Photo: 40-mile road ride; 6:30 a.m.; 70 degrees; Linn County, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 6,100 yds (ytd 106,900 yds.)
Bike: 161 miles (ytd 2,229 mi.)
Run: 30 miles (ytd 731 mi.)

The only thing nice about this windy, rainy, humid ride was the photo at the very, very end.

Photo: 15-mile trail run; 6:30 a.m.; 48 degrees; Squaw Creek Park, Marion, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 6,000 yds (ytd 100,800 yds.)
Bike: 154 miles (ytd 2,068 mi.)
Run: 31 miles (ytd 701 mi.)

Me, a name I call myself...Fa, a long, long way to run...

Photo: 31-mile trail run; 8:00 a.m.; 43 degrees; in the rain, muck, hills and more rain (get it?) of the Kettle Moraine Forest, Wisconsin

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 4,000 yds (ytd 94,800 yds.)
Bike: 73 miles (ytd 1,914 mi.)
Run: 39 miles (ytd 670 mi.)

The rain in Moraine stays mainly on the brain.

Photo: 35-mile road ride, 6:30 a.m., 45 degrees, Notcloseenoughtohome, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 5,800 yds (ytd 90,800 yds.)
Bike: 172 miles (ytd 1,841 mi.)
Run: 32 miles (ytd 631 mi.)

Foggy Morning Breakdown... first flat of the year.

Photo: 5-mile neighborhood run, 6:00 a.m., 50 degrees, Marion, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 6,400 yds (ytd 85,000 yds.)
Bike: 133 miles (ytd 1,669 mi.)
Run: 33 miles (ytd 599 mi.)

Sunrise in Sprawlville...

Photo: Road ride on the tri bike, 4:45 a.m., 48 degrees, Linn County, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 6,300 yds (ytd 78,600 yds.)
Bike: 136 miles (ytd 1,536 mi.)
Run: 43 miles (ytd 566 mi.)

In the still of the night... it's apparent that one of my bikes needs a tune-up.

Photo: post-7-mile-run bus ride in the City of Angels (with a savior behind the wheel for good measure)

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 4,300 yds (ytd 72,300 yds.)
Bike: 132 miles (ytd 1,400 mi.)
Run: 44 miles (ytd 523 mi.)

...not what I'd been taught he'd look like.

Photo: 10-mile run, at some point after waking up, 69 degrees, Manhattan Beach, California

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 2,200 yds (ytd 68,000 yds.)
Bike: 68 miles (ytd 1,268 mi.)
Run: 33 miles (ytd 479 mi.)

A beach run a day keeps the doctor at bay.
or
We'll have run, run, run 'til our daddy takes vacation away.

Photo: Beat-the-storm ride/run, 6:00 a.m., 39 degrees, rural Linn County, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 6,100 yds (ytd 65,800 yds.)
Bike: 117 miles (ytd 1,200 mi.)
Run: 35 miles (ytd 446 mi.)

“…Trees do generate oxygen; men just breathe it up, stink it up, and generally misuse it. Trees hold the soil in place, men are constantly displacing it. Trees provide shelter and protection to countless species, men threaten the existence of those species. When in sufficient number, trees regulate atmospheric temperatures, men endanger the planet by knocking those regulations askew. You can’t rest in the shade of a human, not even a roly-poly one; and isn’t it refreshing that trees can undergo periodic change without having a nervous breakdown over it? And which has more dignity – the calmer spiritual presence – a tree or a typical Homo sapiens? Best of all, perhaps, what maple or cypress ever tried to sell you something you didn’t want?" – Tom Robbins

Photo: 5-mile run, 6:30 a.m., 29 degrees, Marion, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 6,100 yds (ytd 59,700 yds.)
Bike: 99 miles (ytd 1,083 mi.)
Run: 43 miles (ytd 411 mi.)

Cruel prank or home of Joie Chitwood?

Photo: 3-hour run, 6:00 a.m., 26 degrees, north of Marion, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 5,500 yds (ytd 53,600 yds.)
Bike: 110 miles (ytd 984 mi.)
Run: 40 miles (ytd 368 mi.)

Good fences make good neighbors -Robert Frost

And bad fences...

Photo: Urban single-speed excursion, 8:00 a.m., 30 degrees, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 5,400 yds (ytd 48,100 yds.)
Bike: 105 miles (ytd 874 mi.)
Run: 41 miles (ytd 328 mi.)

No one said it had to be pretty to be pretty.

Photo: night ride, 7:30 p.m., 33 degrees, Marion, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 5,700 yds (ytd 42,700 yds.)
Bike: 102 miles (ytd 769 mi.)
Run: 36 miles (ytd 287 mi.)

Here's to a headlamp and headlight,
A single track and single speed,
A lack of breezes through dormant treeses,
And rides that go bump in the night.

Photo: 3+ hour single-speed ride, 7:00 a.m., 21 degrees, on the lonely road to Johnson County

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 4,200 yds (ytd 37,000 yds.)
Bike: 95 miles (ytd 667 mi.)
Run: 33 miles (ytd 251 mi.)

"If you want to hear the old voices, drive on a road that lets you add your shadow to those that have been gathering for years. Take the back roads." - James Lileks

Photo: Two-hour run,
6:00 a.m., -16 degrees
(-31 windchill), Marion, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 5,300 yds
(ytd 32,800 yds.)
Bike: 67 miles (ytd 572 mi.)
Run: 31 miles (ytd 218 mi.)
Number of others spotted outside (excluding the dude waiting for the bus): 0

Hell has indeed frozen over... and it can be found near the end of 29th Avenue.

Photo: Three-hour single-speed ride, 7:00 a.m., 12 degrees, the 'skirts of Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 5,000 yds (ytd 27,500 yds.)
Bike: 95 miles (ytd 505 mi.)
Run: 31 miles (ytd 187 mi.)

Mostly gravel, some pavement, a bit o' single track and one very peeved dog... none of which holds a candle to the following day's skunk encounter.

Photo: Windy, cold single-speed ride, 7:30 a.m., 13 degrees, sub-zero windchill, somewhere in East Central Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 4,300 yds (ytd 22,500 yds.)
Bike: 73 miles (ytd 410 mi.)
Run: 31 miles (ytd 156 mi.)

All you need is a single speed...and layers...and a B-A-L-A-C-L-A-V-A...and water bottles that don't freeze...and hot chocolate...and a warm shower...and a lack of common sense.

Photo: Rain- and mud-soaked 15-mile run, 8:00 a.m., 40 degrees, Squaw Creek Park, Linn County, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 4,700 yds (ytd 18,200 yds.)
Bike: 76 miles (ytd 337 mi.)
Run: 34 miles (ytd 125 mi.)

Photo: 16-mile run, 8:00 a.m., 24 degrees, Marion, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 4,600 yds (ytd 13,500 yds.)
Bike: 77 miles (ytd 261 mi.)
Run: 34 miles (ytd 91 mi.)

The lonely roads are the only roads.

Photo: 2.5 hour single-speed ride, 8:00 a.m., 24 degrees, back-backroads of Linn County, Iowa

Weekly activity log:
Swim: 4,500 yds (ytd 8,900 yds.)
Bike: 94 miles (ytd 184 mi.)
Run: 29 miles (ytd 57 mi.)