Recovering or just messing around??

Well after last season my mind kept telling me that I needed to walk away for awhile.  Check that one off as accomplished!  I have done nothing associated with exercise except for some lifting weights with a personal trainer once in awhile.  I am looking to start some skiing and get back on the cardio kick again.  I am going to try some skiing this year since I have used up my lifetime supply of mind numbing 5 hr roller rides!! By the end of last season I was ready to throw them out the back door!!  Also with mother nature not being very cooperative I need to try something else. 

In the meantime though, I have been working on my frequent flyer miles.  2 weekends ago I was in Nashville to meet my family.  It was a good time but I felt like all we did was eat!! I did feel like I was training a bit for the Chequamegon when I found donut holes on the menu!

Of Course I ordered them!!

Then this past week, I surprised Michelle for Christmas.  Her gift from me was a trip to Vegas.  She had no clue and the hardest thing was trying to run damage control with upcoming meetings on her calendar.  Now I realize why we are so busy!  I ended up having some of our employees help me with this cause I could not keep up!! 

Anyway I had everything set up, from the limo upon arrival, massages, dinners, and one of the nicest hotels in Vegas, The Encore.  The first night there dinner was interesting with some out of norm cuisine and an over the top price tag!!  It was then back to the room for some relaxation, and who couldn't relax with a view like this from the room!

Sorry for it being blurry, but hard to get a shot through the tinted windows, anyway you get it.

My trip got better though when I learned there might be a heaven!

I ate my way out of this store, which also included a awesome chocolate fountain!!

Then one of the funniest moments of the trip was me, yes me, at a loss of words as I am being recessitated on the floor!!  Michelle all week walked past this necklace in the showroom window.  For those that know Michelle, she is NOT a jewelry person!  Which is awesome for me!  Anyway I told her that she does not have much stuff so lets look at it. 

Doesn't look too bad, I am thinking a couple carats and maybe a price tag around $3000 or so??  Come on its a necklace.  So why Michelle is trying it on and googling over it in the mirror, the sales guy starts talking numbers with me.  Try 8 carats, and a price tag of $65,000!! What did you say?? Hold on, that is like 8 bikes at retail, hurry up Michelle we have to go!  On a plus note I think the sales guy knew that we would not buy it when we walked in, but he was still nice to us and entertained us for 10 mintues or maybe we entertained him since it has probably been almost a year since he last sold something with bling like that!

So now we are back home for a day, until off to a wedding tomorrow.  Should be a good one!! Some very good friends of ours from way back are taking the plunge after being together forever!!

Happy New Years!!

Must be the Holidays!

Merry Christmas to all!! 

Well things have been busy!  Finishing up everything on the team front and it looks to be shaping up very well.  We are staying with pretty much the same with the Specialized and Adventure 212 leading the way from the sponsor front.  We also have all the rest of the goodies set up with Scrub components, egg baeater, No Tubes, Easton, and Hidden Bay.  The team will be made up of Mike Phillips, Scott Cole, Darrin Braun, Ryan Krayer, Lisa Krayer, Michelle will be making a comback, and myself.  We will also have guest jersey apearances from the McFaddens whenever they are racing in Wisco. Should be a good year. 

In the meantime, not much going on for riding bikes,  I actually have not touched a bike since Iceman!  I am back into things with lifting, and hopefully some XC Skiing here in the near future.  Lots of talk on the team about doing the Birkie??? That could be entertaining! 

Have also been traveling a lot.  Was in Nashville last weekend where it was fun to go to an upscale restaurant and found Donut Holes on the menu for a dessert?  I of course ordered them somehow convincing me that I was prepping myself for Chequamegon!  They were a little different though cause they had a nice dark chocolate dipping sauce that went with them.  Lets just say, if they served them up like that at the aid station, I would stop at every one!!! 

For Christmas Michelle and I are headed to Vegas tomorrow, if the weather allows.  I have never been so it should be a good time.  I do not gamble at all but a good friend of mine does and has us all hooked up with the high roller package!! 

Other than that sold one bike so far and still working on getting rid of the old and bringing in the new! 

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!!

Sweet hardware!

Not sure if I should let this secret out of the bag, but Copper Harbor has some of the coolest trophies of any race that I have ever been a part of!! In my opinion the wheel even tops the mining cart at leadville!! Either way our group cleaned house and enjoyed the weekend.

Good Team Weekend....

Need to give a shout out to TJ for winning the MNSCS stage race at Maplelag this past weekend. When i talked to him last night he said it was a hard fought win for him after needing to chase back onto the leaders to take the XC win. He also started the weekend with a 2nd in the opening TT and STXC. Nice work!!

Also here is a good shot of Darrin and I negotiating Pauls Plunge this weekend. It was awesome, we entered with 7 people from the 1 lap race in front of us and came out the other side with one still standing, a young kid, maybe 12 years old on a 24 inch bike! Sweet!!!!

First time tie for me.....

Just seemed fitting. We were both there to have fun and did not make sense to either of us to continue driving each other into the ground!! I think Darrin and I were both thankful for the game off about half way through the second lap since we were blaming each other for the fast pace. They said we had 7 minutes after the first lap so we put it into cruise control and just enjoyed the ride. For those who have never been to Copper Harbor to ride the trails, they are just awesome!! Our course for the day had 4000 ft of climbing and it made for some fast and technical descents. In the end we decided to take the 26 inch wheel made out of birds eye maple, and laced to a shimano hub using copper spokes and hang it in 212 to let everyone see what we do. Will make for a good conversation piece and will hopefully get people interested. Here is the newspaper article: Mining Gazette

For the rest of the team, Michelle took 2nd in the one lap race by less than 60 seconds. Also Di took another win in the long race, with Todd (T.S.P.) taking 3rd and Scott fell to 7th after riding in 5th most of the day until flatting at the bottom of Paul's Plunge.

Back in the saddle?

Well it is true, you are only as good as your last race! This weekend proved that I do have some fitness left despite turning 35 this year. It was a fun day to race in the lead train even though I had to work hard a couple times to chase it back dow nto be there!! When the dust settled I finished 4th on the day with teammates in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 13th! Awesome showing! Here is our podium split:

We are there every weeekend but just cant get that topstep! Still some racing left so we will keep going for it.

Also I have to give a shout out to the Little Col for completing her 2nd ironman down in Lousville, she came in with a time of 15:04!! Nice work!

Rabid Bees.............

Wanted Dead:

Please kill any that you find! I have been stung on the bike 4 times in the last week. Today was another great adventure as one flew into my helmet and ended up stinging me on the forehead!

To add to my adventure today I also flatted. Sweet!

Good times.......'bout time!

So with the week starting out just horrible, the weekend actually went well. I am going to skip the bad and move onto the fun. Started out Saturday morning when the Little Colonel came over to ride with Michelle and drink some coffee. Always entertaining and this time was no different. I followed Michelle and Kim out on their ride as a warm up to mine. We got about 6 miles from home on a nice downhill section and kim blew out her front wheel with a shotgun boom!! If it is possible, it actually happened at a good time cause we had a dog that was just coming out to chase us and when the tire blew it scared the dog so bad that it took off with its tail between its leg. Hopefully it thinks twice before chasing the next time. Back to the tire, it blew so bad that it peeled the sidewall off from the bead and left a hole about 3 inches long. I ended up stuffing a gu packet in there and slowly riding it home to get another wheel.

After a good 3 hr ride, we then headed off to Lambeau field insearch of Matters secret training. I think I found it in the form of too many beers and bad food. Sweet!

After the game Michelle and I drove dow nto near the Dells to stay at her parents house for the evening. At first I was not happy with the late night drive but the next day activities made everything worth it. We ended up hooking up with the Krayers for them to show us around Baraboo. It was a good time meeting 15 other cyclists for a breakfast ride. It was tons of fun! After Breakfast, Ryan, Spencer and I headed out into the country side to make sure we had sore legs and enough of an appetite for some beer and pizza at the end. We ended up being successful and at the end we had 80 miles in!! Loads of fun and it was just what I needed to keep me going with my training. I forgot how much fun a good group ride can be!! This is my first one in almost 2 years, minus race warm ups!

See everyone in GB!

The meaning of 212....

Well the real meaning of 212? For the Adventure 212 name, it has to do with the boiling point of water and pushing the extra degree to achieve the transformation, because you can do so much more with steam than you can water. Here is a little motivational movie on it http://www.212movie.com/

As for me I am thinking 212 is now the number of things that have gone wrong this year. They seem to just keep piling up and I think I am in a death spiral cause you stop paying attention so that you can decrease the dissapointment! Anyway, more freak bad luck when someone rode into the back of me, when I was stopping for a crash in front of me at the start and bent my rear rotor. I had no clue till I was working like a dog to climb any hill and then when I went to use my brakes on the 2nd lap they were completely toast! Oh well, another donation to Don with no result for myself.

Anyway, onto the positives! The team is looking good going into the later part of the season and the top step of the podium is going to be in the near future. This weekend we had Mikey and TJ rocketing around the course with a select few riders, the LaLondes and Brendan Moore. The one thing about sitting out was I was able to watch it all go down. From the post race stories sounds like everything happened on the last climb with TJ and Marko getting away, Mikey playing some team tactics making Brendan chase till Mikey was able to get rid of him in the open field section. After that, sounded like the gaps were formed and with the lap traffic it was difficult to close any gaps. In the end TJ ended up 2nd with Mikey rolling in for 3rd. The new kid on the block, Darrin, rolled in for a respectable 14th place finish after taking 2 weeks off the bike. Scott today struggled on the bike and ended up riding the course, having fun, and displaying the team colors for the entire 5 laps. Nice work to all!!

Next up is a weekend off from racing. Should be able to get some good training in before a nice 4 week block of racing that starts with the WORS marathon race in Green Bay and ends with Chequamegon. I love fall racing!

Put down the voodoo doll!

I am completely floored! There is obviously someone out there that does not want me riding a bike. Tonight was interesting and I am sure I will be dealing with it for months to come! What a joy!!!

Miles and miles of squares......

We have all been there at some point and if you haven't then your time will come. The time in the season where motivation went to an all time low and the urge to ride a bike is no longer at the top of your priority list. I seem to hit this every year in July. This year was the worst I can ever remember and I think the mental and physical stress associated with the BC bike race is what really pushed me over the edge. Now that I am back from vacation, addicted to beer and caffeine, 8 pounds overweight, and still not completely there mentally; I have started spinning the squares on the bike! I have a lot of work to get into form with my next big goal of the year being Chequamegon. I am extremelly excited with taking our team up there and would love to get one of the team members onto the top step of the podium. Last year we had 2 in the top 5, and 4 of us in the top 10. Now we have added Darrin to the mix as well so it should be good.

Before then, we have Ore to Shore. I meet Mikey tomorrow and then catch up with TJ in Marquette. Since I am just getting back in the grove I would just be happy to hang on and help TJ and Mikey. I do have the bike ready and I am rolling on a new rear wheel after the other one came unlaced at the Levi Trow 100. The new set up is a bit heavier but is also much stiffer so it should balance out nicely. Hope to see everyone up in Marquette for a good weekend of bike riding!

Leaving on a jet plane.....

Headed outta here! Should be enjoyable with a 16hr flight to get back into Madison followed by a 2hr drive. Better hit the 3 lattes and skip the afternoon beers!!

Nice job to the team this weekend at Crystal Ridge! 3rd for Mikey, 4th for Darrin, and 31st for Scott after a struggle with some local brush and a crash.

Congrats to Nathan on the win. It is nice to see courses that offer different racing conditions and can offer others with the chance for a win. Now all we need is a race to come back in similar to the days of Bluebird or Wilmot!

See everyone on the flip side!

Nothing to see here, just keep moving......

That was the name of the game in Slovakia. We just cruised through without stopping. We are now in Budapest and will remain here till Tuesday. The town is seperated by the river and actually used to be to seperast cities, Buda and Pest. I did finally ride a bike yesterday though! Here is Michelle in front of me as we cruise along on the ship bikes!

Notice the dedictaed bike lanes! They were everywhere over here and like everyone rides bikes!! Sweet!!

As for the intervention, forget it! I am set in my ways now and feel that I no longer have an issue! 3 lattes by noon and then followed by beer till I fall asleep. I am scared to step on the scale, good thing Ore to Shore is all down hill so maybe the extra weight will help me! That is assuming I come home, I found the storage facility for the Travelocity gnomes so if each one represents a free week of vacation then I will see everyone in a couple years!!

If this does not work then I found a nice fix me upper in Austria, yeah it needs work but the views are nice!!

Out of all the stops I think I liked Austria the best. It was pretty cool and all the towns we went to were very unique.

Back to bikes, I think I am finally starting to round the corner with my melt down and have a little itch to get back on the bike. Unfortunately I have a cold that has settled into my chest that I hope goes away before our flight on Tuesday. See everyone this next weekend at Ore to Shore and Good luck to the team in Franklin!

Cat needs a good home....

So our cat is in need of a good home. It meows a lot, and I mean a lot, if it is moving it is meowing. It sheds and is very attention demanding. This is where my new pet comes in. We have devided to name him Melk, after the town he was discovered in, Melk, Austria. He lays around a lot, does not eat, and I do not have to clean up after him! Sweet.

I am not sure what breed of dog he is though??

Anyway, we are in Austria today and I noticed that it is 4:30 am at home and 11:30 AM here. I am 2 lattes in and about to have lunch on the boat. We are on our way to Vienna tonight where Michelle and I are going out on the town and will be seeing a concert. Should be fun. Here's Michelle enjoying our daily ritual. She thought today that we should start taking pictures at each of our coffee stops.

Sorry that there has not been much about cycling on here lately. I am in that decision point on weather to just retire and move on with life or continue plugging forward. Nothing to rush yet, still have another week of floating to figure it out. This weekend the team will have Mikey, Darrin, and Scott in Franklin. Good luck to all. After that we will have TJ, Mikey, and maybe myself up at the Ore to Shore. I have not done this race since like 2002 and it has the honor of being the only race that I have ever broken anything, besides bike parts. Back then I got taken out by a tandem, which I feel do not belong in the preferred start area, and broke my wrist.

Well I hope all is good back home!

Austria bound, intervention needed.....

So our last night in Germany was spent at a local restaurant. If you are looking to get free alcohol just sit at the bar of a restaurant. They have lines on the beer glasses that require the beer to be poured at this line and then must have a head on it from there to the top of the glass. The problem is if the waitress/waiter does not pick it up in time then it is no longer accepatble to serve. This is where the sitting at the bar comes in, they will give it away before pouring it out! Sweet!!

This morning Michelle and I hiked up this path for about 30 minutes to an old abbey. It was straight up but it was pretty cool at the top.

We then hit this singletrack descent with numerous switchbacks that had me thinking about shredding on the MTB. It has been 2 weeks since I last touched a bike!! That is a good thing though cause besides this cold I have, I have been struggling with a pain in the right side of my chest for about a week that feels like I have broken ribs or something!

Today on our walk around Passau I found the secret German training ground. I guess Sabine Spitz has been seen her on numerous ocassions during her youth! I guess the goal is the last one left wins:

Also I found a sneak peek of an upcoming bike. This was my favorite and I have called it the Euro response to 29ers! Notice the belt drive!

It is now 11:30 in the morning and I am 2 lattes in. I am lovign the european culture. It is completelly acceptable to have ice cream, beer, or coffee at any time of the day! Speaking of, time for my 3rd latte!! Jitters out!

I'm on a boat......

That is for boss man that keeps me fast throughout the year! If you have not seen it, make sure that you are not somewhere that inappropriate language is unacceptable and look for , I'm on a boat, youtube!

Other than that, lattes and beer are still my daily diet! I am losing count on the total number of these Also loosing count on the beer as well. We have now boarded the boat and have been cruising through Germany. Our room is pretty nice, what ya think?

There is also a sauna, or steam cooker depending how warm it gets!

They also gave us a pet. I like this one better than the cat at home. It is quiet, does not move unless I move it, and when I get hungry its eyes are made of chocolate!! Also I am not sure why Michelle picked the upper dack, we barely fit under the bridges and I am wating for the captain to have too much wine at dinner and give us a moon roof! Some fo the bridges are so close they take the chairs off from the upper deck and all the rails down!!

Today we also found our first bike shop. Had some nice Belgium bikes with 26" hardtails everywhere. I think I know why though, the Germans ride cobbles on a daily bases so they are used to getting bounced around. There are bikes everywhere and they are out commuting to where they need to go rain or shine! Awesome! So today I also found my favorite bike sign, bike free!

Also while at the bike shop we found some design ideas for next years jersey. If you are interested in joining the team to get one of these hot kits let me know!!

Kind of looks like a garbage bag. Other than that lots of walking, no riding, although we are thinking about it for tomorrow. We are in Austria tomorrow and only like 30K from the alps I guess. Unfortunatelly I caught a cold so I will have to wait and see. Hope everyone is enjoying home!!

'Cross the pond

Remind me to never contest World Cups. One I do not feel like getting lapped by the entire field, but I would go crazy if I had to make that plane more than once in a great while. By hour 4 If they would of opened the door and said anyone who wants out may jump now, I would of been pushing to be first in line!!

Anyway we are in Prague (Praha) today. Went out walking about taday and have traded my usual water bottle in for a beer at every stop. We started with the castle today and walked by one of over 100 churches in the city. The only cool one was the 15th century one with the astronomical clock:

I never did figure out how to read it, but I really didn't care by then after doing a planned tour with a bunch of people with an average age of 60! On a BIG plus though, Europe rocks if you are a coffee lover. There is a Cafe on every corner and 5 more between the corners. Before I left I was upto 2 lattes a day, but by my return the plane ride home is going to feel like an intervention!! Maybe if I split one up into three 1 oz containers, then put it in a 1 quart zip lock bag I can put it in my carry on to stop the caffeine headache withdraw!!

On another note for today, Michelle thinks she won a free vacation from travelocity for finiding the travelling gnome today:

I notice he also has a beer in his hand! I am getting thirsty!

WTP.......

What training plan? I have put my Sworks away and pulled out MY new 2010 Sworks. Do not tell the specialized guys that I am leaking pictures but here is a look at MY new 2010 Sworks if my mental condition continues:

Notice the use of the DA crankset without the big ring and the XO rear derailleur. It looks even cooler with panniers on it as I am doing my 20 miles commute to work. If there is anything I am fast at it is commuting, I am thinking I am one of the fastest commuters in Portage County!! Gotta be good at something.

Besides commuting I have been really busy doing graphics design work for some touchpanels in a house that I have been working on. It was good that I uploaded them yesterday and almost all my program logic worked, that almost never happens. On the racing front, we have a partial team headed to Kewauskum tomorrow and TJ is out at the National Championships. I am going to make thecall in the morning. If I wake up and feel like going for a drive then maybe I will show up and ride my bike. The team will have Mikey, Darrin, and Chris Denny for sure though. So to all those racing this weekend, good luck and maybe I will see you there. If not we leave on Wednesday for Europe and some nice relaxation and de-training while floating down the Danube river on a big boat.

The Colonels' Recipe.......

Fried that is! That would be the way I feel and I have never felt this way about riding a bike! The keeper of all things training says I have it pretty bad and was laughing at me when I told him I was leading the Levi Trow 100 this weekend and after lap 5 of 8 I decided to just go home?? I felt fine, was racing fine, still had good legs, a couple of bike issues, but I just didn't want to ride anymore???

Next up on my training plan, a 2 week river cruise in Europe. I had all intentions of taking a bike, but not now. I am just going to become a tourist and walk around eating good food, drinking good beer, and maybe if my ADD allows I might be lazy.

On the team front, we now have the state SS champion on our team, Darrin Braun took control of the race from the start and never looked back except to make sure he was out of sight!! Nice work to the newcomer on the team and there are a lot of good podium places that will be occupied by him in the future!!

BC Bike Race Stage 7

Done! Now I am ready to hand in my learning permit and maybe get my license back?? The last few days have gone well and I now understand the flow/lack of flow of the trails. If I could get a rewind I think things could of been better. It has been a hard battle and it was interesting watching the rev limiter get lower and lower each day! Today was no exception with the max HR only in the 160's. On a plus note I might of done enough to move into 6th place. I was only 7 minutes out and I might of put that time in?? I have not seen the results for the day, but the worst case scenario would have me staying in 8th.

I must also give a shout out to Obsession Bikes for hooking me up this morning. I set on my bike to warm up and blew most of the oil out of the rear shock! They had one on their trailer and in 15 minutes I was good to go and ready to hit the trail! Speaking of the trail, it was straight up out of the start gate, with about 5 minutes of hike a bike. The overall climb took about 45 minutes. We then had a series of ups and downs and before the last climb of the day we ripped down this trail called Tunnel vision. At the start of the descent there was this 15 ft slide down this rock face that had the old pucker factor at a max. After that it was one last climb up a road stretch that finished with a hike a bike up some stairs and then we just flew down Blackcomb for about 2 K's to the finish of 7 days of on eof the hardest bike races I have ever done. Now I am exhausted, am hungry about every 15 minutes, bruised and scratched from head to toe, and confused on when my next race will be and what it will be.

For the rest of the team, good luck this weekend in Eau Claire!!

BC Bike Race/Ride/Lessons/Oh my....... another drop off!

Well, well! Michelle and I have made it to Whistler. That means no tents tonight, no community shower trailer, no mass feedings, no snoring neighbors in tents that are 2 ft apart, I think you get the picture! This weeks racing..... Starting back at stage 2, ended all hopes of any GC contention when not 20 K in I was following Trebon and a block of tree, yes tree, flew up and took out my rear deraileaur. Took the hanger right off, through the deraileur into the spokes pulled out two spokes on my rear wheel, and broke all the housing off of the frame mounts. The old hanger was wedged onto the deraileur so bad I had to stand on the deraileur and reef on it with my multi tool as hard as I could to get it off. I then had to take the electrical tape that was holding my tube to the frame and tape my houseing back onto the bike. Needless to say the remaining 50 K I had a pretty ill shifting bike and was stuck behind all the slower people on trails that were fresh cut, tight, rooted, loose, and just made for a frustrtating day!

Day 3, good trails to ride. We made our way further north on the island and found ourselves riding some fast flowing singletrack similar to Wausau! It was good. I was patient and actually rode with Katerina and Catherine for the first part of the ride. When the trail headed north I bridge to the next group and settled in. With about 15 K to go I took off on another ascent and ended up blowing the course, which is very common considing you are riding the most tech stuff I have ever seen and trying to find ribbons that are hung in trees sometimes 10 ft up??? Not good when you are blind in one eye??? Needles to say I went about a mile down the trail before noticing and lost a bunch of time again.

Day 4, I would much rather forget. Loose trails that I think were just freshly cut with a DR chipper. The only other traffic that I think the trails saw before I got to them was the lead moto and the guys in front of me! Don't get me wrong some of it was good. Today was the day I was also determined to make back some time so I went with the lead group and settled in for the day. Everything fell apart when we were descending a loose gravel road section at about 60kph and I over cooked a corner going off the side of the road and landing in a creek bed full of large shale rocks. There I laid taking inventory and watching myself bleed from everywhere. I jammed my finger, cut my right knee wide open, and my left shin. The pain of the finger made it hard to grip the bar and I lost a ton of time agian pushing my bike through the rough stuff! And I mean rough stuff. Us in the midwest have never seen conditions like this! Every trail has multiple dropoffs, bridges 10 sometimes 15 ft in the air, and descents that you ride with the saddle plastered in your chest! If there is anything that I am taking away from this it is tech skills! Long overdue for me! So back to the stage. I ended up finishing and so mentally depleted that I could of packed it in and gone home! I ended in the medic tent that night with them wanting me to go to the ER for stitches. I refused since one was my knee and there is no way to ride with stitches in the knee. Oh yeah and I forgot to mention that this day started with a 4:30 am wake up call, 2 ferry rides(that were awesome), and 2 bus trips!

Day 5, curve ball! They put in just an awesome day to be a bike rider and made me thank myself for not giving in! The day started with some nice singletrack climbing and followed by a 45 minutes descent all the way to the ferry terminal. Everyone crossed the line with smiles from ear to ear and all wishing we could go back up the hill!

Day 6. Today we rode the Test of Metal Course in Squamish with some extra K's thrown into the mix. Lets just say I want to move. This trail system was just awesome! We had 5000 ft of climbing today followed by some killer tech, but not too tech in my book singletrack! Today was also my best day for sure by finishing in just a tad over 3 hrs. It ended up good enough to be 5th on the day. On the downside of today I blew out my rear shock, which is not good with what tomorrows ride sounds like. Whistler, sounds like some more North Shore riding. They are calling for 30K tomorrow(short day, suck) that has only about 500 meters of climbing but supposedly some wicked rock face descents! More to come on this...

Sorry for the long post, but had to catch up on the race. I am bruised and can hardly walk. I am beyond being sore and am wondering how the tour riders due this for 3 weeks! To go with the bruises I have cuts everywhere due to the nature of the trails and all the brush that you are plowing through. The finish line is not far off though now!!

BC Bike Race Stage 1

Holy ......... That is all I can say! I used to think that Mt Snow would be the narliest downhill that I would ever encounter in a race situation, until today!! There were section that I wish they would of put a ladder on so that I could get off the ride mid way through!! I was also struggling with line selection, have no clue why?

This is the first trail that we hit, called severed dick. I hate to say it but this was the easy part. There was some big drops and in the end I ended up having to walk down some of them after crashing half a dozen times. My highlite of the day though was when Georgia just came flying down through this section and Trebon came running down the trail yelling for her to wait up!! In the end I think I ended up loosing almost 10 minutes to a couple of the locals. Hopefully with tomorrows stage of 70 K I can hook up with one of the duo teams and make back some of the time. Tomorrow we also have our first ferry transfer that takes us over to the island with our start in Nanaimo and finish at the beach in Parksville. I will post again tomorrow if I can pouch the race organizations WiFI again!

BC Stage 0 point 5!

Wow, that was an experience! I will never complain about registration again! It took 3 hrs today! All while standing in a small room that snaked around the room like 4 times!! After having the release form filled out we had to have a witness watch us sign it. Sweet, step 1! After 45 minutes it was onto step 2, medical! Then from medical, it was onto the most important step, FOOD! Pick your seating, then your restaurant for stage 3, then the time for your restaurant on stage 3, oh my good is the room spinning! After food, it was onto getting our bag that is supposed to follow us from stage to stage and then the repacking of the clothes! Then to top it all off, we went in for the hour long debrief that left my head spinning for sure!! All I can say by the end is I am in for an adventure!! Day 1 sounds like it is packed with some of the most tech riding that the North Shore has to offer! Good thing I have spent the last couple years chasing Mikey P down places like Mt Snow and Snowmass to hone the skills after years of racing on the vertically challenged terrain of Wisco!!

I am excited and nervous for the first stage tomorrow! It is a good thing though, it has been a while since I have been nervous to toe the line. It brings back that thrill that has been missing from the same ole same ole that I have felt for most of this year. For the rest of the trip we will be tenting it with the moving circus so I am guessing that they will not have WiFI installed even though I checked that box during registration today... I think.....? What time do I eat tomorrow, race time, any ferry trips? Good thing Michelle came along to take care of all the odds and ends! It is very helpful! She is also going to try and keep the blog updated and for those on Facebook she has been updating that as well.

Till the next time I see civilization!

BC Bike Race Stage 0

We have made it to Vancouver with everything! Bikes... check.... Helmet... check... shoes... check... legs.... Where did I put the fast legs, I am gonna need them with this field! Oh there they are..... check! Sweet, ready to go! All that is left is the race registration procudure which looks like it could be as long as the race. There are 3 pages of instruction on Day 0, what you need to know!! Good thing Michelle is along, she can keep track of some of the logistics for me since on page one my A.D.D. kicks in and I am off to something else.

I am pretty excited for the start tomorrow. Michelle and I were out spinning the plane legs out and ran across Eatough and Schalk. They seem ready after talking to them. Should be a pretty good battle amongst them, Wicks/Sneddon, and Sheppard/McGrath!

For me, in the solo division I will get to battle with Andreas Hestler and then a couple people from other countries that I do not know?? Either way the trails look awesome, the weather is supposed to be sunny and in the lower 70s, and the Specialized is ready to go!!

On another note, the coffee out her rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Team Picture, not this week!

I promised Specialized a team picture back in March and the team has still not all been in one spot yet! This past weekend was close, but we were still missing Scott at the lumberjack, which he represented well with a 13th place finish. On the home front the colors were looking good on the podium and we have some extra help with the addition of Darrin Braun to the team. I will not dwell on the WORS cup since by now everyone has heard about results.

Next up, the entire team, excluding myself this time, will be at the Eau Claire Fire Cracker race. As for me I am off to British Columbia for the BC Bike Race. So till next time.....

These guys rock......

If you are in need of anything bike related look no further! The bikes are awesome and the customer service is phenominal!!

www.specialized.com

Also if you are in the Point area and need anything at all great customer service and knowledge can be found here!

www.hostelshoppe.com

Thanks a bunch guys for helping the team and myself out with all the support!!

Away from everything.... Almost!

Good luck this weekend to TJ, he will be flying the colors out in CO Springs with all the best in the US.

As for me, off. I am not racing this weekend. I am also not working today. I have been so busy the last couple weeks trying to finish up this home automation project and have been ingnoring most things associated with training. Therefore today I have some VO2's to do and I have chossen to focus on the bike. About time I get priorities in line, I have less than 2 weeks before I leave to BC for the BC Bike Race. I am completely pumped to do this race though!!! 7 days straight doing nothing and focusing on nothing but racing bikes on what Barry Wicks told me some of the best single track ever! My goals are to finish in the top 5 overall for the solo division. I really hope that I can keep the rubber side down, which is something that has plagued me this year. So far one was my fault and the other, it is probably best that I do not know who caused it?

Anyway, see everyone at the WORS cup.

What is that....

Where to start? Back at Iola, the RASTA Ralley, the Rhinelander WORS race? No I will skip all those except for giving a shout out to Benders good form and pulling the team along. Also our younger, youngster Chris Denny has been having some great success in the sport SS class.


This past weekend was the Wassau WORS race and of course the team is spread all over the US. TJ has been chasing the National scene and has been ripping it up with a 25th placing in Alabama and a 20th place at the Teva Games!! For this past weekend Scott opted out of the muddy dirt road race that has become known as Wassau due to some illness and needing some recovery time from his 24th placing at the Mohican 100. Chris Denny had his graduation celebration and was not able to make it. Therefore, toeing the line for the team was Le Hoover , Mikey, and myself.





Those who know me I have been buried with this home automation system that I am working on and actually skipped a couple rides last week and have been working some crazy hours. Needless to say I was ready for some kind of WORS result after my start to the season. I lined up behind Marko and ended up with a good clean start. I made the lead group and settled in. The legs were a bit flat though so nothing there for top end, just a nice tempo that I just stayed at. After some attacks early on in the race I settled in with Le Hoover. For the next 3 laps I saw nothing but this view:

Good thing for teammates, cause the Le Hoover moover pulled me around the course to a 6th place finish! Mikey also made his comeback to racing after a hard bout with tendonitis. It was great to see him again in the superman kit and now he is super motivated for the the later part of the season!!

Next up for the team, TJ is in CO Springs this weekend for the US Pro XCT, the rest of us are off till the weekend after where all of us will be at the WORS Cup, minus Scott, who will be at the Lumberjack 100.

Bike wash....

Scott was over in Michigan this weekend showing the colors. I believe Scott ended up finishing 8th, check out his blog for an upcoming race report. In the meatime I think he thought this was suffiecient for a bke wash???

Follow the team....

Cohutta Results

Hopefully some pics to follow.

Also follow TJ as he conquers the Tour of the Gila. His day to day results can be found here:

Gila Results

With his own account of the race here:

TJ Online

Good luck!

The "Phlat" Man

This weekend was a whirlwind. What day is it again.... After a short single day at home the partial team consisting of LeHoover and myself headed out for the roadtrip to the land of banjos!

We started out Thursday morning and made our way down to my parents place at the southern tip of Illinois. We slept there for a night and finished the trip on Friday. We ended up getting into Ocoee, TN about 5 PM on Friday, registered, pre-rode part of the course, then used on-star to find Mama's "fine" Italian Restaurant for a nice pre race gut bomb! This place was so classy they pulled out the finest styrofoam to serve everything in, nothing says 5-star like olive oil on a styrofoam plate for dip'n!! Sweet!

After fueling up we prepped the specialized race rigs before heading to bed. The race started at 7am so an early wake up was in order to get there in time since the nearest hotel was 45 minutes away. Our wake up call came at 4:30 and the only selection for breakfast was the local Waffle House! More great dining!! It was an interesting time people watching since LeHoover and I were just getting out of bed and I think everyone else there was still trying to figure out were they were going to be sleeping?? After some waffles we made the trip to the start line!

The race itself was awesome! The first 20 miles was full on with my HR never settling below 170. After the dust settled I made the elite selection in the front group consisting of Bishop, Schalk, Eatough, Simonson, Beck, Koerber, and myself. It was game off for a bit while everyone looked around to see who the new guy was! It was kind of interesting to do introduction on the bike as Eatough came up to me and introduced himself to me. The heat was turned on again after the 2nd feed zone when Schalk attacked as most everyone else stopped to grab feeds. By this time I had settled in with Simonson and Chris Beck riding in 3rd, 4th, and 5th before stopping at the 3rd aid station. After my rookie "long" stop I ended up riding with Koerber for awhile. Just after the 4th stop is when my race fell apart. Not one flat, not two, but three flat tires. The first two were fine, but the thrid one had me walking for 2 miles before getting to the last aid station at the 90 mile mark. I fixed the tire for the last time and made it to the finish for 13th out of 119 entries about 40 minutes down on the leader.

For the second race of the day, the BIG frog 65, LeHoover was able to walk away with the victory! Awesome job by him even after a missed turn! I believe he ended up out on course for 4 hours and 40 minutes while I spent 7 hrs and 9 minutes of my day on my bike!!

All in all I was happy with my results, while Bender gave the team another victory for the 2009 season.

Next up, TJ has the Cat 2 Tour of Gila while the rest of the team will be waiting for the Iola WORS race. Iola will also be the first time the entire team will be in one spot! Watch out for this guy, I heard he has been riding a lot after spending some time in Hawaii, this is the only spy photo I could find!!

Where in Tennessee???

Well the partial team is off again. Feels like we just got home, oh wait we did, just one day ago! This time LeHoover and I are off to the Cahutta 1oo in Tennessee. This race is in a town called Ducktown?? I looked it up today on the map, there happens to be two of them in Tennessee? The one that we are headed to is about an hour east of Chattanooga in the middle of no where. The race looks to be cool. I am down for the single 100 mile loop that goes through the "back"woods of Tennesee and Georgia while LeHoover will tackle the 65 miler. Should be some good times. I have not done a 100 mile MTB race since the Leadville 100 back in 2005! That one at one point had me sit down on the side of the trail begging for mercy and swearing that I would never race again!! Not to mention my time in the medics tent receiving oxygen at the end!! I am hoping for a more enjoyable experience this time around since the elevation gets no where near the 10,000 ft mark!!!

I have the Sworks all dialed in for battle with a crossmark up front, a furious fred in the back and a 12-27 road cassette. Puts the bike at just a shade under 20 pounds. That will not matter much since we are doing this with no support and with the expected 80 degree temps I will be carrying an extra 5 pounds of water!! Either way good times by all.......

The "blackened" otter

Well another Sea Otter in the books. This year was incredibly different than those in the past with the temps soaring past the 90 degree mark!! For this reason they shortened the race to 30 miles versus the typical 38 mile slug fest that we are all used to.

Also the field was different. Over 150 riders took the start on Sunday with Christoph Sauser lining up with us in the World Champ colors! Also in attendance was the South African National Champ Burry Stander, and the other fast guys that typically show to race the ProXCT! With all this horsepower it was sure to be a fast race so I made up my mind that I was going to race out of my norm and race Mike P style, go till you blow then try to maintain! This seemed to work out well as I followed Ryan Trebon around the field on the right and found myself riding only 15 spots or so behind the leader! I maintained the pace as long as I could and then started to falter due to the heat and lack of water. Luckily we had some awesome support out there with Jake Richards giving bottle feeds out on the track even after racing earlier in the day himself. Michelle also made the trek to the backside of the course to make sure we were staying hydrated!

After all the dust settled, the Adveture 212/Specialized team came out looking good, especially since Le Hoover and I finally got some sun on the pasty legs. Also cause the results were there, 22nd for TJ, 31st for me, and 33rd for Le Hoover! Sweet! Everyone was excited with the way their Specialized bikes performed even though Le Hoover and TJ spent the entire weekend drooling over the new carbon 29er!!

Next on the agenda is a flight home, one day at home, then Le Hoover and I are headed off to the Cahutta 100 for a nice Bonk race!

Next up

The next thing on the agenda for the team is Sea Otter. All of us are very motivated aided by the change in weather here in Wisconsin. Most of the snow is gone and the legs have even seen a little sun, although it is only from the knees down. Either way a good trend.

The squad for Sea Otter will be TJ, Le Hoover, and myself with some great support from Michelle and maybe a sighting by the man behind my training, Adnan. The forecast is looking good out there and is lacking the typical rain shower/gale force winds that are typical! Sweet! Maybe after three trips out there I will finally get to check out the venue??

As for Easter, it was spent building another Sworks Epic! This time around it was Mikey's. It was really comical to watch as I built and he stood back drooling and impatiently waiting to ride it! Could of swore it was Xmas, not easter. We then finished off easter with a couple hour road ride, cycling.tv coverage of Paris-Rubaix, and a couple Peruvian Mornings from Central Waters!

Time Bonus.........

Yes, I think there should be a time bonus added to any ride done in crappy weather. Similar to the days of playing Pacman and you received a free guy after 10,000 points! Todays ride was one of those rides where I feel the time bonus is justified! Snow, wind, wet/icy roads! Not to mention my gear selections were dropping like flies with the icing up of the bike. By the time I was done I had only the big ring and 4 gears in the back. This made every hill a muscle tension interval! There is also the added thrill of the ride that as you pick up speed going down hills, ice chunks would start flying off the bike! On a plus note I will be faster at Sea Otter, my glasses were frozen to my eyebrows so when I pulled my glasses off I think I removed them.......

TJ Post Race

Check out the interview with TJ after the PRO XC Race:


http://www.cyclingdirt.org/videos/coverage/view_video/234765-us-pro-xct-1-fontana-city-national/166241-tj-woodruff-post-race

The fun has begun......

This past weekend TJ and I headed out to Fontana, CA to do the PRO XC opener. We arrived to some nice temps in the 80s and some course changes that brought the Mountain back into Mountain Biking!! The big climb of the day had us ascending for about 5 minutes with grades greater than 30% at some sections forcing even the best off their bikes to push over the hump. All in all it was a good day for the Adventure 212/Specialized team with TJ having a nice clean run to finish 31st on the day and myself finishing in 47th. Both of us are happy with our early season form and with the bikes now dialed in, customized by a couple crashes(on my part), we are now looking forward to Sea Otter!

If you are looking for some good coverage of the race go take a look at www.cyclingdirt.com

Bring On the Season......

I cannot believe that the 2009 season is about to start! There is still snow on the ground and todays ride was done with a 20 mph wind and temps in the upper 30's. On a plus note the first race will be the Fontana National in Cali so hopefully it will be short sleeve jersey weather. That will play in my favor with the bright pasty white legs and arms should blind the comp and maybe give me a couple spots??

From the Adveture 212 Team it is TJ and I headed. We get in on Friday with me flying into Orange County and TJ making the drive over from sunny Tuscon. Will be nice to travel with the new team mate and maybe some of his laid back nature will rub off on me for everyones elses sake!

On the bike front the bike is assembled and almost ready to go. I need to get a laid back seatpost to get me in the right position but other than that I feel very comfortable on it and should not require much of a learning curve.

Thanks Pete and Bill from Specialized for doin backflips to get me a bike!! See everyone in Cali!