Time for another "warm" trip

About parked it here and left it!

Concrete and stop lights

Oh yeah, don't forget all the people!  The last couple days were good rides though.  Day one I made Michelle chase me around South West Florida and if she keeps up with that watch out girls!  It was nice to be able to set my rev limiter in my L2 zone and have here just sit in my draft.  So the rides:

On Saturday we rode north up to Captiva.  It was a good ride with the only elevation change was the causeways.  It was nice though cause Michelle's parents drove up to meet us for lunch so it made a nice break at the halfway point.  All said and done it was 80 miles and just a bit over 4hrs.  Here is our route:

Also some shots along the way:

Today we decided to go the other way and head south towards Marco Island and ended up with a bit over 60 miles and 3 hrs.  Not as nice of a ride due to all the concrete and stop lights, but still no studded tires, fat bikes, snowmobile suits and snow drifts over my head!  Here was our route today that also included a coffee stop at Fit and Fuel, some panther crossings, and two flat tires.  Doing our part to clean up the roads I guess.

Right now I think our ride tomorrow will consist of a spin to the coffee shop and some hydrating with barley water on the boat!  Hope everyone is doing well at home!

Dodged it......

Made it out of town before the snow hit!!  Had a little issue driving down to the airport on Tuesday, but nothing that was going to slow the truck down just the plane that was supposed to get us to Detroit!  We did end up getting to Detroit after sitting in the airport with me in line to try and re-book and Michelle on the phone trying to find options.  Nothing to be found so we just took our flight when it finally went.  We ended up making it to Detroit 30 minutes after our flight to Florida left!  Looks like a night in the airport.  Luckily I was Michelle and not Phillips.  Back when Mike and I were travelling it would of meant sleeping on the airport benches, with Michelle it means a night at the Westin at the airport.  They both are experiences, but now a days I prefer the later!  In  the end it did not matter a lot cause we got out early on Wednesday and made to Florida by 10:30am.  After some lunch it was bike build time and a nice 60 mile ride along the coast in 80 degree weather!  Awesome!

On Thursday Michelle and I did the same ride and then I continued to get almost 70 miles in while I looked for a good coffee place.  In the end, no coffee place found but Shitbucks!  Oh yeah, also we dealt with 2 flats.  One was some Polish guy walking and I felt bad and fixed it for him, then no good dead goes unpunished!  I flatted after that.  Luckily for me Michelle put a new tube in my seat pack before I left again.

Our Thursday route:

Pancake flat!! The only KOM found was the causeway going into Ft Myers!  After the ride Michelle went golfing with her mom, which my A.D.H.D is only capable of about 3 holes so I always choose to stay home! Which was fine for me, this was my recovery!

Today we finally found a coffee shop that was not Shitbucks and it was pretty good.  It must be associated with the bike shop cause they had a fit studio that Scott probably wishes he had:

Including the Sworks Venge hanging in the upper right of the photo.

So today is an off day so looks like a bit of chilling.  Michelle and I went Xmas shopping this morning.  The MX3000 that I installed down her like 8 years ago is on its last leg so I tried to get Best Buy to sell me one at cost so but they would not.  So instead Precision Cell and Sound is going to next day me one so that I can install it tomorrow.  Thanks Jasen and Nate!

I hope everyone is enjoying the dig out back home!

More weather!

So there is another wet, slushy forecast scheduled for the weekend!  Looks like I will be doing an alternate workout? Does this count?

Enough Already!

Not good, it only took one snow storm this year!!

Blah!

Waking up to this:

Not only sucks A LOT, but also means it is time to equip the cross bike for the winter!

I HATE winter!!

The Twin CIties

That would be Denzer/Leeland in the Krayer's eyes.

So this past weekend I volunteered to head south to the Denzer area and help Ryan pimp their farm house.  He is currently in the middle of ripping his living room apart and I told him we should go ahead and wire it for surround.  I think that gave him extra motivation, or he made Lisa mad and she took frustration out on the walls to get all the plaster off before I got there so I was not a part of the destruction crew.  Not gonna lie, may be a bit disappointed about that! 

So I showed up around 9:00 on Saturday morning, completely caffeinated with a truck load of tools and cable.  We got right to it and had the wiring done in no time and most of the insulation.  Things went so well that based on the amount of work we had completed and the fact it was pretty foggy that day we started drinking at 2:30 cause we thought it had to be like 5 o'clock!  Might of been a poor decision on our part cause Michelle ended up with some catch up to do when she got there after her Volleyball tournament.

Here is a shot of the center speaker, then the TV location will be in front of the box at the bottom of the pic, and if you look close you can see where we ran some wires out to the front porch for Ryan and Lisa's elder years of porch swing sitt'n!

So with us making so much progress, we had to come up with a way to celebrate!!  Hmmm, how to celebrate Dener style??  Shoot guns of course!  So after a little practice Michelle and I were ready to try out our skills.  Michelle First:

No she did not shoot the chicken behind her!  That would of gotten us kicked out of town!

Then it was my turn, notice the sweet hat I scored!

We had so much fun that we are going down that way again this weekend!!  Cant wait!

On the bike front, I have started rolling a bit and have actually done a couple days in a row now!  Watch out, the 2013 base training might be starting soon.  I have to though, my first race of the year is not far off from some peoples Park Racing World Championships in Louisville.  More to come on that.

Yeah!

So bring me my new Epic :-)

Coming up for air!

To say the last few weeks have been busy would be a huge understatement.  So much that Thanksgiving is already here!  Before I know it I might need to start riding a bike again?  I have ridden a couple times since Sheboygan but definitely not enough to help this graffiti artist prove his point:

On the bike front, I have put my hands on what the Adventure 212 team will be racing next year since the Hostel Shoppe just received their XX1 equipped Sworks Epic.  XX1 is the answer for sure.  I thought 2 x 10 was nice, 1 x 11 is the answer.  The front drivetrain area is so clean, lack of shifter, deraileaur, and cables running down the bike!  Then throw in the brain with no lock outs and cables required for that either!  Good thing the Trek guys will keep Jagwire in business with the six cables running off the handlebars! Thanks Specialized and SRAM!

Next up, a trip out west.  Unfortunately without a bike!

Role Model

I officially brought in the off season this past weekend by doing everything non related to cycling.  I did still manage 5 hrs in the car on Saturday though to make it feel like I was going to a race.  

So the weekend:  Started out on Friday night with Timster, Eric and I playing Role Models to Eric's 9 yr old son!  I probably started things bad by going to the game store and buying every game marked "M" for mature. My thinking was Sam at 9 is just as mature as us after a couple beers so he will be fine.  Now the beer.  We went with a typical RK theme and did it in the can!  Yup!  A little Oskar Blues G'Night, some Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and some Barney Flats IPA.  Then to top that off dinner consisted of 2 Hot N Ready Little Caesar pizzas!  Wow!  What a fun night.  The highlight was when the UFC fighting game came out, which is way out side our norm for gaming, but was very comical as none of us could sit still why we beat the crap out of each other!  Pretty funny!  

On Saturday I had to make a trip to Appleton to get the last touch panel for finishing Elan version 2.0 up.  I got home put that in and worked on some programming before loading the truck up and heading south to Madison to hang with the Frazier's for the evening.  We ended up not doing much on Saturday except for drinking Bryan's beer in his fridge!  

On Sunday Bryan and I did ride the cross bikes for a bit.  It was a pretty short ride as we rode from his house in Cottage Grove over to Cambridge to grab coffee and carrot cake at Camrock Cafe and Sport.  With all the beverages already enjoyed during the weekend we passed on their extensive beer selection and went for the coffee.  After the ride we headed into town and finished off the weekend with a burger, fries and an Ale Asylum Madtown Nutbrown at the Harmony Bar and Grill!  As if that was not enough we finished off the weekend of gluttony with a piece of pie from Monty's Blue Plate Diner.  MMmmmmm!  Fat season is starting out well!  

Feeling Safer

I guess I will hold off on that underground shelter for a bit, this guy has our back?

That is it.....

What a perfect way to say good bye to the 2012 season!  Thanks to my Adventure 212 teammates for another awesome year!!

Openers

Last night I worked on my openers for tonights evening hanging with the team.  I DO not want to get dropped!!  Cheers!

Happy as a pig in mud...

I wish that was the case.  I had serious doubts of racing this past weekend cause I could not get over how much work was going to be required to get the bike back in sellable shape.  Either way I chose to race and opted to skip the warm up due to the sideways rain.  I actually just set in the truck till about 10 min to go and literally rolled up to the start shoot just as Don started the call ups.  I really wish I could of had a dummy stand at the line for me, cause between call up and the all to familar Don "goooooooo"  I about froze to d - death. 

When we did take off, it was interesting cause I think just about everyone around me slipped a pedal and I felt as if I had the whole left side of the course to myself.  After the start I found myself settled in the lead group and felt really comfortable.  Maybe there is something to this no warm up thing, I know there is a lot of research out there that can support that theory!

So after the sprint point and we entered the mud, I reallized that I nailed the bike set up and found myself yo-yoing with Nathan for most of the first lap.  He would hammer the flats and I would just stick in my 100 miler pace and use the extra traction of the Specialzed 29 x 1.9 ground controls to bring him back in the more tech areas.  Unfotunately, I knew it could not last since I drank more beers in the past 2 weeks than I put hours on the bike.  Yeah the hours on the bike were not even close thanks to my birthday thrown in there. I am not complaining, but everyone concreted my addictions cause all I got was beer, chocolate, and coffee for my birthday!  Mmmmmm!  Oh yeah and a hangover!

So back to racing bikes.  I just rode my pace all day, walked the hills, yup walked!  In the end it was good enough for another 8th place. 

 



 

At least we are smiling.  After this pic we learned that they shut the hoses off on us so no one could wash of.  Tools!  So off to creek we went to freeze some more while trying to get the mud off. 

 

So with with the end of the WORS scene I have officially entered into fulll on fat season.  Which means I get to eat and drink and put on a few pounds so I do not get sick over the winter.  I have an issue of getting too light when base miles hit so I need to enter that phase with a few extra pounds or I will end up around 135 pounds and sick. 

 

I also get to start when of the better parts of the season, the bike riding just for the fun of it time.  I usually grab my cross bike for this but it was in much need of an overhaul after putting it away last winter and doing nothing with it.  It was so bad that the cable caps were frozen into the frame stops.  After some TLC I was able to get it up and going and it did not even require any electronic shifting!  Adnan thinks that a cross bike cannot shift without electronics.  I call BS on that and most shifting issues are caused by improperly setting up your equipment.  Case in point this weekend, SRAM XX and full length cable runs on the Specialized Epic, the right chainlube, and Michelle and I were able to use every gear on the bike the entire race, Michelle even had the small ring when she needed it.   

 

With the cross bike built up I decided to play Green Circle Warrior yesterday and enjoy the warmer part of the day before the rains hit again.

 

 

 

 

I think there is another GC ride in the near future with the team coming into town for the WORS banquet.  We usually go to the banquet then ride from our house on Sunday, stop for coffee, and Big D and I will usually have a dozen close calls and maybe one take down do to our ADHD taking over.  Either way it is a blast and involves a coffee stop and around 4hrs on the bike. 

 

Other than that, just working to get the MTB bikes all cleaned up and readdy to sell.  I will have a medium Sworks Epic and a large Sworks Epic forsale to make room for the new bikes so let me know if you are interested. 

 

Now get back to work!



Slippery when wet....

So the team arrived in Shevagas to tons of rain on the ground with more in the forecast.  So instead of preriding today we decided to polish off like 4 bags of Sunchips, a bag of candy and whatever else we could find. Then the guilt set in and we ended up having to terrorize the bike routes of Sheboygan since the course was closed to preride.  Sorry B. Matter,  pretty sure we took all of the Strava segments in town!  On top of that we had a couple angry motorists yell at us,  figured they must of gotten the email that their KOM was just defeated!  Now we are back in the condo at the Blue Harbor awaiting the feast of the evening.  Can't wait!  Go Team Baked Goods!

D Ride

Lack of sun, lack of warmth, and the urge to hibernate!!  Oh yeah, and drink! Only could mean one thing, summer is over!  That really sucks cause I do not like the cold at all and actually seem to hate it more each year.  Wondering if half my problem is the amount of time I spend on my bike fighting snow that blows sideways while ticking off the miles on my Sworks Tricross outfitted with Barmitts and studded tires!  I think I am more spoiled than most, but I will be turning 38 this week and will be entering my 16th season of racing.  Was 15 enough?  I don't think so, but many before me have pulled the plug even earlier in their lives.  Well, not me.  So as the 2012 season has basically come to a close for me, minus some WORS race in Sheboygan, you will see me on the trails again in 2013. 

Now to Sheboygan, this forecast is Phillips fault!!! While at Bearpaw he brought up how nice it has been at Sheboygan the last few years!!  Lets hope it is like normal and the forecast changes 5 times before we get to the weekend cause I honestly cannot remember ever racing this race in the mud?  Either way see everyone there and I am looking forward to hanging with the entire Adventure 212 team again!  Always a fun time! 

So now back to D Ride, or destination ride!  This opportunist does not come up very often, and I do not count commuting to work!  I am talking, someone takes all your stuff and you get to ride in one direction for a few hours.  And if you are lucky, you will have a tail wind the whole way!!  This weekend I was not that lucky!  Either way it was enjoyable and I got in just under 70 miles while cruising my way from Amherst down to Castle Rock Lake.  Here's the route:

The day was made better with Michelle's mom making a chocolate birthday cake for me that I washed down with a Bells Two Hearted. 

So that was Sudnay.  For the rest of the weekend??  We were all over the place.  We started out Firday with dinner in Appleton, I worked on my Elan Upgrade, and Michelle and I did a cold Green Circle ride from our house on Saturday.  A good weekend, minus that cold part, and a little bit of sleet. 

Here is Elan Version 2.0:

Here is our Green Circle ride on Saturday:

 



Now its back to the norm of a Monday and that drinking urge is starting to come back! 

Unedited

That is the norm as of late.  Oh well, matches most of my comments:) 

So back in Wisconsin and have been really busy finishing up the elan upgrade as well as a bunch of 212 stuff. 

On the bike front, the orders are starting to go out for the 2013 season and our roster is set for next year!  Jersey design is in Mike's hands and if anyone is looking to order kits stay in state and get a hold of Dan at Hidden Bay Sports.  The link is on the right and they do an awesome job.  They also handle smaller numbers so perfect for some of the smaller MTB teams. 

Now for some Bend photos.  These are all from the Queen stage:

Yeah, you are reading that right!!  Went uphill for almost 20 miles, then back down for almost 20!!  Flipping sweet!! 

One of many water falls while riding up the North Fork Trail

Looking down the Tumalo River

Another water fall, kept tempting Michelle to jump in.

No, not your bike!  A pretty cool bridge that we had to walk

A little out of order, but the sample platter at 10 barrel.

Let er rip!!

You can see the smoke from the fire.

What is left of the snow run off, we did find a little snow while riding.

Our last night we took in the local cross scene.

So the last night we were there, we hung out with the Bend Cycle group.  There ended up being either 4 or 5 of us that went to Michigan Tech!  How funny. 

So now we are back in Wisconsin and greeted with some cooler temps and some wind!  Scott and I fought the wind on Saturday for a good ride that took us out to powers bluff.  Ended up being like 70 miles and a coffee stop!!  Good Day!  Next up for us is Bear Paw, looks like the weather is going to cooperate this year! 

RRrrrrrrrr!

That almost went as planned.  This last weekend was the Marathon National Championships for me and my goal was to crack the top 15, but missed that due to a slit sidewall.  Bummer!

The low down:

I was a bit worried about my form going into the morning and the fact that my legs were still tight from the weekend priors Fools Gold 100.  Either way the gun had to go off and when it did, it hurt.  The first small climb out of Wanoga had my legs feeling maxed even though my HR was only in the low 160's?  That usually shows a long, hard day is in store, but after we made it to the first road section, I looked back and I was the last guy in the lead group?  Not sure how it happened but it boosted my motivation.  We rode along pretty easy for the first couple miles then the pace picked up and I had to make the decision to just ride my own race. 

So after the climb up and over Vista Butte and the fun descent into Swampy aid station I found myself in 13th spot???  This is where the fun began.  There was a fun section of trail that brought us over to Swede Ridge then it was the next 20 minutes of climbing Flagline.  I set my pace just below LT up flagline knowing that the little rises along the trail would have me over my LT and I did not want to blow going up this clmb!  This worked well and by the time I hit the top I was in 11th spot?? 

The downhill going into the Dutchman aid station was a hard one for me and I rode it like it was my first day on a bike.  So in a 2 mile stretch I lost 3 spots and came into Dutchman in 14th spot.  I am so glad Phillips was not around, I might of never heard the end of a downhill performance like that:) 

I got caught by 2 more going down the road section before the entrance of Dinah Moe Humm.  We lost one climbing up and over Kiwa Butte and then I lost the 2nd before entering into the last aid at Wanoga where I was riding in 14th spot with 10 miles to go.  I knew the next rail sections really well and had a good gap on anyone chasing so I rode conservatively down Tiddlywinks to save everything for the last climb up Funner.  I rounded the corner and started the climb up funner and settled into a good pace to see if anyone was catchable.  then on the 2nd rock section my race came apart.  I had 3 miles to go and here I was setting with about a 2 inch gash in the sidewall of my rear tire.  I started to fix it and ended up putting 2 Gu wrappers into it to cover the hole, but by the time I had everything fixed a group of 4 or 5 rideers went by.  I got on the trail about 60seconds behind them so I put the hammer down to see if I could catch them.  That never happened and I actaully blew myself up with about a mile to go and could barely get my spent carcass to the finish line.  My tire:

My first flat of the year in a race and it had to happen at Nationals when I was having one of my best races.  Yeah it was a pretty big let down and it required a couple of these to improve my mood:

So what is next??  I am not really sure.  I feel like I am done training for the year and will probably just ride out the last 2 WORS races.  I have not been back on the bike yet since Saturday so maybe a good ride will change my mindset??  If there is a chance at that, todays ride will do that cause Michelle and I are planning to take the shuttle to Lava Lake and ride all the way back into town, something like 30 miles and almost all downhill!!  Can't wait! 

In the menatime, nice work to the team at Chequamegon, Mike P, 4th overall.  Myles 4th overall Short.  Scott 38th overall, 2nd age.  Mark had his best time ever as well, and new comer Bryan finished in a time of 2:24.  Nice work everyone!

Sand Surfing!

Rode part of the Nationals course yesterday and good thing I am half blind already.  The course is super dusty and with everyone out there I am sure that there will be times that you will not be able to see the course!  There is also a definite line that you have to follow, if not you are out in a pile of sand and you need to surf your bike. Either way the course is going to be a good mix of hard and fun. 

After riding the course, Michelle and I went to one of our favorite restaurants here for some paella at Barrio's.  If you are ever in Bend it is highly recommended. 

Other than that not much to report.  Just a lot of coffee and napping on the schedule!  And internet:

Crunchy dirt??

So I finally got my computer out after day 2 in Bend so why not do an update.  I also found a couple pics from Georgia.   I really hope this first one helps them raise money for their cause.  It was actually a little hard to order at the restaurants by picture from the menu with no descriptions? 

The 2nd was a friend Michelle found on a car:

So we got into Bend really late on Monday night after spending the entire day travelling from Atlanta.  Then as we were getting our bikes I noticed Todd Wells was on our flight.  We chatted a bit then I realized that he was coming from the World Championships in Austria so now my trip didn't seem as bad!  His was probably 2 days! Also after talking to him it made me start thinking about this weekends start list so I finally looked yesterday, stacked field is all I have to say.  Craig, Decker, JHK, Trebon, Wicks, Wells, Grant, Cares, etc....  So my goal is a top 15 and with this list I have a pretty big fight on my hands to get there!  On top of this, the trail is going to be a tough one.  Saw Mike (event organizer) yesterday and he said he has been nice to us the last couple of races here and is going back to his old ways of making a hard course.  Good thing I was already prepped for that once I saw we climb up funner for the last trail of the day!!  Also it has been so dry here that the dust is going to be a big problem with seeing the trails and has even left the dirt really crunchy.  The amount of traction you have will be a surprise from corner to corner.

So non bike related, here is a view from our place:

I also have to make RK jealous!  This is where we sit last night and listened to the Huey Lewis and the News concert.  We were a little too far away to tell if he needed assistance getting out on stage or not though. 

Other than that, not much happening.  A little course recon today and lots of relaxing.  In the meantime I found some good advice: