Riding with Hellmut.

This first picture is todays topic. 

The same day I was plagued by flats.

I don't understand where these photos are on the big black hole of the clouds and the internet. Somehow, and don't ask me how I managed to put them down on this blog and I hope they stay put here. I have a lot to figure out and I think this time, with the crisis, I will be able to. 

As y'all know the Slender Fungus had/has a a deep involvement with all things considered Trans Iowa. My training buddy Hellmut and I would routinely go on some pretty epic rides. We always thought how to make it the hardest posible so we would "temper" ourselves with the Spring Classic known as Trans Iowa. 

We both lived in quiet, unassuming town in the midwest called Sycamore. My house was typically the place of meeting, eating, thanks to wifey and departure. 

On this particular day the winds were blowing like insane out of the east. 25-30mph sustained winds. So we decided to head west to the Rock River in Oregon, IL. It is exactly 33 miles one way. We basically followed rte 64 all the way but the catch was we could not ride on the pavement. We had to ride on the gravel shoulder the whole way. 

I remember riding my Gunnar crosshairs and at the time I had those green Michelin tires, the ones kids lust over now. I flatted a million times that day and cursed those tires to hell and back a few times. Between our 8 eyes we were able to finally find a microscopic wire that had embedded itself in the tread. When pumped it changed angles and slowly ate away at the fragil innertube. 

We must have arrived to Oregon in less than 2 hours with the tailwind and all. WE laughed and hollered how much fun it was and how we were going to get spanked on the way back. We stopped at the BlackHawk Statue and then started on the way back. The moment we turned our faces eastbound we knew we were in trouble. The laughing was gone. Were we really that stupid? I guess so. 

We struggled with the wind and made no progress. Of course Hellmut was silent and that didn't help matters. At some point our bodies hurt bad and that is where image #1 comes into play. We took refuge in that ditch. We ate some food and hit the flask a couple times. 

We actually got comfortable and thought about staying there until the winds would subside. But that was not going to happen anytime soon. All of a sudden we heard a large vehicle come to a skidding stop on the gravel shoulder, inmediately a door slam as we look up a terrified gentleman approaches us. 

"Are you alright?", he shouted. The poor man had seen us in the ditch, laying there and thought we had gotten hit by a vehicle. We apologized for scaring him but told him we were just resting from the wind. He offered several times to take us home but at the same time we both answered a no thank you. 

He left at ease knowing we were fine. That gave us energy to continue and on it was to make it back to Sycamore. There were no places to take a break again and at some point we were hiding behind a tree for a few minutes. 

We arrived home with 33 miles covered in 3.5 hours. We were trashed but happy to have gotten another "good" ride in. I am happy, real happy to have found these photos. The first one means a lot to me. I remember that day so well. Hellmut was amazing that day. I would just look at him and laugh. I knew inside he was cursing me but no one would ever know. 

thanks for reading,

Ari