FABRAD got started a day early for a few of us. The Kernel and Briman took of early in the morning of the 4th in Mark's truck to paint the route. Green and pink arrows (along with nifty laminated signs) showed the turns for the riders. Gregg, Dirk-Billy and myself left 69th street at 7am (or shortly thereafter) to ride the route since we'd be helping and unable to ride the next day. The three of us had a nice ride into Iowa, up the hills leading to Inwood, down the Loooooooooooooooooooooooooong descent into Canton, and then back home.
On the way home near Lake Alvin we stopped to stretch and saw a curious sight-- a man riding a hybrid bike that looked all sorts of the wrong size for him. The reason was made clear a mile down the road, as we saw a nice lady pushing a road bike. We quickly determined that she had swapped bikes with her husband (who was riding back to Canton to get a vehicle). She had no spare equipment(people please, carry a spare tube -- you'll always find someone to change your tire for you, but not always someone to donate patches/tubes), so I donated a tube and a bit of expertise to fix her flat and let her ride home. A few missteps slowed my flat-changing time, and the arrival of 4 riders on CPC training ride didn't help much. Dustin did show me a trick I didn't know for helping keep the bead on the rim which will be helpful in the future.
The CPC boys took off while I was still cleaning up and re-mounting my bike and I decided to catch them. The long steep downhill into Lake Alvin provided an opportunity for gravity to work in my favor and I shot past, keeping the momentum going uphill. When the 4 caught up at the golf course I hopped on with them for a VERY fast few miles back to Sioux Falls. I don't want to say those speeds are commonplace for me, but I was in control, HR reasonable and was ready/willing to do more. If I can keep up the weight loss going through the offseason (which I didn't do this past year) I'd like to join the team next year and go to a few races.
Post ride I returned a call from Josh, who bought my old road bike. It seems he was riding Friday morning also when his rear derailleur came off (we're not sure if the hangar broke or the derailleur broke or the screws came undone-- more details to follow). I spent the rest of the afternoon in recovery.
Friday night Kari came over and we suited up and rode downtown to meet Gregg, el presidente and the first lady. We had some excellent food at the diner, then rode our bikes around the trail to watch the fireworks.
See... I had this vision that we'd be practically alone and have a great seat to watch the show. Well, 300+ other people (most of whom brought fireworks to blow up right next to us) also came. It was chaos, and I was glad to leave(see more of the story on Kirk's blog)
Saturday we woke up, stopped at Hy-Vee for energy drinks and FABRAD snacks (people love some snickers out on the road) and then drove down to Cherry Rock park. Kari got registered for FABRAD and found Amy to start the ride. I found Kirk, Mark's truck (to run the food stop) and we were ready to roll. After Kirk's short speech (be safe and stuff) the riders were off.
Kirk and I high-tailed it out to the rest stop at Lake Alvin, passing the main bunch of riders on the way. CPC was leading out a large group of riders into strong headwinds (20-25mph). The lead train didn't stop for refreshments, but most of the remaining riders were happy to stop for a chat
Mark and Eric talk to the Prez
Energy Gu from Kyle A. (Spoke-n-Sport's mechanical support)
An interview with KDLT (the sisters from Iowa)
or like Craig, a quick repair from Danny T. (Two Wheeler Dealer)
I should point out that while Kari and Amy were the last riders on the 100k route to come in, they were still in great spirits (rumors of crazy women singing while going uphill were heard more than once).
KDLT sent one of their reporters out to do a story about FABRAD. Their reporter did a great job (the story played at 6 and 10) but their website leaves quite a bit to be desired.
WARNING: Rant ahead The video is already gone (and attempts to link to it failed-- they don't have permanent links available) and the story is about to scroll off the page. I'm really disappointed that in 2008 they are unable or unwilling to do simple things like post content with a permanent link (so I can send a link to friends and family) and leave it online for people to view later. Sure there's a slight cost in disk space and bandwidth, but it would drive traffic to their website for weeks to come. Instead, I can't direct people to view the news clip any longer.
I did record the news on my DVR-- but again, that does me little good. Without taking extraordinary measures, mom (who's vacationing in Boston) won't ever see the story. The old media companies and cable companies are so slow to embrace the internet-- they only see people viewing the story/show online (rather than live on their TV) as a threat to their business model. They need to change with the times-- my generation doesn't want to watch the news from 10 to 10:30. I want to check the website, find a couple key items that interest me, read the story/view the video, and move on with my day. Similar to the plight of many newspapers, the media and news companies need to come up with alternative ways to monetize an audience -- selling commercials for TV shows and the nightly news might not last more than 5-10 more years.
1 comment:
Your write up was worth the wait Matt. And, I totally agree with your assesment of the media and their distinct lack of foresite regarding their news reporting, and the internet. I haven't sat through the entire news at 10 for a very long time. Weather, top stories maybe, then I'm outta there.
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