The begining of the end?

I think my body is starting ot tell me that the 2011 season is almost over. It has been a struggle the last few weeks.  It is hard though cause the motivation is still there but cannot get the legs there.  This past weekend was no exception.  I got a good start and felt very comfortable.  Unfortunately though my lack of wanting to sprint out of every singletrack section ended up being the demise of me in the lead group as a gap opened up in one of the singletrack sections.  After that I ended up in the first chase group and we picked up Big D and Brian Eppen before coming around on the 2nd lap.  That is when my stomach started to give me problems again. This is something I have not been able to figure out?  I have tried about everything and I think my next step is going to be going back to just straight water during races?

Anyway, I ended up falling off the group after the first section of singletrack on the 2nd lap and pretty much tempo rode for the remainder of the race.  I could not believe that no one caught me beside Matt Shriver, and he was in a hurry!  He came by me with motivation to ride with him cause he was bored riding by himself.  Unfortunately I could not go and just kept my pace.  Then not 3 miles out from the finish and Big D saw me through a section of trees and slowed to wait up for me.  Same response, I am bored riding by myself, get up here! So Big D and I finished the race togetther with some fun, while we were pushing and tugging on each other for 12th and 13th!

  Scott sent me the pic, not sure where it came from but thanks to whomever took it!!

The rest of the team rocked it!  Ryan had a good race and had 6th place wrapped up from what I hear, until a spectator stopped his progress and let the 3 chasers close the gap, then it sounds as if the same happened again with a lapped sport racer coming into the finish.  He ended up 9th on the day!

The girls ripped it up!  Sarah came in 2nd overall on the day, Lisa 4th, and Michelle 7th!

We also had lots of fun Saturday night enjoying some Dark Helmet Schwartz Beer and some Hopasaurus Rex!  This team knows how to turn a race weekend into a fun weekend!!!

Next up is the Copper Harbor Fat Tire Fest.  I have been working on the Matters to join us up there with my main goal to get Brian to enjoy a beer with me!  Sounds like the probability of him drinking with me is pretty low, but I will keep working on him.  As for the Copper Harbor race, the best race in the Midwest!  I am actually going to skip the Park City Point to Point 80 to go!   So if you have nothing going this weekend I highly recommend the drive north! 

Are you happy......

For anyone that is a Mudvayne fan, for some reason that is the song that pops into my head during long climbs??  Not sure why but gets me over the top?  Unfortunately the climbs were not even climbs this past weekend but enough to keep me in the game a little and I was happy with how I felt after really no riding for 3 weeks due to some body issues that we still have not figured out after visits to a worthless doctor at the Ministry Medical Group!  For me to really have a good ride, the rocky climb needed to be about 30 minutes longer!  Either way, the course this weekend was a lot of fun.  There was no where really to use a lot of power and was all about being smooth and keeping your momentum.  You quickly learned where you were fast and where everyone else was fast.  I learned quickly that Chad Sova was faster than me in the singletrack and for the first couple laps we traded back and forth depending on what section of the trails we were in.  Then on the singletrack after the start finish area he got the gap and I never closed it.  I kept things going and on the last lap i was still by myself coming through the field before the finish, at least I thought!!  Somehow TSP(Todd McFadden) snuck up on me!  It was really funny cause he sadi he was tryiing to be as quite as possible cause he knew I did not see him.  When we came out of the woods there he was.  I gave a little go down the last flat before the 180 going into the finish shoot.  We rounded the corner and TSP wanted to have a standoff for the finish!  Ryan and I did that at Ore to Shore and was pretty funny.  Unfortunately I was cramping and a track stand at the finish line was not going to work for me so I rolled across in 10th place. 

The rest of the team had a great day as well.  Mikee P finished 2nd while Big D took it at the line over another Specialized Rider Ben Koenig!  From the pics by Nikki it looks like it was a pretty good battle!

Scott and Ryan also came through together for 18th and 19th.  Myles was fighting some shifting issues, but was able to hold it together to finish 2nd overall in the Junior X field. 

As for the girls, it sound like they all had good rides with Di and Lisa sprinting for the 3rd spot, with Di taking 3rd and Lisa 4th. More photos by Nikki:

Sarah rolled across for 6th and Michelle for 12th. Overall it was a great time and thanks to all the sponsors!  Including our new sponsor Infinit!  A killer product.  My drink design allows me to do an entire 100 miler without even a Gu. Talk about simplifying things! 

Yesterday was an awesome day!  Scott, Ben, and I rolled out of 212 with the intention of an hour recovery ride around the Green Circle trail on the mountain bikes .  After an hour it turned into a coffee stop, then another hour!  The whole time lots of working on the jaw muscles while we chit chatted about nothing and spun the legs!  A perfect way to spend a Tuesday afternoon!  Not sure why we have not made that a weekly ride yet????? 

Next up is Green Bay, then a trip to the best race in the Midwest!  the Copper Harbor Fat tire Fest.  I was not supposed to be there due to the Point to Point 80 in Park City, but after seeing the course for Marathon Nationals, bossman and I decided that the shorter races would be more beneficial to gain back some of that kick that I lost while training for the 100's.  Lets hope it works! 

Barely made it to the shore....

So with Ore to Shore now behind us, the list of races left keeps dwindling!  It is even less while I am in a year that WORS is not a priority and the last race I have on the Calender that I really care about is the Marathon National Championships!!  I am super excited for this and not sure if it is the race or the fact I get to go back to Bend!  This go around I plan to do some house hunting out there just to see what is available?  The trails are awesome and the community was fun!  This time I will also get to spend almost 2 weeks there to get a real feel. 

The trip will also be made more fun with Bossman coming down to visit and Simonson coming out to share the condo I have rented and to race.  At least that way I will not be out there by myself since Michelle needs to stay home for her brothers wedding.  I probably should too, but I want to give it a good push for Nationals and see what happens and Michelle's brother was cool with that. 

So now to the Ore to Shore.  Lots of fun staying at Tim's parents house in Marquette and we cannot thank them enough for opening their place up for the 212/Specialized misfits!  Luckily, I think the comments were a bit more filtered or it is just hard to top last year??  Either way we had so much fun over the weekend.  As for the race, most of us had great races.  Mike was able to hang with the lead group and push the pace a bit before crashing and loosing his rear brake completely.  He then had to ride in and finished a record 6th place.  We call it a record cause he has been 6th place at the triple crowns like 100 times!!  Big D also had a good race, even though he was carrying extra weight in the form of Phillip's bottles and finished 12th on the day.  Ryan had a flat about 7 miles in! I stopped to help chase him back, but we ended up having to put a tube in it and ended the day.  TSP had a really good race and I believe finished 14th on the day, not bad for a "really" old guy with an AARP card! 

The girls also did well with Sarah finishing 7th and Lisa 8th!  Michelle had a good race while trying to come back from a PCL tear and was 13th overall. 

For my race, still missing?  I have been down and out for a couple weeks now and not figuring anything out.  Went this week and had a lot of blood work and still waiting for the results.  The initial thought was Lyme's, but the first test came back negative.  Still waiting on a couple other tests.  Either way just super fatigued, with joint pain, and stomach issues?  So I have not been on a bike since Sunday and yesterday was the first day I felt normal in a while!  That trend seems to have continued today so I am hoping that I am turning the corner.  On a plus not , I stopped to help Ryan on Saturday and we ended up being able to ride together.  It made it a lot more fun!  We went back to the girls and checked up on them, then started to come back up through the field.  That was a new perspective to say the least!

So who knows for this weekend.  I am going to just wing it and hope for the best.  Either way I get to ride my bike and hang out with the team! 

Behind the scenes

Great team dynamics!! The girls love to cook, and the guys love to eat!!! No microwave burritos here, full on gourmet pre race meal for the team!!

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The downhill race!

Ore to shore this weekend!  Not sure what is more fun, the race or the party after!  We will have almost the entire team up there and look to terrorize Marquette!  Sarah even found a new bike to ride while up there a couple weeks ago and is hoping that it goes downhill fast!  Those look like 29er wheels so it will ride smooth despite the design! Just like the wind is at her back! 

In the meantime, thanks to Mike Simonson for writing up an article for MTBracenews and mentioning Mike and I!  It is always nice to see the Midwest races in the press.  I really do not think that people in other parts of the country understand the caliber of races and racers we have!  I am even guilty of taking the quality of  races for granted!  We as racers are definitely spoiled in the Midwest! 

In the meantime, I am starting to feel better and I hope that I am feeling better come Saturday.  If not I will be looking for a beer hand up instead of water!  I prefer quality beer hand ups, but if going bad will accept anything! 

Rest required?

So I forgot how taxing it is to travel and race!  Seems like it has been pretty non stop since April and my "I care" is at a low right now.  The weird thing is the legs still feel good just think I need to get some rest and spend some time doing nothing this week!  The thought of the travel got me thinking of back in the day when Mike, Bender, Paul, and others were traveling and hitting up all the Norbas at that time.  It was a blast and was the reason for the whole start of the Adventure 212 Team.  Mike, Michelle, and I have formed this team with help from so many people to give some of the better midwest riders the ability to travel and test their abilities amongst the best in the nation if they choose.  We travel less now for USProXCT races, but the team is still there and we watch for the talent and the right fit in the team.

So back when Mike and I did this, I remember it taking over a year for us to finally get the call ups we desereved and we realized quikly that the call up mattered amongst the norms like us, but not amongst the top guys!  They were just one more notch above us, and then there was still one more notch above them, World Cups.  The travels were fun though so I thought I would bring out some of the pics:

Who can forget having to always pack and unpack the bike, Sugar NC, Our first Pro race.

AZ Norba 2007, Mike took the win after I flatted with 2 miles to go! Looked up the winning time 2 hrs and 41 min! 

Paul making lunch for us on our way out to Snowmass, CO! This is no tlong after he almost run us out of gas in the middle of Nebraska at 5am!

More on the Snowmass trip, who can forget being stranded in Stewart, IA for 2 days cause the transfer case went out on the truck!  There is nothing in Stewart, Mike and I rode bikes for 8 hrs a day and lived of the local fruit stand peaches! 

AZ NORBA 2006, 1st semi pro win

Chequamegon Finish Line!

Thanks to the team for making this so much fun!!  Also good work to the entire team this past weekend at the Cam Rock WORS race!!  Lots of fun and cannot wait for the travels this weekend to Marquette for Ore to Shore!! See everyone there! 

MIA

Wow!  Where have I been and where am I going!  Crazy whirlwind and I do not recommend the cross continent drive.  So after getting out of Montana, which I had to do after driving across that state for 12 hrs, we could not find a hotel to stay in!  We ended up getting lucky and found something in Bismark, about 3 hrs after we wanted and at 1AM in the morning and no dinner later!  That pretty much sucked!!  So after that experience there, which included a bad coffee experience, we are almost a week and a half later, one 6 hr race in, lots of training rides, my new cabinets installed, set up for the recumbent rally, and registered for Marathon National Championships back out in Bend!  Sweet!! 

So starting with the 6 hr race.  I decided after not riding since the High Cascades 100, which saw me on the bike for 9 hrs and 44 mins and yes that is my longest time in the saddle(TITS) ever!  Oh yeah, and 30 hrs in a car to make sure the legs were nice and stiff like cement!  And don't forget the stupid Le Mans start!  What is the point of that!  Worthless in my eyes! So the 6 hr race I am talking about is the Wausau 24, version 6.0 hr.  I lined up with no real ambition and just wanted to ride my MTB.  That was until I had a complete meltdown going on 3 hrs into the race and Trevor Olson slipped by me!  Then my internal light switch went on and it was game on!  Is that normal??  Either way it was awesome to see Trevor riding so well and he made me work for it the entire time!  Now I just need to convince him to do some of the 100's with us!!  

Next up was some training rides on the curly bar bike to make sure power is there and to start some speed work before National Championships.  I always wish that the Marathon races were longer to give some of us endurance guys the edge over the XC guys, but it will never happen.  So looks like it will be a good field in Bend and I am super excited for the trip back! 

So between then and now!  Looks like some XC racing. I plan to hit up Camrock this weekend, Ore to Shore next, then whatever WORS race after that, and now the plan is to skip the Point to Point 80 in favor of staying home and doing the Copper Harbor Fat Tire Fest!  Fun times!!  If you only do one race a year, this is it!!!  After that I will leave for Bend for 2 weeks and will be skipping Chequamegon this year! 

So that is my mid afternoon ramble and I will see everyone this weekend!  Seems like it has been awhile!