Cranksgiving

JS and I participated in Cranksgiving today,what a blast. I picked up JS and we headed over to Mars Cafe on University where the race started. We were there early so we had coffee and hot chocolate before we registered. I would say that there were about 100 bikers in all. About 5 minutes before 1 all of the participants had to place their bikes by the "garages" and then go and stand next to the wall. There we were given our list of "12" items that needed to be purchased from "12" different stores. JS and I were not even going to try to make a race of this we were aiming for DFL. Once "GO" was said you ran to your bike and away you went. Did I mention that it was snowing pretty good at this time. I am not exactly sure where we were going so I just followed JS, and went where she went. You could not help but get into the spirit of the adventure. We would ride and run from place to place. It was fun watching the people reaction to all of "those" cyclist. It almost looked like RAGBRAI was in town at some stops there were bikes everywhere. I had the BOB trailer so we piled the heavy items on that and put the rest in our backpacks. On the way back to Mars cafe we decided it was to cold to try and get DFL so we unpacked our stash and went in to warm up.

All of the items collected are to be given to the Food Bank of Iowa. It was great to see so many familiar faces, they had a great turn out and had some great prizes to give away, JS won a gift certificate to a place in Ames, and I won a 12 pack of Bud Light. JS had just said to me "You are going to win the beer", I replied "Probably" then they picked my name. I told JS and JH that it was beer for next weeks Jingle Cross.

This is just a very quick over view but they say that a pic is worth 1000 words so just check out the pics below and you will see for yourself how much fun we had.

Just a quick note there are 4 Julies' that bike it is great if we are all together and someone asks our name and we all say Julie, or if someone yells "Julie" and we all look. There is Julie Ann, Julia Ann, Julie Anne and Julie Ruth. otherwise known as JS, JG, JH AND JV.



JH enjoying herself



JS being a nut



The truck with all of the items.



JV having just a little too much fun with Cam :)


Sunday night it is on to Tour De Lights...wait till you see the full costumes of JS, Mindy and JG.

This holiday season do something nice for someone less fortunate than you, it is good for the heart and soul.

PEACE

What are U doing next weekend?

If you are a cyclist and enjoy doing charity rides, then you should have a busy weekend coming up!
JG and I are participating in Cranksgiving (details somewhere on the link) on Saturday. We know we don't have a shot at 1st place, so we were thinking we would go for the DFL category! We even have a strategy in place!

On Sunday we will be riding for the 2nd time in the annual Tour de Lights, to benefit Make-a-Wish, down at Waterworks park. Last year we went as Rudolph, Santa, and an elf. I was Rudolph pulling Santa (Alexa) in his sleigh, and JG was our elf helper. We won 1st place in the costume contest and are busy getting our costumes ready for this year.
Mindy is joining us in our festivities this year and has the same spirit of the costumes...it's going to be GREAT! Here is a sneak peak of what is to come....


Hope to see you at one or both of these events!!

JG here just got done with my Helmet.



I know I know I look like Raggedy Ann on LSD...What can I say you live once you might as well have fun. I hope that Cranksgiving is not to cold because I do not dare take this off of my snowboard helmet..:)(snowboard helmets great for winter riding). I have my helmet safely tucked away. My kitty Kats were a little to interested in what was on the helmet for me. I can just imagine coming home and finding ribbon remains all over the house.

Come out and join us for Cranksgiving and Tour De Lights this holiday season!!

Peace...JG

The Power Of Pink

Go anywhere now a days and you will see the color pink. It is on shoes, purses, hats, scarves, cars... you get the idea. Aside from being considered a "girly" color it is most noted for being the color of Breast Cancer awareness. If by chance you have been living under a rock here is the Susan G. Komen Story.

The Julie's started a thing that something on each of their bikes had to be pink! It started with the Pink Terry seats and grew from there!

JS story/list of pink...
I have always had a passion for the Breast Cancer Awareness. A good friend of mine had her mother survive it, a couple of former co-workers have survived it (one went on to lose her battle with bone cancer), and then finding out my husband's best friend lost his mother to it.
I for one am partial to my ta-ta's and don't know how I'd react if I found out I had Breast Cancer. Thus the pink bike parts, some of them even have a portion of the proceeds go to Breast Cancer Awareness.

Road bike - Silver bike - Terry breast cancer seat, it has the logo on it. Jagwire pink cables, and pink Crankbrothers pedals. I also have the Livestrong and Pink bracelets around my seatpost.
Time Trial bike - this one was harder as the bike is red/white/black. I found a pink seat that has red/black/silver stripes on it. It's pretty cool!
SS 29er - Brown bike - Pink grips, Jagwire pink cables, and pink Crankbrothers pedals.

Kyle even got into the spirit of pink and when he built up his red Specialized Stumpjumper for me to ride, he added one pink cable to it!
I'm going to continue to keep pink on my bikes regardless of the color of bike it is, and continue to watch for the products that help support awareness.
OH....and each year I buy raffle tickets to Speedgoats bike raffle...one year I WILL win it!

JG story/list of pink...

I have known many people who have had cancer, be it breast, bone, colin, prostate. Cancer is something that affects us all. What started the pink item on all of my bikes was when Bill was building up my road bike, the bike was gray and he had found a Pink headset made by Chris King which a certain amount would go to breast cancer. It built from there, I ordered pink handle bar tape(at that time I had to search the internet for Pink handle bar tape), then found the pink Susan G. Komen seat made by Terry and pink speedplay peddles. During this time is when JS and I started to ride together ,things kind of grew from that. I am not sure who said it but one of us said we need to have something pink on each of our bikes. It does not matter what is pink but something has to be pink.

My red specialized cross bike has the terry seat. The seat is black but the ribbon is pink. The bar ends are also pink(ok I only have one at the moment, I lost one during my first cyclo cross race). My red Cinelli mt bike has pink handle bars, I asked Bill if there was such a thing, he did some looking and found some. They are really neat. My tri bike at the moment just has pink tape holding the handle bar tape on. I told Bill that I want to switch bar tape to pink for the coming tri season.

10 years ago when I first started doing the Race for the Cure, it was very difficult to find pink except in clothing. Now you can find almost anything in pink. I know when I see pink the first thing that I think of is breast cancer awareness.

I am also aware of the power of Yellow..again unless you have been living under a rock..the power of yellow is the "LiveStrong" bracelets. What Lance has done for cancer awareness is amazing. However the Power of Yellow has a long ways to go to catch up with the power of Pink.

The other day at the Iowa Cyclocross championships I noticed the Kim Eppen's bike, which is red has pink handle bar tape. I do not know if she did this for breast cancer awareness, however it was the first thing I thought of...now if everyone that was at the race thought the same thing just think how many people at that moment were aware of breast cancer..it is amazing..Never forget the power of pink



That is the two jules' story of what the power of pink means to them. As long as breast cancer is affecting our family and friends we will continue to support the Power of Pink. The next time you see the color pink dont think of it as just a "girly" color think of it as the "girly" color that is bringing awarness to a very deadly disease that has/will affect us all.

PEACE...

Spooky Woods Ride/Iowa Cyclocross Championships

It was a full and fun filled weekend. Usually on Halloween I turn off the lights, Lock the door and hide. This year I saw that there was going to be a spooky woods ride. I asked JS about it, at first she said that her and Kyle were not going to go, then she e-mailed me and said that "yes" they were. So I talked Bill into going. I am glad that I did. We had a ball.

If you wanted you could meet at Rassy's bike shop at 8:00pm on Halloween and then the group would head over to Denman's ride the trail and end up at a campfire. As Usual Bill was pookie but they knew we were on the way so they waited. Most in the group had not dresses up but hey we did.



Bill was an inmate, Kyle the drummer from Def Leppard, Mindy pricess Fiona,and Kurt as Elton John even had a mirror ball. Then Andy a guy that Bill works with was "Mark", if you had ever been to Irwin's about a year ago you will know who Mark is. At the campsite we meet up with Kristin and Bruce Reese. Bruce went as Kristin and Kristin as Bruce.



JS was a jail bird, I was Country Bumpkin Eve even had fig leaves.


Off we went basically Over the river and thru the woods. The trail is good for beginners, Since Mindy had never done a night ride, JS, Mindy and I all hung back so we wouldnt slow anyone down. We put Mindy in between us. JS took the lead and would call out what was ahead..."Left", "Log", "Sharp Right", "Tight", "MUD", "UP, then down, then sharp corner..WATCH OUT FOR THE TREE AFTER THE CORNER!"...Mindy did have some costume malfunction. Her long dress kept getting caught so eventually it was tucked into her tights... We could see the campfire and hear the music yet the trail kept winding around and around and around....Finally we got to the campsite. (I will say I only hit the ground once I was so proud of myself...but I bent a fig leaf...drat).

Squirrel had carved faces out of a couple of log and had lit them they were so cool.



It was amazing how many people were there, it was fun to see all of the bikes decked out with headlights and flashing lights.. More and more people kept showing up. Cam, Julie, Fry Man, Duffy, and Alot of bikers that I recognized but do not know their names. Chili was available and of course beverages were everywhere. There was even a quarter race. We left around 10:30 everyone was getting tired. So on the bikes and off we went back to Rassy's to load up the cars and head home.

Spooky Woods Ride Pictures

Saturday was the Iowa Cyclocross Championships in Altoona. It was a beautiful day and the course was great. I wish that I would have signed up for this race. I think it would have been a little more beginner friendly. I have come to a conclusion. You can blindfold me, tape my mouth shut, and tie me up and I would still cheer. I am just a cheerleader. I cannot go to a sporting event and not cheer. It was fun to watch the juniors, beginners, womens etc. The last race the 123's was awesome. Brian Eppen and Tony Nichols went back and forth for an hour. Brian was having bike issues, He even had a single speed mt bike for a lap. It was a great race, on the last lap people were lined along the trail to the finish line, Tony made the first move however Brian over took him by about a wheel. That is what cyclocross is all about. I spent Most of the Day with Julie, Scott Sumpter's girlfriend, since JS was in Colfax. She finally arrived around 4:30 with Alexa and Kyle's mom. So there were 3 Julie standing together...It was a good day.

Iowa Cyclocross championship pics

Next on the list for JS and I is Cranksgiving, Tour De Lights and Jingle Cross. I thought that once Sept hit things would slow down but that has not happened. I think Dec will be slower but you never know.

Until then PEACE!

DO NOT FOLLOW WHERE THE PATH MAY LEAD. GO INSTEAD WHERE THERE IS NO PATH AND LEAVE A TRAIL- Ralph Waldo Emerson