For Sale

2009 Medium Sworks Epic

XO Shifters

2 x 9 Speciaized Crankset 30 x 42

XTR Front Der

XO Rear Der, with ceramic bearing pulleys

ZTR Race Wheelset

Scrub Rotors

Formula R1 Disc Brakes

etc...

email me if interested cpeariso@adventure212.com

Needed.... a good home!

email me if interested:  cpeariso@adventure212.com

Where am I now?

Well the last week has been just crazy and had nothing to do with the holidays.  We were running so much that Thanksgiving turned out to be just Michelle and I at home.  My last week trips included 2 trips to the Dells to program a Crestron system in a house, a trip to Green Bay for some super secret Packer Game training, and a trip to Milwaukee to go to Flanners to help a friend of mine narrow down his product selection for his new Audio/Video store. As you can see nothing to do with bikes and it has been a nice change.  I do need to get in gear though and sell some bikes!!

On the sponsor front I think we are almost complete.  I need to have one more conversation to finish up the details, but I think it is going to be an awesome 2010 season.  The one change for the upcoming season is that you should see a few more riders wearing the colors.  The difference is that it is not going to be on the mens side, we are adding a female team.  Really looking forward to this change and we might see a return of Michelle racing?? 

I hope everyone Thanksgivign went well!

Going no where...... and I like it.

This time of year is always great.  We have finally hit the end of the season, which for myself, means I have been training and racing since December 17th of last year so 11 months of focus.  Or partial focus cause I was on a boat in Europe for 2 weeks in July. On the team front, we have been really busy getting things set for next year and it is paying off.  Here in a few weeks we will make all the announcements but there should be a good presence of the orange and red at the races next year. 

So what has everyone been doing.  I think a lot of us have been enjoying some of our favorite beverages and catching up with all the things that we have put off all year.  I know Mike has been working on his house, Scott has been spending time with fam and helping me on the sponsor front, and Darrin has been doing whatever he can to support Lynn in her quest for even higher education.  I myself have been back to Crestron programming.  This is a "hobby" of mine, I guess.  I really get geeked out about all the home automation/theater stuff and this current house is by far the furthest I have ever taken a house.  The difficulty is magnified with the fact that I am not a dealer and I have to teach myself not only the product, but also the programming language! The place where I purchased the product from was taking bets on how long it would take for me to call their programmer to just come in and do his magic.  Well to their surprise, I am starting to wrap up, as much as you can ever complete a project like this.  Everything is automated and tied together, so if you decide to buy a new DVD player, it requires about a days worth of programming to relearn the IR codes and repalce them on all the buttons on the different touchpanels!  For those that understand, I have two racks full of equipment and a 6' x 10' room with its own zone for the heating/cooling. Fun stuff though once complete.

Back to cycling though since that is what I am supposed to talk about here.  I have been working on the schedule a bit.  Right now I think I might hang out closer to home next year and also start a little later so the I can avoid some of the 5hr frozen saddle rides!!  Here is a prelim:

24-Apr NUE Cahutta 100

2-May WORS #1 Iola
9-May
16-May WORS #2 Rhinelander
23-May
30-May WORS #3 Wassau
6-Jun NUE Mohican 100
13-Jun WORS #4 Kewauskum
20-Jun Kewaunaw Chain Drive
26-Jun WORS #5 Subaru Cup ProXCT
4-Jul Firecracker 50
11-Jul WORS #6 Eau Claire
18-Jul
25-Jul WORS #7 Franklin
1-Aug
8-Aug WORS #8 Border Battle
15-Aug Ore to Shore
22-Aug WORS #9 Green Bay
29-Aug
5-Sep Copper Harbor Fat Tire Fest
12-Sep WORS #10 Lake Geneva
19-Sep Chequmegon Fat Tire
26-Sep WORS #11 Shawano
3-Oct
10-Oct WORS #12 Sheboygan
17-Oct
24-Oct
31-Oct
7-Nov Iceman

Did you see that, the first time in about 5 years that I put all the WORS races onto the calendar.  Like I said though it is prelim and if something better comes up I can guarantee that I would skip races like Kewauskum! 
 
Anyway, in the meantime I am needing to unload 4 bikes.  I have a small racer X, a medium racer X, a 29er Titus exogrid, and this years medium Sworks Epic.  Write me at cpeariso@adventure212.com. if you have any interest. 

Cyclingnews pics

Darrin and I, most of been thinking about riding hard again cause we were not talking!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/20th-iceman-cometh-ne/photos/94929

Darrin again labeled as Mikey

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/20th-iceman-cometh-ne/photos/94923

Iceman (Nascar Version)

Not sure how this will work, but would work best if you read outloud with the worst Good 'Ole Boy Accent you have!

W'll the nerves were high today focusing on the last race in the championship chase.  We all got out of the gate good and 'round corner one, till some roadie yahoo decided to trade some paint by putting his arm out and giv'n me a bit of a shove?  Not sure on those tactics but I collected her and kept it out of the fence.  I must thank the sponsor though for a good running machine, my specialized, no-tubes, easton, crankbrothers, scrub outfitted rig was awesome today!  With Hidden Bay providing me with my fire suit! 

Once it calmed d'wn a bit, I lost an ignition box and was a bit under power at about mile 10.  I rode around out there like a sit'n duck till I was able to switch my ignition box over. My teammate big "D" came back with similar problems and we started drafting each other to get back width da program. We ended up trading paint width e'ch other till the end finishing 20th and 21st for the day. 

New bikes.....

So yesterday I made my almost daily trip into the Hostel Shoppe, and why I was there Scott was teasing me for riding nothing but my cyclocross bike since I got it.  His bantering got me thinking that maybe it was time for a review on the bike since it has been almost a month!

The Bike:  Specialized S-works Tricross

Or as I refer to it, my A.D.D. bike.  This thing has been one of the best bikes I have ever owned. So why is it my A.D.D. bike??  Well it fits my personality.  If I am bored with riding whatever I am riding I can easily change directions with it.  Riding the road and you pass the rail trail, sweet, lets go that way for a couple miles.  Need to get one block over, lets take the short cut through this field.  No matter what it can handle it.  The bike is also very comfortable to ride as I stated in an earlier post about the seatstay and seatpost zertz.  Just awesome.  The other plus is the bike weighs 16 pounds!!  And the last feature that I completely love about this bike, there is no power meter!!  When you spent an entire season worrying about what the numbers are, it has been great to step back and just ride.

Now come Saturday, I hope I have the same love for it when they are telling me 3 to go in my first cross race with it???   

End of the season must be approaching....

Cause I have spent so much time online that I have found the end!

100 milers....

Last night the Point group went to watch the Race Across the Sky in Appleton.  After watching the trailers and remembering the pain of this race, we were all excited to head to the "big" city for a night out!  Amazing how perception works, never thought of Appleton as a big city till you move to a city even smaller.  Anyway the group included Scott Cole, Mark Cole, Michelle, and I.  I thought the documentary was pretty good but it did nothing to show the pain that actually goes into racing a 100 mile bike race.  I say racing cause if you are going to finish and just make this your calorie burn for the day, I think almost anyone can finish with a little preperation and guidance.  The problem comes in when you want to race an event like this.  I am by no way an expert, but these races were summed up very well by Ken that it is all about digging deep.  The 100 milers that I have done have always started like we are in a 2 hr XC race and usually you are suffering bad!  Then once everyone is tired from that it is game off for about 5 minutes why you look around and see who made the break.  Then from this time on it is who can suffer the worst! 

Back to the Leadville, I have never suffered more in a race then at this one!  The lack of oxygen over the course of the day just completely drains all your systems and leaves you with nothing.  My experience here, let me just say after a day that included sitting down on the side of the trail with my bike pondering why I even ride a bike and finishing on a flat, I ended up finishing the day in 8 hr and 53 min. I was then rushed into the medical tent at the end to be put on Oxygen cause I completely colapsed.  The sad part is that I would do it again.  There is a great sense of accomplishment at the end of an event like this and I think this is the lure that keeps bringing people back and the growth of these style of events in the US. 

Then to top it off the awards are unique!    Now please make it stop raining!!!!!!!!!!

Cross this weekend?  Maybe?    

Work'n the nigth shift!

Where are my days now?  With the ever shrinking hours of sunlight and the fact that 212 has hit its busy time(Kids must be in school), and I am short a Maintenance Supervisor, I have been riding at night!

Luckily I made the purchase of the new cross bike, cause it has been awesome!  I have pretty much parked every bike and everytime out I am on the new Tricross.  If there is one thing to say about it, being an engineer I have seen marketing gimics put into products, and that is exactly what I used to think of the zertz that Specialized puts into their frames and seatposts.  Well, now that I own 2 bikes with them, they are not gimics.  They are placed specific to frame deminsion and add a type of dampning to the bike that makes it extremelly comfortable to ride.  Even on the Tricross while ripping through the local park things are smoothed out!  Sweet! 

Besides the bike we have been working hard to determine what the team is going to look like next year.  I think some good things are in the works and should put us in a position maybe to expand on the current team, more to come on this.......

In the meantime I am interviewing for a Maintenance Supervisor, if you know of any have them fill out an applications, hours flexible and pay starts in the $11 range depending on experience. 

In the meantime, please stop raining!! 

WORS Number 86 or so???

9th Season of WORS in the books that is.  For my count I was assuming I did 80% of the races over the last nine years, might be more, might be less?  This last weekend was a lot of fun ragardless.  Sheboygan is always a good time as well because it usually falls on my Birthday weekend!

So come race time on Sunday, we had most of the 212 clan there, minus TJ who is off tanning in AZ.  On a note about TJ I must go back a week and put a shout out to his win in the Tour of White Mountains. Nice work!!  So back to Sunday, we all linned up with most of the normals but also there was a lack of riders in the field compared to years past.  I have grown used to having 80 some riders in the field at Sheboygan and this year I think the cold weatehr scared everyone off, minus Marko and Matter who decided to head south to Cinci for some park riding(cross racing).  Even without their presence the pace was still fast from the gun.  Amazing how just $20 will make cyclist turn themselves inside out just to win a sprint prime!  Crazy.  I myself was freezing at the line so it took some time for me to get moving and to get my teeth to stop chattering!! With my slower start I hit the first section of singletrack in about 8th spot.  With the course being a momentum course that you always have to pedal on I did not panic and just settled into a comfortable rythm.  Next thing I knew 3 laps had passed, and I was pulling back Darrin for 4th.  When I caught up to him he looked ready to pull the plug.  I reassured him that he had to finish and told him that he had all winter to recover, so put the hammer down since he was still racing for the overall.  The last two laps we rode together and it made the time pass quickly:

In the end Darrin ended up taking 4th and myself in 5th.  While up the road battling it out again for his like 10th straight 3rd place finish mas Mikey. This meant that we ended up with 3 of us on the blocks when all the dust settled! Sweet!!  

Scott also had a good result while still recovering from his win in the 12hr WEMS race and finished the day in 18th. 

Michelle also toed the line and I have proof:

Next up for the team is some filler, Cross, and then the season final, The Iceman!

Thanks to all the sponsors for another great season!! 

Please don't laugh!

That is all I ask the first time I trip over the barriers!  My b-day present arrived one day early yesterday in the form of a sweet S-works carbon cross bike! Thanks Pete for hooking me up once again and it has been a pleasure working with the Specialized folks this year! 

Race weekend, lost count??

Well another race weekend in the books.  It went well for the Adventure 212/Specialized team with Scott winning the WEMS Thunderdown at the Underdown and setting the fastest lap in the process.  The entire team, minus Arizona bound TJ, headed to Langlade for WORS #11 onm Sunday as well.  We were greated with a phenominal course that had some nice climbing and singletrack that made the 6 mile loop a blast to ride.  Mike Phillips was coming off a hard block and had some good legs so it was no surprise to see him take to the front on the first lap to dictate pace and to see the course since he did not get a chance to preride.  Darrin followed, and I took a minor spill on a grass section to settle into 5th spot about 15 seconds down.  The course was way different than preride with a lot of the moisture now sitting on the course and making the corners pretty slick. 

I lost contention when I miss shifted and ended up tearing my deraileur up and placing it on top of the chainstay.  I was able to bend it back and get going but it just kept happening so I pulled the plug.  I did find a different mechanic to work on it for the week since I fired my old one, myself!!  This week Mark Cole will be going through the bike and it should be dialed for this weekend!!

Back to the the race. From talking to Mike it sounded as if it was all together until the last lap when Mike crashed going into a corner and at that time Cole attacked.  This put a small gap on Tristan and Mike. The race ended with another 3rd and 4th for Mike and Darrin and 2 more podium postions for the team. 

Next up is the WORS final before I try my hand at some cross racing.  I just ordered a new Specialized Tricross to pass the time till Iceman!!  Next question is if I dive right into the A races or race Masters since I turn 35 this week?? 

Where did I put the mud tires???

Well it looks like after racing almost every weekend since the end of March this year, we might be in for the first mudbog of the season?  Whatever it turns out to be, should be good, the legs have been feeling good for us on the team.  I know Mike is coming into some good form late in the season, Darrin is still flying, and I for some reason have some good legs coming out of Chequamy??  Scott will be slog'n it out at the WEMS race for  12hrs on Saturday, rebuilding his bike, then toeing the line for the Sunday WORS race???  Sanity check please......  if you love to ride the bike then ride!! Tj is probably sitting in Tuscon by now enjoying the hot weather.

With the late season form that I am finding, I think I might buy a cross bike and do some cross racing.  I have a lot to learn with the getting off the bike and running though. In the past the only running I did was from my car when running into Dairy Queen! Maybe I can get some lessons from one of the Midwest experts out there.....

Fat Forty dirt race.

Made it through another! I can just sum it up as fast! There were several small attacks from several riders that kept the pace high and the number of riders who had a legitimate shot at winning this year made for a fun time on a bicycle. For myself I had a mental breakdown for 15 seconds at firetower, when a pack of riders caught the lead group, that allowed a group of 5 get a way from me. I did the best I could up the berkie section to bring them back in but it is hard to get anytime back when the game is on. I did bring back Ryan, Bjorn, and then when we crested the top I saw Mikey so I set up and let someone else take responsibility for the pace so that I did not chase down my teammate. At that time Dewey Dickey took over and pulled us down the road and was just motoring. We ended up entering the last 2 miles with 9 people in the group and the top 3 up the road about 30 seconds. I for some reason thought that we were racing for 10 th and not 4th so I just picked riders off as it made sense and then outsprinted Mike Olheiser for 7th.

Here is a good shot of Mikey and I coming up to take over control of the lead group. (skinnyski.com photo) Mikey ended up finishing 12th overall after giving a good go to stay with the lead group up over the birkie climbs and then had the dreaded shutdown with something like 6 miles to go, TJ showed good poise and did not let an off day get in his head and stayed with the chase group that came up to the leaders at firetower and ended up coming in for 13th overall on the day. Darrin's first Chequamegon did not go as plan as someone decided to come up from the non preferred start area and take out 3 of his spokes on the road section. It was awesome to see him get a new wheel though and still finish the course with a grin from ear to ear. He ended up cruising in and feeling like superman passing people all day. Scott had an good result and rolled in for 42nd overall and 4th in his age group.

Michelle also raced for the 3rd week in a row and ended up 7th overall and won her age group in the Short and Fat. Overall it was a good weekend!!