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.