Input Needed

With the recent 3 foot law (SB70) considered by the South Dakota Senate Transportation Committee and then the Senate itself and the South Dakota Bicycle Coalition (SDBC) being a driving force behind the push to attempt to get the law passed, there is little doubt that bicycle safety took a positive step forward, even with the bill failing. The SDBC plans to move forward with a "Share the Road" campaign, which will continue to better educate motorists and bicyclists alike on the laws and the general safety of all concerned when it comes to their interaction on the roadways. All things cycling seem to be taking a positive path in the great State of South Dakota.

With these new found advocacy efforts, I need some outside input as to the name of our local bicycle club, the Lane Hogs. Please ponder the following questions and comment.

1. What is your knee jerk reaction to the name Lane Hogs?


2. Does the name Lane Hogs have no effect, positive effect, or negative effect when it comes to assisting our club assisting with bicycle advocacy in the State of South Dakota?

3. If you held the ultimate decision, would you keep your longstanding (12 year) club name or would you look to move forward with a new name?

I appreciate any and all thoughts.

Lane Hogs, Inc.

It's official. After all these years as a hodgepodge bike club, our bicycle club is OFFICIALLY known as Lane Hogs, Inc. a non-profit bicycle club! Major props to Caitlin Collier for doing all the legwork/paperwork to make this happen finally!!!

How to Plan a Group Bike Ride

Here is how you plan a group bike ride in Vermillion: Don't let your "hammerheads" plan it. Usually when BiTeBiLLy, Cactus-Eyed Joe, or myself plan a ride, we get the usual crowd -- those expecting to go fairly fast no matter if we post a slower pace or not.

Enter Cycling Cathy who puts out an email to our list about a "No Spandex Required" ride and a slower pace. The result:


Photo Credit: Dan Letsche

That's right, instead of 3-5 riders, there were 15 (plus or minus) last night who did the 30 mile Meckling Loop, including Mrs. Biking Brady who was doing her first group ride that didn't include me (can you tell I'm the proud husband?). Also included were some who have never partook in a Lane Hogs group ride before. Where was I? Being the good husband, I took Carson to T-Ball and allowed Laura her time on the bike.

Good things are coming to the Vermillion Bicycling scene....stay tuned!

Happy BIG ONE Cathy Jo

Sorry Cathy Jo, I couldn't let THIS birthday slide by! Everyone get over to CYCLING CATHY and wish her a Happy Birthday!

A "Casual" 70 Miler

Ever ride a "casual" 70 miler? I usually don't, but I did today. Other than being a bit cold at the start (45ish degrees) and going into a 10mph wind that did nothing but get stronger, we didn't work extremely hard today. It was great to just kick back and enjoy the company of those brave enough to come along on a cool, windy day.

I couldn't get the "younger" crowd to come along on this ride. Apparently the conditions scared them away. CDV had a meeting and was bummed he couldn't make it so I'll let him slide this time.

Just who were the takers? Ed F., proudly admitting that he is in his 60's (and retired, he LOVES to bring THAT up) and Cycling Cathy, in her 40's (see Cathy, I'm still nice!) who met us in Gayville and rode to Yankton and back with us.

The push from Gayville to Yankton was a slow go because of the wind, and thoughts of lunch started entering our mind. We decided on Hy-Vee and had a good and "fairly" healthy meal. Upon finishing and chatting for awhile, we went outside, mounted up, and I noticed that my front was flat. I'm sure this was a product of riding on the shoulders that had considerable gravel. I couldn't find my mirror to wear on my sunglasses and it's amazing you become a "Timmy" (Ed's word) when you are used to that, so I spent most of the day as far to the right as I could. I changed the tire and we headed out over the old Meridian bridge and then over the new bridge to check it out. Pictures of the day that I took on Cathy's camera can be seen HERE.

On the way home I mentioned to Ed that I'd never heard the word "Timmy" for being timid. He wasn't using the word for me, but that's another story that I promised not to tell. He said that he learned new words in the Midwest like "honyocker". I laughed and said that I hadn't heard that in quite awhile and asked where he had heard it. He look over and said "from YOU". I'm such a bad influence. A discussion ensued where we discussed the meaning of the word and we came to the conclusion that it meant "jerk" although the urban dictionary entry says that it 'one who lacks respectability or social graces'. I also learned that there is a Honyocker Furniture in Letcher, SD which made me laugh.

At any rate, the ride home was very quick as we enjoyed a 15-20 mph tailwind. I didn't ride a century as my knee is upset for some reason and I really didn't feel like another 15 into the wind. I had a blast on my "casual" 70 miler and it was fun to share time with Ed and Cathy Jo.

Chad's Fall Rollers Riding Rollers Ride

Due to far too many Saturday events going on, I had to go for maximum participation points and I headed over to the early ride of the day so I had time to complete the rest of my family duties. Chad Pond sent out a ride early in the week that he's been teasing us with for quite some time and I have to say that I'm impressed. I've ridden in the area a few times, but the route he chose for us definitely had some serious rolling hills for a 47 mile ride.

It was a small group of Lane Hogs attending, but I can see this ride becoming a bigger deal in the future. It really is a great ride with some awesome views from the top of some of the hills. Other than Cycling Cathy's complete stand up comedy routine in Hawarden that had us all in stitches, the memory of the day had to come from "Frank" the combine (that a Disney Car's reference for the uninformed) chasing the riders uphill and then having the bikes pull away downhill. Running through my mind the whole time was: "That's Frank!" (again...you have to know the movie). Here is a photo of "Frank" chasing 'em down.



Here is the profile of the ride. It may not seem like much, but it is nearly constant rolls.



It was a great ride and many thanks to Chad (and his wife Cathy) for hosting!



Oh yeah...FAB boys...the "crazy tire changing chick" was there. She said she'll be there to change your tires for you in the future.

Tuesday Night "Follow the Big Blue Tandem" Ride

For the past two weeks I've been trying to get people out to "follow the big blue tandem" on the road. I think the possibility of a storm that was "close" when we started the ride may have hurt numbers.

Laura and I met up with Cindy L. at Bike Plus (our LBS) and rode to Elk Point and back. It was a great ride at a 'decent' pace and we felt the ever-so-slight sprinkles from the storm that was on the Nebraska side of the river. The storm stayed on that side of the river (as well as many nasty looking radar blips) so we were golden.

It was a low attendance ride, but we had fun without others. So there.

Cindy L. in action



The tail end of the storm on the Nebraska side of the river.



Weird clouds from outside our house after our return. Didn't amount to anything, but they were kind of bizarre.

Following "Big Blue"

We had a group ride last night and the conditions couldn't have been much nicer. For all the brutal conditions that we had earlier in the spring, Mother Nature must have decided to make up for that with some perfect days as of late.

We met at the LBS at 5:18 -- the duly appointed time by myself -- and away we went on a 30ish mile jaunt on the Meckling Loop. Cycling Cathy joined us she commuted to work from Wakonda and we escorted her for the first fifteen miles of her journey home. Also along was CDV (Ride Vermillion), Cactus-Eyed Joe, Cindy L., and Caitlin C.

I warned in my email that the Big Blue was only averaging about 16 mph with the Brady's on board, so naturally the group pretty much rode us in the ground with the perfect conditions. I haven't downloaded the Garmin stats yet, but I'm pretty sure we were over 17 for an average on the ride last night. It was a pretty good push for the rookie tandem crew.

In other news, I had some gift certificates to Amazon.com so I burned some up buying a Canon Digital Elph camera. It should be arriving soon so Laura can play co-pilot and picture taker when out on the tandem.

Lunch with The kErnEl

The kErnEl brought a contingent down to the USD Programming competition today so CDV, THE Mrs. and I went to Mexico Viejo with him. It's always good to see fellow cyclists. We all agree that Spring needs to get here and stay here.

In other news, Team Man Tandem is planning on taking to the highway for 20-30 tomorrow night and the Lane Hogs are planning a 50 miler on Saturday. If you are in the area, come on along!

2nd Annual Lane Hogs Serve The Welcome Table

Last year the Lane Hogs served The Welcome Table and served around a 100 meals going through four roasters full of chili. This year we added baked potatoes to the mix and served 168 people and ran out of food right at the end of the night. Next year we may have to ramp it up a bit and go for five roasters full of chili with more baked potatoes!

We had AWESOME help from the Lane Hogs Cycling Club along with some members of the core team from The Welcome Table. I *think* we had 15 Lane Hogs serving (maybe more) and so many of them made bars/cookies and others gave money (and some leftover chili from a certain New Year's Day Ride). We didn't collect quite as much money from the club as last year, so we didn't have any extra to donate to The Welcome Table, but we were not terrible short either.

It's a great community service for our club and I couldn't be prouder than when we serve this. Most people there were already talking about working it next year which was wonderful to hear. As one of our out of town Lane Hogs had on a note with their donation to the cause "GO LANE HOGS GO!".

List of Food for Preparation:
20 pounds of Hamburger
5 VERY large cans of Mrs. Grimes Chili Beans
4 VERY large cans of Chopped Tomatoes
1 VERY large can of mixed veggies (for the veggie Chili)
2+ containers of Chili Powder
1 Bag of Onions
5 Green Peppers
10 cans of Tomato Juice
8 Medium sized cans of Kidney Beans
22 Heads of Lettuce
11 bottles of Salad Dressing
9 Gallons of Milk
140 Potatoes
12 packages of stick margarine
4 big tubs of sour cream
6 pounds of shredded cheese
5 boxes of saltine crackers
COUNTLESS goodies made for desert by various members!

I'm sure I'm missing something from my list of ingredients, but it definitely wasn't rocket science chili, it was pretty basic, but it went over well!

New Lane Hogs/Team Road Kill Jerseys

The new Jersey's are in and they look goooooooood. Twist my arm (and send me $47 for the jersey) and you too can have one.

Aebleskiver Ride Recap

Although not nearly as many stories as last year, this year's Aebleskiver Ride was definitely a success and tons of fun. It didn't necessarily start out that way however. Craig D. and I were planning a 5:30 meeting at Bunyan's on the edge of Vermillion so we could get a quick 10-15 miles in before catching the rest of the group. Problem was, it was a little dark leaving home. I rolled out and was only about a half mile from home on main street when I seen something on the road, but it was too late. BOOM! Front tire was flat in a heartbeat. I called Craig to tell him to wait to see if anybody else was going to show up and if they didn't to head to my house as I was going to walk my bike home and change my flat.

On the way back through the "crime scene", I was more than upset at some juvenile behavior. Somebody, or more likely a group of somebodies, broke what appeared to be 6-8 beer bottles all over the road along with a few eggs in the mix for good measure. I contacted the police department to let them know about the mess on the road so other didn't endure my fate.

I got home and went about fixing my flat. I went in and got a new tube and put it in. Craig was helping me pump it up when BLAM! the damn thing blew up inches from each of our ears. Even though I had felt the inside of the tire before putting in the new tube, I had missed the fact there was a huge hole in my sidewall. I am guessing that the tube went through the sidewall, enlarged and pinched and the impending BLAM then took place.

Now I was upset. Stupid juvenile behavior had now cost me 2 tubes and a fairly new front tire. I am now out about $38 due to jerks (yeah, I wanted to use stronger words, but I like my blog to be a PG rated blog). I grabbed the front wheel from my other wheel set and away we went on a "shortened" version of our initial ride plans.

After a quick "airport loop", we were about to head north when we seen a couple of cyclist heading our way. I told Craig that while they were coming I was going to grab a snack at Pump N Pak. When I came out, Caitlin and Cathy F. were preparing to roll north on their hybrids to give the ride a go. Craig and I left and rolled north with a nice push from a SE wind. We maintained 22 without much effort at all. We caught Angie W. just short of the 7 mile corner (7 from Wakonda, 7 from Centerville). As we hit 7 mile corner, Chad P. from Alcester was rolling in from the West. We waited a few minutes and Craig and I went to meet the rest of the riders coming from Wakonda. We only had to go a mile before we seen them coming up the hill. After waiting a couple more minutes, Kwen S. rolled in from Hub City and away we went to Centerville.

In Centerville we picked up 3 Beresford-ites and continued to on to Viborg as we had Aebleskiver on the brain at this point. Still having a nice tail wind, the trip to Viborg was a quick one. Then the scary moment: As we were pulling up to the Methodist Church, the ambulance was carrying an older lady out on a stretcher. Could it be Aebleskiver poisoning? After the smoke cleared, we decided to take our chances! Ah yes, it was as delicious as we can remember! Don't ask me why it's so good. It's basically "pancake balls" and I'm not a real pancake fan. But for some reason, these are REALLY good. Below you will notice my plate is already Aebleskiver-free as I mowed through them rather quickly.



Below is a photo of "most" of the rollers who went along on the ride. Kwen, Cathy, Caitlin were not in yet and Kary G. mysteriously managed to stay out of the photo.



We went West out of Viborg until we turned South to go to Irene and that is when the nice tailwind that we had, now became our unfriendly nemesis. We had to battle it six miles south to Irene and then another five south until we turned West towards Wakonda.

It was all worthwhile though as when we hit Cathy's house there was Summer Shandy on ice and turkey brats in the roaster. That, along with some awesome salsa and "Mexican Caviar" made all the hurt from pounding into the wind go away.

I was pretty convinced that I was riding back to Vermillion. So much so that I even told Holly S. that I would. She took off ahead of me and was expecting me to catch her. Problem was, we kept talking and talking, and eating, and pretty soon I didn't want to ride. I felt guilty. So guilty that I took a different route back to Vermillion so I didn't have to pass her in the Ford Deathstar (she figured out I wussed out anyway!).

Another great Aebleskiver adventure complete. It is definitely an annual event now. The legend grows....

Excitement Looms for the Aebleskiver Ride Tomorrow

Doesn't this look like a great reason to ride? Viborg, SD has Danish Days this weekend and the local Methodist Church makes Aebleskiver. It's sort of a "filled pancake ball" for lack of a better term. Last year, Cathy L., a fellow Lane Hog from Wakonda came up with the idea for this ride and it's a great one. So great that people will be coming from all directions. Some will leave from Wakonda, some from Vermillion, one from Alcester, some from Beresford. Riders are coming down from Sioux Falls even.

In only it's second year, the ride has become legendary! The subtitle for the ride this year is Tandems and bikes and trikes, OH MY! All credit for that goes to Cathy, but I thought it was cute. A couple from Sioux Falls is riding a tandem and another guy from Sioux Falls is coming with his trike. Laura and I might ride from Wakonda back to Vermillion on our tandem as well. A full report of the ride will be posted after the event!

Lane Hogs Serve The Welcome Table

You know what I truly love about being a member of The Lane Hogs Cycling Club here in Vermillion? I love their willingness to help others. Any follower of the Lane Hogs know our dedication to the MS Bike Tour to help stamp out Multiple Sclerosis. This is without a doubt our "pet" charity and for the most part the only one that our group as a whole had supported...until now.

I threw out an email to the group a while back asking if they would be willing to serve at The Welcome Table, which is a free meal to anybody who wants to come and join in. The response was great! We had plenty of people willing to serve or donate to make the meal.

We made chili, which is never a bad idea in January in South Dakota, and many people also made desserts which worked out great. According to head counts, we served 141 people and it was a busy but awesome time. All agreed that it was a very rewarding experience and I couldn't have been prouder to be a Lane Hog than when the night was over.

The Lane Hogs will have many rides in the future, some which will undoubtedly bring memories that will last a lifetime. While we need those fond memories, I don't foresee any memories meaning more to me than the benevolent work that we did together. Helping feed those in need of a meal or helping finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis, or whatever good reason we find to put our talents to use, I will always be proud of our cyclists.

Thanks to ALL who helped in any part with this endeavor, whether you live in Vermillion, Wakonda, Beresford, or Sioux Falls. I hope you know what it means to me and I hope that it meant something for you as well.