison, including some unintended detours, longer break to chat and get cold after the sweet 7 miles singletrail ride. Then straight back to the Rochester Brewery for some meat. Good times there with friends, followed by another 1.5 hour sunset ride back to the Dolppinator loft.

150 people on a brisk fall day on MTB's. Nice work, MMBA. Thanks.

Eary in the morning... layer up

Left to right: That guy again, Jim, clean drivetrain, EX 9.5

Riders everywhere

Me getting dropped (ha ha, just kidding)

John, wishing he could catch his breath.

Blinded by the speed of the Wolverines

Presenting: Mr. Joe "Seppi" Lee

Some of the 150 participants hanging out at Stony

Lifetime warranty, baby!

That's what's left of our group after Addison

49 - 47.5

2007-10-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

No, these numbers don't represent the age of some of my friends, but the lap times I rode tonight with Danny, Bill (neither of them has a blog - amazing) and Jim at Island Lake.

If only everything else would go as smooth as the biking right now...

And on Sunday?

2007-10-23T17:28:00.001-07:00

Sounds like this is the place to be. Guess I'll head over there if the weather is dry.

Gotta admit, people in MI really do a great job in putting events together, there is even a special web-page.

A fact

2007-10-19T17:01:00.000-07:00

The internet said not everybody likes me. No problem, I don't like you either. Even though I don't know who you are...

Blue Ridge Parkway - Part II

2007-10-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

Don't worry, I didn't ride back, but had to get to the where I started somehow. Perfect coincidence that I always wanted to ride the Greyhound as part of my intercultural experience.

So before I got on the bus for the next 12 hours I searched for cardboard, bought tape, finally found the bus station and got creative Cristo-Style on my bike.

The bus ride was... interesting. Never thought there would be people that own 2 cellphones that ring constantly every 10 minutes - in the middle of the night. Or all the different ways people can snore. And of course there was the obnoxious middle-aged lady that tried so hard to be funny - shut up! Thanks Apple, for inventing the IPod.

The bike, ready for a ride on the bus

The stupid long solo bike ride

2007-10-07T18:02:00.000-07:00

I had this idea 2 weeks ago to ride the Blue Ridge Parkway. I read that some people do it supported in 5 days, so let's try it unsupported and see what happens.

*************************************

Day 1
Miles: 112.7
Ridetime: 8 h 15 min
Temps: 62-78 F, sunny all day

24 mile prologue from Charlottesville, VA on CR250 to the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Then left turn and start pedaling south. It's Monday, almost no tourist traffic.

Best conversation of the day at dinner, I think that's what the waitress said (gotta be carefull with that southern dialect when you talk to a German!)
--> Waitress: Yuu raidn the whole theng?
--> Me: Yes, started today, rode 110 miles, got 4 more days to go.
--> Waitress: Waell, thad s semply awesoom.

Another good one in one of the parking lots:
--> randome dude: So you're doing that just for fun?
--> me: Yes, but also because of frustration about a girl...
--> randome dude: Ever considered getting drunk?

Left turn...

Getting used to that pavement

Good climbs already at day 1

Bivy'ing in Bear Country

*************************************

Day 2
Miles: 115.7
Ridetime: 8 h 45 min
Temps: 58-75 F, cool but humid in the morning, sunny in the afternoon

Within the first mile I got the coolest thumbs up from a motorcycle rider ever. Good way to start the day. Start seeing some of the same cars and motorcycles over and over again throughout the day. Can remember them by e.g. special licence plates, like the white Harley with the trailer and the plate "Martha". Those guys seem to like to stop at all the lookout points - if you ride your bike you always have enough time to look around and don't need to stop.

See a van that supports a bunch of roadies, conversation with the van-driver:
--> Van driver: Wow, unsupported - you do it to tough way
--> Me: No, I do it the stupid way...

Had a mid-afternoon lunch somewhere on the parkway. BLT sandwich, chicken soup, cake and coke. Don't know what they put in that food, but I was flying afterwards. Speed limit is 45 mph, I started getting concerned I would get a ticket... I really love eating.

No more camping, the shoulder still hurts too much (from last weeks crash), so I get a $44 motel room at Fancy Gap - the town where you get spaghetti and meatsauce, plus cherry pie and coke for less than what you have to pay for a 4-pack of Red Bull.

The lady at the check in is surprised to see that I'm travelling "all by yourself?". Again, that's what I think she said, the further south you're going the harder it gets to understand those people.

The rolling hills of the early day 2

There is more to come about this van - see day 3

Ride your bike and enjoy the view

That guy rode strong, no way to drop him

Looks like normal food, but it makes you fast. Crazy!

Side effect of the crazy food: Feel good

Country roads

In the saddle to the saddle

And yes, I actually shaved my legs for this adventure on the road

*************************************

Day 3
Miles: 97.5
Ridetime: 8 h 36 min
Temps: around 70 F and cloudy all day

Get passed by a roadie within the first mile today.
--> Roadie: You make me look really lazy

More roadies show up, they are a supported group (the van from day 2!), also determined to finish the parkway in 5 days. They have several stops throughout the day, and since I just keep pedaling without stopping we keep passing each other. Funny, they start handing me gels and Cliff Blocks when they ride with me. Guess they were pretty imnpressed about my riding with all the gear.

Today's stretch is the most scenic so far, lot of variety in landscape. Towards the end the climbs get bigger and steeper, I easily hit top speeds beyond 40 mph on the downhills. Doesn't sound that fast, but I have a lot of aero drag (not my ass, but the bags and gear on the bike).

Met 43 year old Ron from Richmond, VA at around mile 40. He is out there self supported as well, so we stop and chat. Bikes, gear, chicks. Turns out the reason for his ride is that his girlfriend broke up with him. Sounds familiar, so we get a good laugh out of it. He has over 60 pounds of gear on his bike, and it seems like he wants to start crying when I tell him about my 20 pounds... once we split again, he is determined to find a post office to ship some of his stuff back home. We had plans to meet up for dinner in Blowing Rock, but unfortunatelly he ran out of daylight. Probably better, I have a feeling we would have gotten wasted!

Ready for day 3

Moving further south

Ron, suffering solo as well

The early views of today

Typical Parkway food. Sugar and Coffee. I'm in heaven.

Gaining altitude

*************************************

Day 4
Miles: 97.2
Ridetime: 7 h 33 min
Temps: around 60 F above 4500 feet, wet and humid in the morning, cold and cloudy all day (less cold if you put on more layers, but it took me a while to come up with that idea)

Another night at a motel, good, since it rained all night. 10 AM start, one hour later than the days before. This is bad riding weather today, but somehow the hours just flew by. The parkway throws many long climbs at me, just the way I like it. Climbs often take longer then 1/2 hour. Legs feel amazing, I have to force myself to go slower. Focus more on constant eating today, every 10 miles a bar or gel. Typical Coffee and Candy stop along the way, and I surf the sugar wave past Mount Mitchell. Guess I miss many scenic views due to the crazy thick fog at altitude. It is fun riding into the clouds, and I feel how the temps drop and the air is super wet. Riding over bridges and I can't even see how tall they are.

No title

No bunnies to be found at Heffner gap

I only wore my helmet today so I won't hit my head on the clouds

Riding at altitude above the clouds

No way to see the mountain in the fog, so the sign has to be good enough

They felt great

Still moving

No fog this time

I either looked at the mountains or at this cockpit

*************************************

Day 5
Miles: 91.5
Ridetime: 7 h 19 min
Temps: 62 F, 95% humidity and drizzling at the beginning, but sunny and simply perfect at the end

Another 10 AM start, and the first stop already after 3 hours. I was soaking wet and needed to get changed. Felt better instantly, but somehow lost my pedaling mojo. Took me another 2 hours to find my rhythm again. Met a bunch of guys from GB, they were out touring. Funny, those guys never saw eggbeater-pedals before.

Saw a roadie early in the ride, another memorable conversation:
--> roadie: Where are you headed to today?
--> me: the finish.
--> roadie: the finish?
--> me: Cherokee
--> roadie: holy shit, that's a long way
--> me thinking: not really, I only got 85 more miles to go.

Many more long climbs today, again long and steep, one covers 2400 feet vertical. By now I have this strategy to always count 200 pedal strokes seated, then stand up for 30-60 strokes, and do it over again. You can count to 200 several times within 2400 feet of climbing...

With 2 miles to go on the last climb, one of the supported roadies from 2 days ago catches up to me again. He was pretty surprised to see me ahead of him, and we race it to the top. Finally, no more need to ride conservative. I think he tried to drop me.. I let him go on the last downhill, which is about 10 miles long.

Touchdown in Cherokee, that's it, ride is over.

Getting ready one more last time

Pretty sure there was another climb behind that turn

The view is good at 6000 feet of altitude

End of climb time

Rode past 469 mile markers in the last 5 days

*************************************

Stats over the 5 days
Miles: 514.6 (469 on Parkway, the other miles to/around towns nearby)
Ridetime: 40 h 28 min
Climbing: Haven't found that info yet... probably better to not even know it.

Under pressure

2007-09-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

A lot of fun, confusing, good, bad, happy and sad stuff was going on over the last couple of weeks. So why not put an end to that crazy period with a stupid long solo bike ride?

Check back in 5 days to see if at least the bike-ride ended successful...

I'm a wreck...

2007-09-24T18:04:00.001-07:00

There are times where life simply sucks.

Regensburg

2007-08-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Germany. I ate Sauerkraut last night!

km or miles?

2007-08-05T21:00:00.000-07:00

I take km - after all I'm German. And it makes the "mileage-log" look better. One more short ride and I'll cross the 10000 km.

Heading to Germany tomorrow for a couple of days. Should be a good time, but I always feel like I'm missing out on fun things here when I'm gone.

Haircut

2007-08-01T17:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is true, I finally got rid of a lot of hair. I was a little shocked when the stuff flew into my lap - not by the amount, but by the color of some (many?) of it. What's an appropriate ago to have grey hair?

Quicky

2007-07-30T20:33:00.001-07:00

Tuesday:
Meet up with Scotty in Denver for some action on Apex trail. Good and fast fun, and a great opportunity to get ride of work frustration

Wednesday:
Get frustrated at work

Thursday:
Buy beer for my former German co-workers that our business trip met up with in Denver. Those guys got hammered on Boston Lager, pretty entertaining to watch.

Friday:
Finally - back home in the D

Saturday:
Ride around Ypsi, plenty of recovery drinks at the Michigan Beer fest. And in the evening I reminded myself how tasty other alcoholic beverages can be.

Sunday:
118 miles in just under 6 hours on the roadbike, followed by the longest Sunday afternoon nap in the Dolppinator history.

Monday:
I convinced T. Finkelstein that drinking beer is better than posting blogs, paying the bills or jumping rope with the neighbor, so we had a couple of gold colored refreshments at the ROB.

One big happy family

2007-07-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm talking about us. Bikers.

Hit the bike paths around Denver tonight and ran into a random guy. Some smalltalk lead to race talk, lead to Leadville race talk. He asked about my finishing time when I did it, and boom - we seemed to be best friends. Cool guy, even though he was on a roadbike. Ha ha. Turned out he is a MTBer by heart, and only out for recovery. I know how that is, and I honestly admit that the roadbike is fun as well.

Looks like I might meet up later this week with him and a couple of his teammates for some trail action. Hope I can make it, after all I'm here on a work trip... and not used to the altitude, so they'll probably enjoy kicking some flatlanders ass.

Next stop: Durango

2007-07-20T21:53:00.001-07:00

Heading to Colorado tomorrow, and we'll try to use as little gas as possible on the way there!

I really liked Flagstaff, but I'm excited to check out Durango. From what I read, it seems like it would be a head to head race if I had to decide where I'd want to life.

But at the moment, life in the "D" is pretty fun as well.

The laziness won again

2007-07-18T11:30:00.001-07:00

Set the alarm to 5:30 this morning, so I could go for a ride. But when it went off it just seemed way too early.

Turned around and slept another 2 hours - and now I'm mad at myself and keep looking at the mountain I wanted to climb.

Elden Mountain...

Flagstaff, AZ

2007-07-17T21:22:00.000-07:00

Met some locals this morning at 6:30 for a ride. Don't ask me where we went exactly, I only know there wasn't too much air.

We climbed up to a trail called "Little Bear", and was told that the name of the trail is due to someone seeing a little bear up here a couple of years ago. We found out the bear might have grown in the meantime, so we decided to get out of there and flew down the hill on some superfun singletrail.

No bear sightings today, but still a great way to wake up..

Put your Stans in your tires

2007-07-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

If not, you'll have flat tires once you pull out four big bad thorns. Guess that's what you get for riding in the dessert... double flat. And totally my fault. Thought about putting new Stans in before I shipped the bike, but laziness won over my thinking. Stupid.

The meanest dirtroad ever

2007-07-14T07:40:00.001-07:00

Forget the roads you know... Silver Creek Rd it is:

- loose dirt
- even softer the steeper it gets
- if it's not soft it's all washboards
- 13.12 miles and 2500 feet of climbing
- only rideable at 6 AM - otherwise it'll be too hot!

How hot you ask? Is that enough?

2007-07-09T21:31:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Arizona, the State where you can go out at at 8 PM and sweat your ass off in 95 degrees. Why do people live here again?

13.000 without Power

2007-07-06T15:36:00.001-07:00

Big storm yesterday, and I felt like I was right in the middle. I'm pretty lucky lately!

It started with some big heavy raindrops, then we outrode the rain, but looking behind us was just scary. The wind caused an attack of the killer pinecones at Adam/BBeaver intersection, shortly after, huge amounts of sand blown in the face, while I tried to make my way around the branches that were all over the road. Then the rain caught me again, and I thought about looking for shelter at the bike shop. I got a little more concerned once I saw that big branch on the 300C on the side of the road, and the other smaller branch that fell down right in front of me. By the time I was on Benjamin I think most of the storm was over, and I only had to do a little road bike lawn job to one of the houses due to the huge tree that was accross the road. Since by that time I was soaked to the bone I thought I just ride it out... and by the time I was back home the sun was out again.

The Kona Kids are in the "D"

2007-07-05T21:12:00.001-07:00

I was looking forward to riding with Todd again on one of his downtown rides for a long time, and it finally worked out. There was a small timing conflict, which caused me to be pretty hungover and only getting 2 hours of sleep the night before the ride, but I made it. He showed us some great stuff, including the "Real Monster House". Holy Shit!

Some Kona Kids joined us along the way, and made it all the way without hurting themselfs. I kept wondering why you would wanna jump down a 4 foot drop when you have to even lift your bike up the wall in order to get there? Whatever, I think I showed off one of my best trackstand performances (which probably nobody noticed). "Chicks dig wheelies" - so I should start working on them...

Not me...

Not me either...

Yep, well, whatever, stop showing off man!!! (No, seriously, Matt, that was some cool stuff you did)...

Crispy rocking the stairs on the Boblo-Boat

So yes, that would be me in the corner there, looking all XCracer-boyish

Dale riding along

The whole gang (oh, and if you lost your shoe - we found it!)

All pictures taken by Brian Mitchell - thanks again!

What's next?

2007-07-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

Jim and I PIMP'd it out for 140.2 miles. We could have done another lap at Island Lake at the end to make it 150, but PIMPI just doesn't sounds as cool as PIMP.

That 10.5 h ride was simply sweet... perfect temps, fast trails and roads, a tailwind on the last leg and no mechanical problems. If you ride a bike you know what I mean.

Other participants: Adam who joined us for the first 70 miles, Bernie that we ran into by coincidence and showed us a new route up to Milford. And finally teammate Dan from the 2003 24-h Boyne race, that we haven't seen in a while, who rode the Milford-Pontiac section with us.

I'm pretty messed up today, but mostly due to lack of sleep last night. Somehow after a big ride I feel so good and happy that I don't wanna go to bed, but rather enjoy this feeling, so sleep had to be postponed.