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Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Seeing eye dog
So the High Cascadeds went off yesterday. Michelle and I took our 3:45AM wake up call directly on the chin and drug our carcases out of bed. The morning started with some blueberry pancakes, eggs and a cold brewed coffee from Backporch coffee roasters! That last one is not really recommended! From there we loaded the bike, the clothes and made our way to the start. Rolling up towards Mt Bachelor the temp continued to drop till the thermometer on the truck was reading a not so balmy 36 degrees while rolling into the parking lot of Wanoga Ski Park. After checking tires, shocks, and finishing kitting up it left not more than 15 minutes till go time. I opted for leg warmers, and my jacket for the start with my arm warmers on as well.
At about 5:40 AM the lead truck pulled out in front of us and the day started! It was a nice roll out while talking with Troy Berry and Josh Tosatado, a couple nice guy regulars on the scene! Then right before the crest of the hill I opened it up a little just to make sure I was placed towards the front of the group going into the 4 mile, washed out descent. It worked well and by then the sun was starting to peak out. With the sun coming out and knowing that there was a good climb coming ahead I decided to drop back behind the group of 6 or so and take my leg warmers off so that I would not cook on the first climb of the day! I no sooner finished getting them off and Josh decided it was time. He took off with myself and Carey Smith in tow. We entered the first section of singletrack and already had formed a gap between us and the rest. The pace remained high, but I had good legs and settled in for the long day ahead. Just as we crested the top of our first climb I decided to through myself on the ground in the first banked switchback. I popped up, grabbed my bottle and computer that was laying on the grund and took up chase. I could see the two maybe 10 seconds up so I was calm and knew I could get back on. That is when the bike gods struck. Not sure what it is with the long races, but luck is not on my side! A stick came off from my front wheel and took the rear derailleur right off the bike. I stopped and started to fix my bike, yes I do carry a spare derraileur pin for my bike. On the new epics it is a shear pin set up so the derraileur hanger is never the problem, you just change the bolt. My tool was being a pain since the allen key was not long enough to allow me to get a full revolution of the bolt. By now almost 2 minutes passed before the now 3rd place rider went by! We had a good gap for it only being 45 minutes into the race. I struggled getting the new bolt started but finally did and got the derailleur back on. I then went to put my wheel in and for some reason the skewer was not tightening in?? Who new, the threads on the driveside of the bike are held in with the deraileur hanger bolt!! I proceded to look around for it in the dirt. I finally found it and after about 10 minutes of monkeying around I was off again. By now I am guessing I was back in the 40's and I just put the hammer down! I was passing people left and right and by the time I had hit aid station 1 I had moved upto 19th place. I kept the pace high and between the 8 miles between aid 1 and aid 2 I picked off 10 more riders to move into 9th place.
Now the fun part of the trail starts with just fast, flowing singletrack that begs for you to go fast! I rallied this getting one more rider. I then stopped at aid 3, 57 miles in, and got 2 more bottles before the next 10 mile uphill section. While climbing I saw Gerry Phlug up ahead on the climb and he was climbing well. We stayed about the same gap for the entire climb and I caught him just before the descent down to Tumalo Creek, which is this fun switch back descent that drops you almost a 1000ft in less than 2 miles. I kept going and rolled into aid 5 pretty blown and looking for some nurishment. Luckily Michelle was there and had my bottles ready to go. I rolled out with her telling me that 4th, 5th, and 6th were no more than 2 minutes up and were riding as a group. I decided to drop the hammer and go for a podium spot. All was going well and I rolled into aid 6, where Troy Berry was standing there getting a new wheel after geting hit by a leasure cyclist going the wrong way on the race course. I grabbed a coke and my last bottle and headed out for the death march back over the mountain. I kept the pedals turning but by now it was 8 hrs and 30 minutes into the race, and for me I had the hammer down the entire way. Then at about mile 93 the wheels came off! Troy came flying past me and I tried to just hang with him but that was not happening so I settled back into my off pace. Then just before the last descent of the day, Gerry came back around me. I kept my wits about me and just kept the cranks turning. I made it up the last climb on the road section with no one behind me and knew I was in the clear for 8th place. I was happy with that after over 9hrs in the saddle and the bonk hitting me hard. That is when I came to the dreaded turn with less than a mile to go and I went the wrong way!! You have got to be kidding!! Anyway I wandered around a bit, loaded the GPS files I had on my Garmin, but still could not find where to go. By now there were 4 of us wandering around looking for the finish!! After finally making it back out we found some arrows and started to follow them! We rolled the last mile down the road and there it was!!! The finish!! I was so over my limit I could not barely stand! I immediately just fell off my bike and tried to catch my breath! Was not happening. Michelle went off in search of nurishments and came back with water and licorice! Sweet. So after the epic 9 hr and 44 minute day I ended up in 17th spot. Pretty upset about it cause I had good legs and think I had a good shot of the top 3, probably not enough for the win cause Cary was riding really well but for sure a top 5.
I guess now with 2 occassions of wrong turns in the hundreds, maybe I should put my request in for the seeing eye dog to get me around the course! I am blind in one eye so maybe they will take that into consideration!!
At about 5:40 AM the lead truck pulled out in front of us and the day started! It was a nice roll out while talking with Troy Berry and Josh Tosatado, a couple nice guy regulars on the scene! Then right before the crest of the hill I opened it up a little just to make sure I was placed towards the front of the group going into the 4 mile, washed out descent. It worked well and by then the sun was starting to peak out. With the sun coming out and knowing that there was a good climb coming ahead I decided to drop back behind the group of 6 or so and take my leg warmers off so that I would not cook on the first climb of the day! I no sooner finished getting them off and Josh decided it was time. He took off with myself and Carey Smith in tow. We entered the first section of singletrack and already had formed a gap between us and the rest. The pace remained high, but I had good legs and settled in for the long day ahead. Just as we crested the top of our first climb I decided to through myself on the ground in the first banked switchback. I popped up, grabbed my bottle and computer that was laying on the grund and took up chase. I could see the two maybe 10 seconds up so I was calm and knew I could get back on. That is when the bike gods struck. Not sure what it is with the long races, but luck is not on my side! A stick came off from my front wheel and took the rear derailleur right off the bike. I stopped and started to fix my bike, yes I do carry a spare derraileur pin for my bike. On the new epics it is a shear pin set up so the derraileur hanger is never the problem, you just change the bolt. My tool was being a pain since the allen key was not long enough to allow me to get a full revolution of the bolt. By now almost 2 minutes passed before the now 3rd place rider went by! We had a good gap for it only being 45 minutes into the race. I struggled getting the new bolt started but finally did and got the derailleur back on. I then went to put my wheel in and for some reason the skewer was not tightening in?? Who new, the threads on the driveside of the bike are held in with the deraileur hanger bolt!! I proceded to look around for it in the dirt. I finally found it and after about 10 minutes of monkeying around I was off again. By now I am guessing I was back in the 40's and I just put the hammer down! I was passing people left and right and by the time I had hit aid station 1 I had moved upto 19th place. I kept the pace high and between the 8 miles between aid 1 and aid 2 I picked off 10 more riders to move into 9th place.
Now the fun part of the trail starts with just fast, flowing singletrack that begs for you to go fast! I rallied this getting one more rider. I then stopped at aid 3, 57 miles in, and got 2 more bottles before the next 10 mile uphill section. While climbing I saw Gerry Phlug up ahead on the climb and he was climbing well. We stayed about the same gap for the entire climb and I caught him just before the descent down to Tumalo Creek, which is this fun switch back descent that drops you almost a 1000ft in less than 2 miles. I kept going and rolled into aid 5 pretty blown and looking for some nurishment. Luckily Michelle was there and had my bottles ready to go. I rolled out with her telling me that 4th, 5th, and 6th were no more than 2 minutes up and were riding as a group. I decided to drop the hammer and go for a podium spot. All was going well and I rolled into aid 6, where Troy Berry was standing there getting a new wheel after geting hit by a leasure cyclist going the wrong way on the race course. I grabbed a coke and my last bottle and headed out for the death march back over the mountain. I kept the pedals turning but by now it was 8 hrs and 30 minutes into the race, and for me I had the hammer down the entire way. Then at about mile 93 the wheels came off! Troy came flying past me and I tried to just hang with him but that was not happening so I settled back into my off pace. Then just before the last descent of the day, Gerry came back around me. I kept my wits about me and just kept the cranks turning. I made it up the last climb on the road section with no one behind me and knew I was in the clear for 8th place. I was happy with that after over 9hrs in the saddle and the bonk hitting me hard. That is when I came to the dreaded turn with less than a mile to go and I went the wrong way!! You have got to be kidding!! Anyway I wandered around a bit, loaded the GPS files I had on my Garmin, but still could not find where to go. By now there were 4 of us wandering around looking for the finish!! After finally making it back out we found some arrows and started to follow them! We rolled the last mile down the road and there it was!!! The finish!! I was so over my limit I could not barely stand! I immediately just fell off my bike and tried to catch my breath! Was not happening. Michelle went off in search of nurishments and came back with water and licorice! Sweet. So after the epic 9 hr and 44 minute day I ended up in 17th spot. Pretty upset about it cause I had good legs and think I had a good shot of the top 3, probably not enough for the win cause Cary was riding really well but for sure a top 5.
I guess now with 2 occassions of wrong turns in the hundreds, maybe I should put my request in for the seeing eye dog to get me around the course! I am blind in one eye so maybe they will take that into consideration!!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
A whole lotta nothing
That is what is beween Bend and home!The landsape never seemed to change except for hills thrown in every once in a while. Then all of a sudden there's Bend! So far it seems to be a pretty cool town and has a lot of things to occup your day,hence the reason I have been slacking on posting anything. Right now we are setting in front of the Backporch Coffee Roasters and watching the riders warm up for todays TT in the Cascads Cycling Classic. Not bad! I guess I still owe race reports from this past weekend as well so here is the abbreviated version
Me, the race course climb was way over what I was even capable of! Each lap i found myself completely blown at the top when the grade notched upto 25%! Good thing the downhill was a lot of fun! Then is Stxc, I blew again. The story of the weekend. This time it was different. I got a killer start by going low into a off camber corner while everyone else fought for the line at the top. When everyone slowed I just rode by and the next thing I know I am sitting in the group with Wicks! Really kind of funny and I decided to just go with it. Unfortunately my mind and legs had different ideas cause the legs said that's enough righ at the 18 minute mark! Suck!
Myles, He had a last row call up due to the flat the previous day and rode a smart race to come back up and batlle it out with Jake! Was exciting to watch the 2 as they rode a smart race and ended up sprinting for 16th and 17th with Jake juwt edging Myles out!
Sarah, she had a similar thing with the call up after flatting XC. Not to mention the race delay after a racer in her field crashed bad coming over the pedestrian bridge. Once th erace got going again Sarah made her way through the field and finished an awesome 7th!
Michelle, she did not get to race STXC cause she was in the process of seeing an orthopedic surgeon and getting the new that she has a torn miniscous! We are not sure what this is going tom mean for the rest of the season yet cause we had to leave before an MRI could be scheduled. Hopefully she heals fast!
Now back to Bend! I have been out on the first two loops of the trail for Saturday, and yup, the best 100 mile course yet!!!! Lots of good steady climbing and fun, flowing, fast singletrack! It is just too much fun to ride, so even if I am hurting on Saturday it is still going to be a good day rallying the course! I have some pics of the course that are on my phone, but too lazy to go through the effort to try and get them on my crap-pad to post here! Maybe later tonight?
There is one problem with Bend, Michelle and I both really like it here! Everyone is active and they have a strong cycling base so we keep seeing people we know! Not to mention the condo we have rented is really cool and forsale! Hmmmm?
Me, the race course climb was way over what I was even capable of! Each lap i found myself completely blown at the top when the grade notched upto 25%! Good thing the downhill was a lot of fun! Then is Stxc, I blew again. The story of the weekend. This time it was different. I got a killer start by going low into a off camber corner while everyone else fought for the line at the top. When everyone slowed I just rode by and the next thing I know I am sitting in the group with Wicks! Really kind of funny and I decided to just go with it. Unfortunately my mind and legs had different ideas cause the legs said that's enough righ at the 18 minute mark! Suck!
Myles, He had a last row call up due to the flat the previous day and rode a smart race to come back up and batlle it out with Jake! Was exciting to watch the 2 as they rode a smart race and ended up sprinting for 16th and 17th with Jake juwt edging Myles out!
Sarah, she had a similar thing with the call up after flatting XC. Not to mention the race delay after a racer in her field crashed bad coming over the pedestrian bridge. Once th erace got going again Sarah made her way through the field and finished an awesome 7th!
Michelle, she did not get to race STXC cause she was in the process of seeing an orthopedic surgeon and getting the new that she has a torn miniscous! We are not sure what this is going tom mean for the rest of the season yet cause we had to leave before an MRI could be scheduled. Hopefully she heals fast!
Now back to Bend! I have been out on the first two loops of the trail for Saturday, and yup, the best 100 mile course yet!!!! Lots of good steady climbing and fun, flowing, fast singletrack! It is just too much fun to ride, so even if I am hurting on Saturday it is still going to be a good day rallying the course! I have some pics of the course that are on my phone, but too lazy to go through the effort to try and get them on my crap-pad to post here! Maybe later tonight?
There is one problem with Bend, Michelle and I both really like it here! Everyone is active and they have a strong cycling base so we keep seeing people we know! Not to mention the condo we have rented is really cool and forsale! Hmmmm?
Friday, July 15, 2011
The good and the bad.....
We had the first podium of the trip last night. Our wanna be roadie decided to try her hand at the Fat Tire Crit! She ended up making it through the carnage of the womens field and even took out a couple of the preems. In the end Sarah ended up 2nd to Rebeccs Rusch to be the first person actually on knobby tires(Rebecca raced the fat tire crit on the new fate with road wheels?)
Rebecca obviously didn't feel safe around the rest of the girls cause she kept her helmet on for the podium!
Rebecca obviously didn't feel safe around the rest of the girls cause she kept her helmet on for the podium!
Today was Myle's race and he was nervous. Rightfully so, he was lining up with the nations best. He was ready and said he felt good. Here is a good mental prep photo at the start line:
He lined up in the 2nd row but was not enough to keep him on his bike once the field made the left hander to climb to the sky! He ended up dimounting a couple times and settled into the later half of the field. It was good to see him hold his composure and get to the task at hand! Each lap he pulled back a few riders and worked his way back up into the top 20 going into his final lap. He said he felt good and was riding very well!! It was a bummer to us all to see him running down the last switch backs to come into the finish shoot with a torn side wall. Bummer! Unfortunately that is the breaks and now he is looking forward to some short track revenge on Sunday!!
Next up for the team is the Cat 1 women tomorrow at 10 AM for Sarah and Michelle, then myself at 3PM. I am still trying to figure out how I am gong to get myself up that climb 6 times in a row??? And I like to climb????
Thursday, July 14, 2011
U-da-ho
Made it out to Idaho! We drove to Fargo the night after Eau Claire, then did the rally drive out here on Monday! After getting here we have done some exploring and the town is fun! The course on the other hand is hard! There is a trail that Myles and I ride called up the gut and I think they need to rename it to Out of the Gut cause I think I am going to toss my cookies trying to climb it 6 times!! It is steep, it is loose, and the oxygen level is low!! Ouch! After a couple laps yesterday I was thinking that I could not even make it 6 laps! I did com eback and put the 26 tooth front granny gear on and I am hoping that helps me out!! Will know after re-ride today. In the mean time enjoy the time lapsed photo gallery of our trip here!
Hmm, good thing you can fly through this state!
Can't figure out why almost no one lives here??
Suposedly the largest metal sculpture! the artist must of been thinking if I cant make it look good then lets make it big??
Was hard to pass up the exit for the Ma Dah Hey Trails!
How much longer!! Forever!
Getting more entertaining!
Can we tube there!
Mmmm, Sugar!!
Ooops, sugar crash!!
There has to be trails in there!
Let me out! I am goinng ot jump to end this drive!
Now way, U da HO!!
One lonely Butte, pronounced Boo-Teh in Sarah's Vocab!!
Just over that mountain pass, no roads though so we have to go around!!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Congrats Mikee
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Friday, July 8, 2011
Mid July, Really!!
Summer has finally hit her in Wisconsin, it only took till July this year! Anyway, sorry about the lack of updates but things are in full tilt getting ready for the out West trip. I now have all the bikes dialed and my truck is almost completed with some new entertainment goodies to pass the time while driving. Fun stuff!
This past week has also been filled with some good rides, some hard, some just for fun! I love the just for fun ones! The older I get the more I hate the hard ones but know that they are good to keep the engine going for those random WORS races thrown into the middle of the 100 miles races. My weekend rides started with some nice 40 sec bursts, while the Heat index tickled upwards near 110!! That was not real pleasant but somewhat got the job done! My next day was a nice long JRA(Just Riding Along), or as Todd(TSP) and I like to refer to them as T.I.T.S(Time in the Saddle!) That day was also fun and if I tresspassed on your property to get water from your outdoor water spicket, thanks!! I ended up going through 8 bottles during a 4.5 hr ride with the heat index once again above the 100 degree mark! Then the next day was a nice hr LT ride and pretty much taxed my entire system between the hard rides and the heat. Here are some pics form my ride!
The storms made me practice some hike a bike, even on the curly bar bike!!
So with Michelle and I both tired from the rides, the trip to Green Bay for her Birthday, and just day to day activities we left and went to her parents house to hang out near the water and do absolutely nothing!! That was nice, but with the big trip coming we didn't even make it 24 hrs before jetting back home to start getting things done!
We have most everything done now and will be leaving tomorrow. We have a short stop at Eau Claire for some WORS racing, then a week in Idaho for Nationals, then another week in Bend for the High Cascades 100. Super excited for the packing to be done and the trip to start!!
This past week has also been filled with some good rides, some hard, some just for fun! I love the just for fun ones! The older I get the more I hate the hard ones but know that they are good to keep the engine going for those random WORS races thrown into the middle of the 100 miles races. My weekend rides started with some nice 40 sec bursts, while the Heat index tickled upwards near 110!! That was not real pleasant but somewhat got the job done! My next day was a nice long JRA(Just Riding Along), or as Todd(TSP) and I like to refer to them as T.I.T.S(Time in the Saddle!) That day was also fun and if I tresspassed on your property to get water from your outdoor water spicket, thanks!! I ended up going through 8 bottles during a 4.5 hr ride with the heat index once again above the 100 degree mark! Then the next day was a nice hr LT ride and pretty much taxed my entire system between the hard rides and the heat. Here are some pics form my ride!
The storms made me practice some hike a bike, even on the curly bar bike!!
It was also a perfect day, cause anyone who has ever ridden with me knows I do not plan routes! I just go and if it ends up longer, bonus, cause riding bikes is fun! On Saturday I managed to get lost!
I love the dead end sign hidden in the bushes on Lost Road!
So with Michelle and I both tired from the rides, the trip to Green Bay for her Birthday, and just day to day activities we left and went to her parents house to hang out near the water and do absolutely nothing!! That was nice, but with the big trip coming we didn't even make it 24 hrs before jetting back home to start getting things done!
We have most everything done now and will be leaving tomorrow. We have a short stop at Eau Claire for some WORS racing, then a week in Idaho for Nationals, then another week in Bend for the High Cascades 100. Super excited for the packing to be done and the trip to start!!
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