That was nice.

The weekend, that is. Quite a few new roads on the trophy shelf on Saturday. We rode the back way to Richland Center the way I had scoped out and arrived at the Cenex for Pop-Tarts and Dr. Pepper in just over 2 hours. I didn't really have a plan for getting back. With no time restraints and beautiful weather we weren't in a hurry to be back. So we made a lap through R.C. and went past the Dirt Churnin' Nationals truck and tractor pull going on at the fairgrounds. We really wanted a T-shirt but were short on cash, being bikers and all. Hit up some great roads and towns like Little Willow, Hillpoint, Loganville and Ithaca. The best part of Ithaca was the Village Pump Tavern located in the front yard of the High School. I wonder if that is considered off campus?
Sunday was another Brefixt ride. We went to Loganville and ate at the Up Front Cafe. We got there at about 10:00. We didn't leave until Noon. It was soooooo slow. The group got pretty, shall we say, restless. The cook was only making 2 orders at a time. We had 12 people and there was another table with 8 people at it that ordered right before us. Holy crap. So in no certain order, 2 of us would get food. Then, 8 minutes or so later, 2 more would. WTF? So, at least it was good. Then a few of the group got in a hurry to get back and strung out the group which goes against everything the breakfast ride stands for. Brefixt Ride Rule #1: The ride is only as fast as the slowest person. Rule #2: If you can't follow rule #1, please don't come on our ride. It wrecks it for everyone. We don't want you on this ride, anyway. If you have time constraints, I'm sorry for you, go on your own ride. Thank you.
On that note, we'll hopefully see you on the next one. We won't be going to Loganville.

Much Like

3 week overdue milk, I left the last race with a sour taste in my mouth. After the super craptastic showing at the WORS Cup, I managed to last a full 45 seconds into the Sunburst Showdown before a flat ended any chance of a good showing. I fixed the flat and had a bad attitude. Then I decided to test the legs anyway. Surprisingly, I felt pretty darn good. I started after the second Comp wave and got to ride through most of the 2 waves in front of me before the second flat ended my day. I was less bitter after the second flat for some reason. I'm starting to resign to the fact that I'm going to have a 3 race mechanical/physical issue stretch every year. So now I have another 2 weeks to wait to test my abilities with the best in the midwest. O2S is coming up. Before I know it the Blockhouse Roll will be upon us. So much to look forward to. And then 'cross starts. When will my house get sided?
Nice job by Lisa to keep some honor for the Krayer's. Yeah, my wife is better than me. I'm ok with that. She's probably better than you, too.

More Filler

Well, this week wasn't as exciting as the last 2. Back to life as a Steamfitter in mountainless Wisconsin. I still haven't ridden my bike since the last stage of the Breck Epic. I did, however, manage to sleep. After 2 weeks of less than 4 hours of sleep each night it feels really nice to actually sleep. Last night I actually didn't feel like just laying around all night and got the bikes somewhat ready for the infamous Sunburst Showdown. It will be interesting to see how my legs respond to this wakeup call. Maybe they'll still be sleeping.
So they gave away some super cool stuff at the awards banquet and I ended up with some Ergon grips and backpack. I didn't win the Iodine wheels or Giro sunglasses or any Easton carbon bits. I did get the belt buckle reserved for finishers. It has BMF'er carved into the back of it. Dig it.
I still think of the stage that we went over French's Pass at least once a day. I really would like to do that again sometime. That was the best trail I've ridden and it topped my old best trail which had been Porcupine Rim Trail in Moab.

Stage 5

The End. Another day of not having "it". This stage was a blast, though. The climbing was not too steep and the singletrack was a blast. With my lack of legs and Jerry's flat, we ended up 3rd on the day but still maintained our 2nd place overall for the race. This stage was a really great way to end the race. It almost made me want to ride my bike again someday.
So it's back to reality now and time to thank all the people that made this such a memorable event. Lisa was more than amazing at taking care of me and the girls all at the same time. Mark Meier for taking care of our bikes everyday and the emotional support. Kristi and Jess for cooking and support as well. GT Bikes for their support all year. Wildside for the food and last minute items before we left. Of course the rest of my family (My Dad, Jo, Niki and Bryan) for coming out to watch and cheer us on. Thanks to those of you who have read and supported with your comments throughout the race as well. Last and least would be to Jerry for doing this race with me. We had our shots and we had a blast. No regrets and a lot of memories, most of 'em good. Maybe next time we can get over this finishing 2nd hump and win something together.
We have the awards banquet tonight and they're giving away a bunch of stuff I won't win. I'll update with what people won.

Stage 4

And the wheels on the bus come flying off, flying off. A little bit of everything today except riding well. At least 40 minutes of hiking up over a mountain after suffering with sub par legs for the first 1 1/2 hours. I took us backwards fast today. Team Koppi was at the front of the train and just drilling it. I got a lot of looks from Jerry today and not of the good kind. Some fun riding after we got over the top but the days just finishing today was an accomplishment for me.
Tomorrow's goal is to finish and have fun riding with Jerry. The stage ends on the Blue River Trail and it's a blast. It should be a fun way to wrap up a great experience.
Sorry the post is a little blah. I'm exhausted. Coasting while hiking is impossible.

Stage 3

Finally a stage win! The stage was unbelievably hard. Massive climb up over French's Pass that had us walking for close to 15 minutes but the view was spectacular! Over the top was a snow field about 200 yards wide that was crazy! Then we hit this super fast singletrack that had some crazy drop in it that I thought was going to be the first trip over the bars. I guess it's hard to go over the bars when the back tire is almost hitting my stomach. Then it was a long climb on fire road up to the Colorado Trail. Seriously, the most fun I've had on my bike. Jerry and I were ripping through that and it was amazing. If only we could've stopped to rest our hands from squeezing the brake levers. Disc brakes rule! The final major climb was, how can I say this, excrutiating. Over the top and down some fast fire road descents when I started hearing the noise I had been dreading. Stopped to check the damage and it was a small leak so we shot some co2 in and hit it. 3 more fills and we made it to the finish. Then it was wait and see how far up we were on the 1st place team. They ended up about 7 minutes behind us, leaving us just over 2 minutes out of 1st place. They had a flat coming down French's Gulch and we had passed them at about 1 hr 15 minutes into the race. That was some serious motivation knowing they were behind us.
Jerry and I are super stoked to have at least 1 stage win. Tomorrow is another butt kicker. I don't mind that at all when it's being kicked on trails like this. There was quite a bit of change today in quite a few categories, I think. The climbing and mechanicals took there toll. Looking forward to another fun day of suffering!

Stage 2

We made it through stage 2 pretty ok. The nuetral roll out was pretty hard and separation occured within the first 8 minutes. We managed to hang on and hit the first singletrack in good position. About halfway through the first descent we saw the first place team on the side of the trail with a flat! So we kept on it and managed to hold them off for almost 2 hours. They caught us on a fast downhill right after Jerry drilled a fence and later he found he bent his derailluer. He figured it out when we hit the next hill and blew threw the last aid station while 1st place stopped. He only had 5th to 9th gear and we had some steep climbing to do. They caught us again and we weren't able to respond and they ended up 1:30 or so ahead of us. So we're now 9:01 in arrears overall. We almost cracked the top 20 overall. The trails were amazing, the climbs lengthy and the weather was perfect. If only the creeks were a little warmer. So tomorrow is going to be tough. 43 miles and one climb over 12,000 feet and another close to that. We even get to ride through snow.
Well, it seems as though we're always the Bridesmaid and never the Bride. Hopefully we can pull off at least one stage win while we're here.

Stage 1

So, that was hard. The stage ended up being only 37 miles instead of the 45 they told us last night. Thank you, Jesus. 8 more miles would've been very not good. The opening climb was, at least in my hazy memory, about 25 minutes long. That created quite a bit of separation. We ended up getting shelled from the lead group but stayed towards the front of the race. Long climbs were the name of the game. Then came the descent down the Colorado trail. Wow! It was soooo fast! Then it would go directly into a blind switchback and on to more of the same for about 15 minutes. Then back to climbing. We came out into this amazing open area on the side of a couple mountains and the tops were so far above us and the valley so far below us it made me dizzy to look. So I didn't. I really wanted to but I didn't want to end up down in the valley. I came close once early in the race. We were flying down this doubletrack and the trail decided to go hard right. I made it and Jerry is screaming at me to turn. It was pretty steep of to the left. Jerry even commented that I was really moving down that trail. That made me feel good.
Anyway, I digress. So we ended up down 7:31 to the father/son team. Hopefully tomorrow will be better for us. No matter what, the riding is phenomenal and we're having a blast. Maybe riding with Jerry will help improve my skills so I can salvage my WORS season. So it's off to the nightly meeting to see whats in store for tomorrow. Ciao.

The Prologue

So the Prologue is over. There ended up being 7 teams for us to race against. We ended up 25 seconds behind the leading team which happens to be a father/son team. That's pretty cool. It was supposed to be quite a bit longer but there was some prettty serious weather that rolled in and they shortened it up by about 2 miles. A horrible 2 miles. So it was nice that it was shorter and the stage is over. Tomorrow is a "real" stage of about 45 miles with a lot of singletrack.
Jeremiah Bishop is the overall leader and about 6 minutes up on us. I'm sure we'll make that up tomorrow. That was supposed to be funny. Travis Brown is 19 seconds back from him. Should be a good battle between them.
Hopefully tonight involves sleep for me. 4 hours a night just isn't enough.

Addendum

I'm not sure how I forgot but I did. We got to hang out at the GT tent all day at the Firecracker. Lucky for us as it rained on and off a lot. Plus we got to meet Louis, Paco, Mick and the Gold Diggers. The girls had a blast entertaining and got branded with GT stickers. The GT crew were all really nice and very accomodating. I wish that they were at all the WORS races, that would be so "pro".
Lisa rose from the dead and went back to Carter Park and got her free beer, pint glass and BBQ chicken samwich. I guess it was delicioso but she didn't share. Something about 6 hours of suffering and hating me for making her do the race and I didn't deserve any among other reasons. Oh well.
I also saw some people I knew. Cam Kirkpatrick and Landon Lueck and a few random people that recognized the Moosejaw Brew Pub logo. The beer is legendary. Well, it's off to get registered and find out how this race is gonna' go.

T minus 1 day

So Lisa did the Firecracker 50 today. She swears she'll never do this race again. Well, she says that now but I'll have to talk her into doing it again. She ended up 4th in her age group, 1 place from a medal with no real long rides or training for this race. She finished in under 6 hours, and she hadn't done a ride of more than 4 hours yet this year so I think there's plenty of time to be made up if she focused on this race. Anyway, JHK and his wife won their respective races, him by 12 minutes, her by 16. A good weekend for them for sure.
Jerry and I rode a little singletrack after the rain finished up. Tomorrow is the day for us. It'll be nice to have the prologue out of the way. Hopefully I get more than 4 1/2 hours of sleep tonight. Not sleeping really blows. Lots of answers to a lot of questions tomorrow. Please send all your extra legs.

Groupo compatto

A rather low key day. We got to see Babe the Sheep Pig today at the Breck Theatre. We even met Babe's parents. Then Lisa rode the last part of the course she hadn't seen yet while I took the girl's back to the condo to try and nap. That didn't work. The Long's showed up and Jerry and I rode most of the Prologue. It's still difficult even with Jerry there. A little post ride hot tubbin' and then supper at the Long's place. The Meier's show up tomorrow and Lisa gets her shot at the National Champions jersey. Then it's game on for me and Jerry. 6 days of some sweet singletrack action. Stay tuned, kids.
IMPORTANT!!!!!


Remember to do your monthly breast cancer self exam. It could save your life and it looks cool, too.

Filler

Yep. Didn't do much today. Tried to ride the alpine slide at Breck but the weather came in and they shut 'er down. A little shopping. A nap. TV. Then we went to this little bakery in town called Clint's, I think, and had a piece of chocolate cake. Started talking with the girls behind the counter and they are just getting into biking. Then they started trying to talk us into moving out here. It keeps getting harder to find reasons not to. Then I think of what it takes to actually move all the crap I own. Yeah, that's a deal breaker right there. That and they don't have a bar you can buy guns at in town.
On another note, I've been meaning to mention my experience with directions while riding trails out here. I've been on the receiving and giving side of them with about the same result. Everyone means well but most of the directions I've been given must make sense to who tells them, much as they do when I give them, but the end result is the same. Not getting where I(they) wanted to go. It's crazy. The bad part is that it's not like were in Wisconsin where a wrong turn may cost you 15 minutes or so out on the trail. Here it may cost you an hour or more of some serious suffering. The saving grace is as long as you can go downhill you'll eventually end up at or near Breck but it's still a little unnerving if a storm is brewing, or if the last drink of water was an hour ago.
Well, we get to see Babe the Sheep Pig tomorrow. Should be interesting. I think we get free bacon with paid admission.

It finally happened

Today was the day the altitude set in, I guess. I felt horrible! I was working so hard up the hills and my heart rate was really low. I tried to ride the Firecracker course but messed up the start and only rode half of it. It is gnarly. If Lisa even finishes it will be a pretty huge accomplishment. Seriously. 2 laps of wicked climbs and there is one super loose, fast and crazy rocky descent that is tough with no other riders. Throw in a couple hundred friends and it will be even better. I did manage to not flat today coming down Barney Ford. Hopefully the legs perk up over the next couple days. If not, Jerry will have to switch to solo.