So, I get to go out to California and do not one but two races at the Sea Otter Classic. I’m going to do the cross country mountain bike race, and the Super D. Super D is “combination of fast fire road descents and a few short double track climbs.Super D is a LeMans-style, mass start race”, with that description, how can it not be fun? Specialized is supplying my bike, team kit, etc, etc, sadly I’ll only be keeping the jersey and shorts. While in California I’ll be doing the Specialized Bicycle Component University the 4 days before the Sea Otter weekend. I’ll get to ride, learn, and be immersed in Specialized’s high end bikes for 4 days, then racing and hanging out at Sea Otter. Kyle went last year and has been helpful in getting me ready, and telling me what to expect. I’ll be gone April 8-16th. I will return with stories and pictures.

In other news commuting is going well, but chilly. The Tricross is awesome, and the Roval wheels are hanlding the weight and abuse well. Training for TransIowa is trucking along, I need to ride more but I’ve been working too much. Night rides maybe the solution, but I don’t know. I guess that’s all the news from me.

Stupid weather. If you haven’t noticed, it’s still pretty chilly outside. Our Wednesday ride had 7 hearty people show up and give it ago. Honestly, once you got out there and warmed up, it wasn’t too bad. Not the most fun ever, but better than a trainer for the hundredth time. From here on out we’re going to attempt to ride outside. Next week the weather is supposed to be better, so hopefully we get more people riding. Remember ladies: we’re having a clinic just for you. Scroll down a little for more information.

No blogging for a while due to not much to talk about. This is until recently. Yesterday I had the first half of the day off, so I went up to Ames to ride unicycle with a friend of mine. It was two hours of awesomeness. I really gotta ride that thing more. Finally the weather has broken, the time has moved forward, and I have started commuting via bicycle. It’s pretty awesome. Wednesday the ride should be outside, which is good because I’m really really sick of the trainer. Training for TransIowa has been a plodding, not so fun project. Mostly because I’ve been grinding it out inside. On March 24th, Paul Jacobson is hosting a TransIowa training ride with a few routes, including a 150 miler. Here’s all the details: he’s calling it the Sloppy Oppressive Sludgefest. Makes ya wanna go out and ride huh? I’m gonna give it a shot. I guess that’s all the news about/from me right now. Keep crankin’.

Seriously. Our Wednesday Ride is going outside this week for the first time this year. It’s going to have to be a shorter ride because it gets dark fairly early still, but riding outside is always a good time. As in the past, meet out front around 5:30 and we’ll get riding around 5:45 or so. All ages and abilities welcome, we should have three groups according to ability.

Ladies mark your calendars

Irwin’s is hosting a totally free women’s maintenance clinic on Wednesday March 28th at 6pm. It should be over around 7. We’ll cover things such as changing a tire, basic cleaning and upkeep, lubrication, and other minor adjustments.  RSVP via phone (270-8304) or email (info@irwinsbikes.com) just so we have an idea of how many are coming and what kind of space we’ll need. It’s not required, so if you’re not sure, or hear about this at the last minute, just show up. If you are planning on attending, RSVP-ing would help us out.

It very well could be. As you hopefully know, this weekend daylight saving time starts and we set our clocks ahead an hour. This means that it’s going to be staying light until about 7pm. With any luck the weather will cooperate and we might be able to ride outside on Wednesdays from here on out. We’ll have to play it by ear. Check here and Bike Iowa for updates as the time approaches.

Bring your bike in now for a spring tune up. Once the weather fully turns, we’ll have a bunch to do.