Rid'n the Denzer way!

What an adventrue today!!  So Michelle and I loaded up the bikes this morning and drove 1 hr and 45 minutes south till we ran into an intersection known as Denzer, WI!  We took a right here and found our detination not a half mile down the road in the way of the non sided farm house, sweet silo though!  We made it, the home of our new Adventure 212 teammates Ryan and Lisa Krayer. I guess Ryan has been busy riding and putting off the husband duties!  Who could blame him!!  Another 30 degree day in January!  That hardly happens in Wisconsin so why not take advantage of it and go ride bikes!! 

Today we had a group of 7 that made for some good times and loads of heckling!! 

We ended up the day with a 3hr ride through the hills of Sauk County.  It seems pretty backwoods, but they must have a bigger county budget than Portage cause all their roads were plowed!  For that reason I broke out the Seven for its 1st voyage of the year.  Hard to believe that I am starting year number 6 on the same bike.  I guess if you have a custom built bike, you better ride it till it falls apart! 

So the highlite of the trip though, besides the Twix stop, was when we stopped outside this fine establishment:

We stopped for just a second, but it was long enough for someone to come running out the door offering each of us a shot!  I could tell by his comment that he was surprised when we all took him up on it!

Cheers!!

Skinny Boards....Be Gone!!

Sorry to those that look forward to the white covered ground and the joy of shoveling, dealing with those that lack driving skills, etc....  With the temps getting above the 10 degree mark this week and actually nearing and peaking into the 30's, I have put the skis aside for now!!  I mounted up the studded tires on the cross bike and started cruising the country side!!  I have said it once before and must say it again, the cross bike is one of the best bikes I have added to the stable in a long time!!  I have not ridden my road bike since purchasing it last September!!  The other thing I like about it is there is not a power meter on it.  It is great this time of year to be going off perceived excertion, cause I already know my numbers are bad, so why discourage myself by stairing at them for hours on end!!

So here is my shot from yesterday.  It is like riding through a big tunnel when the banks get higher than the bike and all you can do is stair down the road in front of you!!  Not good for me, I love to look around as I ride!!

 Anyway, another 3hrs yesterday and looking to some more this weekend with the warmer temps!!  The start of the 2010 season is here! 

b1rkie???? Don't think so.....

Well went out for another XC ski today.  Made it around the Blue loop at Iola.  Not sure if this is a good course for a beginner?  The course either goes up or down, no real straight, flat section to work on technique.  Either way it is just an aerobic workout for me so I do not really care.  It is interesting though, I feel like I am going all the way back to the sport days of racing bikes.  I am once again the slower person on the trails needing to be patient and yielding the trail to faster skiers.  I sure hope I do not have the same attitude of some of them while I am out on the trail though, especially in a non race situation??  If so smack me the next time you see me to wake me up. 

Today we are having a get together at our place for the Packer Game, so if you are around stop on in.  After last weekends game should be interesting to see how far they go in the playoffs.  I usually do not pay much attention but Michelle likes to watch and it is a reason to eat bad food and drink some beer in the offseason.  Like I really need an excuse!!  Speaking of the offseason this is the longest that I have ever had to just chill.  I know that I am active and still doing something, but usually by now I am training pretty hard gettitng ready for the March races in California.  Unfortunately after my experiences last year with Team "Blow" Air running the series I have a sour taste left in my mouth from a sponsor stand point and will not be supporting the series.  Anyway this is not the place for that.  Just wish we could get things together on a National front.  For events though, after travelling everywhere to ride/race, we are very lucky with the job Don does with the WORS series.  Antoher great series is the NUE 100 series.  Both are very well run and make it easy from a racer stand point with great competition.  Yeah there are a couple things that could improve, but overall, we are lucky in Wisconsin! Therefore you will see more of me this year and a switch in focus from years past.  Should be fun and the team is going to make it a blast with all the personality!!  I love racing bikes!! 

Personal Training with the old one.

The Old One!  Today he was with myself this morning getting our butts handed to us by an evil readheaded Personal Trainer.  They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  Well some mornings with her I would rather be dead!! Or should I say mornings after when you are sore and rolling out of bead.  Those are the morning that the espresso machine goes into overdrive!!  Speaking of the espresso machine, here is where every morning of mine starts!

Who would of thought that two small cups filled with a frothy liquid that resembles mud would be the excitement of so many peoples mornings!!  Especially the pairing of this and cycling!!  I always say that cyclist are addicts, just addicted to things that are good for us!!

Tomorrow I am headed down to Madison for the Bike Swap.  Should be a good time.  Making the drive down with Scott(Old one form above) and Mark.  Cant wait to cram the old one into a car for 2hrs there and 2 hrs home and listen to how sore he is from today!! Good times!

Im sailing.........

To quote an awesome flick "look at me everyone, I'm sailing!"

So that is what XC skiing was like today!  In my own world I think I finally got it.  The lesson was definetely a good thing and in a matter of a couple hours Susan showed me how to V-1, V-2, and to open field (I guess those are ski terms!?!).  I am so glad that I did not try to get through this on my own, cause I would of picked up every bad habit in the book.  Not to say I still wont when I try it without someone correcting me everytime I start down the wrong path!  Now the next question, to Birkie or not??  If I choose not to I will never here the end from TSP!  On the other side it is not till the end of February and I have never been away from the bike for that long before!!  Plus team camp would come very fast as we are looking at the 2nd week of March and I do not want all the teammates dropping me in the endless hills!!  More to come on this!

As for team camp, things are coming together.  We meet next week to hopefully get things rolling with the bikes, thanks to Specialized again!!  The jerseys are also being worked on as Mike fine tunes the graphics and gets them ready for Hidden Bay.  As for the camp it looks like we are going to do Solvang, CA, again this year.  Everyone out there treated us so well and gave so much support that we thought it only made sense.  We plan to rent a house to put the team in and just ride for hours on end.  Also with going in March it is 3 weeks later than last year so hopefully we can avoid some of the rain and have some warmer temps!!

Till then lets hope that winter becomes a bit milder and we start seeing more temps above 10 degrees!!

XC.2

Wish me luck, I am going to give this one more try tomorrow.  This time I am taking some lessons.  Just in case this doesn't work I did put the studded tires on the cross bike!! 

In the mean time, still have the epic for sale.  Will make a great offer to anyone that makes me not deal with paypal, ebay, or shipping! 

XC Skiing........

Yup this is what it was like!

Recovering or just messing around??

Well after last season my mind kept telling me that I needed to walk away for awhile.  Check that one off as accomplished!  I have done nothing associated with exercise except for some lifting weights with a personal trainer once in awhile.  I am looking to start some skiing and get back on the cardio kick again.  I am going to try some skiing this year since I have used up my lifetime supply of mind numbing 5 hr roller rides!! By the end of last season I was ready to throw them out the back door!!  Also with mother nature not being very cooperative I need to try something else. 

In the meantime though, I have been working on my frequent flyer miles.  2 weekends ago I was in Nashville to meet my family.  It was a good time but I felt like all we did was eat!! I did feel like I was training a bit for the Chequamegon when I found donut holes on the menu!

Of Course I ordered them!!

Then this past week, I surprised Michelle for Christmas.  Her gift from me was a trip to Vegas.  She had no clue and the hardest thing was trying to run damage control with upcoming meetings on her calendar.  Now I realize why we are so busy!  I ended up having some of our employees help me with this cause I could not keep up!! 

Anyway I had everything set up, from the limo upon arrival, massages, dinners, and one of the nicest hotels in Vegas, The Encore.  The first night there dinner was interesting with some out of norm cuisine and an over the top price tag!!  It was then back to the room for some relaxation, and who couldn't relax with a view like this from the room!

Sorry for it being blurry, but hard to get a shot through the tinted windows, anyway you get it.

My trip got better though when I learned there might be a heaven!

I ate my way out of this store, which also included a awesome chocolate fountain!!

Then one of the funniest moments of the trip was me, yes me, at a loss of words as I am being recessitated on the floor!!  Michelle all week walked past this necklace in the showroom window.  For those that know Michelle, she is NOT a jewelry person!  Which is awesome for me!  Anyway I told her that she does not have much stuff so lets look at it. 

Doesn't look too bad, I am thinking a couple carats and maybe a price tag around $3000 or so??  Come on its a necklace.  So why Michelle is trying it on and googling over it in the mirror, the sales guy starts talking numbers with me.  Try 8 carats, and a price tag of $65,000!! What did you say?? Hold on, that is like 8 bikes at retail, hurry up Michelle we have to go!  On a plus note I think the sales guy knew that we would not buy it when we walked in, but he was still nice to us and entertained us for 10 mintues or maybe we entertained him since it has probably been almost a year since he last sold something with bling like that!

So now we are back home for a day, until off to a wedding tomorrow.  Should be a good one!! Some very good friends of ours from way back are taking the plunge after being together forever!!

Happy New Years!!

Must be the Holidays!

Merry Christmas to all!! 

Well things have been busy!  Finishing up everything on the team front and it looks to be shaping up very well.  We are staying with pretty much the same with the Specialized and Adventure 212 leading the way from the sponsor front.  We also have all the rest of the goodies set up with Scrub components, egg baeater, No Tubes, Easton, and Hidden Bay.  The team will be made up of Mike Phillips, Scott Cole, Darrin Braun, Ryan Krayer, Lisa Krayer, Michelle will be making a comback, and myself.  We will also have guest jersey apearances from the McFaddens whenever they are racing in Wisco. Should be a good year. 

In the meantime, not much going on for riding bikes,  I actually have not touched a bike since Iceman!  I am back into things with lifting, and hopefully some XC Skiing here in the near future.  Lots of talk on the team about doing the Birkie??? That could be entertaining! 

Have also been traveling a lot.  Was in Nashville last weekend where it was fun to go to an upscale restaurant and found Donut Holes on the menu for a dessert?  I of course ordered them somehow convincing me that I was prepping myself for Chequamegon!  They were a little different though cause they had a nice dark chocolate dipping sauce that went with them.  Lets just say, if they served them up like that at the aid station, I would stop at every one!!! 

For Christmas Michelle and I are headed to Vegas tomorrow, if the weather allows.  I have never been so it should be a good time.  I do not gamble at all but a good friend of mine does and has us all hooked up with the high roller package!! 

Other than that sold one bike so far and still working on getting rid of the old and bringing in the new! 

For Sale

2009 Medium Sworks Epic

XO Shifters

2 x 9 Speciaized Crankset 30 x 42

XTR Front Der

XO Rear Der, with ceramic bearing pulleys

ZTR Race Wheelset

Scrub Rotors

Formula R1 Disc Brakes

etc...

email me if interested cpeariso@adventure212.com

Needed.... a good home!

email me if interested:  cpeariso@adventure212.com

Where am I now?

Well the last week has been just crazy and had nothing to do with the holidays.  We were running so much that Thanksgiving turned out to be just Michelle and I at home.  My last week trips included 2 trips to the Dells to program a Crestron system in a house, a trip to Green Bay for some super secret Packer Game training, and a trip to Milwaukee to go to Flanners to help a friend of mine narrow down his product selection for his new Audio/Video store. As you can see nothing to do with bikes and it has been a nice change.  I do need to get in gear though and sell some bikes!!

On the sponsor front I think we are almost complete.  I need to have one more conversation to finish up the details, but I think it is going to be an awesome 2010 season.  The one change for the upcoming season is that you should see a few more riders wearing the colors.  The difference is that it is not going to be on the mens side, we are adding a female team.  Really looking forward to this change and we might see a return of Michelle racing?? 

I hope everyone Thanksgivign went well!

Going no where...... and I like it.

This time of year is always great.  We have finally hit the end of the season, which for myself, means I have been training and racing since December 17th of last year so 11 months of focus.  Or partial focus cause I was on a boat in Europe for 2 weeks in July. On the team front, we have been really busy getting things set for next year and it is paying off.  Here in a few weeks we will make all the announcements but there should be a good presence of the orange and red at the races next year. 

So what has everyone been doing.  I think a lot of us have been enjoying some of our favorite beverages and catching up with all the things that we have put off all year.  I know Mike has been working on his house, Scott has been spending time with fam and helping me on the sponsor front, and Darrin has been doing whatever he can to support Lynn in her quest for even higher education.  I myself have been back to Crestron programming.  This is a "hobby" of mine, I guess.  I really get geeked out about all the home automation/theater stuff and this current house is by far the furthest I have ever taken a house.  The difficulty is magnified with the fact that I am not a dealer and I have to teach myself not only the product, but also the programming language! The place where I purchased the product from was taking bets on how long it would take for me to call their programmer to just come in and do his magic.  Well to their surprise, I am starting to wrap up, as much as you can ever complete a project like this.  Everything is automated and tied together, so if you decide to buy a new DVD player, it requires about a days worth of programming to relearn the IR codes and repalce them on all the buttons on the different touchpanels!  For those that understand, I have two racks full of equipment and a 6' x 10' room with its own zone for the heating/cooling. Fun stuff though once complete.

Back to cycling though since that is what I am supposed to talk about here.  I have been working on the schedule a bit.  Right now I think I might hang out closer to home next year and also start a little later so the I can avoid some of the 5hr frozen saddle rides!!  Here is a prelim:

24-Apr NUE Cahutta 100

2-May WORS #1 Iola
9-May
16-May WORS #2 Rhinelander
23-May
30-May WORS #3 Wassau
6-Jun NUE Mohican 100
13-Jun WORS #4 Kewauskum
20-Jun Kewaunaw Chain Drive
26-Jun WORS #5 Subaru Cup ProXCT
4-Jul Firecracker 50
11-Jul WORS #6 Eau Claire
18-Jul
25-Jul WORS #7 Franklin
1-Aug
8-Aug WORS #8 Border Battle
15-Aug Ore to Shore
22-Aug WORS #9 Green Bay
29-Aug
5-Sep Copper Harbor Fat Tire Fest
12-Sep WORS #10 Lake Geneva
19-Sep Chequmegon Fat Tire
26-Sep WORS #11 Shawano
3-Oct
10-Oct WORS #12 Sheboygan
17-Oct
24-Oct
31-Oct
7-Nov Iceman

Did you see that, the first time in about 5 years that I put all the WORS races onto the calendar.  Like I said though it is prelim and if something better comes up I can guarantee that I would skip races like Kewauskum! 
 
Anyway, in the meantime I am needing to unload 4 bikes.  I have a small racer X, a medium racer X, a 29er Titus exogrid, and this years medium Sworks Epic.  Write me at cpeariso@adventure212.com. if you have any interest. 

Cyclingnews pics

Darrin and I, most of been thinking about riding hard again cause we were not talking!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/20th-iceman-cometh-ne/photos/94929

Darrin again labeled as Mikey

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/20th-iceman-cometh-ne/photos/94923

Iceman (Nascar Version)

Not sure how this will work, but would work best if you read outloud with the worst Good 'Ole Boy Accent you have!

W'll the nerves were high today focusing on the last race in the championship chase.  We all got out of the gate good and 'round corner one, till some roadie yahoo decided to trade some paint by putting his arm out and giv'n me a bit of a shove?  Not sure on those tactics but I collected her and kept it out of the fence.  I must thank the sponsor though for a good running machine, my specialized, no-tubes, easton, crankbrothers, scrub outfitted rig was awesome today!  With Hidden Bay providing me with my fire suit! 

Once it calmed d'wn a bit, I lost an ignition box and was a bit under power at about mile 10.  I rode around out there like a sit'n duck till I was able to switch my ignition box over. My teammate big "D" came back with similar problems and we started drafting each other to get back width da program. We ended up trading paint width e'ch other till the end finishing 20th and 21st for the day.