Was this a hint!

So coach has me nicknamed "Skinny" and at work they call me "Skinnyman" Then to add to that I finish the NUE race this past weekend and look what they give me:

Needless to say, they are probably right cause I have not been very far from a dinner plate since I have finished!! Ah, the joy of recovery!!  I have yet to figure it out yet, do I like to ride my bike or is it the post ride eating that I enjoy!! 

On another note, I am way excited for the release of this!  Nothing like a little motivation to keep you riding hard! 

See everyone this weekend at Iola!  Can't believe it is May!

Cohutta 100

What can I say, what a weekend!  The whole team has stepped it up over the winter and I am excited to see how the rest of the season goes!  We have such a great team and we all feed off from each others successes!  It is awesome to be able to help such a great group of talented and down to earth individuals. 

So I am sure everyone has seen all the results by now and the fact that we took three different podium spots at a national event.  If not here is someone else's perspective:

http://www.mtbracenews.com/view_article.jsp?id=18

So my perspective now!  I must start with all the driving!  Wow it is a long way down there, and back! I think it was a total of over 30 hrs in the car for the weekend.  Now that is way outside Mike's rule of the travel to the race cannot be longer than the time in the saddle!

So race morning.  I barely slept going into it cause the rain started at about 2 am that morning and never stopped.  The whole night was spent thinking about what tires to run, should I change out my rotors, blah, blah, blah.  So when we finally got up at 4am, ate, then headed to the race course, the rain was still coming down but at a little lighter rate and I was tired!  With the rain I was not very interested in any type of warm up and just rolled to the line and called that my warm up, hell I have 100 miles to warm up!  So I ended up lining up 2nd row and a bunch of riders though it was a good idea to line up to the right of everyone in the parking lot thinking that when they said go it would funnel together??  Not sure the thinking on that but after only one dab during the start I was off and settled in behind Simonson in about 5th spot.  At the top of the first road hill he gave it a good go and I stayed glued to his wheel!  I think he took Schalk by surprise when he came by him on the downhill leading into the singletrack, Schalk countered and ended up into the singletrack first with Simonson, myself, Christian, Koerber, and Josh in tow.  The singletrack was a blast and was actually in better shape after the rain.  We flowed well and just kept the momentum going not really drilling it too hard.  We did surprise some of the local critters when all the riders went flying past a turtle that decided to hide in his shell in the middle of the trail!  I hope he made it!!  Just as we were about to come out the other side of the singletrack at the Ocoee White Water Center, Jeff hit a root wrong and went down.  I tried to miss it, but with the speed I ended up hitting a root wrong and went down right next to him.  I bounced right back up and got onto the group, but Jeff was off the back a bit, so at this time, game on!!  Simonson and Tosatado went to the front and kept the pace high!  Jeff eventually bridged back up and went right to the front as to punish us for not waiting!  So by the time we got out of all the singeltrack the break was set.  We ended up loosing Koerber up one of the hills and 5 of us settled in as Tostado kept the pace high at the front of the group.  Josh and I ended up stopping at aid #2 to fill water bottles, which we had to do ourselves since we surprised the helpers by coming through so fast.  Once mounted back on the bike I went past Josh and Christian toward to the top of the climb and ended up riding solo for the next 65 miles!  Not fun, I had no clue how far I was behind or how far in front I was.  So I just kept my head down, settled into a pace I could maintain, and went.  At this time Simonson and Schalk were off the front together so I knew that I would probably not catch them but kept moving thinking something might happen.  At about mile 50 I saw Simonson standing on the side of the course with a flat, suck!!  He motioned for me to slow and asked if I had a tube and CO2.  I dropped my CO2, but when I went to grab a tube, I noticed I never put one on my bike!  Oops, must of missed that with thinking bout the crappy weather that morning!! So now I was in 2nd and just kept my pace.  I would attack all the hills cause I knew I could make my best time there and just settled into my best tempo on the flats.  At about mile 70, the skies decided to open and just poured on us!  A couple too close for comfort lightning strikes as well.  Either way I was hoping that they would just send us down the mountain at aid station 6.  I asked at both station 5 and station 6 and the answer was the same, enjoy the singletrack in monsoon conditions. 

By the time I hit this point I had been riding in the heavy rain for almost 2 hrs and was getting cold.  I picked the pace up to stay warm and headed out for the remainder of my epic ride.  The singletrack was made more technical with the rivers flowing down it.  I kept it smooth and attacked the hills and came out the other side still in 2nd place and no brakes left on the bike.  From here it was just 2 miles on a paved trail, over the bridge, and cross the line, for my first ever pro podium!!  Sweet! 

From the finish line, I headed directly to the river to wash off.  I had mud everywhere! 

Once in I also learned how well everyone else did!  Here are the podium shots!

I must say thanks to all the sponsors.  We made it 460 miles as a team and not a single mechanical!!

Tired, abbreviated version!

Darrin, winner 65 miler
Lisa, 4th overall girl 65 miler
Michelle 7th overall girl 65 miler
Mark Cole 12th overall 65 miler
Scott Cole 26th overall 100 miler
Me 2nd overall 100 miler. 

Can't believe it, my first pro podium today and the Adventure 212/Specialized team took 3 podium spots at a national event!!  What a way to start out the season!!!!  Nice work to everyone who finished today, it was epic with all the rain and thunderstorms!!

The life of Team 212!

This post is dedicated to Ryan as we stopped by Wednesday night, stole his wife, left him with two kids, and headed for the southland!

So the team is all settled in and ready to represent tomorrow!  We are expecting an 80% chance of thunderstorm tomorrow with severe storms moving in for the afternoon.  What a good incentive to bust off a fast time and get back to our sweet accommodations! 

Our rig was also sweet for travel.  I think I might have to get one of these trailers so that I am not begging and borrowing the next time! 

Surprised, the whole team is hanging out in the kitchen!

So today pre ride went well and the bikes are all tuned, cleaned, numbers mounted, and loaded back into the trailer for tomorrow.  Will give the full update tomorrow!

It has left my head spinning

So what a busy last week and I am about to cap it off with 15 hrs of driving to get the team down to our first race of the season!  The Cohutta 100.  We are all excited, there are some nervous people within the bunch, but overall we are expecting some good finishes in the mens 65 with Darrin and Mark, the womens 65 with Lisa and Michelle, and the 100 with Scott and I! 

I must give a big THANK YOU to all the sponsors!  It rocks to have people that will do whatever it takes to make things happen when it becomes crunch time!  Pete and Bill at Specialized for jumping through hoops to find a 29er SWORKS and get ti to us, for Mike at Notubes for finidng some crest rims hidding in a dark corner somewhere, and to the Hostel Shoppe for allowing us to make an order on a non order day and for the continued support of the Team!  Could not do it without these people. 

So once all the bikes were built, Mike and Darrrin came up for the weekend and we got together with Scott and Mark to beat up on each other and to make sure that all the bolts were tightened on the bikes!  Cause I do have A.D.D. and I could of moved onto putting the tires on before tightening all the stem bolts or something!!  On Saturday we hit Nine Mile which with it being so dry it is like a skating rink out there.  I decided to try and take down a pine tree with my face, which didn't work!  Then on Sunday we traveled a little further North and hit up the Underdown trails.  I have never been up here before but during the first hour was hating them, but as we started to get the flow of the trails down and get the bikes moving, actually started to dig them!  Mike and I were also digging the new Epics!  Freak'n Awesome!!  They are way better than last year.  Stiffer, accelerate faster, and track the course like there is a rail laid down just for that bike! It is going to be good!

After a weeekend of riding, it was a little drive to DePere yesterday morning to finish off a good weekend.  Ended up helping Pete finish off his pot of coffee as we took care of some 212 team stuff and hooked up his trailer.  It is awesome that he is going to let us borrow his trailer to take to Cohutta.  The thing is completely decked out and from my experience last year we will be the best looking team down there!  Sweet!   

Well the next update should be a course update and some pictures of this sweet pad that we have rented!

In search of the draft!

Here is a good pick that surfaced of us messing around out in Cali. I was working on some new drafting techniques while sitting on the back of the pack!!

I already miss the just riding around and not havig to deal with the normal day to day things!  It is amazing how much more work you can get done on the bike!

Either way, I am feeling good and confident going into next weeks NUE 100 race down in Cohutta!  Last year I really enjoyed this race and the format, one 100 mile loop, despite having 3 flat tires.   This year I am running a Specialized Renegade, which is a tubeless ready tire, and should keep the flat monster from visiting me.  On the bike front, everything seems to be dialed in and it weighs in right at 20 lbs race ready for the distance!  This is awesome cause I think I can get my STXC set up under 19 lbs!  Sweet! 

This weekend will be my last weekend to shake down the bike and make sure it is ready to go.  It also sounds like Mikee and Big "D" are going to come up and get the rest of their race care package and to do some riding.  Now we just need to decide where to ride? Hopefully we do not ride the bar stools at the brewery too long on Saturday!!

Found!

My bike has been found.  It was wondering aimlessly around Kansas!  Looking for anything that slightly resembled the California landscape cause it did not want to come home to the abuse that I usually put it through all winter! 

Either way, it was not needed this weekend with the trails at nine mile opening up!!  This is the first time in a number of years that I hit dirt in the first of April without having to travel to Sea Otter or any of the other early season California races.  Don't get me wrong, I will miss Sea Otter this year!  There is just something about the atmosphere that I like!!  The last of the true MTB weekends!  I tlooks like they are going to have the typical rainy weather for the event again this year!  Wont't miss replacing all the drivetrain from the sand! 

Anyway, Scott, Michelle, and I went out on Saturday and was joined by Justin.  Then on Sunday Michelle, Sara, and I went out.  Good times and I was able to get the bike dialed in and make sure I tightened all the bolts before jumping on it to race through Tenessee and Georgia in 2 weeks! The Cohutta 100! Cannot wait!  Something about the 100 mile MTB races that I enjoy.  It makes the travel so much more worth it when you see 100 miles of trail vs the same 4 mile stretch 5 times!  Mike and I used to say that the time on the bike should always be more than the travel time to justify the trip!!   

On other news, new road bike on the way!  Maybe this is why the bike decided to not come home. 

Have you seen me??

Well this is the last time that I have seen my bike!  Suck!

So yesterday we received Michelle's bike but mine has not been checked in at any of the locations since Wednesday!  It left somewhere in Kansas never to be seen since!  Kind of strange since the two bikes were shipped together?  Please return to me!  I promise I will take good care of it! 

Leaving Cali

Well, that is it! We are now done with our camps out here and enjoyed every minute of it.  We finished the day off with one of my favorite rides that takes you down to the beach at Jalama.  It is one of the coolest roads to ride!  Once you make the turn off form HWY 1 you have anice climb before fnishing a 25 minute descent that ends at the ocean!!  Freak'n awesome! 

Michelle was excited to make it to the beach and even stopped to give us a victory salute!

To celebrate we decided to take the Jalama Store up on there World Famous Jalama burger and do not frget the onion rings!

We even stopped for a shot in front of the ocean before ripping back into town!

That is some sweet helmet hair!  Now that the trip is over I had to spend the evening packing the bikes up to get them ready to ship home!

What better way to celebrate a great day on the bike bit with burritos and margaritas!!

Unfrtunatley us light weights were not carrying our fair share so the girls had to cover for us!

So now the trip is completely over and we have the great 6 am flight tomorrow morning!!  That means we need to leave the house by 4am so a nice 3:30am wake up call is in order!  SUCK!!  

Fig is one up on me!

So today we went up, up, and up some more!  The group rolled out of Los Olivos and wasted no time rolling towards the moutnains.  We did roll past Neverland Ranch and then to the base of my demise today!  Man are my legs smoked!  Either way Mt Figueroa is one of the hardest climbs that I have ever done on a road bike!  The base starts out at 21% and after you get over that portion it does not feel like it lets up, at all!!  Either way what does not kill you makes you stronger so I hope it helped today.

The girls even rocked the hill today and all in all everyone enjoyed themselves with the incredible views from the top!

Here's the group minus Di, she is taking the pictures, waiting for the hr of pain!

Here's Michelle and TSP coming towards the top of the climb!

It was hard to stay on task today with views like this on the way up! 

After the climb, we ended up ripping through Happy Canyon!  It is awesome coming down through there and the descent includes multiple cattle gate crossings, 2 stream crossings, and about a mile of gravel! It is awesome out here this time of year, everything is so green!

With all the gravel, I ended up being a victim of the flat monster on the way down! 

Hopefully I have that out of my system now so that there are no troubles at Cohutta like last year!! 

Today Michelle and I are going to chill and do a winery tour on our biccyles.  There are something like 40 wineries within 20 miles of where we are staying.  Hopefully we do not get picked up by the CHP!!