In my world, bad is good...so I am fired up!!!

Recent Course Report by the Race Director of the Trans-Iowa IV:
03/30/08: The course has been locked in and we will be providing some timing details and mileages soon. For now you can check out my report here. I can say that the final mileage will put it right at the longest course I have ever plotted for a Trans Iowa. (Only V2 was planned as a longer course, but no one even got into the second half of that one) I can also say without question that it is the toughest course we have come up with so far. One of the reasons for the length is the re-route I had to do to get us into Decorah and avoid the Decorah Time Trials being held the same day we finish on. The toughness comes in that there are less flats and the ravages of winter have left much of the course in very poor shape. (Other parts are in excellent shape) Weather will determine how poor things are or are not for T.I.V4...As my dear students' like to say: SWEET!!!!

THE UNFEELING ONES

“They have loss their ability to feel.” -Washington Post.

“They were so devoid of feeling—it was devastating, yet I couldn’t put it down.” –Harvard Literary Review

“The antagonist, Hondo, in the scene where he has his tongue removed, I wept the tears of all humanity.” –The New York Times

“Eki, the sensible one, I submit, was the most tragic figure, he gave all of it up, all his love, all his emotions, and everything was sacrificed for the road. At the end there is nothing left only hollowness and the endless chafing…Farrow is a genius, yet so grim and so pessimistic… truly a great first literary effort.” –Chicago Sun-Times

"This his first novel, The Unfeeling Ones—through this story of two ordinary men who unwittingly get drawn into a senseless bike race across the barrens of Iowa, Farrow explores the underbelly of amateur cycling in what he terms“the nakedness of men faced with the absurd.”

-Yale Journal of Literature

Feeding the Rat: Itz over...with fours weeks to go...for me itz all about the rest and recovery...if you are still training after Sunday, March 30...U gonna be a hurtin' cowboy!!!!

Riding the Saint Louis River!!!

I had a great long solo ride today...between heaven and earth, or more specifically on the Saint Louis River...It was great...The sun was out blazing, so snow and ice were outstandingly bright white and silver with bluish hues...I daydreamed that I was on a silver road journeying to Nirvana...Duluth, what a great place to live!!! Given my bouts with dementia, it did not occur to me, until I was back on terra-firma, that the ice may not be safe and that fact may have been why I was so completely alone...so it goes!!!! At least I am safe from those evil North Koreans or at least for the time being, while G.W. is at the helm!!!!

An Open Invitation...

Dear Dave Simons and other friends, et al: ...Spencer K and I are in the very early stages of putting together a trip from my house (in Duluth) up to Grand Marais and then over to Ely and then loop back to Duluth; initially following the North Shore "multi-use" trail, and then other MN DNR trails (paid for by the good tax-payers of the state of Minnesota). In a symbolic gesture of tolerance and civility, we have generously decided to allow snowmobilers to share the trail with us w/o a permit...We are looking at the four or five days between Christmas and New Years...The goal is to go 300+ miles!!!! You are welcome to join us, as is anybody else out there...Dave: the lack of sleep that you will soon experience as a new daddy with make for great training!!! Mark your calendar and start training...as there is so many adventures and yet so little time :)

Fondly, Charlie

ps Everything I do in life is in preparation for that epic ride I'm gonna take from Anchorage to Nome!!!!

Spending time in the Team Marat hurt tank...

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Marat, friend of Robespierre, Jacobin deputy to the Convention, hard core endurofreak-cyclist and editor-in-chief of L'Ami du Peuple, was a fiery orator; he was also a violent man, quick to take offense. Some saw him as an intransigent patriot; for others he was merely a hateful demagogue On July 13, 1793, a young Royalist from Caen, Charlotte Corday, managed, by a clever subterfuge, to gain entry into his apartment. When Marat agreed to receive her, she stabbed him in his bathtub (hence the 'hurt tank', where he was accustomed to sit hour after hour treating the disfiguring skin disease from which he suffered due to hours upon hours in the saddle.

Feeding the Rat:

“You don’t get a Hondo.” Got me a long ride in today, even spent some practice time in the proverbial Marat hurt tank which is a good thing cuz in five weeks time, I’ll be in the hurt tub up to my eye-balls…

There is nothing healthy or even productive regarding riding ones bike all over Iowa...so count me in!!!

**************************************************************************************************************************************************Feeding the Rat: When a fine, family oriented, all American, healthy hobby turns into an addictive obsession on the fringe of lunacy. The underbelly of amateur cycling in the Northland; what they don’t tell ya about in the fitness and cyclist magazines. Eki and I left Duluth today @ 3:30 this morning to embark on yet another DBD march to folly. The core defining moments of the ride involved a very long and arduous series of climbs complete with a significant headwind. Given my zealous willingness to help out the nice people at The Brewhouse @ Fitgers the night before in their efforts to distribute their Bock-style ales to the locals (a stout yeasty heavenly elixir that is brewed from the by-products of the Spring annual scrapping of the beer barrels…A cautionary note: Bock is not a recommended beverage for the novice or the serious intellectual), combined with Eki’s sheer youthful strength and enthusiasm, I found myself in a bit of a struggle as I floundered up the unrelenting hills. To Eki’s credit, sensing my weakness, generously pulled me along and saved my day. Happily, after about thirty minutes of following closely behind Eki’s wheel, I bounced back to some degree and while unable to give my fair share at the front, I was able to get back enough of the old fire to laugh and make merriment with my good friend as the diesel trucks tried haphazardly to kill us… Later in the day, I had to take my off-spring to a birthday party that also required assisting with ten+ hyper kids at a local bowling alley. I was so worn out from the DBD workout, that I could hardly walk. I could see that the other parents were thinking, “That poor little Sophie Farrow, her Dad is so old and feeble.” Or, “Who is that old duffer, is that Sophie’s grandfather?” Or, “Has that slightly confused elderly man with little Sophie had a recent stroke.” Or, “Are our children safe with the frail looking odorous man in the building?” So it goes….Healthy or not, productive or counterproductive; We are getting totally pumped for the Trans-Iowa IV

To be snubbed...it never gets any less painful :(

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Snub \Snub\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Snubbed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Snubbing.] [Cf. Icel. ssnubba to snub, chide, Sw. snubba,
Icel. snubb[=o]ttr snubbed, nipped, and E. snib.]
1. To clip or break off the end of; to check or stunt the
growth of; to nop.
2. To check, stop, or rebuke, with a tart, sarcastic reply or
remark; to reprimand; to check. --J. Foster.
3. To treat with contempt or neglect, as a forward or
pretentious person; to slight designedly.
To snub a cable or rope (Naut.), to check it suddenly in
running out. --Totten.

Context is always important, but especially so when describing the act of being snubbed. Itz a beautiful sunny day and the snow is hard packed, I have the whole trail to myself, I am whistling the theme from Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat as I easily spin down the Amity Trail. Out far ahead I see a young, fit looking man running towards me. He's way out, but the trail is straight and so we can both see each other. As I approach, I am cognizant of his apparent athletism as manifested in an efficient running gait. We are close now, so I begin to consider my greeting, should I go with the standard, "Beauty day, eh?" or may be I'll go with the oldie but goodie, "You're looking strong!" But then...In an instant, before I can surmise a rationale and then submit an appropriate pleasantry, he's within but a few meters...Our eyes meet...we lock onto each other's eyes, the gateway to our souls. The eyes of two predators at the top of the food-chain. For that nano-second, we are but two kindred spirits, for we share the whole history of humanity; with all its trials and tribulations, with all the joys and horrors of history. Two men alone for that singular moment in space and time. For me the honesty is too much, so I blurt out, "How we doing?" The young lean face looks more deeply into my eyes and then abruptly turns away and SNUBS ME!!!! It was a full-on totally in-your-face-disgrace SNUB!!! I was in shock, so all I could muster was a meek, "Whatever!" in such a girly voice that I doubt he even heard it...so it goes...

Feeding the Rat: 3 hours and 37 minutes...

Lone wolf on a cold night!

I rode three magical hours tonight finishing just a little after midnight...I stayed on the local trails, but in complete solitude...it was very cold, but it was worth it!!!!

I love Duluth, especially in winter!!!

Four Men left to battle the Alaskan Wilderness...

Real Men alone in the northern lats...

Carl Hutchings

Jay Petervary

Rocky Reifendstuhl

Peter Basinger

Grim desolation rocks!!!

I find that as I grow older, I am increasingly captivated by the absurdity of it all...therefore since itz suppose to be brutally cold tomorrow night (maybe the last sub-zero night of the season), I may leave at midnight and try and bike thru the night...in pursuit of folly!!!!

Primer on Self-Supported Races

I love races that require a guy to deal with it on his/her own. No one out there but just the other fellas...it reminds me of the purity that can exist in the mountains. The way it should be--A couple of guyz decide that they are gonna try and climb a mountain...they train hard, they plan, and then they either make it or they don't...it means a lot to the guyz, but it don't mean nothing to nobody else...and thatz a good thing...itz kinda like being nice to other folks, not cuz it might get ya in good with the Big Guy upstairs, no a guy should be nice to other people cuz itz the right thing to do!!!!

Hondo...Hondo...Hondo...!

Feeding the rat: 6 + hours: 5 and then some on the bike and 1 and then some skiing with offspring...Hondo!!! Week #13: total of 14.1 hours...had me a good week!!!!