My deepest apologies for the long breaks between posts right now. Summer camp operation has me working between 70 and 80 hours per week right now. Leave the house between 7:00 and 7:15 in the morning and arrive home around 10:00 or 10:30 at night. Although I do leave around 4:00 p.m. Monday - Wednesday to work at the shop. I have been getting a few miles in diuring my cycling classes but no where near what I would like to be getting. The time actually goes by really fast because there is always so much to do. Although, somehow I had four bikes get pretty banged up last week alone. One of them broke a chain, one of them had a crank arm actually fall off, a third bike picked up a large stick in the rear wheel and lost a derailleur, and finally, this one is a good one, one of them looks as if somebody ran into a tree at mach 5. Forks are crushed back and to the right quite severly.

Anyway, I should get next week off of camp at least, so I may be able to post a bit often. Hopefully I will be able to put some miles in next week too so that I will actually have things to talk about. Oh wait, here's a good one. I spent 8 hours last Wednesday mowing the grass at camp on a John Deere 4300 with a 72" deck> Do you know how much grass that is? Wow!!!

Okay, I am off to camp again,

-Peace.

Okay. So throughout the week I have been increasing the level of difficulty during the cycling merit badge class too prepare the scouts for the 50 mile ride on Saturday (yesterday), The were averaging 11.5 mph by Friday so I had very little worry that they would not finish the 50 miler. A curveball was then thrown at me in the form of a scout that is taking cycling this cooming week and will not be here next Saturday so he was going to "get the 50 miler out of the way" as he put it. His ride of choice, or maybe without choice since his parents probably bought it, was a NEXT full suspension with 18 speeds and 24 inch wheels. He kept up okay for the first ten miles which got us to Cedar Falls, where I talked with the Sauls by the way, and then once we were in GW he was fine. We stopped for lunch around 12:30 which was the 27 mile mark (we started at 9:30) and I felt that we were making decent time with, inn all reality, untrained cyclists. (I also ran into Mr. Dean and Mr. Houlihan at camp before we left)

We left Cedar Falls for camp at the 39 hour mark which was five hours in, an hour of that was lunch, and only 11 miles to go. The requirements state that they have to complete the 50 miler in 8 hours or less and we had 3 hous to do 11 miles. No problem, until I noticed that my young cyclist was out of water, didn't tell anybody, and he ran out a while ago. I am not allowing myself to type the things that went through my mind at this point. It was not cool. I was carrying two extra bottles, which I had stated to everyone numerous times earlier. He acquired these during the final 11 miles. When we began our final leg of the ride from Dunkerton Rd. to camp (9 miles) we were at around 5 hours and 20 minutes. I will spare you the details and let you know that we made it back to camp...with a total trip time ...of 7 hours and 32 minutes (total actual saddle time was 5 hours). Stopping every mile or so to rest in the shade that could be found, cool back off, and make sure he was okay to continue. Everytime that I glanced at my computer (CATEYE Enduro 8) I would read between 5 and 6.5 mph.

Needless to say the left side of my body is fried to a lobter tail red shade and it hurts like crazy. It is kind of weird, I spent so much time and energy to make sure this young one was okay to continue that I negelected myself to the point that I have really nasty burns on my left calf and upper arm. It hurts...that's all there is to it.

Anyway, I think that we may start the 50 miler for this Saturday a little earlier in the day. Say around 7:00 a.m. to use the low temps a little better. Of course this means that the scouts will have to get out of bed around 6:00 in order to eat and get ready. That will probably be the hardest part.

That's about it, no accidents otherwise. I must now get breakfast in me and get ready to be back at camp at 10:30 this morning.

-Peace.

Just arrived at home for the evening. I have enough time to type this, get some sleep, and head back to camp. My cycling class put in around 85-90 miles of Iowa gravel and bike trail this week. We are scheduled to do a fifty mile ride tomorrow in order to complete their merit badge. The longest all of these kids as ever riden you ask? The 23 miler that we did today. Just under two hours but they were all tired by the end. Tomorrow should be interesting.

There were no really exciting events this week. Wait a minute...I take that back. There was one. On Thursday my cycling class was out doing a gravel grinder south of the camp and we stopped to wait up for the stragglers. I had one scout in my group that absolutely refused to listen to me about staying to the right of the road...especially when cresting hills on the gravel of Iowa...and he had just finished rolling his eyes at me when I stated, and I quote:

"I do not know how many times I must stress the importance of riding on the right side of the road when on your bicycle. You can lose your life if you do not follow this simple rule."

It was right about then that a farm boy driven Firebird came flying down the gravel at 60 mph without a care in the world. Of course he didn't listen and after we continued on he continued to swerve towards the middle of the road. Then it happened. The right place at the right time. We are stopped on the side of the road to rest and regroup when on the horizon I see what can only be a cyclist comig the other direction. This person rides on the correct side of the road in a safe manner and continues to pedal the entire time I watch him. ( a couple of my scouts pedal for three seconds at full speed and then coast for five, while others turn over the 42x12 gearing like it's going out of style. I have tried to introduce the concept of constant spinning but they all know more than I do) As this rider continues to get closer I point out the different things that the rider is doing correctly, hoping that it might sink in with the scouts. (It didn't) As soon as the rider gets close enough I realize that it is the one and only Guitar Ted!!! He was out for a gravel grinder too. I had to introduce him and his mad skills but I am pretty sure the scouts were in awe at the lack of derailleurs on the KM that he rides. Young minds are so naive. It was definately good to see someone that I knew out riding since I never see anyone anymore. It made the rest of the ride go by a bit easier.

Okay, I have to get to bed so I am rested for my 50 miler tomorrow. I am guessing between five and six hours of saddle time. Kerkove always told me that the saddle time was more important than the distance covered. Hope he's right. Boone is getting closer everyday.

-Peace.

Today is the first day that the scouts will be meeting for their merit badge classes. I have a 25 mile ride planned for the cycling crew. It's actually a 15 mile and a 10 mile...so 25 miles is good. It should be real interesting actually. Most kids of this age are video game junkies to the point that excercise is a foreign language. I hope to change that for someone without phing them too far at once...hopefully. As far as the canoeing and motorboating groups go, we will stay on shore and discuss safety and proper operating procedures today.

That's all for now,

-Peace.

As most of you know, I am the Cycling Director at the local Scout Camp for the summer. It should be a pretty good time, I have over twenty Giant bicycles to use in order to teach the leaders of tomorrow the proper ways for a cyclists to ride as well as ride safely. Well yesterday a slight change of my summer duties added a couple of tasks to my schedule. I will also be taking on the responsiblities of the Waterfront Director (canoes, boats, kayaks) as well as...are you ready for this? it may sound weird to some of you...the Shotgun Shooting Director. Sounds like a good time to me. I still have not had a chance to ride a bike yet, but I may have some time within the next couple of days, assuming we have good weather and I am not exhausted.

That's all I have time for,

-Peace.

Working 12-14 hour days at camp all this week so not a lot of time to use the internet. Getting camp ready for the invasion of the summer. Next week is the beginning of scout resident camp where they stay for a week doing various activities. I am the "Cycling Director" which means I get to teach the cycling merit badge. What does this consist of you ask? They must ride 150 miles in one week. Woo Hoo!! I get to go for rides starting next week. Downfall is that the pace will be a bit lower so it will be more like trianing miles. Base miles for 24 hours of Boone over Labor Day weekend.

Sorry for the short and distant updates,

-Peace.

Seems like it was just Monday yesterday. It was another week of work all day everyday for me so it went by pretty quick. Next week will be the same since I will be up at camp from 7:30 a.m. until around 9:00 p.m. this Saturday through next Saturday. I will be at camp today from 8:45 until 2:00 to lead a hike for a group of Jr. High kids.

According to my log, the last time I rode a bicycle was on May 19th. I would really like to change this habit because I have three months until the 24 hours of Boone and I really would like to go. I might, and that's a big might, be able to get out this afternoon as long as it doesn't rain, which it could. There must be a better way. I amgoing to go crazy.

There was a young lady that came into the shop last night inquiring about good places to ride off-road locally as well as group mountain bike rides. It sure is nice to others that want to do more than just ride circles on the paved trails. Iowa is a lot different than the East Coast but if you look hard enough there are good trails to be found through-out the state.

Time to eat breakfast and locate hiking boots,

-Peace.