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.....