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!