Not slowing down

I thought maybe since we aren't racing every weekend life would slow down a bit. Nope, it keeps going faster! I'm still trying to figure out what all I'm going to do with my car. Lots of nights at the shop and then home to get on the trainer. Add in the normal Christmas activities and the weeks really fly by. Kylie was the star in her school Christmas program, appearing as The Littlest Christmas tree. She enjoyed the spotlight. I would have done all I could to be in the back row hiding when I was in those programs. Anyway, I'm anxious to get up to the Peariso's and get my brand spankin' new Epic!
Is it March yet?

So much goin' on

So I delivered my car to The Ring Brothers shop in Spring Green.

Those guys are so awesome. I told Mike I had never ridden in a '65 or '66 Mustang before. So he had his brother Jim give me a ride in their shop car. It's a '66, full frame, fully caged, 650 hp Fastback built for autocrossing. I was in it for all of about 5 minutes but I'm pretty sure we topped 100 mph in their industrial park road twice in that time. Jim drives 'em like he stole 'em for sure! Thanks, Jim!

So they're going to start on my car maybe next week already. Things are moving so fast now! I've had the car for 24 years, this new pace is going to take some getting used to. This is what they did to the car whose chassis I'm getting for mine.

So that leads us to last night. It was a full on Redneck event for sure!! We had guns, sweet potato pie, green bean casserole AND a full on roasted pig!!! It was a magical evening. Never one to not go all in our Co-Host went that extra mile for the Team. He got in a drunken brawl (well, kinda')


and ended up with 5 cracked ribs and a partially collapsed lung! Now that is what I'm talkin' about! It's almost enough to bring a tear to this Ol' Boys eye that he thinks enough of us to put forth the extra effort and make it a true Redneck event. My only fear is that we have reached a level we may not be able to achieve again! Only one way to find out I guess, more on that in December of 2011!
Thanks for a great party, Peariso's. Heal up fast Little Buddy!

Ouch!

That's what my stomach said yesterday. I definitely had enough to eat. I rode from home to my Grandparents house in Reedsburg, taking the loooong way. I was in Lime Ridge and decided to see where Hwy G ended up as I had never been that way. Well, it ends up at HWY 58 apparently. I hadn't ever been on Hwy 58 before. My feet were cold and the turkey was going to be on the table soon. Where the heck am I, I remember thinking. Well, soon enough I roll into Ironton. Huh. Where the heck am I ran through my head again. So I eventually hit LaValle and then I knew where I was and in a great turn of events I had the wind on my back. I was really moving down Hwy 33 to The Burg. I arrived and got changed about 5 minutes before it was time to eat! Perfect. 2 huge plates of food and 3 pieces of pie later (pumpkin, pecan and apple) my food baby was screaming and kicking for me to nap. I was wiped out and rode the couch watching football and chatting the rest of the afternoon away. Great day for sure!
On another note, big things are happening with my '65 Mustang Fastback. More on that later. It's gonna' be sweet! These guys do amazing work.

The End is the beginning

I'm sure if you've followed my other 212/Specialized Teammates thoughts on life whilst perusing the Internets you aren't going to read anything not already laid out for you about our year. So, I'll keep it short (relatively?).

Chris and Michelle: AWESOME! Thank you guys so much for letting all of us be part of The Family.

Specialized: Thanks for the sweet hookups! Bikes and gear are flippin' sweet.

The Team: What is there to say? Good times and racing bikes with great friends, it just don't get no better.

The Hostel Shoppe: Thank you for your help in enabling our bike fetish.

Our Families: For girl sitting, dog watching, cheering and helping out during the biking season and even now with the impending (and lingering) house projects.

Melcher: For getting me in the game. Nice work.

Sucks now when we don't get to see our WORS friends for a few months but it's always fun to see everyone again at Iola. I like how we seem to pick up right where we left off at Sheboygan the fall before as if someone hit the fast forward button and skipped over the winter like a bad reocurring commercial.

Yea yea

I know Lisa gets as tired of hearing this as she does when I whine about the fact that they put stop lights in on Hwy. 12 instead of on and off ramps but I've been trying to get stuff finished up outside before it gets really cold. I got all the windows in and the whole summer kitchen ready for siding. I gave Darrin a good laugh when I told him we're pouring the floor in our garage this weekend. He told me to take video but I've watched AFHV enought to know that bad things always happen when the camera's rollin'!
Redneck Christmas is coming fast! That is going to be tongue in the ear hot!

Beautiful Milwaukee

Last Thursday marked 10 years of Hell for Lisa. Yep, 10 years and she hasn't left, killed or intentionally driven us into a bridge embankment. So we borrowed the chitlins to The Beav and Kiki after racing 'cross today and headed to the Third Ward for some supper. It was dilishus! We dined at the Third Ward Caffe (yes I know how to spell delicious and cafe but they put two f's in theirs) and gazed into each others eyes. Magical. Then we went to the Milwaukee Public Market (they don't have those in Denzer) and I saw a 10 lb chocolate bar! I would show it to you but my phone is dead. It's kinda' fun to visit the Big City every once in a while. It's strange to see people out and about and even stranger not to know who they are. I would have a cruiser bike for sure if I lived in town. I wouldn't be able to shoot stuff, though. Not a good trade.
So back to the race. I tried the MFCP theory today. I should listen to him more often. Well, for bike racing anyway. I had a good time today and actually had fun on the bike. The only way it could have been better is if it would've rained more. Not quite enough rain to make it sloppy and fromunda the trees it actually got dry and dusty. Good race though. Anyway, we'll do it again tomorrow and hope for another good result. Today I was first guy out of the prizes. Nice.

Sheboygan

I guess Superman has the Phone Booth copyrighted. Is this the next best thing?

Holy cow! That was a race. Conditions were perfect and Adventure 212/Specialized topped the podium! Multiple congrats to Mike for his win coming off the couch (I heard he got tired of watching Sanford and Sons and Carol Burnett re-runs so he decided to race) as well as starting his journey towards becoming a rental property giant in the Milwaukee area. Nice work by the rest of us as well. We almost had 4 in the Top 5 but Ronsta was too strong. Good job. My stated goal for this race was to get a big check and I figured I needed to be Top 5 to make it happen. Well, they didn't give out big checks this year so the pain was somewhat lessened.

A big thank you to Chris and Michelle and Adventure 212f or putting up with us and making this such a fun year! More thanks to Specialized for the amazing bikes! Thank you's go out to the rest of The Team, Fraziers and Jordy for hand ups, good times and being cool. The wheels are already turning for next year.

Fricken' Cyclocross

Dang that was hard. I had the race I expected for sure. The first cx race is always an eye opener. Good times for sure, nice change of pace. Mikee's Off The Couch Season continues to be better than my most training ever season. Nice job, Mike. I'm glad you're not afraid of 'cross.




Now I have to figure out how to run so I don't look like this.


Then I have to learn how to corner so I don't look like this.



Bear Paw was fun last weekend. (Congrats to Darrin!! Stud.) If I can find a way to ride the first lap at a Sport riders ability or better I might be able to get some decent results. Looking forward to next weekend for sure! Sheboygan is always a great course.

Fat Tire Recap

That race is hard. I went from just drooling after Rosie's Field to a full on frothing at the mouth after about 20 minutes. It was really exciting for me just to be in the lead group all the way past Hwy OO. I put in a big effort to try and latch back on at Janet Road and that was it for me. The pace was too high and I cracked, like an egg. When I was able to think, I was super happy I made it that far but disappointed I couldn't stay on. Oh well. The race was just part of another great weekend of 212ing. Lisa was super excited with her finish, as we all were. Not only does she ride well, she makes a mean apple pie! Carrot cake too. I ate way too much but not even half of what Mike did. That guy's a chip eating machine. We celebrated with some beers and a bonfire Saturday night. Next year I'm bringing a chainsaw so we can trim back some of the trees overhanging the fire pit. Smoky would've been laying down fresh racing stripes in his shorts had he seen what we had going.
Now some random facts: There are at least 11 Subway Restaurants on the way from Cable to Lyndon Station. I went through 2 bottles and a 60oz Camelback during the race and ate 7 GU's. (Disgusting) I still cramped. The puddles were really really cold. I'm forever RKL now unless I podium at a Triple Crown event.

I got my new Crux Pro cyclocross bike together and rode it. That bike is pretty awesome too! Looking forward to racing some 'cross soon.

In case you hadn't heard.

Hell yes! Now it's RKL and I don't mind.

Lake Geneva

A real MTB course for sure. Lots of singletrack. Start was fast and I was gassed. I messed up the turn up the hill to get to the tippy top of the course and that was it. Not enough gas to close the gap to get back up front, enough to maintain. Almost got up to Seth at the end, I could hear him calling out his passes. Bike worked great, it just took me a while to figure out how to ride it at a moderately fast pace. Fun day, great weather and my Mom even came to watch. Nice.
See y'all in Hayward.

Long weekend home

Threw down a little over 400 pavers yesterday. Quite the operation. All part of the "getting ready for Chequamegon" training phase, I suppose. I rode my bike, too but who doesn't? A chipmunk that I can only assume was suicidal tried to sneak it's way under my tire yesterday. I couldn't quite close the deal for him though.
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake is so good.

The Breaking Point

I pretty much found it last night on the way home. If you've traveled with me you know it can be mentally taxing. Well, maybe even if you haven't traveled with me you know that. Anyway, we had been in the car for about 2 hrs and Jordan and Lisa were, well, sick of me. Jordan had her head in her hands trying to keep it together from listening to me and the DVD the girls were watching for the 4th time, Lisa was all done with me as well. I suggest going to Culvers for a post race celebration scoop of custard. Minimal effect on getting back out of the abyss I've put myself in. Ordering what everyone wanted turned into a major production and I'm falling deeper into said abyss. We pull up to the window to get our goodies and I'm all like "haaaaaaayyyy" to the girl and everyone busts out laughing, tears and all. It was great. I came rocketing out of the abyss into rock stardom in no time flat. Damn I'm smooth. Custard was good, too.
So sometimes when the girls are too loud we play this game where we see who can be quiet the longest. Great game. If you know Jordan you know how little she tends to talk. Sometimes we go 2 hrs in the car and don't hear a word out of her. Put her in the Who Can Be Quiet game and she cracks like an egg! She was the first one out and she wasn't very happy about it either. LOSER!
Oh, we raced this weekend too. Went better than expected for me. 5th place overall. Another great showing by Lisa with yet another 2nd place. Kylie won the kids race. Thanks to the Team for another great weekend!

New to me

I finally made it to Cam-Rock to ride. It was pretty ok. Bryan and I rode some moderately paced laps out there and honed our skills to a fine sharp edge for this weekends race in the tightest singletrack we race on all year.
New CX bikes are on the way. Hopefully it is possible to buy speed.

The Ramble

I really like this place. It's so fast and the singletrack is pretty forgiving as well. Perfect for me! Race started out ok, got bad for a bit and then was ok again. Ben Koenig killed it on the 2nd lap, I barely was holding on. We caught up to Chris and chased for almost 2 laps. Finished in my normal spot, 7th place. Lisa got her first win! I was finished with my race and then I found out she was in the lead in hers. Then I got nervous. She held it together and cruised in. A good day.

Best pre ride meal

Half a bag of super fresh, squeaky cheese curds and half a box of cocoa pebbles. Mmm.

Go fast, eh?

Anothere great weekend to race bikes! We dropped the girls off in Pulaski and kept on heading North to Marquette, Michigan. I felt like Jesse Bell for a while except I only do this drive once, maybe twice a year not almost every weekend. He probably doesn't stop in Pulaski, either. Anyway, we finally got hooked up with the 212 crew and feasted at Tom and Jackie's place, (thanks again!). After a few trips to the breakfast buffet at the Big Boy (ugh.) on Saturday morning it was go time. Start was fast, water was deep, came close but didn't quite make it all happen for the team. Good job by all, though. The 212 girls rocked it as well. I made some memories for us in the final miles as once again! If you want to know, you'll have to ask. Then it was back to Tom and Jackie's for drinks. I found out Tim can make a mean African-Russian!
So at the awards, the anouncer lady says "Our second oldest competitor up there(there being the top 20), in 8th place, blah blah blah". Now, I know that's probably supposed to be a compliment but I kinda felt like I was just called "Big Boned" instead of fat.
Chris made us late for the group ride Sunday morning but the trails had us all smiling ear to ear! A guided tour of some sweet singletrack including riding on top of a huge pipe. What the heck was/is the pipe for, anyway? Then it was time to head back to the Twin Cities (Leland and Denzer) and get ready for another race weekend coming up. Back to Green Bay for Reforestation. It's gonna' be sweet!

If all goes well

This is the start of a long block of races. 8 weekends on the road. Should be interesting. It's gonna be a hot one tomorrow, 90+ degrees they say. Hopefully I don't get another stick in the derailleur like I did in practice today. We took the overly scenic way up to River Falls today. Went up Hwy. 14 to LaCrosse then took 35 the rest of the way here. It was something I have always wanted to do and I probably won't do again. It was an extra 1:40 minutes to get here! Oh, well. At least we got to eat at Rocky's!

Nice Weekend, eh?

Saturday I actually got to ride with Lisa and I liked it. I'm not sure if I'm weak, Lisa's strong or we're both ok but I did a 90 minute sweet spot effort with her glued to my wheeel. I was more happier (yes, I said more happier) about that than she was, I think. Then it was off to a birthday party where I ate too much. Sunday was another nice ride. Then Lisa took off to go up to the USA Cycling Junior Development camp deal in Lacrosse. NO, she's not a camper, she's helping coach it. After some more house chores it was off to another party where I again, ate too much. Seems to be a trend for me lately. So it's me and the girls this week while Lisa is off living the fun and carefree life of being a coach. Too bad it's going to be so warm this week as I heard the dorms don't have a/c. I'm looking forward to next weekends race, it seems so long ago since the last one. Then it's 8 weeks straight at least of MTB races, maybe 10. Then 'cross is going strong 'til November. Wow.

So sometimes

my ideas sound good in my head but aren't so good in practice. Take yesterday, for instance. I thought it would be a good idea to go ride for a few hours, eat a little breakfast and then ride home. Well, maybe if it had been a little breakfast it would have been a sound plan. However, the 2 by 6 at the Railroad Inn located in Downtown North Freedom is a substantially greater quantity of food than "a little."

2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 pieces of toast, 2 sausage links, 2 bacon and American Fries (yes, I know that's not 2 of something but whatever.) Add syrup to taste and voila!

So the ride home went like this, "Please keep this 3 lb rock in my stomach from forcefully ejecting itself." Meat, Bryan and I were all in the same tenuous condition. I can honestly say that it's possible to have too much of a good thing. I can also say that I look forward to doing it again.

Time to breathe

So we got home on Friday night in time to unpack and reload to drive up to Eau Claire for the Firecracker. We got to race a race named The Firecracker 2 weekends in a row, isn't that special? I'm especially thankful that I was able to finish the 2nd race not feeling like I did in the photo from the 1st one! Holy cow, that was a whole different kind of pain. I must have gained some red blood cells or something at altitude as I was feeling pretty good yesterday. My second best ever finish at a WORS race as I pulled of a 4th here. Craaazy. Fun race with lots of fun singletrack and enough open area to allow passing and playing catch up. The last stupid rock pile we had to ride through allowed me to pilot my sweet ass bike over the stupid sharp loose rocks faster than the guy who attacked the last 1/2 lap and I got a pretty good gap to going into the finish chute. Still not with the Big Dogs but I may be inching closer. Now it's time to recover from vacation and back to work. I have to start playing the lottery more often.

It's all downhill from here

At least when we were at the top of the lift. Today we went to Keystone Mountain and met up with Terry (former Baraboo area resident) and we rode bikes the easy way. Sat on the lift up and launched ourselves down the hill on some sweeeet singletrack. It was like 2 1/2 hours of Super D practice without the annoying running at the start. We put on almost 30 miles of descending! The Epic was amazing and we all had big grins on our faces and we were laughing and yelling on the way down. Having fun on bikes is a great brand of fun to have. We tried one of the runs with the added "features" or "attractions" and had a couple close calls. Bryan tried to eat a log that was innocently laying by the side of the trail after one of the said "features" and earned the new nickname of "The Beav". He was ok for the most part but lost some skin on his nose. The crash looked pretty ugly, we were glad he got up. Sponsor showed us how to do the table top jumps and Chris showed us how to ride with no rear brake since his decided to blow a seal.
When we first got there some dude on a full on DH rig recommended we "lower our seats because it gets pretty steep." Yeah, I'll do that right after I put on my baggy shorts.

Firecracker 50 Explosion!

Well, I did anyway. The course was amazing although on the first lap as I was riding said amazing trails I couldn't help but think that I had to ride all this stuff again! Holy crap! I managed to finish the race but it was far from pretty. 13th place wasn't exactly what I had hoped for but it is what it is. Everyone had a good time especially Michelle and Lisa who took 2nd in the Women's Duo. Lisa was in a two up sprint for 2nd at the finish. I missed it as I was in line getting us beers when it happened. Yes, the us was Lisa and I. I saw her coming down the switchbacks to finish following what I thought was a guy and then turned out to be the girl in 2nd place. So it was another good day of riding bikes. Now we get to ride for fun!

Sandusky

Until last night Sandusky had often been thrown out as a potential route for a Tuesday Night Ride, mostly in jest. Generally, the statement was followed by chuckles and laughs and then we would ride somewhere else. Not last night, my friends. Last night my response was met with nervous chatter and maybe a little bit of dread. My response was, "we better get movin', it's gonna' be a long ride." Off we went, breaking TNR protocol and riding OUT of Baraboo on Highway 136(GASP!). We really had no time to screw around so I set what I thought was a good get to Sandusky and back pace and hoped it would work. Now, backing up a step, I wasn't exactly sure where Sandusky really was but I wasn't going to let that stop us. Everyone seemed ok with the Sandusky pace and we rolled right along, across Hwy 23 into the unknown lands West of that great divide that is our normal TNR boundary. At the 1:30 mark I was getting a little nervous. We had just made Lime Ridge and I knew we were close to the Promise Land but I had no time to screw around. I sucked it up and asked a guy in the park at Lime Ridge where Sandusky was. He replied "I think you just keep going straight at the T but I'm not sure." Then he gave me a quizzical look and stated, "There's really nothing there. Why do you want to go there?" I laughed but really had no answer for him other than it was just someplace to go. Yet it was so much more. Off we went and at about 1:50 we arrived. Sponsor snapped a picture with his phone (it has the internets too!) and we were off. Lots of concern for the amount of remaining daylight but I had faith. We eventually rolled into Loganville for some water (no Dr. Pepper this late in the day) and then back at it. We picked up the people who didn't waitin Loganville along the way, lost a few at about Rock Springs but we all got back well before dark. A great ride and one I'm sure that we'll be talking about for years to come. I can't wait 'til the next time someone spits out another far away and exotic location for us to try and conquer.

Mt. Morris

A great weekend all in all. No one died, lots of tongue in the ear hot racing action, hanging out with friends and some podium time. We took up residence at the Peariso's again starting Friday night. It all started out ok and then Sarah showed up and brought this guy from Austrailier along with his funny way of saying PByahr. Not as funny as Ty calling the Outback the Backlands, though. So really, Owen the Austrailieran was super cool and added another layer of icing on the weekend cake. Another bonus was seeing (and hearing) Kelson again. That is always a treat! It was nice to catch up with him in person. Same old story on the racing front. I did OK and Lisa Killed it. I wish I had the Cat 1 Womens short track recorded somehow. That was fun to watch and cool when The Don anounced "Lisa Krayer is going to lap almost the whole field" during the short track race on the PA system! I got a little of that when I was desprately trying to "drag my carcass" back to the front of the race. Which race you say? Well, both. After starting with and passing other WORS racers I usually don't mix it up with and the day of's for the first 2 laps on the 3rd lap of the CC race I was starting to get the guys who started front row. I salvaged a 5th overall out of 100 guys and called it pretty ok. Super D was just fun and BIG D won the son of a gun! Wow. Great job by the Team again all around. Next up is The Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge and then riding some bad ass mountain singletrack in Summit County. I can almost taste the Beau Jo's Pizza!!!! Pass the honey, please.

A bad day. R.I.P Silber

I didn't think it would be this bad.

We miss you, Buddy.

Some good days

So for Fathers Day we took a family bike ride into Sauk City. Our newest bike purchase was a trail-a-bike for the girls. Well, Kylie for now anyway. What a trooper. We were out for 2 and a half hours and she had a pretty good time. The girls went swimming in the river while we dined on Cheetos and Triscuits. Then we got home and I caulked some more until my Fathers Day Dinner was ready. Ribs, sweet potatoes and strawberry pie! Hurts so good. It was a nice way to spend a day.
We eschewed the Tuesday Night Ride this week and headed for Devil's Head instead. Excellent choice for us. Farmer Brad spent a reported 5 hrs there doing trail work and it showed. It was in amazing shape and there was only 1 berry bush that got me the whole ride and we never had to dismount to get over a tree as he removed all of them as well. Thanks Brad!
Tonight I got to ride around Cottage Grove with Bryan. I saw some roads I hadn't seen since my younger days when I would roam that area looking for carp to shoot. Bowfishing used to be a big part of my summers before biking became the overwhelming focus of my "spare" time.
Mt. Morris is almost here. Then it's off to the Firecracker 50 in Breckenridge the next weekend. Time is flyin'!

Wrong again

I don't mind being wrong if I predict that it's gonna' rain and then it doesn't. There were a couple life sucking mud spots the way it was. A course full of that would not have been the joyous occasion this turned out to be.

The weekend started out with a trip to the Milwaukee Zoo with the girls. If we were better parents and had a video camera I'm sure we would've won the 100,000 grand from AFV with Kelsey's hula hoop perormance. She had the whole area just rolling with laughter. Then we pre rode ( yes we really did) the race course and headed back to Chateu' de Braun for food and accomodation. Thank you to the Braun's for putting us up and puttin up with us. The neighbors downstairs can't wait for us to come back I'm sure. Between Darrin and the girls the apartment below probably thought there was a ho down upstairs. The dance kind of ho down, of course. After gorging on food (thanks again for that) Sunday morning it was off to the races. Barry Wicks decided to show up for this one, too. Start was crazy with a dude hitting the barrell right beside me and Chris. I thought MFCP went down but about halfway into the lap he came around me and off we went. Blah blah race stuff blah blah we rode together and stuff. Another solid race for me with a 7th place, MFCP was 6th, Darrin was a solid 3rd. Nice work by the boys for sure. On the women's side, Lisa was rockin' for sure. Swapping the lead with Abby back and forth but Abby managed to pull out the winby a few seconds. Lisa's getting soooo close. Michelle got 11th overall and was taken out somewhere by some dude. All in all a good showing for 212.

Lots of cheering from the girls. Gotta like that. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Russel said I was "the cutest guy that passed him" during the race. I bet he says that to all the guys.

Sunburst?

Maybe we'll be calling it Cloudburst on Sunday. We rode at Devil's Head last night. Thanks a ton to the guys that have done so much work out there lately. I know for sure Farmer Brad and Kurt have been out there a lot. Thanks! I love riding there. Not too many places that have a 8 minute or so climb to start the ride around these parts.
We get to go to the Milwaukee Zoo tomorrow. Steamfitters Local 601 annual Day at the Zoo is finally going to happen for us. Beer, brats, burgers and a bonanza of animals. Should be sweet. Then we are shacking up with the Brauns for the evening so we can do the Sunburst Showdown Epic MTB Race.
Got an e-mail from the folks at the Firecracker 50 today. Little French Gulch Trail is still heavily snowed under. Sweet.

A Good 4 days

Was it just me or was that the most amazing Memorial Day Weekend weather we've had in a long time? Yet another great weekend as we got to invade the Peariso's with the whole crew. (Thank's again!) Pre ride was an eye opener as the Renegades were a little less than optimal in the marbles on the corners. I threw an LK on the front and Sunday was much better. Another good result for me. Big thanks to the helpful person that tore through the tape blocking off the section of singletrack I wasn't supposed to follow Maciej on. Even more props to the fool when said helpful person didn't put the tape back up after tearing it down. I hope your race didn't get affected as much as the other people who had their races jacked up because you had to get back to your race.
Anyway, I digress. Team Adventure 212 had another great showing. The train is a rollin'.
Monday was Meat's Memorable Memorial Day Ride. It was the fastest we've ever done that route for sure. Had a good turnout and food and beer at the end this year! A very welcome addition to an already great day. Apparently I won the meat raffle. I'm not sure what the prize was but I am all about winning.
The Tuesday Night Ride was BRUTAL last night. Lots of climbing and everyone brought their A game. Good time's. Gotta' love summer.

I set a new record tonight

I lost count but I smashed a lot of tentworms. It's so cool when they make that snapping noise.

Glass half empty

Looking at the WORS schedule is somewhat disheartening. 2 races down already, the 3rd this weekend. That's a quarter of the way to October and snow and cold weather that comes along with it. (Insert sad face icon thing) It's not even June yet, the garden is just getting going but I am apparently seeing the Fall coming right at me.
In other news, I just crushed the jumble in the newspaper. Things are looking up.

That was hot

Not Paris Hilton "hot" but temperature wise hot. Although it wasn't so much the heat as the humidity. Anyway, enough cliche's I'll ge to the blah, blah, blah. Great weekend for riding in these parts. I did a loop with the Baraboo crew and we went through Devil's Lake descending " The Snakes" to get to South Shore. I forgot how fun that descent is so I did it again the next day with MFCP, Michelle and Liza to reinforce the memory. There was a lot more oncoming traffic on Sunday but it was still awesome. I spent the weekend caulking siding joints and trying to keep Bryan busy working on my endless list of projects not done that keeps getting longer. Finished off the weekend at The Moosejaw with Black Betty. She kept me up all night but she was definitely worth it. AND we saw this dude riding down the road on a bike quite similiar to Pedro's Sledgehammer with his helmet on Buhwheat style AND backwards!! Unfortunately, I have no photographic proof, which if I had, would have won some sort of award in some kind of contest I'm sure.

Rhinelander

I guess that went ok. After I figured out how to ride my bike about a lap into the race I felt ok. Not exactly where I wanted to end up on the first lap but I think the end result once again ended up the same, 7th overall in a pretty solid field. Seth Lens wouldn't go away and kept the pressure on but I was able to hold him off and then I passed Nate Guerra at the end. That was exciting. Not as exciting as Chris and Darrin's post race interview was though. Look for a link to that when it show's up. Nice work by the whole team, really. Lisa pulled off another 2nd place only 36 seconds behind the 3 time overall champ for WORS. Very nice. The post race burger and beers with the team at the Cross Country bar were delicioso. MFCP was a full weekend of entertainment including on the drive home when he pasted a deer on the I-Road at 70 mph. Apparently he's sliding the on bike issues to driving issues. Whatever works.
SO to celebrate a good weekend of racing last night I moved 4 cu. yards of dirt and leveled it off to get ready to put down some pavers. That's how we do "recovery" days in Denzer.

Already?

Dammit.

Did I Mention

How much I like my new S-Works Epic? Lisa said something I never thought I'd hear her say last night. No, not that. Not that either. Seriously, she said "I can't wait to race my bike again!" Wow. That's what I'm talkin' about.

IOLA!!

I absolutely love WORS. We haven't seen most of the people at these events since October and then we all converge at the season opener and it's like we were never apart. It's great to see everyone again and now everything seems right in my world again. Of course it always helps when the first race goes well for our family and team. Lisa pulled off a great effort with teammate Diana McFadden for a 2-3 finish in the Women's Elite field. Darrin was 3rd in the Men's and I managed an 8th place finish after starting mid-pack in a 90 rider strong Elite field. The start was a major dissapointment and I had a lot of ground to make up but I don't think I could've finished much higher, if at all with a better start. I know that my new S-Works Epic was responsible for getting me 4-5 places higher than if I was on a hardtail. (Thank you Chris, Scott and Pete for making that happen!!!) Sitting down going through the rooty pine section at the end of the lap and just hammering through it was something I had never experienced before. Honestly I didn't think that was even possible. Anyway, the racing was just the icing on the cake for the weekend. Hanging out at the Peariso's Saturday and Sunday with everyone was as good as the racing. I even got to hang out with the girls and watch some of Avatar in the home theatre. Michelle's cooking was responsible for adding a little extra girth to my midsection so it's a good thing we only stayed 2 days. All in all a great weekend. Many more to come.

Great weekend for Team 212

Yep, I've got some big shoes to fill. The bar got set pretty high this weekend at the NUE race. MFCP rocketed his way to a 2nd overall in the Big boys race. Darrin won the 65 miler and Lisa pulled a 4th out in the women's 65. Michelle was right there in 7th and Mark and Scott did really well, too. (Sorry guy's, I'm surprised I remembered that much.) I'm sure that the drive home was filled with great stories as the racing conditions were far from ideal. Me, I sat on the in home torture device and ground out some intervals. In case you didn't know or forgot, Iola is next weekend. Many questions will be answered and I'm sure many more will be posed. Pretty sure that there will be some 212 jerseys on the podium, though.
On a side note, hopefully the S-Works shoe shine machine shows up soon. Gotta' keep these babies shined up and lookin' sweet.

And it's over

So we left Denver Saturday morning and drove to Council Bluffs to ride at the Lewis and Clark Monument trails. Yep, Iowa. It was pretty cool riding but very confusing. Lots of trails going to nowhere or shortcuts and we got pretty lost which was unfortunate as we were time crunched. We rode for about 45 minutes and high tailed it to Iowa City to meet Kyle and Robin Williams for a couple beers and to set up a plan for the morning. We got there about 9:45 pm and left the establishment about 11:30 or so. Little did we know there was a soccer tournament and other happenings in Iowa City that weekend so we drove around for an hour or so looking for hotels. We ended up at a, how do I put this, dumpy maybe, (?) Motel 6. After not so much sleep the Williams picked us up and we rode the Sugar Bottom trails. That was fun. It really helped having a guided tour of the place as we didn't have to stop at all to figure out where to go next. I would recommend riding here if you're ever close to Iowa City. The trails were fast and flowy even uphill and it was a great ending to our trip. We thanked to Robin and Kyle for showing us around and then headed for Madison to pick up the girls. Got home, picked up the dogs, unpacked, fired the boiler back up, mowed the lawn and called it a day.
Thanks to the Gramma's for watching the girls and dogs. Thanks to everyone on the trip for putting up with me and my gas problem. Looking forward to Breckenridge in July!

Kokepelli wrap up

Today was sweet! Spencer and I rode every trail at the place in the 2 times we were here this trip and today I think we hit up the best of them all. Warmed up on Rustlers Loop, then took Mary's loop to Steve's loop. Steve's had some spectacular views in the canyons we were in. Then we hit Lion's Loop to Troy Built and that was amazing. Awesome fast descents and some good climbs. Then it was a long, steep double track climb back up to Lions Loop to finish that loop up. That last section of Lion's was super cool. So many different types of rocks and dirt layers all the way down and the trail was a blast to ride. That wrapped it up for us. Got back to the car and loaded up to high tail it down the road to Beau Jo's for some delicious Mountain Pie. Hoping to ride some Front Range singletrack tomorrow.

Spencer Lost his @ss cherry!

Yep, it's true. His seat got to him before I could. Other than that it was another great day of riding bikes. The trails here are really technical and tight but mostly rideable which is nice. Some really fast flowy trail with countless drops and rock gardens yet again

This one was super cool as it was full of big boulders and tight lines but we made it through.

These kind of rocks are always fun.

Hmmm, another steep drop after yet another rock garden. I'm starting to sense some kind of trend and I like it.

We all crashed a little today. I fell of the edge of the trail and landed on my back. That was a little scary, I won't lie. Spencer almost did the same move but managed to stay upright and jump/run down the slope avoiding injury. Bryan took a trip over the bars in a pretty good spot to not crash in that was pretty close to launching of the edge of the world. I'm pretty sure if I could have seen his eyes they would've been bigger than the cowpies at Potter's Pasture. But we all made it back to the hotel ok. We rode most of the trails at this cluster today. Not sure yet what tomorrow brings but I'm confident that after a couple fine malt beverages we'll figure it out.

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Porcupine Rim

Was flippin' sweet! I remembered liking this trail last time but my skills must have gotten marginally better because this time we rode most everything and had a blast. After the initial climb it actually is mostly downhill the rest of the way with countless drops and fast rock garden sections like the one Bryan is coming down in the picture. Lisa was grinning ear to ear riding her S-Works Era race couch. It's official now as 2 days in a row she's mentioned how much she loves her new bike. Thank you, Michelle.

I finally got a flat today about 10 minutes after Lisa got her 2nd of the trip. I had to ride the last section of the trail from a few minutes before the place you cross the creek bed that's unrideable back into town on a low tire as we went through all the tubes we had. It was still awesome. We headed back to Grand Junction and we're going to try out some more riding here the next couple of days. Plenty of riding to do in these parts.

Slickrock

Not to be confused with Slick Shoes from the movie The Goonies. At Slickrock there is plenty of friction. There were mulitple close calls today from all of us but we all came away with most of our skin. Although a pitch like this looks pretty easy to climb in a picture, the cost of not making the ascent is mucho skino.

It took us a while to get the hang of riding here. The grip is phenomenal and once I started trusting the tires would not slip 99% of the time it got even more enjoyable.

Pictures don't really do the rock formations justice but I thought this was pretty neat. It looks like something from the Lord of the Rings. Off to Porcupine Rim tomorrow.

18 Road Trails

So we rode the 18 Road Trails in Fruita today. It was super windy later in the morning and it made some of the trails pretty interesting. They (whoever "they" are) were forecasting 40+ mph wind gusts and it sure felt like it. Up on trails like Joe's Ridge the wind actually blew Niki off the trail! She was noticeably less enthusastic about riding after that. As you can see below we were quite vulnerable to wind and where she got tipped over it was a pretty steep slope. She needs a little more junk in her trunk I guess. Bryan is in the middle of this picture tearing it up. We rode all the trails here today at least once. One time we were attacked by tumbleweeds going 20 mph. There were 100's of them rolling along by us for a while. They looked like animals running in the distance.

This canyon was much like a lot of the other canyons we rode in and it was pretty sweet.

Here, Lisa show us proper technique for pushing a bike up the trail.

And this is her smiling because her new bike is so flippin' sweet. She did get the first flat of the trip today but that's how it goes.

So now we're in Moab ready to try some of the hot riding action here. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Faroota

So we rode the Kokopelli trails today. Warmed up on the Rustlers Loop trail, then rode Mary's loop to the Horsethief trail

back onto Mary's to Moore Fun. Same loops we did 5 years ago when we were here last. Surprisingly I have gained some fitness since then and it was fun to be back. Moore Fun stilled totally kicked my @ss though. The guys on their 6"+ travel bikes were riding it like it was flat. I was not...



Lisa got her first crash out of the way, Bryan crushed the boys and Spencer got his upper thighs tanned. That was a little disturbing. I bet he uses moisturizer. Freak

Here are some pictures from the Potters Pasture trails in Nebraska. We climbed a little. The erosion is spectacular as the cows have the run of the place and they do so much damage. It's amazing what the big money industries can get away with. Mountain Bike trails get shut down at the slightest hint of erosion and the bovines destroy acres of land and it's all ok.



That's me dominating the 6 guy climb. Well, I guess now it's the 8 Guy Climb, really. I was hoping it would be "and a gal" but it wasn't meant to be.


First full day in Colorado is in the books. We fooded up and had some beers to ready us for tomorrow. A little more Fruita and then to Moab is the plan.

Riding Nebraska

Yep, that Nebraska. And I liked it. We stopped in at this place to check it out and by chance met up with Chad and Kyle, 2 of the 3 guys that run the place. The riding was pretty fun and it was a nice break from driving. We had done our research before getting there and new the story behind the Six Guy Climb trail so when we found them we had them show us where the trail was. We descended it first then turned around and went for glory. So I gave it a go and then it became 7 guy climb followed up by Spencer and it became 8 guy climb. I went back down and did it again to make sure the first time wasn't a fluke and made it again. Damn I'm smooth. We rode with those guys a little longer and then packed back up said our goodbye's and bee-lined it to Idaho Springs to get some delicious beer and pizza at Beau Jo's. After gorging myself we finished up the drive to Grand Junction and finally got some sleep. Pictures soon. Looking forward to riding somewhere in the Fruita area today.

Finally!

Kylie got her bike! It's been hard to not tell her about it. Gramma came up on Saturday and surprised her with it. Kylie was pretty excited, almost as much as I was. So we did a quick overview of how to use hand brakes and how to shift and she was off. Very cool.

Today I got out with Spencer for a few hours and it was good. For some reason I suggested we should climb hills today and he unfortunately agreed. So we climbed. We did go down Deadman's hill in Rock Springs instead of up it this time for a change. Spent the rest of the day stripping and staining trim and cabinets. I'm pretty sure that's not as good as Matter's floor sanding training but hopefully it's close.

On another note, I finally perused my goody bag from The Boss. Wow! That was better than Christmas. I love the smell of new tires.

Lounging

I finally got the light and outlet working by the patio. Illumination is definitely not overrated as it gets pretty dark around these parts. Celebrated the successfull completion by enjoying a Bells Kalamazoo Stout. Then I compressed the couch cushions until I couldn't take the lack of doing something anymore and put a new rear tire on my road bike. Then I upgraded the firmware on the Powertap CPU. Now I can't change the date using Poweragent. That's handy as it's 3 days off. Hmm.
"I love technology but not as much as thee. But I still love technology. Always and forever"
Kip Dynamite

Normal?

Schedule says 1.5 hrs. Mind says it doesn't really feel like riding. Ring-ring. It's Triple B. OK, I'll meet you. Riding seems a little more palatable. Ring, it's Chicken. Awesome. Start out the ride feeling a little overdressed as it's gorgeous outside again! Riding is good. Meet up and notice it's going to be more than 1.5 hrs. Oh, well. Sorry Jeff. Riding with people is good. Lose one friend. A little later lose another. Huh, riding is ok. This hill is long. I'm glad I wore all this stuff. Am I home yet? Wow, great sunset. I don't feel like getting home yet. I haven't been on this road yet this year. I feel like I could ride another 2 hrs. Riding is fun but I'm hungry. Where's Black Betty when you need her? It's good to be home.



Got to ride home from school with Kylie on Wednesday. It was a good day.

10Lbs in a 5# bag

So, how often have you woke up in the morning and had a Bald Eagle on top of your silo? Never you say? Huh, imagine that. If anyone wants our silo they can have it. Come and get it. That would greatly improve your chances of having this same experience some morning for you, especially if you currently don't have a silo.

So Lisa and I finished up siding the house proper ( still have the summer kitchen to do at a later date) and garage. That was a minor miracle. Lisa really enjoyed being on top of the scaffolding when it was wiggling all over. I think she may start a siding business for some extra money this summer. Give her a call if you need your house done this summer.

With the siding weight off my shoulders it enabled me to "enjoy" the climbing much more on the best weather day so far. Here we are going up "Deadman's hill" in Rock Springs. Remind me not to stop to take pictures in the middle of a climb while trying to keep up with Spencer and Chris.

So after the ride we went to get more of my new favorite beer ever (yes, it is that good). I went back to bask in the beauty of Black Betty. This time I brought friends. They liked her too. After the feast we went on Kelsey's first ride to the thriving metropolis that is Denzer. I think she liked it.

Looks good to me

So after giving the old ride a thorough inspection, my highly compensated (room and board ain't cheap.) mechanics gave the thumbs up. Time to try and send it down the road to another lucky owner. Craigs list here we come. Well, when the siding is done it will be.

First Ride

of the year with the new hammer yesterday. I didn't even pump up the tires to keep her from dropping me. I'm not sure who was more excited to be riding, me or Kylie. She's fired up to start riding again and very happy to have her team jersey. She wanted to wear it to the chili supper in Leland on Sunday but then decided she might get chili on it so she just wore a dress. The chili supper is yet another sign that spring is almost here. I weighed myself pre and post ayce chili, cheese, bread, crackers, chocolate milk and dessert plate. I came home with 4.4 lbs of country cookin' style deliciousness in my belly. I'm looking forward to next year already.

The desserts weren't on par with the Blackhawk Church's 2 weeks ago. That was amazing to saya the least. The chili wasn't as good there but I'm a sucker for desserts. Blackhawk also had heaping bowls of cheese curds on the table for my enjoyment. Yeah, that was a good meal too. If I didn't ride I'm pretty sure I would be pushin' 250lbs by now.

Gettin' stuff done

No, my fingers weren't broken. It's a case of neglect, nothing more. Trying to get the house sided so that's not hanging over my head all summer and so we can refinance before the rates go up. That should free me up for CX this fall, too. The heart shaped pizza at Rocky's on valentines day was spectacular. I think that was Lisa's 16th year of getting her heart shaped mylar balloon. She's getting old. I'm not.

Another day on the Trails

Snowmobile trails, that is. The snow wasn't cooperating very well and it seems I was sideways every time a sled was coming at us. That got me to thinking about why I like mountain biking so much. On the road we "share" with the cars. On "bike" paths we "share" with fruit booters, joggers, dogwalkers, etc... On snowmobile trails, well, you get the idea. When I'm out on mountain bike trails it's just us. The Mountain Bikers. Selfish I guess but I'm sure the Smokers feel the same way when they're out freezing their @sses off smoking together. It's just them together in their misery. On MTB trails it's us bikers together in our version of bliss for a little while.
Is it Spring yet?

It was 10 degrees

and I was way overdressed. Oh well. The snow was a little less hardpacked and more like sand on Sunday. The climbs weren't as easy to go up or down. I thought of it as practice for the 2010 O2S except it will hopefully be warmer next August. Spencer and Meat joined us for the ride, with Spence showing up on his CX bike. I wouldn't have been able to even ride on those skinny tires in the snow. Looking forward to doing it again this Sunday. If anyone's interested, we'll leave our house at 1:00. Lisa's going to have soup ready for us after the ride.