Unofficial Steve Sighting

Found this picture of Steve (I think) on the Internet...

Hwood makin' em pay...

zip 'er up there, big guy.

And Big D had a nice showing with 1 first, 2 seconds, and 2nd overall. Nice...and leading the ROY race.

Wed. 5/28/08

We had a huge crew last night (16, I think), plus we added Jeff and Big D out on the road. I'm not going to even try to remember all the names (you know who you are). Marty mapped out the ride beforehand, but was scared to attempt the ride himself. The pace was above average as we headed out of town (I guess with this many people there is bound to be some oneupmanship). As we rolled toward Salem Corners, Jim took off quite a ways out, but held off the group to take the sign. From there the hurt was on, as we continued to Rock Dell. I was on the back trying to pull the group together, so I have no idea who took the town sign. We finally started to regroup at the top of the climb to the south of Rock Dell. But as we turned onto hwy 30 and into the wind, the group quickly split again. We turned north on cty 15 (about the same time as a group of Recyclers were coming from the other direction on hwy 30). And again the pace stayed high, until we stopped to formally regroup at cty 104. From there the group stayed together as we headed back into town. As the group headed north to the shop, I turned into more wind and headed for home.

Here is the route (sort of):



I really hope this pace is not the start of things to come...

Tue. 5/27/08

Had time to sneak in a quick 20 miles from home. Winds out of the ENE, so headwind out and tailwind back. Need to double check my right shoe cleat, it feels like my right foot is slightly more forward than my left. No wonder I keep pedaling around in circles...

Sat. 5/24/08

Well the morning started out in the low 50s with light winds, but as the day went on the winds picked up to 20-30mph and the temps got into the lower 70s. I started the ride out on the cool side, but warmer up after the first few miles. With the winds expected to increase throughout the day we headed NE. Out of town on cty 9, then north on cty 11 and east into Potsdam. Then northward onto Millville. Boy, the road down into Millville is nice and smooth. Dr. Tim smoked everyone for the coveted Millville town sign. From there we turned along the river and headed for Hammond. The wind really was starting to swirl around in the valley and it seemed like you could never really find a good draft. About this time, Jeff noticed that Bruce's shorts were a bit thin and the comments started to fly. I won't get into too much detail, but Beebe interjected some doozies. I had promised myself I wasn't going to mention any of this, but I couldn't help myself.



Anyway, I did think of a solution for Bruce:









Well, back to the ride. After Hammond, we headed for hwy 63, then north toward Chef-Tel's and west on cty 7 for Mazeppa. We stopped in Mazeppa for water and then continued west to Pine Island, where we stopped again for more water and food. After a nice round of bananas and doughnuts, we hit the Douglas Trail for Rochester. By now the winds were really starting to pick up, so the shelter of the trail was much appreciated. Once in town Trevor and I turned east towards our homes, while the rest of the group continued back to Dunn Brothers South. The last few miles in the open wind were brutal, but I made it home. I finished the day with almost 83 miles.

Great ride guys (Jeff, Big Jim, Jim T., Beebe, Terry, Trevor, Dr. Tim, Eric, myself, and of course Bruce).

Here's the route:

Thur. 5/22/08

Just had time for a quick out and back from home tonight. With the light winds out of the NE, I had a headwind on the way out and nice tailwind on the way back. My legs felt a bit heavy at first (probably because of last nights ride). But they warmed up and as I turned around (with the tailwind remember), I turned it up a notch. Light traffic and no sign of Steve...

Wed. 5/21/08

Let's see if I can remember everyone's name from the Wednesday Erik's ride. Steve, Marty, Todd, Tom, Tim B., Jim, Sam, Paul, Paul (new), Aaron, John (new), Al, and myself. How's that? We had north winds from between 10 and 15 mph, so we headed north to Oronoco. Tom and Sam battled it out for the non-existant town sign. I'm not sure who won (or when). From there we headed toward Mazeppa. On the way, Sam went (again) for the county sign, I think Al chased. We turned just before Mazeppa and headed to Pine Island, but not before Sam went for the county sign (since it was not on the official route, no points were awarded). The group took turns as we wound our way to PI. Just before town we passed a group going the opposite direction. Someone thought they saw Jeff in there (but no Steve). As we neared town on the climb into PI, someone yelled for us to "take it easy at the top". I assumed to regroup. But as we crested the hill, here come the usual suspects for the town sign sprint. I need to understand the definition of "take it easy"... Anyway, we regrouped and continued into town and then south out of town on cty 3. With a nice tailwind, the pace stayed nice and high. We turned south on cty 5 and up "Palmer's hill", from there the pace stayed high all the way to Douglas. At this point everyone got into the town sprint action, with Marty winning it (I think). Again, Todd did most of the work. We turned east and headed back to the hwy 52 frontage road, then south and west abit. And finished up on 50th Ave and the Douglas trail.

Great ride everyone...



See you next week.

Tue. 5/20/08

Bill and I did the 20 mile out-and-back route from my house. With the strong NNW winds we had a nice tail wind all the way out, followed by a nice steady head wind back into town. Nothing major to report, but it sure seemed like the traffic was lighter than usual.

Sat. 5/17/08

We had 10 to start our Saturday ride. With winds out of the NNW and predicted to pick up during the ride we decided to do the Windmill route backwards. So we headed out from Dunn Brothers going west to Salem Corners. There Dave and Tom slugged it out for the town sign, I think Dave took it. We regrouped and continued west and then turned north to Byron. Where again, Dave and Tom went at it, this time I think Tom was the victor. We regrouped again and turned west on the frontage road out of Byron, heading to Kasson. Tom went again for the Kasson sign and I went with, but I didn't have the right gear (or the legs) and Tom won the sign. Dave, Tom, and Sam turned and headed south and then back to Rochester, while the rest of us continued west to Dodge Center. We thought Bruce might have went with those guys, but he had stopped to chat with Dave and eventually caught us at the Kwik Trip in Dodge Center. After a quick refuel stop, we headed south on hwy 56 (man, does that road need to be resurfaced), where the pace picked up (as usual). We held a nice pace all the way to cty 4, where we turned east. Now we had pretty stiff crosswinds, so we got into some nice pace lining. And the group kept it together for a nice stretch, until a fiesty little farm dog came at us and broke up the group. He chased for quite awhile and made one last attempt at Jim T's ankle, then went home. We continued east into Rock Dell and then turned north (into the wind). By now the ride was starting to take it out on pretty much all us, except Bruce and Jim P. So, we let them do most of the work on the windy sections. We turned east at Salem Corners and headed east to Rochester. Jim P. turned off at cty 104 and headed for home, while the rest continued into town. There were a number of riders out on this stretch of road as we neared town. Dr. Tim turned north as we got to Circle Drive and the 4 remaining riders made our way back to Dunn Brothers. I headed home from there.

Here's the route:



Great ride guys (Dr. Tim, Dave, Beebe, Jim T., Big Jim P., Jeff G., Sam, Tom, and Bruce).

Millar

Now that's a bike throw...

Kinda reminds me of Steve (or Jeff).

Wed. 5/14/08

We started with 9 riders from Eric's (Steve, Marty, Todd, Tom, Al, Paul, Kristi, Jim, and myself). We headed for Douglas via the Douglas Trail. As we pedaled along we picked one guy on the trail (didn't catch his name). When we got to Douglas we picked up Big Jim P. and a friend of Tom's named James (now we had three Jims). Jeff S. also somehow managed to find us at Douglas, as well. So now the group had swelled to 13 riders as we headed for the Genoa hill. Jim and I were out front when we received the first of three "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Awards" (FFFoFA) from one of the local folks. We politely waved back (several times). The pace stayed pretty hard as we headed uphill. Kristi and the un-named guy turned and went on to finish their own workouts, while the rest of us headed toward Mantorville. Jeff and Todd decided we weren't going fast enough, so the pace picked up. We rolled into Mantorville with Steve winning the town sprint sign (with a smart lead-out by Marty, not really). We stormed up the hill out of Mantorville and headed to Byron past the golf course. Here we encountered our second FFFoFA from an adouring fan. Now it was Big Jim's turn to make everyone suffer as we motored along at 25+ mph. After a regroup and some more civilized riding pace miles. Tom took a long sprint to get the Byron sign, with Jeff and group in hot pursuit. We headed north abit and then back east through Byron. And then turned north again until we got back to Valleyhigh Road. We followed that all the way back to town. Jim P. headed north as we got back to cty 3 and he headed for home. The rest of us made our way back to town and the group followed the Douglas Trail north back to Eric's. I continued into town past Silver Lake (where I received my own personal FFFoFA). Then past RCC and finally home.

Here is the route:



Great ride everyone and thanks Jim for hurting my legs...

Sat. 05/10/08

*** Offical Steve Sighting ***

Yes, we did see Steve today, but not on a bike. He was driving his car to the supermarket or some such place.

Anyway, we started the ride with 7 guys (Terry, Tim, Jim, Jeff, Al, Dr. Tim, and myself). We headed to Simpson on cty 1, then we turned east toward Marion. We looped through town a bit to stay off hwy 52 and then we headed south on cty 19. Almost got taken out by some guy who wasn't watching where he was going and crossed over the centerline. We headed west on hwy 30 to Stewartville, where a city-wide garage sale was going on (maybe that is where Steve was heading?). Anyway, no one volunteered to pull the sweet lawn mower I found there home for me. We stopped at Casey's for some water and then continued west to High Forest. We passed a number of bikers heading east on cty 6. Martin was with them and yelled something smart as we went by. Jeff yelled something equally smart right back. No time for a "war with words", we headed to High Forest and then north on cty 8. With a tailwind, the pace picked up all the way to town with everyone getting in on the fun. Then everyone turned and headed for home.

Here's the route:



Great ride guys.

Wed. 5/7/08

Hit the Wednesday Eric's ride again. There were 8 riders this week (Marty, Jim, Sam, Todd, Tom, Al, Corbin and myself). With the stiff NNE winds (20+ mph), we decided to use the Douglas trail north out of town. That way we got a nice shelter from the winds. Once we got to Pine Island, we decided to tack on the Roscoe loop. What a beautiful stretch of road! We had a nice pace going until Tom took off for the Roscoe sign (which he won, closely followed by Sam, Jim, and Al). Even though it was a brown sign, I guess we'll count it. We turned south at Roscoe and continued a nice steady pace. I think Todd wanted to go faster, but Marty cracked the whip and Todd had to obey. We continued south when we got to cty 11, then we turned east on cty 24 (and into some head-cross winds). Tom (again) launched as we got close to the county sign. Jim and I went with, but were too far back to close the gap in time. As we got close to PI, the pace picked up on the climb, we then regrouped just in time for the sprinters to attack the PI town sign. I'm not sure who actually won it as I turned south on cty 3 while they faught it out. We regrouped (again) and headed south on cty 3. We made our way toward Douglas, where (you guessed it) the sprint was on. Jim and I had Sam and Tom marked, so when Sam launched I went with. Al followed and pulled around, so I jumped on his wheel. When he was out of gas I went around to go for the sign, but I was too far from the sign and out of the corner of my eye I see Todd (in full aero position) steaming by with Marty smartly tucked on his back wheel. Unfortunately, Marty won the final sign sprint. So we had to listen to him crowing about his sprinting prowess all the way into town. We hit the Douglas trail for the final stretch back to Eric's. As we got closer to town we noticed a couple riding up ahead. We were rolling along at around 21 mph and the gap was coming down pretty fast, when the guy must have noticed us coming. I won't mention the club jersey he was wearing, but the initials were P.C., anyway as he turned up the pace the wife or girlfriend (soon to be ex-wife or ex-girlfriend) began falling off the back. It was interesting to watch the "race" mentality overtake this guy while riding on the Douglas trail. Just enjoy the ride, buddy. Anyway, we turned off the trail as we got to 41st street and headed back to Eric's. I hope the P.C. guy slowed down for his significant other...

Here's our route:



Great ride everyone.

BTW, I then had to tack on another 10 miles to home as the sun was fast going down.

Also, no sign of Steve (maybe he was wearing the P.C. jersey?).

Mon. 5/5/08

I had some things to do after work and got a later start on my ride, so I just did the 20 mile out-and-back route. Felt good the whole way. Passed 5 others out enjoying the nice temps and light winds.

No sign of Steve, though...

Way to go, Big D...

Is that Steve getting piped, again?

Wed. 4/30/08

I tried the ride from Eric's for the first time. We had 9 total riders, all about the same level of riding and speed. Since we were starting so far NW and with the wind direction (ESE at about 20mph), we headed north, east, south, and then west. With temps in the low 60s and the clouds moving in, I'm glad I put a warm base-layer on and wore my knee-warmers. On the way out, Marty missed a turn and we had to head out on 18th Ave, then onto Oronoco. We headed east a bit, until we got to Power Dam road where we headed north again. Then east on cty 7 and up that nice long climb (against the wind) to Chef-Tel's. Who BTW, happened to be out in the yard (picking up after the dog no doubt). We yelled some discouraging words and were off, heading south on hwy 63 (and into the wind). The group turned on 247 and headed back toward Oronoco, while I continued south (by myself and into the wind). At 75th St, I headed east. There I passed a group of cyclists coming down the hill back toward town. I continued until I got to cty 11 and headed south (into the wind) and to home.

Here is the route:



Great ride Marty, Steve, Jim, Aaron, Craig, Todd, Sam, and Paul.

I did pass Steve (I think) out there, here's a picture:



No sign of Jeff...I hope he's in better shape than Steve.