What's new?

Lunch ride to Club Deli.  I was on the Huffy cruiser with the coaster brake.  Those steel rims didn't handle my powerslides all that well...

It's been a while since I've really posted much.  Here's a little bit of what I've been up to since Dirty Kanza.

• A couple months ago I started organizing group rides with my coworkers for fun and RAGBRAI training and it's had a much better turnout than I had expected.  We do a lunch ride (2-4 miles) every week to a different restaurant and an evening ride (10-25 miles) to a pub for dinner.  These rides have been pretty casual and usually have 4-6 riders, many of which just started riding within the last few months.
• I've also been organizing bi-weekly weekend rides for those that want a longer, more serious ride.  The intention has been RAGBRAI training and the rides have run 25-40 miles over rolling terrain.  We have breakfast before the ride while I wrench on anyone's bike who needs it, and we have lunch afterwards while we relax and recuperate.
• I've been wanting to do some high intensity group rides that would really push my limits, so lately I've been doing a Thursday night ride hosted by a local race team.  It basically involves me getting run through the wringer until I'm ready to pull over and start crying in a ditch.  I've done it four times now and last week was the first time I didn't get dropped or pull out early.  I even managed to chase down some attacks and contest a few sprints.  I hope that means I'm getting stronger.
• Project Backroads has seen some updates, but I'm working behind the scenes to improve the mapping and media.  Sadly my Script Fu is weak, so it's taking me longer than I'd like.  Taking a look at my schedule over the next month, it might make more sense for me to job out the coding to someone else.  We'll see how it goes.
• I'm now riding gravel single speed.  I converted the Cross Check after Dirty Kanza and have since done a full century and two metrics.  I've got a (near) century coming up this weekend in Missouri, The Farmhouse Classic, so we'll see how I perform at a race pace.  Beyond that I haven't done much gravel since DK.  I've been pretty much sticking to the road for the last month or so.  The change of pace actually isn't that bad.
• I've got two new projects in the pipeline.  Project Thunderbutt is currently in progress and Project Stormtrooper will follow up in late August.  More info on those as they unfold.  It's gonna be exciting...