Crusty Cassette

No, I don't mean the army corps of engineers flattened the old WhiteBird grade just for the ride. Craig, the Mountain (I'm not that tall), dropped me on Wawawaii Canyon a few weeks ago. I held him off on the Lewiston Grade last Saturday. But today was Craig's chance for revenge on his home ground. Sure enough when the ride leader said ride neutral to the bridge, the lead pack went out too fast for me and Craig went with them. I spent the first half of the ride trying to catch the pack and be with them when Craig backed off. I didn't make it of course. But I could see Craig riding just ahead of me with someone else. Every corner, I'd see them turning the next. I couldn't seem to make ground on the Mountain until one corner a couple of miles from the top revealed the Mountain ripping tube from tire. "That's Cruel's job," was the essence of my comment. I didn't let a fellow rider's bad luck stop me though. So, with the help of a flatted Mountain, I once more beat Craig to the top. Now I'm afraid to ride the next century with him. Ah, he's a sweet guy--he won't make me pay, much.

Cyclists Everywhere Linda, Corrie, Debbie, and Nikki drove to Grangeville Friday evening to stay at the Super 8. Nice motel, reasonable rates and a continental breakfast. We had a wonderful Mexican dinner at Palenque's though we couldn't find the room for the delectable Fried Ice Cream deserts we saw coming out of the kitchen. Sad.

At breakfast, a gentleman asked if we were touring. We were in our club jerseys, a dead giveaway that cyclists were about. Turns out he was taking a leisurely 90 days to ride from San Diego, through Utah, Idaho to British Columbia, then back to ride the Columbia River Gorge and the back along the cost to San Diego. He's takin it slow and looked at the dark clougds once before signing up for another night at the Super 8. Now that's a Largent pace.

More riders The four of us fought a head wind up the road from Grangeville and down the old WhiteBird grade to Hammer Creek. We struggled with the appropriate garb but settled for jackets and leggings, if we had them. Debbie, of course, had 'em and more. Dave D. passed us right at the summit. Debbie hailed him down and got a ride to Hammer Creek. She was cold despite the climb. She was also right. I was miserable all the way down the grade. Gold, stressed from watching the pavement for gravel, and generally stressed because I didn't want to be late for the start.

On the way down, we passed probably a dozen touring cyclists well-laden and spinning for all they were worth. I envied them their warmth. Linda reports that they were headed for Boston.

It is great to see so many cyclists on the road. It is good for our sport and for the health of the nation.

Speaking of Health I have to salute Nikki and Maureen for refusing to allow diabetes to keep them off their bikes. The daily hastle of managing that disease seems discouraging to me. Nikki found her calculations to off a bit with the extra mileage and the extra effort she was putting into the climb. She found herself with a hard bonk near the top of the grade. Pop and sucrose wafers got her to the finish line. High tech equipment reported that the blood sugar level was only coming up slowly. So, she opted to ride back to Hammer Creek with Dave D who brought her back Grangeville. She's fine and looking to ride the Lapwai loop with us tomorrow. Any other takers? 9:30 start at Southway.

I won't begin to be able to site all the riders we knew today. But I'll try.

Significantly, Chris did the hill in about 53 minutes. He had no flats but look at this pic of Chris and the newest tech to fight flats: The Green Tyre. Hey, he placed 5th!

Dave D, of course, rode the hill as well as did double duty as a sag wagon. Thanks Dave.

Lance hammered to a 10th place finish in 56 minutes.

Matt W. neglected to break a chain this week and so finished in just over 44 minutes. Took First place.

Wendy, Dave S. and Dave T rode the grade. Wendy is getting strong really quickly. Back must not have bothered you today.

Cliff continues to grow comfortable with his recumbent. Zipped right up that hill feet first. Very strange!

Share the Road and the Ride!

Check out the "Your Account" link under Members on the menu bar. Lots of cool things going on there.

1. You can change your email address and your password. If you do, let me know 'cause I'll have to put you back into the bloggers group before you can actually blog.
2. Don't want the world to see your e-mail address? You can have Conversant hide your real address and dispaly a fake.
3. Bookmarks: As you visit pages you can click the Add button on the menubar near the bottom to set a bookmark that will take you to this page from anyother page. No one else sees these bookmarks. This preferences shows you what those bookmarks look like. With a little effort you could add offsite links as well.
4. E-mail: Here you can tell CrustyCassette how to treat your email. Yes you can post to the blog or the discussion group with your email program. I'll tell you how below. If you can change font color, set bold and italic in your email client, then leave this setting checked to "no."

   If you can't you don't have an HTML capable email client. If you'd like your blogs to show color and bold, you'll want to set the preferences to "yes."

   The cool part is blogging with an HTML e-mail client means you can have fancy formatting without learning all that html I put in Blogging Tips.

5. Webserver preferences allow you to adjust the size of the editing window when adding a new message. This is not the window in |Weblog| however.
6. Want to read Crusty Cassettte in your email. Use this preference to make it happen. You can even decide whether to receive attachments and whether your email will be formatted or plain text.
7. Weblogs: Now you get to decide how deep that new message box is on the weblog. I made mine 10 rows deep. Gives me a bit more room. It is just pyschological, but I like seeing a bit more of my text at one time.

E-mail

So how do I send my posts to Crusty Cassette using email? First you need the email address: crustycassette-site@free-conversant.com Then you need to decide where it is going to go: If you are posting to the discussion board, then that's all you have to do. On the other hand, if you want it to appear on the weblog, you'll need to add the following first line. addToWeblog News That's it. I think if you reply to a message from CrustyCassette, it will automatically be added to the conversation in the Discussion Group so anyone may follow the conversation. Please remember that this is a public discussion group.

So users can post to the blog with email. Very cool!
Think anyone can figure out how to do this? I doubt it.

=====

Corrie Rosetti
Biking for the road of it!

crosetti@cableone.net
corrierosetti@yahoo.com


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posted by Steve Largent at 2:45 PM 10 Jun - 17 Jun Council Bluffs, Iowa to Pierre, South Dakota

11 Jun David suffers his 2nd flat outside Pacific Juntion, IO fortunately for him nearly in the yard of two curious young children who brought us water to drink and a tub of water for Dave to use in finding his flat. Council Bluffs was a bit of a disappointment; a strip mall kind of town which isn't pleasant in a car and offers little to a cyclist but overpasses and 4 lane roads without shoulders and with speeding motorized vehicles.

12 Jun 116.6 miles 8:46 Our first century of the trip! We had tailwinds for 40 miles, had a lunch and altered plans to allow for a century. Of course the wind shifted during lunch, so no more tail wind for the day! Of course I've been talking about a century since we started. Chris acquiesed, maybe just to get me to shut up! David's price for this was that we agree to stay in a church which he immediately got hold of and got approval to stay in; I don't believe he likes camping though he keeps saying he does! Chris made it with good color and didn't seem fatigued by the experience though he did complain about the miles. However, just after 100 miles, David hitched a ride on into town. It took all of 45 seconds for him to find a pickup willing to haul him in! He had the instructions for finding the church, announed he was hitching a ride in, and had his bike loaded on the pickup before I could pull out pen and paper to copy the notes! Sioux City is a nice town for cyclists; a central downtown, neat and clean.

13 Jun 51.4 miles 4:30 riding time Steve suffered his first flat of the tour today! Road construction caused a snake bite! Drats! David patiently waited until I had my flat fixed and back on the loaded touring bike while Chris rode on. David and I were rewarded with a real milk shake at a genuine old soda fountain in Elk Point, S.D. The flat after viewing a late opening Lewis-Clark museum caused us to get in at 5:55. Chris had sneaked into the National Guard Armory for a shower, and I quickly followed. David went in search of a motel, but some Elks or Eagles convention had the few motels in town full, so he settled for the Lions Park with Chris, me, and a couple other cycle tourists we enjoyed camping with.

14 Jun 03 70.3 miles 5:53 riding time After yesterday's late arrival in town, Chris & I were up by 5:30 and out of camp by 6:30 when David arose! He's usually first up, but he got lost in conversation with those tourists, or else the swarm of mosquitoes carried him away for a few hours of feeding, and he felt he needed the extra sleep. We found a helpful and competent bike shop in Yankton S.D. where I had my barely worn out chain replaced.

15 Jun 03 92.5 miles 7:01 riding time Arrived in Platt, S.D. today which is slightly off the Ac route. David suggested we alter the route slightly and pick up a few real towns which was a good idea, but once we left it, he and Chris had a disagreement on routes. I liked Chris route- more scenic but slightly longer so I rode with him. Great winds from the SxSE today as we head NW. David either tired out or just found a desireable spot where he stopped about 20 miles before the planned stop. Chris checked into a motel, and I wanted to check out the camping options, so rode into the heart of town where I met two college kids on tour. They were planning to set up tents in the city park. No showers there, so when asking which places were legal to put up tents, I asked if there was a garden hose we could use to shower. New idea for the college kids who hadn't had a shower in a couple of days. Now I'm a hereo in to people's eyes! Believe it or not, they had tuna fish and crackers for dinner on tour! I declined the offer to eat with them, but I should have offered to buy more food at the store. Their budge allows $10 a day in expenses!

16 Jun 03 82.2 miles 6:16 riding time Enjoyed talking to the college kids this morning before leaving. Met another tourist this morning just outside of Platt as we got back on the AC route. Another Dave. He tried to talk us into riding with him, but he's supported and travels 75 miles a day. We enjoyed his company for about 40 miles and shared lunch. David was still behind us, and we wanted to see him. He caught us about an hour after lunch. We had great tail winds today, and extended the ride. David stayed in Chamberlain, S.D. but didn't want to go on! We wanted to take advantage of a great tail wind while it was available, so we went on.

17 Jun 03 90 miles 8:00 riding time Well, the tail winds were over today! Head winds and steep grades up to the plateau followed by descents back to the Missouri characterized the day! It was hot, and I ran out of water. I did go for my first swim in the Missouri. Chris took a short cut into Pierre. David got discouraged trying to catch us in the head wind and caught a ride most of the way into Pierre.

18 Jun 03 layover day in Pierre, S.D. Viewed the state capitol. I worked all morning on "the plan". We have had no master plan of where and when we'd be staying. Since I have to National Guard drills, that isn't acceptable though Chris' best guess did basically work to get us into Kansas City. With National Guard scheduled for 12-13 Jul in Missoula it looks like we'll be arriving in Salmon, ID on 13 Jul and I need to make alternate arrangements with the Guard! There are some desolate areas in MT ahead of us!

Chris let his web-site fall way behind for a while, but he has it up to date with a photo of each day for anyone wanting to check it out.

Happy Cycling for Fun, Fitness, and Transportation!