Tuesday, March 29, 2011

J.R.A.

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Monday, March 28, 2011

2011 Barry Roubaix Video



A tough, but good day of racing at the 65 mile "Killer Gravel" road race in Middleville, MI. Mike and I finished just inside the top 25 on the challenging course that entertained 1,000 racers with a very cool starting temp of just 19F. Next up for the team is the NUE Cohutta 100 and the WORS Iola Bump & Jump.

Superjuice

Gotta be what the "S" is for!!
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Sunday, March 27, 2011

Camp round 1

Made it through camp version one this past week. The weather didn't always cooperate, but we managed and seemed to get lucky every day but one. That day it was raining pretty good and we could tell because everyone from Portland stayed inside while everyone from the east side of the Mississippi chamoised up and showed them how tough we are! Hell, the way we looked at it was it did not require studded tires and was above freezin, lets ride!!!!

The rest of the days we just hit some patches of rain and some wet roads at times so it was fine. I will work on getting totals up, but it was a lot of riding, tons of calories needed to be replaced and by the end of the week only the caffeine in my coffee was motivating me! Once the camp camera gets charged I will also work on some pictures.

Today we moved on to part 2 of our Cali trip and checked into this sweet home we are renting in Larkspur. Bossman and his misses joined us and Mike P and his misses join us tomorrow night! Looking forward to another good week of riding and the weather looks to be shaping up for some shorts and shortsleeve weather. In the meantime spent most of the time cleaning the bikes up today after trashing them last week. Once done, new brake pads, new chains, and Jen from Easton was awesome and helped us out with a new set of killer wheels for Michelle's bike!!! Thanks so much!

Also thanks to Troy from Quarq! It was great to have him at camp and if you are looking for a new power meter, look no further! Great service and some cool stuff coming down the pipeline, cannot wait!

One last thing, nice work to Scott and Mike for starting their season in March. From the pics looks like it was epic, but still a lot of fun!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Soggy Chamois and Landslides

Yup, rain, and lots of it came yesterday and even came accross a couple of landslides on Mt Tam.  We did get out for a couple hours and hammered up Mt Tam just to get some short and sweet intensity in.  Then today was the long day, 90 miles of one of the best rides around. Mill Valley to Marshall to Point Reyes for pastries, then back over Mt Tam to Mill Valley!  Sweet!!  Lots of fun and beating up on each other!  By the end we were all pretty smoked and stopped for coffee and milkshakes!  One more day to go of camp then we have to start cooking for ourselves again!  Bummer!

Nice side of things, the house we have rented looks really nice and the weather is supposed to dry up next week.  Still working on getting some pics from the week, but not doing a good job.  I promise they will come! 

In the meantime, good luck to Scott and Mike at Barry Rubaix this weekend!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Marin Camp

Well mother nature has been good to us so far, lets hope that trend continues and the weather forecast is wrong.  So far, miles has been the name of the game.  Continue to ride with the group inthe mornign then head out for more punishment afterwards.  Kind of sucks cause usually lunch is picked over pretty good upon my reutrn!  Not good!  The rides have consisted of some Mt Tam, some paradise loop and then some more Mt Tam.  Including tomorrow being the race up Tam.  Should be a big suffer fest cause I pretty much hit the wall during my tempo set today and was forced to cruise home with my tail between my legs. 

Anyway here are some shots of the day:




Monday, March 21, 2011

The first ever!

Yup, this is it, the first ever in flight blog update! Lets hope the Crappad can make it through and Bill Gates has not decided that this is not in direct violation of what he believes is its intended use. I have heard of no fights between blogger and Apple so hopefully we are safe.

Anyway, on our way to Cali. The weather forecast for the week looks pretty grim with rain, but it will beat the snow coming into the home front on Tuesday. Spring had better be in full swing by the time we get back in 2 weeks!!

The first week is camp with bossman in Marin. Michelle and I had so much fun there last year we decided to go back. How couldn't you enjoy it, great food, good company, and the only things you need to worry about are waking up and riding your bike! The 2nd week we have a house rented in Larkspur and will be joined by bossman and his wife Stacey and then Mikey P and Chimene will be coming in as well. Rumor has it there have been some crazy sightings in the Chicago area of a guy in 212 clothing sporting some wicked beard styles?? Sounds like there might even be a sighting at the Barry Rubaix next weekend so we will have Mike and Scott at the race! Good luck to everyone racing next week!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

The demons are awake!

Well the demon has been brought out of hibernation with the riding that has been going on.  He seems to devour everything that I put in my body, leaving me waking up in the middle of the night looking for some munchies!  With this happening the pounds have been falling off and I am already at race weight, oops!  Guess I might need to pull out some Mikey P training? 

So what woke up the demon?  Lots of riding and the start of a nice build period leading up to Cohutta.  This is where I put my first shot out to Simonson to make sure he is doing what is needed and to check on his weight!  Ha!  We are going to work on some Midwest representation in the NUE series this year so wish us luck!

This past weekend was also a good weekend of riding, with Ryan and Lisa coming up to get their bikes before they are off to Dallas and Michelle and I are off to Cali.  Sure hope the weather forecast changes for Cali before we get there!  So Sunday we got a good ride in with the central WI portion of the team, Krayers, Peariso's, Scott, and Sarah.  Yeah I want to know what Mark was up to as well??  It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of laughs making the ride go by fast despite spanning 4 counties!  By the way, the girls were the instigators during the ride!!  Good times! 

Well I am out the door to finish trashing my legs before heading to camp and doing it some more.  Happy St Patty's Day! 

Thursday, March 10, 2011

WORS Complaint Department

So once a year the top 5 in both the women and men's categories are given an opportunity, and a stage, to thank those that make it possible for us to race throughout the year.  This year seems to be a bit different though.  This year my bio, and I now know Lisa's, was changed drastically and eliminated our thanks that we feel are important!!  I understand the page restraint and getting everything to fit, but as I see it 10 racers times the $360 all in one and you are getting close to the same amount of support that some of headline sponsors are paying!!  Or if that is not justification enough then give us a word count constraint!! 

This also brings up another complaint.  I am not a fan of when someone makes their problem, my problem.  This year we got a last minute email stating to get our Bio in immediately! If you are going to procrastinate, that is not my fault!  Then this is how it was followed up "Get them to me by Friday at the latest or I'll get creative (just look at what I did to Tom Bender last year!)."  I have no clue what was done to Bender, but sounds more like a threat and not needed. 

So to get my just due and thanks to those that support me, and the Adventure 212 Team, here is what I wrote:

WORS 2010, top 5? What a great group of riders and a fun way to spend the summer. We have a great thing happening in the Midwest and the talent that we get to race against on a bi-weekly basis is awesome! I enjoy being a part of the series as a racer and as a team sponsor.


In 2010 the Adventure 212/Specialized Team had another great year and each individual rider continues to improve. In 2011, much will remain the same. We will still be on the best bike in the business, Specialized! We will also be continuing with great support from the Hostel Shoppe in Stevens Point and Hidden Bay will be supplying all of our clothing. Thank you for building a long term relationship with the team and supplying us with such great products. Our other sponsors also include Crankbrothers, Scrub Components, Optic Nerve, No Tubes, Raw Revolution, and random ice cream shops near the races!!

So that is the team stuff, now a bit about me. 2011 will mark my 14th season racing Mountain Bikes and because of that I plan to mix it up a bit and try new venues. So I am going to pack the bike up and travel the nation in search of some great riding. My first big stop of the season will be the Cohutta 100, where I plan to better my last year finish of 2nd place! Wish me luck! After that my main goal will be a top 3 overall in the NUE 100 series and then the XC Marathon National Championships. I will still plan to attend as many WORS races as possible, but more in the support role for the rest of my teammates.

As for the thanks: Thanks Michelle for letting me continue my hobby, to bossman(Adnan Kadir) for keeping me fast as I ripen, to all the people who cheer us on at the races, and to all my teammates for making each stop memorable with all the fun antics and random blurted out, inappropriate comments! Lisa!

Until go time, follow the team and support crew at: http://team-adventure212.blogspot.com


Once again, Thank You to all our AWESOME Sponsors!!! 

Monday, March 7, 2011

Missing Guam

Well I am missing that weather, and the people of Guam!  Here are some nice shots of my morning commute!  Brrr..........




Saturday, March 5, 2011

Thursday, March 3, 2011

brain bucket

We have Brains on our S-Works...but this bucket protects our thinker!