That Familiar Burn

Adventures in gods country

2011-10-12T03:42:00.007+02:00

A few photos that will occupy this space until well into the future...

Loppet

2011-02-09T16:23:00.003+01:00

It's been awhile since I've done a longer ski race (25km+), with all my time not having a job since finishing school back around Thanksgiving I have had lots of time to ski. All long and slower pace making short ski races not go by very quickly, but the longer ones are where it's at. Thus I signed up for the City of Lakes Loppet just to see what would happen. Naturally, as I prefer classic that had to be the way to go. After being placed in the second wave for some odd reason, I managed to coerce someone to bump me up to wave one. And well, things went well, felt the good until the finishing stretch, where I had neither kick or glide, but hey, what can you do. I was able to hang onto 5th for the whole race, felt pretty good about that.

Thanks to the Ski Hut for providing the suit to sport.

In other news, starting work on Monday, finally... It will be nice to be back in Duluth and have easy access to the trees, rather then highways.
And I suppose it is time to start thinking about

This and all the races up too it...

Done

2010-11-24T01:39:00.007+01:00

The 2010 bike season finished up last weekend for me. The final race being Mill City in Stillwater, hosted in part by Oliver from The Bikery, a big thanks to him for the help this year for racing. Time to eat more pastries!
Race went ok, nothing special, I just was not feeling it, I had other things on my mind...

2010 was a pretty decent season for me, spanning 8 months, and around 40 races, it has been pretty busy. Road season was fun, the Synergy team really came together and made things happen. Hopefully we can continue the fun next year.

Post part gravel road race in the thunderstorm.
Making silly faces in Stillwater.

I did a few more mountain bike races then I have in the past also, I really enjoyed those and look forward to maybe doing even more next year. It's really nice to get off the roads, and I did do quite a bit of my riding away from cars, why not race there too!

Things went pretty well too...

Right at the start of the cx season I took part in The Heck of the North. A great bike race up by Duluth that at just over 100 miles, mixes pretty much every aspect of bike racing into one great time. There were even wood bridges to ride over, therefor by default the track is also included. HA!
Anyhow, it was a great race, and ended up being my first win in a few seasons.

Out in the woods

Plus, it's so dang pretty up yonder that it was just fun to be out there.

Then came the cross season, things started off with a number of mechanicals. Including, but not limited too chains dropping, seat posts breaking in half, flat tires, and mental break downs during the race. About half way through I got into the groove and things got much better. The coolest race of the year was by far the State Champs with all the snow and mud, with the following day being pretty fun too. It ended up being a good season, despite not training as much as I had planned on, maybe that made things better...

When this is the start, how can it not be fun? Sloppy, notice the snow packed into my helmet...

The next day it was all mud, fun.

Like I mentioned above, a good year. Now time to have some fun, hopefully some of this

will work it's way into the schedule...

Not only did I finish the bike season this week, but I also finished paramedic school and all associated requirements, and earned one of these

cool looking patches.

Now I just hope I can find myself a job in these parts doing something that I really enjoy!

Keep in tune for winter adventures...

How 'bout that.

2010-11-15T03:51:00.006+01:00

My eyes still hurt, there is so much gravel and mud jammed up under the eyelids that if I were to cry about how long it took to clean my bike, I could fill a sandbox. Hopefully the washing machine still turns after my clothes are done...

This weekend was my favorite cross race in the state, the state champs. Always fun, always a pretty decent crowd. And this year 6 inches of wet sloppy snow. Saturday was probably one of my all time favorite races, you just can't get much better then that for cross. In addition to the course conditions being great, I felt pretty dang good also, which is always a bonus. Despite running the first 1 km due to a massive number of people and only a single file track, I ended up in an OK position within 5 minutes. After that I just kept moving up, and got lucky a number of times as people I would have been stuck behind picked the proper moment to biff it in the powder. I myself had a nice face plant with a few to go, luckily fresh snow and mud is soft...

The start was nothing but a cluster.

Carving in the pow.

Fun in the mud

The stairs
This is why this race is an event! Thanks to everyone who comes out to watch!

Sunday riding in the snow was not really part of the race, thick sloppy mud was the challenge at hand. I definitely did not feel as good as yesterday, but still managed a top 10. Today is where my eyes were filled with gravel and such, it made drafting relatively unwise. Despite that, it was still a pretty fun day.

Nothing but mud.

Not much of a crowd this time, but still lots of fun.

Overall a great weekend, too bad the races that are happening after stuff up here in MN is done are so expensive. Someday I'll be able to afford them!

Double down

2010-10-25T01:30:00.004+02:00

In the past I've been able to do both cross races per weekend, however, this year that has not been the case. A fortunate/unfortunate turn of events the last few days allowed me to be able to play this weekend rather then work (which I really would not have minded).
Anyhow, Saturday out at the village, thanks for them to hosting. A pretty good course, provided some good racing. I got really excited when it started sprinkling, I thought it was going to get messy, but alas it dried out by the time we raced. Throughout the race I felt pretty good, and had a blast racing in the group that ended up assembling. The race went right down to the line in a good old fashioned sprint that somehow I managed to keep the others in check! A good time was had by all. Post race party down at Oliver's new shop in Marine, stop by and check it out, it's really coming together quite well!

Sunday it was off to Green Acres for the first time at the Synergy race. It got wet over night, making a good couple of mud pits to play in. I felt good for about the first half, then just botched the big climb one time and was out of the running for the top 5, oh well it happens. Still had fun playing in the mud and ended up doing decently in the end. Thanks to Bob at Now for making it all happen.

In other news, school is getting close to done, if anyone knows of any place hiring paramedics in the next few weeks, please lemme know! It's been fun so far, learning new things everyday.

Corners are fun!

2010-10-18T03:14:00.003+02:00

To bad I crashed. And that there are no photos of it!

Jump!

A bit bumpy though.

I love cross...

On the way home the real adventure began when the Subaru decided to not go any further. We will just have to see what happens...

Outta luck

2010-10-11T00:47:00.005+02:00

Today was the Theo Wirth cx race. I really enjoy this race, good atmosphere, good field, usually a good course, and close enough that I can ride to it.
Things were on a downhill slope before I even got to the race. Went to my car to get something, and set off my car alarm, which I did not even know I had, thus had no idea how to turn it off. I still don't but something I did stopped it. Oops. Just after leaving my house, the tubulars which I just glued up felt like riding a roller coaster, and somehow one of my break pads came loose, naturally I did not have a wrench in my bag so back home to try again. I finally got to Wirth just in time to register. Good thing the warm up was done!
Almost missed the start because I went pee. But that was worth it. The first 30 minutes went pretty well, felt good was in ok position, then I hit a wall, I guess not riding your bike will do that to ya. By the time I recovered there were 3 laps to go, ok whatever, can't feel good everyday. With 2 to go I jumped back on the bike after a barrier and CRACK, the seat got all wiggly. I thought I broke the bolt, but inspection on the stairs revealed another broken seat post, being the junk it was I ripped it off and I think I accidentally hit a guy when it flew off! Sorry! Definitely was not trying to do that. Then next two laps were very taxing, it's amazing how much you use the seat, not just for sitting, but stabilization and such for corners and bumps and everything. I slogged home and in the penultimate turn dropped the chain, luckily no one was around to pass me, everyone had already done that!
I guess a good chunk of the race was really fun, just parts really sucked. But hey that's bike racing, although I am wondering why no one waited for me? Oh wait, I forgot already, that's bike racing.

Playing in the mud early on.
Hurting on the stairs.
I guess no seat and post is a good way to cut some weight in a hurry, cheap too.
I guess I've been eating to many chips and too much popcorn!

Then on the way home, the luck did not improve when I ran over a small nail, and got a flat. Just the right size of nail that if someone was trying to be a dick, would through all over the trail. And of course I had forgotten my extra tube and supplies at the race (see below). I was fortunate that I could switch the front wheel and ride the roller coaster home...

The casualties.

If anyone is good at gluing tubulars, and wants to do it for some beer, lemme know. It'll be a good trade.

Hopefully that is all the bad luck for the rest of the season!

Forgotten at Wirth.
By the front right tire of the silver car parked up by the U-turn at the finish line. A small banjo brothers saddle bag containing 1 700x35 cc tube. 2 screw on co2 cartridges, 1 pump head, 2 blue rubber gloves, a quick link, and a presta to schreder adapter. I had enough bad luck between the race and the ride home I don't need to loose that as well. Also I'm poor so I can't afford a new one. Please let me know if you have it.
jwboyce at g mail dot com

Ah Heck!

2010-10-08T05:31:00.005+02:00

But first.
Cyclo-cross started a few weeks back! I love cross, good weather, or bad, depends on how you look at it. Fun people, fun courses, fun bikes, it's quite a bit more relaxed then road racing making it extremely fun for everyone! Anyhow, St. Cloud CX was a few weeks back, went ok. Probably should not have had that Snickers shortly before the start, but I was hungry. Lead group of three for most of the race, then dropped my chain with two to go, thus ending my bid for glory. Oh well, it happens.

Early on.

The week was busy with clinicals. Got to ride my bike a little bit, went to a Twins game.

Then last Saturday the real fun began. Went up north for The Heck of the North. Probably one of the most bad ass bike races in the region. 102+ miles of anything that a bike can go over, and then some stuff one can't. It's a race that tests pretty much every aspect of bike riding there is. You've got to be able to ride for 100+ miles, ride on pavement, gravel, single track, climb long hills, slog through grass and puddles, know where you are as the course is not marked, and actually like riding bikes. If you don't it would be a miserable race. The field was pretty good sized, 61 to start, with lots of strong guys there. Ross and I had plotted about when things were going to explode, so we just hung out and enjoyed the 39 degree morning, then when the trails came we took out the jet packs and blasted off. The first trail section reduced the lead group from about 40 to 11. Then after lots of miles and pain, the final trail section came after fording a creek, the final cut was made and there were 3 of us left. The last 15 miles we went quite hard, Ross got dropped going up Hawk's Ridge (15 min climb) and Nikoli and I were left. As we crested the final hill my legs locked up and the Russian attacked, I was able to suffer through the cramp and catch up right as we took the penultimate turn. After not winning for a number of years I played the game and put my gamble on the sprint. Things worked out. It was one of the most fun races I've ever done, with all the fun people, like Mr. Farrow. And people who are just generally quite laid back. A grand old time.
Thanks for Mr. Kershaw for putting it on, Mr. Buffington for beer post race.

Bragging rights.

Sunday is Wirth. Should be fun. Then lots more clinicals, should also be fun.

Bike companies..

2010-09-22T04:42:00.003+02:00

What's wrong with this picture?

Bike companies, please hire me as a product tester, I will break it.

At least it happened during bike practice!

Hopefully that is warranty, if not, I need someone to give me a new seat post...

Better luck next time

2010-09-20T21:04:00.009+02:00

Another year of Chequamegon come and gone. This year was round two and I still need work. This is one of those races that will take me a few times to figure it out, I'll get it down someday. Third times the charm right?
Despite a mediocre race I still had fun. They do a great job making it a true festival rather then just a race, granted with the number of people racing (and paying) it damn well better be, they have got to have a nice budget to work with!

That's a whole lot of bike riders...

Luckily preferred start helps out.

Not only is the racing fun, but the woods of Northern Wisconsin is always a peaceful place to hang out for a while, get away from the constant everything that assaults my senses here in Mpls. I do like those trees...

On my way to cramping.

Anyhow it was a good weekend. I am looking forward to next year, I just better get in.

Another hot topic in MN bike racing right now is doping, might as well jump on the bandwagon. The recent lifetime ban of a local rider has ignited the discussion and cast shadows and rumours about many other not pro athletes doping. I really don't know why anyone thinks doping is the right choice, especially those at the local/regional and maybe a little more level. I don't know how that would make you feel good about yourself, having to cheat to beat a bunch of guys who ride bikes for fun. Lame, I have no sympathy for them, they made the choice to be stupid and deserve every bit of ban they get. Hopefully no one else in these parts is doping, but that would be to nice. There are more out there, I just hope they get caught soon.
I just wonder at what point bike riding becomes so not fun for these guys that doping crosses their mind. Sure we all like to win, and unless I am working for someone, I'm riding for that reason. But still I pedal because I like too, I don't need drugs to make me like bikes. If you do, time to get out, and stay out.

Due to the particular ban mentioned above I now inherit the win of a race last year. However, it does not feel legit. I did not win on race day, thus making it not special, and not feeling like a victory. There are so few chances that I get to win, and it just sucks that someone who was cheating stole that away from me. Lame, I guess I'll have to make it happen again sometime soon...

Anyhow, time for Cross to start again. The new bike is up and running and far to clean,

lets go squish around in the mud!

I can only wish.

The weather

2010-09-10T05:45:00.003+02:00

I have become increasing intrigued by weather in general over the past few months, why I am not sure but it sure is cool. Someday I'll learn more about it.
I however, am able to read the incredibly complicated gadget called "radar." All those pretty colors...

Yes, snow. Yes, already.

So far this year the seasons have changed very abruptly. Winter turned to spring in all of about 4 hours, and so far summer has turned to fall in approximately 6. I kinda like it, no limbo. As long as no bitter cold and barren snowless waste land come, I am very pleased actually.

The other day I even took to researching some weather folk lore. A few I already knew, other no idea, here are a few good ones to keep on tap. So far I've noticed these are all indeed often true, remember these well...

Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor's take warning.

When the wind is blowing in the North
No fisherman should set forth,
When the wind is blowing in the East,
'Tis not fit for man nor beast,
When the wind is blowing in the South
It brings the food over the fish's mouth,
When the wind is blowing in the West,
That is when the fishing's best!

Seagull, seagull sit on the sand, it's never good weather when your on land

For you land lovers...

A cow with its tail to the West makes the weather best,
A cow with its tail to the East makes the weather least

If clouds move against the wind, rain will follow.

It's coming

2010-09-06T04:36:00.004+02:00

Almost time for some more fun in the sun.
I've been searching for good gravel roads around the cities in order to prep for another event coming up. Please don't be shy and let me know about so good ones, the bumpier the better.

I watched a cow escape then unescape captivity. Mildly entertaining.

The fair on the other hand is now over. I love the fair... So many good things to eat.

And Laura was really impressed by the knife guy. She is now a believer. You should be too.
On another note, if you want to buy these, or a different pair of wheels I've got, let me know!

Well then...

2010-08-25T02:08:00.008+02:00

I had a dream that I updated this blog a few nights ago, I figured I'd take the leap and make my dreams come true...

It's been a busy summer... and spring... (April 23rd was a really long time ago), far too many things happening to bore the now non existent following of this poorly written bit of internet space, so I'll use photos for most of it.
In short I have been:
Clinicaling (HIPPA says I can't take photos)
Pedaling (see below)
Adventuring (also somewhere beneath)
Sweating (you don't really want to see that)

I rode the first part of the road season on a cross bike. Don't let anyone tell you it can't be done.

Then road in gravel with my road bike. I love it when that happens.
Got angry at something in Stillwater.
But got over it quick!

Did a few delightfully fun mountain bike races. Which I need to do more of.
Was reminded how much better trails are then time trails.
Had a low number of racers at the Northfield Crit, and lots of drama about Ride Of the Year following... Relax, show up next year, and have fun.

It's rained a lot down here this year.
I mean A LOT.
Luckily my house is up on the hill behind me in the photo, no problem for me!
I've gone camping, or surfing on this past trip.
We invaded Canada and fought the Mounties off with paddles while distracting them with orange life jackets. Then built a phallic shaped object to commemorate our glorious victory.
And brushed my teeth as best I could.
And just got back from a friends wedding out in Montana, I do enjoy the mountains.

Coming up soon are a whole bunch more clinicals, state road race (the last of the year), Cheq. and then CX! Yahoo! Maybe I'll update more, maybe not, bribes of good things to eat and drink to keep you entertained help...

Backlog and wheel sale

2010-04-23T05:23:00.005+02:00

Life has been busy, school keeps me on my toes and the weather keeps me outside.

A few weeks ago the Twins played their first "real" game in their new Stadium. Ben was up to discuss 4th of July Crit plans, and we just happen to roll up for the last two outs of the game. It was pretty cool. Hopefully I can go enjoy a game sometime this summer. If someone wants to take me I'd be good company, I promise.

Bike racing also started this past weekend for much of MN including myself. Due to various reasons I sucked. It was pretty bad, one of my worst races in years, but I think I figured out what most of my issues were. Things went better at Opus this past week, but that is a completely different and much easier race then a typical road race. I guess I'll see if I figured things out on Saturday down near my former home.

I am also working on building up a true road bike. So far the cx bike has done a couple of road races, not as bad as it sounds. It is in fact, a road bike right now. Should be a good bike when it's done.
Due to the new build, I have some lightly used items for sale. Lucky you.

Again I have a Power Tap SL. It was completely refurbished and rebuilt last fall, the rim and spokes by Bontrager, and the internals by Saris. The only original part left is the hub casing. Even the CPU unit was replaced last fall. It is wired, which means the batteries last long (which were also just replaced last month), and I have 3 wire set ups which means multiple bikes is no problem. Heart rate strap also included.
All of it is working perfectly. The hub is extremely fast, I usually out coast most people (without having gravity assist on my side). I just simply don't use it how I should, thus no need to keep it.
The cheapest complete Power Tap setup you can get right now will run you $1400. I'll send this one out the door for $825.

You know you've always wanted one, here is your chance!

Comes without the cassette, you can have the tire if you want it, but that's pretty old...

I also have a super nice pair of Easton EC70 SL wheels that are up for sale. Super fast, decent weight wise, a super solid race set. Mostly carbon, which an aluminum braking surface, so you don't have to worry about fancy pads. Which is all I used it for last year, they probably have about 1,000 miles on em. Never been crashed, nice and true. I never even road these on gravel!
MSRP $1,200
Yours for $675.

Again cassette not included, not the tires either on these though...

Super nice set. They could be yours!

If you want to chat about anything: jwboyce@gmail.com...

Outside the box

2010-04-06T22:37:00.004+02:00

I bet I have said this before, but getting outside of the 494/694 box is always a good thing to do on a bike ride. I think the air just gets a hair cleaner out there...
Yesterday I rode my mountain bike around for a good 5 hours. I had so much fun on the trails, to bad I now live in the city, rather then up in the forest where there are more trails then I know what to do with. Oh well, Mpls is doing pretty dang well for what it is. Among the many great perks of off roading that I have rediscovered, is the complete lack of automobiles. I am so sick of those...

Some of the trails...

Been doing some stair running, for various purposes.
Buy lots of things with that.

I have also been debating whether or not I am really using my Powertap. I just got a new HR monitor and notice that I usually only look that that anyhow. Thus is it really worth it for me to have it? Give me an offer I can't refuse and it's yours.

Built on a Bontrager Race X Lite rim. Rim plus spokes all replaced/rebuilt (by Bontrager) last year.

Hub was also completely rebuilt last year by Powertap, since then I have not abused it.
It is still old school and wired, but I have 3 cables, so multiple bikes is no problem...

March or June?

2010-03-30T20:02:00.000+02:00

I am not really sure

March(ing) along

2010-03-24T15:10:00.004+01:00

The weather has been quite nice in these parts as I am sure most of you know. I've ridden multiple times in shorts, which at least for me in March here is not something that happens. I have definitely enjoyed it, I just have to be sure I don't wear myself out to early this year...

Last week I set out in search of country roads

It took way too long to find them. The endless suburbs never cease to amaze me.

Yesterday I had a good adventure...

I almost thought I was in Euroland for a moment. People were using trains,

planes, and

tanks?

I even passed a castle,

but lacked a boat. Detours are no fun.

Especially when you need to pee.

Handicap boat parking?

At least there is minimal smog right now.

And yes, the grass is greener on this side.

It's Time...

2010-03-18T04:38:00.002+01:00

In other news

I rode to the wrong side of the river the other day...

Today this made me hungry.

Finally, people are dumb.

Spring is springing?

2010-03-06T18:32:00.004+01:00

Hopefully. 40+ this whole week, rain tonight, time for sun.
Winter has been good, lots and lots of skiing, up until a few weeks ago pickup hockey, and a fair amount of beer brewing. The roads are starting to dry out, but the bike trails (Greenway) are still wet and/or icy...
I've been riding a bit, but am enjoying skiing until the last minute, the bike season is long.

Lake of the Isles pond hockey.
Homebrew explosion
One of the parents dogs (Stella) visited last weekend and enjoyed ski time.

which is almost finished.

On a completely different note, this is one badass swiss army knife... Buy it here.

Hope you don't need a tool soon, may take some searching...

New Olympic Sport

2010-01-29T04:14:00.001+01:00

Buy me

2010-01-27T04:48:00.003+01:00

For Sale:
Extremely badass 2009 Specialized Tarmac SL Pro.
56 cm.
Full SRAM Red brakes, shifters, hoods.
Dura Ace 10 spd chain with Ultegra 12/25 cassette.
Bontrager Race X Lite wheels (Strange, I know) with white spokes, which have never been ridden!
Almost new bar tape, and Toupe seat.
FSA K-Force seat post.
Was raced and ridden a fair amount since April, but taken care of extremely well. One small chip in the white paint on the underside of the frame, can't even see it.
Selling on ebay right now for $3,000 I will sell it for less then that for sure. Email me and I'll let you know the price.
jwboyce@gmail.com

Fancy FSA seatpost

Almost brand new rear shifter/brake hood

DA chain, very few miles on it, with never ridden wheels.

See told you it was badass...

Long Haul

2010-01-08T19:35:00.005+01:00

As we were out west, we were hoping that Colorado would get slammed with some snow, and the hills would all open up. However this never happened, so the icy half opened mnts of CO remained untouched by my skis. In addition to low snow, travel across the midwest was supposed to get awfully sketchy the next few days, and I did not want to get stuck in North Platte, NE...
From Salt Lake we drove South to Moab to check it out, sadly I did not have my bicycle. But the town was pretty cool. We also visited Arches National Park, since we were in the area.
Following that we blasted across the mountains in the dark to Denver, then after a stop at a fabled Waffle House. Finding any of these above the Mason Dixon Line is a task. I would bet we were at the furthest north establishment... The closest one to Mpls is in central MO. It was back home. We could have made it in two stops, but I did not trust the coffee at one of our stops, so we had to do a redo...
It was a good trip.

There were very few others around.

This particular arch spans around 100 meters.It was cool with the red rock and snow.
Cliff hanger."Balanced Rock"We pushed it to the max in Nebraska...

Utah

2010-01-06T22:55:00.004+01:00

After Montana it was off to Salt Lake City for a few days of skiing. Salt Lake is quite nice, not too big, and surrounded by mountains. I would recommend a trip there if you have not already been.

Snowbird gave us a nice view in the morning.

They also have a tunnel with a "magic carpet."

Next up was Alta, which is only for skiers.

Good terrain there too.

Downtown Salt LakeSolitude, a much smaller, more local place was beautiful.Despite 3 days without significant snow, we still found plenty of powder with a short hike.

Westward ho

2009-12-31T06:08:00.004+01:00

On a ski trip. A nice big loop through the mountains, so far we have been to Bridger Bowl, Big Sky and Grand Targhee. The third has been by far the best of the trip thus far.

Day 1 Bridger

Bridger
Big Sky way up high

Grand Targhee, at least knee deep powder all day long...

Did a bit of hiking, found some thigh deep snow.
Oh the burn!

About time

2009-12-09T00:26:00.006+01:00

For a snow storm. I can think about skiing now.
I am hereby offering my coaching services for cross country skiing to anyone who is interested, for a small price of course. I have good coaching experience, and can pretty much work with any level. I'll make you a faster skier, for sure. Charging will most likely be hourly, and I can do group or individual lessons. Let me know we will set up some lessons.

Also, it also happens to be that time of year when I start getting rid of bikes.
You've seen it here first!
For Sale:
2009 Specialized Tarmac SL Pro.
56 cm.
Full SRAM Red brakes, shifters, hoods.
Dura Ace 10 spd chain with Ultegra 12/25 cassette.
Bontrager Race X Lite wheels (Strange, I know) with white spokes, which have never been ridden!
Almost new bar tape, and Toupe seat.
FSA K-Force seat post.
Was raced and ridden a fair amount since April, but taken care of extremely well. One small chip in the white paint on the underside of the frame.
Selling on ebay right now for $3,000 I will sell it for less then that for sure. Email me and I'll let you know the price.
jwboyce@gmail.com

A week late

2009-11-22T03:49:00.003+01:00

State CX was last weekend. Not quite the results I was hoping for, but training took a backseat this fall. I did as well as I expected to do. Despite not performing up to par, the race was fun, tons and tons of people out watching. Always a good time, hands down my favorite race of the year for and discipline.

Barriers

The delightful stairs.

Sandpit, Round 2.

My 2009 season has now been over for a week. I had planned to take a bit of a break, but the weather has been so damn nice that I just needed to go play outside. A few runs during the week and a good MTB ride yesterday, with a nice long ride with Timmer today. Had a nice chat about divorce and smells, really quite interesting. Nearly 3.5 hours of suburbia, endless I tell ya, endless...

School has been busy, great fun of course. I will shortly be a CPR/First Aid instructor, and will gladly teach some classes, if you want to get involved, lemme know.

Found one!

2009-11-13T00:53:00.001+01:00

The winning crash.

Thanks for entertaining us Mr. Doig, and hopefully you are not too beat up.

Sugar High, and Northfield CX

2009-11-09T01:43:00.007+01:00

It's been a busy weekend. Saturday was up at my Grandmother's farm looking for Bambi, he eluded me and sadly no venison for the freezer. One of these days... Once it got hot, the deer all went into hiding, no point hunting. So it was off to Northfield to set up course for the return of The Back To School CX race. Starting at 5 Ben, myself, and a some Olaf ski team members helped us set up course. Finished up there about 8:30, ate some dinner, then met a friend and did not get to sleep till 12:30. 5:30 AM to then is quite a long day.

No wonder I could not find the deer. They hid here.

Today started at 7. Back to Olaf to reset up the course after drunks pulled a good portion of it down, and soon enough it was time to race. A beautiful day, and a great turnout was all I could ask for. For sure the most successful race we have had there. Including the most spectators ever. Course changed up a bit, I tried to make the hill easier, I am not quite sure if it was easier, but the course as a whole was more entertaining. It was very possible to ride the whole thing without getting off you bicycle, which many of the A racers did. Standard barriers are over rated.
I know there are some good videos of crashes and then "Pinwheel of Death," I'll collect them all and try to put an entertaining video together.
Congrats to Chris Doig for winning the best crash award.

Oh yeah, sugar high... It seems all I have come across to eat today involves way to much sugar. Cookies, rice crispy bars, coffee/hot chocolate, sports beans... No wonder my personal race sucked! I have never cramped up that bad during a cross race, and besides death cramps, was one of the top crampy races ever. After one of the bunny hops Both calfs froze up and I could only coast...

Some photos.

Pinwheel
Bike race! Even a good turnout for the A race.
Mr. Dan Swanson can fly.
So can young Jack. Not everyone though...
But he sure cleared the barrier.
I had fun too.
Must have been a close one there.
Hollywood

I did not enjoy the hill so much this year, thanks to Linda and the other guy getting me up.

Results

Thanks to everyone who came out today, and especially to Ben Witt of Milltown, St. Olaf, the St. Olaf Nordic Ski Team for all there help, Rawland Cycles, and anyone else who helped out! I'm sure it'll happen again. And until then, plan for another visit to Northfield for the 4th of July, big things are in the works.

School is cool

2009-11-04T00:19:00.002+01:00

But first a short recap.
Jackson Meadows a few weeks back. Felt alright but lots of mechanical issues. Anyone want to buy all my SRAM stuff?

Last weekend was one of my favorite races up in Taylors Falls. The course was not quite as fun as usual, but still not bad. I got pushed way way to the back at the start, and spent the rest of the race trying to move up. It only kinda worked.
Halloween, was as usual a good time.

2 weekends left in the season for me I think. My ass hurts, time for some off season.

Ever since starting school, I have not really enjoyed it much. Olaf had some good classes that I did indeed enjoy (being there was a blast). But actually enjoying almost everything I am learning (or supposed to be) is a new experience for me. Today we got into starting IVs on each other, luckily the program is smart and limits us to being stabbed max. 3 times a day. It'll add up though. So if you do see my arms and they are full of holes, yes, I have been playing with needles. And no, I am not doping or doing other illegal activities!

It's Back!

2009-10-21T02:59:00.004+02:00

The pinwheel of death.

It'll be badass, everyone show up. All proceeds benefit teams that keep kids from getting fat!

Bike Polo

2009-10-21T01:51:00.003+02:00

I did not race last weekend. I simply did not want to drive, so I found other entertainment.
Saturday was quite nice, I got out for a good ride on the new mtb. and got some good sightseeing in.

For being a big city, Mpls is really quite nice.

This dog (center) was people watching, no owners in sight, just sitting enjoying life.

Sunday was again nice, the trails were all packed. I rode by these guys, then decided it looked like fun, asked if I could join in and played for an hour. Apparently they play Thursday nights, game on!

Bike polo.

Snow!

2009-10-14T04:25:00.003+02:00

I woke up on Saturday morning with no plans to go bike racing, until I looked outside. There was snow, bike riding in the snow is fun... really.
So I went and raced. The snow turned to mud and it was real cross racing!
The race went ok, nothing special, but I had a good time.
I did get to whip the first sh!tty of the year though. Gotta practice that winter driving.

Sunday was racing at Theo Wirth, I rode my bike there. Such a nice option, after all the driving the past years for bike racing. Living in Mpls is indeed nice at times.
Hopefully I can steal some photos from somewhere soon, maybe a passerby could post a link?
Again, just an OK race, dropped my chain at one point and lost about 20 spots, could have been a whole different race had that not happened... Oh well, however, the race was fun as well.

Sunday night into Monday it snowed again,

Had to brush the car off in the morn.

I am now very very excited to...

Anyone want to take me on a trip?

Brought to my attention.

2009-10-06T03:47:00.001+02:00

Why it should not be called football.

It will be worse tomorrow

2009-10-06T01:34:00.004+02:00

Of course it started raining today just as class finished. Lucky me. However, I found out (again) what happens if I try to race without pedaling much during the week. In short I just suck. No excuses, just what it is. At least I know that, so let us see if I can remedy it!

Anyhow, I saw the weather will be even worse tomorrow, so I decided to suck it up and go pedaling.

Look at southwestern North Dakota...

I had a bit of other motivation (not that it is going anywhere), but today was map day in school, and I happen to run across a familiar street name, which just happen to be not very far away from home via the Greenway.

I should move there.

The rain kept the people off the trails, which meant I could do a few intervals and not feel like/look like a tool trying to show off (and not kill/be killed by anyone, safety first)!

I did have to watch out for these though.

I was also out of bread, so on the way home, already being soaked, I had no problem going the extra 10 minutes to the super secret bakery.

That costs the amount shown. Always impressed when I buy a loaf.

On another note, I need to sell

this, asap. Contact me if you are interested.

It's Here!

2009-09-28T05:01:00.003+02:00

Yay, cross season. The best of all the world of bikes rolled into one delightful hour.
Today was my usual first of the year, out to St. Cloud it was. Usually a good course, with good food after, even though by the time the A race is done most of the chili is gone... Oh well.
Anyhow, after last weekend I did not expect anything much, but might as well go ride bikes if I can. Right from the start things felt good, and I guess for much of the race stayed so. I followed Mr. Dewey when he picked it up on lap 2 and that's how the race went. I kept him close for half of the race, then he just kinda rode away per usual. I tried to put time back but no good, I had a good pace going and was putting time on the chasers so just kept it there and came across 2nd. Quite a surprise, again considering last week and wanting to die. Who knows, but hey, I'll take it!

First barrier experience of the year!

I match...

Nice fast grass.

Win some, loose some

2009-09-21T03:48:00.003+02:00

More often lose some, but I like to try... Ha!
Anyhow, as everyone knows this past weekend was Chequamegon. It was my first year joining the party, and I was very excited for it. I have heard so many fun things about the race.
After staying near OO at Mike and Michelle Haggs (thanks to them). Saturday morning came, and it was off to the bike race. Luckily I had preferred start so I did not have to get up at 5:00 A.M. to line up. Poor people...
After a few minutes warm up it was time to go. After hearing so many horror stories about the start, I was ready to fight some people to stay safe, did not have too, it was for the most part a calm start. Once to the open road it was fast, but sitting in not a problem. Although as soon as the speed picked up my legs said you are not ready yet, not enough warm up. In that race, I found out very quickly, if your not warmed up, things don't go well at the start. I did what I could, which was not enough to stay up. Hung with group 2 for a bit, then slowly drifted back as I simply could not recover from the simplest of hills. So I just held onto groups for as long as I could. About 45 minutes in I looked down and noticed my front skewer was open, strange, thought I tightened it real good. I had been in a good group, but lost that with that smart move...
About 80 minutes in I started feeling decent, and struck off to find the next group on the trail. However, I just ended up pulling a group of incredibly unhelpful riders. Only one Velorochester guy would help, everyone else just made me angry but I could not drop them and no matter how slow I would go (allowably slow) they would not go around.
The energy I had disappeared as fast as it came and I was left empty handed for the last 45 minutes of the race. I actually had to walk some worthless little bump because my legs were so crampy (crappy).
Eventually I finished, feeling like crap, dirty and dehydrated...

I rode with her for a good chunk of the race. As you can see I do not look pleased...

I did not have a very enjoyable Chequamegon, but I can easily see how if one is feeling good, it would be a wonderful bike race. I will be back in the future to redeem myself.
I know why I sucked to. The past month (like I said before) has been crazy busy with school. Thus training has gone down the crapper, hopefully I won't be suffering like this for CX season which I guess has now started. Just gotta wait on the CX weather, not this nice stuff!

Busy Busy

2009-09-11T05:07:00.002+02:00

Since the start of school I have been swamped. Rides have been a bit short because of so much studying that needs to be done, I guess that works out since I am just now getting rid of a cold I have had for a week.
I meant to write after State road race, but ran out of time. So long ago now, but all I remember is that it was one of the most fun races of the year...
Road season is finally done, next up is Chequamegon . It should be a great time, I have been riding my 29er as much as I can, mostly at Theo Wirth, since it is so close. Not a very challenging course, but lots of twists and turns, which is exactly what I need to work on. After that cross starts, how exciting, I love cross! I think I like it more then road racing...

But this is what is on my mind right now.

Back to the neurons!

Moved

2009-08-25T02:59:00.005+02:00

As many know, I no longer live in Duluth. Last Thursday I packed the Subaru full and headed south to my new home near "The Wedge" in Minneapolis. I am now also attending paramedic school, thus the move, I was perfectly content in Duluth. Despite having stupidly long drives for bike races and similar cold weather...

The quiver ready to go.

Anyhow, after staying up way to late for various reasons on Friday night I woke up, and with a horrible stomach ache was off for 85 miles of fun just west of St. Cloud.

With the help of a 1/2/3 field the race was quite large, and with extreme luck for me nearly the entire first lap was really quite easy. The other 4, for many sections were not at all easy. Great course though, had good hills, and nice little towns that we rolled through. I felt ok for most of the race, hurt a little on the finish hill when the hammer fell, but considering the night before things were great. The final climb did not go well for me though. I cramped up pretty bad and just had to limp it in, such is life. However, I can attribute my issues (all the following completely my fault) to staying up to late, not drinking enough water, and failing to be able to stomach breakfast. Even though I hate to show up to a race without the aspiration of winning, or putting some serious work in to help someone win I had fun.

Sunday I did some mountain bike trail exploring. Someone tell me more trails, besides Lebanon.

I cruised around Theo Wirth. Nice, but small.

Today (Monday) I had class number one of paramedic school. 7:45-2:15 every day. I am quite pleased with the subject matter, and hopefully it will be a good time. My only issue is that class is in White Bear Lake, and I am all the way over in Minneapolis. Thus a (for me) long commute. For the last year and a half I have commuted 4 km to work. I am not a big fan of driving so I used this website to map out a route for me.
If you have never used this website and live in the Mpls/St. Paul area, and you like bikes, use it. It will blow your mind how cool it is. Mapquest for bikes!
A quick search showed the way, after class today I took off to see what the commute would take. About 75 minutes. There are tons of bike trails and lanes the whole way there.

Como

Victory! Heading home.

Absence

2009-08-06T06:53:00.004+02:00

I've been out and about one could say.
Today I got a new bike.

I think Chequamegon will go well on this. ZOOM!

Well, maybe not on that bike, but I did get a new bike today. Big tires are fun.

They allow you to go where ever you want...

and do wheelies there!

On the search for Sasquatch again.
No luck this time.

Apparently the link to Mr. Kask's website did not work on the last post. Try again here.

Test

2009-07-17T06:05:00.005+02:00

I have been unhappy with my training and racing for over a month now, and things I have been doing, have not been working. It just so happens that I have a good buddy (Jason Kask) that has majored in performance coaching, and is going to grad school for high performance science. Read make you go faster.
I finally got Powertap back from the company, thus getting all the data I need for the test. This evening it went down and fun information was found

Post test sweaty.

Anyhow, check him out. He knows his shit.

Even his own legit website.

Raspberry Festival

2009-07-13T16:56:00.003+02:00

I have never found the real raspberries at the Hopkins Raspberry Festival. It is at least a month before they are ripe and for the picking, maybe they should change the name to strawberry festival or something that they can actually provide...
Despite not finding any fruit, there were quite a few figurative raspberries to be found after the races yesterday. A big field and flat fast course caused some problems in the 1/2 field. There were a couple of broken bikes, hopefully no bones, and lots of road rash. No fun.
Despite the crashes here and there the race was pretty fun. We were cruising right from the start and did not let up too often. There were all kinds of attacks, but nothing could stay away. I think the longest break was all of two laps. Instead of my usual dumb racing I tried to race at least somewhat intelligently, just covering attacks that no other teammates were in and generally just be ready to go if I needed too. I was feeling good coming into the finish, but a crash right in front of me on the final corner proved difficult to sprint around. Plus I was much further back then I had thought I was.

I need to sell my mountain bike still. I know someone out there wants it!
800 bucks for an S-Works, can't get any better then that.

Northfield Crit and associated events

2009-07-06T04:33:00.004+02:00

Huge thanks to everyone who helped out with the race this year. Especially Ben Witt of Milltown Cycles and Olivier Vrambout of The Bikery . Also to Northfield itself, the Witt Family, all the volunteers who came out, and all the racers for showing up. It was a great day.
Other information including results can be found here.

Not wanting to miss out on the action, I raced as well. I think I am starting to get some energy back in my legs. Definitely not where I was in early May, but much better then at NVGP. Now I just need to concentrate my energies into one move rather then a whole bunch of little worthless ones. Time to race smart again.
Besides that I had a good time during the race. It was nice and safe and decently fast, not that hard, but still fast enough to be a bike race!

Also thanks to the Casper/Sone house for putting on a kick ass after party.

After watching the fireworks, a couple of us had the urge to go put some holes in the ground. So on Sunday Ben, Ben's friend Curtis, Daniel, and I rolled up just north of Northfield with a small arsenal. Daniel and I rode bikes there, the others played convoy. For the next few hours we pumped the gravel put full of hot lead.

Daniel saw some bad guys, hopped off the bike and saved the day.
Then fended them off with one hand.

Helmets are always a good idea.

BOOOM!

I need a break

2009-06-29T03:44:00.008+02:00

But first, a discussion on running vs. bike riding. Whoever left the comment about the marathon being the same as a 7 hour century needs to work on math skills. Sure the common belief is that running is 2x as much as bike riding (although I disagree, 60 min. run or bike feel pretty dang similar to me...) Anyhow, the math on the number of miles does not add up. 26.2 x 2 = 100?
Let do some comparing. Average people first
On average, while running, someone burns 100 calories per mile. So if the average person runs about 9 minute miles, they go about 6.5 miles. 650 calories.
Now to bike riding. The tear out from some magazine on my door says the average person burns 200 calories on a 20 minute bike ride. 20x3=60. 200x3=600. 600 calories per hour. Not 325 like a simple divide by two would suggest. Therefor for an average person running 30 minutes is not the same as 60 minutes of bicycle riding.

Although this chart says 450 for an hour of running, we will stick with 9 minute miles.

For more serious athletes like you and I. We tend to use more energy. I like turn run trails, which take more word then running on a road, thus burn a few more calories. So lets say I run with an average Heart Rate of 130 for 60 minutes. That on trails is most likely a bit less then 8 minute miles, but to keep it easy. 60/8=7.5x100= 750 calories per hour running
Bike practice with an average HR of 130 is pretty dang hard. In a random 60 minute time block from one of the past Wednesday night rides here in Duluth I had a HR avg. of 131. In that 60 minutes I burned 806 calories.
In conclusion, if you have the same HR (thus presumably the same effort) 60 minutes of running is almost exactly the same as 60 minutes of bike riding.

Now onto only bike news. As the title of this post suggests I need a break, but unlike when I am usually burned out, I still want to ride my bicycle. This obviously puts me in a bit of a predicament...
Today was the State crit in St. Cloud, it was windy. Never show up to a bike race if you don't want to win, a half lap into the race I saw Timmer at the front and the pace was slow. Why not give it a go. Off I went with Mr. Brabbit and Hackworthy coming shortly after. After not very long things in the field changed and Doug and some others showed up. I was tired and thought the field was really close, it was not, and it was not going that fast. I hurt a whole lot already and could not go very fast (thus the reason for the needed break). I rejoined the pack for lack of better options. A series of action packed laps followed between attacks and crashes, and before we knew it. Doug, Mean Dog, Hackworthy and Jens rejoined the group from behind. Shit, that was my break, this hurts, were the thoughts running through my head at that moment.
The rest of the race was not slow, the Ghost got away with a few others, again a break I should have been able to get into, but just don't have it recently. The rest of the race was fast with more and more people blowing up. I tried to get up front, but my legs were not having it. On the final lap Hackworthy took off, Doug in tow, then followed by Woel and myself. Despite sucking most of the race I had a decent sprint and finished in the frustratingly similar 9th place (this year I have had lots of 6-10 placings...)
This week I will ride easy and enjoy the wheather. Maybe even go for a run or two.

I might also do some more paddle boarding. It's the cool new thing to do out on the West Coast. A long board (surf board) and a long paddle. You stand up and cruise, it is really quite fun.

Sadly she was not with me...

The real cool people actually surf with them. I need to work on my balance first.

Next time Lake Superior has good surf, I'll give it a try. We are due for a strong east wind.

I thought about chasing the ship, but it was going fast.

So I looked at the bridge.

Ahhh. Duluth in the summer. If you are stopping through, give me a call a few days in advance, we could probably set up a paddle boarding adventure.

Don't forget. You better be here!

Grandma's Marathon

2009-06-21T19:54:00.004+02:00

About 3 weeks ago I was contemplating the layout of the rest of the season. With NVGP being over, and not a whole lot of races that I will be able to get to in July, I figured I might as well try a marathon to see what all the fuss was about.

Saturday I did just that. It was the 33rd annual Grandma's Marathon here in Duluth. It has alway been one of my favorite weekends to be here with all the people that come to do it. Word on the street is that there are about 65,000 people that come for it. And all the action in town and pretty girls make it fun to just watch the race... In my younger days I ran the half marathon. Always thought it sucked, and swore I'd never do a full. But, peer pressure works pretty well. Ha.
Anyhow, after getting up at 4:45 (runners get up way to early) and waiting in lines for the biffies, the race was off at 7:30. My only goals were too get under 4 hours and have a negative half marathon split.
Marathoning is not really anything at all like the bike races I am used to. Granted I was not racing to win or anything, just going, but still simple things like taking leaks and such is greatly simplified by not having the fear of getting dropped and not catching on. In general it is an easier concept. Drafting does not really apply, no KOM no sprints, just go. Kinda boring if you ask me... For much of the race I just ran my own pace, once in a while I would come across friends and would run with them for a bit, but I think most started to fast and were dying, which is why I caught them.
The course goes along the north shore from Two Harboors to downtown Duluth. The fans and fun started when we got to the city limits. Beer handups started showing up, I had some friends share some champange. I even found "The official Grandma's beer feed," complete with a slip-n-slide. That was quite entertaining and was a good break from the heat.
A bit before the slip-n-slide the 3:40 pace setter appeared next to me, giving me a good pace for the 7 miles I had left. Most people I have talked to say the race starts to hurt around mile 20, which gives you almost an hour to wallow in pain. I really did not feel fatigued till 24, at that point with only 2 miles left, there was not enough race left to hurt. It worked out quite well.
All in all I was out in the sun for 3:38.52. Not to bad for not training for this, plus I had a pretty good time doing it.
My legs feel great right now, the muscles at least. The most painful thing are the blisters... And the sorest muscles are my shoulders. Victory!

Damn shoes.

Like I hinted at above, I was doing this thing to see what all the fuss was about, see how hard they actually are, and to say I've done one.
I am not sure what the fuss was about, I could find many more fun things to do besides running for slightly over 3.5 hours on hot blacktop. Marathoning is definitely not something I am going to get too serious about, I have no desire to run copious numbers of them.
Again, I did not run hard in the race, I just did it. But still compared to bike racing it was easy. My heart rate was a stable 140 or so the whole time, never got out of breath or went anerobic. I know there have been bike races where I've just sat in and they have been easy, and I feel no more tired today, then after one of those. My feet hurt more, but other then that not to bad.
I'm not going to say I am not ever going to do another marathon. I can see someday actually racing one, and finding out how fast I can do one. But that would require training for it, and bike racing is more fun. So for now, I'll stick with that.

Change of pace

2009-06-15T01:30:00.006+02:00

Before I left for NVGP I promised a co-worker (Mr J. Ross Fraboni) that if I got for some reason got shelled from the race, and the weather was nice, I would do the MN mountain bike race on my cross bike (it was in Duluth). So going from the peloton to the trails was on the menu.
The race was out at Mont Du Lac, one of the lesser known ski hills in the area. The local MTB association COGGS has put in some solid work there and made some really nice trails. Quite a few roots, but besides that real nice.
Anyhow, for the hell of it I did the expert race to see what would happen. With there being a long steep climb every lap, and extra long and steep for the start, I was sitting pretty with the cross bike. I was expecting a cross style start, but it was much slower then that. Kinda nice...
The only sections that I really lost time were the descending single track. The first 3 laps I got smoked there. But as soon as the trail went up I would gain all the lost time back. On the big climb I would usually gain enough time to stay ahead of anyone close to me. The 3rd time up the big hill my arms started cramping, so I trotted up it nice and easy, my gearing was a bit hard. Two guys caught me and I knew that in order to beat them, I just had to stay close through the tricky stuff. I did just that, one guy crashed, and the other never got more the 20 meters ahead. Coming into the final climb I blasted off. I think I ended up in the top half.
Take that all you who said it was not possible and that I would get last.

Pictures are from where the watermark says they are.

Mountain bike racing is really quite different from the road. When you get tired, slow down and recover, then go hard again. It was not bad. Despite my arms cramping I had a good time, I dont really think I want to do too many mountain bike races on my cross bike. But a few is not going to hurt! I also saw Super Rookie, did not expect that at all. So despite rumors that he does not ride bike, he maybe just chillin with Sasquatch.

Looks like they are having a good time!
Also watch these.

On a completely different note. I looked at my training journals from the last 3 years. A very obvious pattern of me racing poorly nearly exactly one month after I have "legs tired" written down, I'd say 90% of the races I felt like shit fit the pattern. As well as often after time off or easy weeks, the races one month following my results were strong. To bad I just found that out now, instead of using my logs like I should. I really need to pay more attention to the information I collect. I've got the tools, now to try and figure out how to put it in action.

Missing

2009-06-13T20:03:00.003+02:00

My legs.
Last seen May 10th, 2009. Somewhere north of Duluth.
There have been a few reports of sightings, but no solid leads.
Reward if found, please contact with any information you may have.

As many of you know, I had my second attempt at the Nature Valley GP these past few days. Right from the start of the TT on Wednesday morning my legs were not under me. I just don't have the get up and go I did this spring. And it is really starting to frustrate me. I thought I was decently rested, and felt fine going easy, but as soon as hit the throttle things go south.
I got smoked in the TT pulling 4th to last, I was quite disappointed as I know I can go faster. But made it through.

Sucking wind in the rain.

Then the St. Paul Crit, unlike last year it was dry, luckily. Even with that Right from the start I was not feeling very good. And just like last year it was on the straights that I would get gapped. I cornered plenty fast to stay right in there, and even move up, but after a few laps I would simply get gapped on the straights. The legs just would not turn. However, I squeaked by and made it to round 3.
Cannon Falls was thankfully a calm weather day too. The rolling enclosure provided at the NVGP is always fun, makes it much more official. The race was not hard, I just had a good time hanging out in the peloton watching the fields zip by. I got comfortable moving around in the pack which was a change from before, and not being able to move at all. Eventually we came into the finishing circuits, I felt ok. After 3 circuits I lost focus for a second and clipped a wheel in front of me and nearly went down, I did not, but my seat nose went down nearly 45 degrees. I just could not pedal like that and got popped. I was feeling confident that I was going to make it at that point too. Shit... I rolled in with a group a few minutes after the pack. (Unlike last year I did not get lapped).
The circuits gave me confidence that I would make it through round 4. Off we were into the streets of Uptown, I had decent starting position. not super far back. The first laps I felt ok, not having to many problems. Then all of a sudden I could not go, I started getting gapped on the straights again and nothing I could do about it. I just could not pedal. Thus my NVGP bid came to a bitter end.

I am just very frustrated with my lack of performance. This year I have done crits that have close to the same average speed (LaCrosse), and hung out on the front. All I had to do was make it half the race and I would have made it. But nope, I could not even make it 1/3. All the other MN boys had no problems, I know I can hang with them no problem. So why the hell can't I do it now?

I have no excuses for being slow this week. But I have some therioes that I am going to look into. Last year I thought it was because I had not raced enough leading into NVGP, I found that that is not the case as this year I race plenty leading up to it, pretty much as much as I could.
The past week or two I have been sleeping 8, 9 or 10 hours a night, and waking up tired. Perhaps I have a virus of some sort that is not strong enough to show outright, but when I try to race my bike it is enough to stop me from doing well.
Perhaps it is overtraining. The past week.5 I have gone pretty easy. A bit of speed work to try and keep the intensity there, but obviously it's not there so it was a waste. But anyway I did a bit of research and overtraining really does not show itself for at least 3 weeks after the fact. Almost exactly 1 month ago my legs were so tired that I was getting crampy just sitting around. I would consider that overtrained. And now it caught up to me. I bet if I look at my logs from last year, at about the same time I had the same issue... Another thing that leads me to believe the overtraining theory is that I cannot get my HR to go up. My avg. HR in the 6 miles TT was 179, the last truly good race I had was at the LaCrosse crit where my HR was 174 for 65 minutes. Hmmmm... Something is not quite right with that.
It sucks that I have to learn about my body at a race like this. But at least I am figuring it out.

Due to the fact that I have no high end power at the moment. And just want to race my bike. Tomorrow (Sunday) instead of racing in Stillwater like I should be I will be doing a mountain bike race on my CX bike. I'll let you know how it ends up...

Bite your stem and hold on

2009-06-04T03:23:00.003+02:00

Last night was the final Nature Valley qualifier race. I had been sitting pretty good in the points for the individuals and wanted another shot at the race, so I got to drive all the way down to the cities for the evening.
For some reason I did not do any recovery ride since Saturday, oops. After getting out of the car yesterday I could tell. The batteries were already low. I figured it would be like most other crits, and I would just sit on till my legs came around. However, with the wind, and the course (that Hollywood, Casper and I made up) sitting in was damn hard to do. 70 some riders lined up, making it my biggest race of the year. And right from the start it was balls fast. The group split up real quickly into two main parts. Luckily I was far enough up to be in group A. Group B was pulled before the end. Anyhow, we just went fast, and with a 180 in the course taking away any advantage to cornering fast I was hurting. Plus everyone guttered each other, it was a full on bike race!
With about 6 laps to go I just could not go. Luckily the pack sat up just then so I quick caught back on and held it in for 5 laps. On the last lap I just had nothing and came in in a small group behind the field sprint. Even with getting popped I managed a few points and squeaked into NVGP.

This crit was a good practice round for next week. Bite your stem and hold on. My goal is to finish somewhere in the top half. Lofty I know, but I'll see what I can manage. Unlike last year I've been racing right up to the event, and know I am in already so I can get some good recovery.
See you all next week.

Wind makes

2009-06-01T01:01:00.002+02:00

things interesting. Unlike this blog...
Anyhow, Saturday was the circuit race out in East Union. A 9 mile lap, so really it was just a short road race. Along with it being short, it was a NVGP qualifier, which means lots of fast people show up. Combine all this and you have a recipe for going fast. For me it was a relatively uneventful race, I tried to ride smart, conserve energy, and be ready to go either in the sprint or when a big move went. Things stayed together, so for most of the race I was just trying not to be killed. With the wind it was sketch balls the entire time. On the last lap with a crosswind a bunch of people came together and something hit my wheel (no one crashed though), and the next time I looked down my wheel was wobbly and my bars not straight. But my bike stayed in one piece and like everyone else spun out in the sprint for 8th. Those downhill with the wind sprints are so entertaining.
Hopefully I can pull off another decent race at the State Fair Crit and get into NVGP. That is the goal at least.
Last night I also signed up for Grandma's Marathon, the whole thing. So that should make for and interesting Saturday...

Also sign up now. Make my life easier.

Where are they going?

2009-05-29T04:35:00.003+02:00

What do you think is on the other side?

On TV

2009-05-25T05:31:00.008+02:00

If the Duluth Classic were a bike race with TV motorcycles, I would be one of those poor suckers who goes out in front all day just to get caught. But you know what, that is just fine with me, I am getting some really good efforts in, and hey, one of these times it should work.

Day one: TT
I have not been doing so well at TTs the past few weeks. Friday evening was better then they had been, limiting my losses to 3:30ish rather then 8 minutes. But still not even close to putting me near GC contention. I was hoping this would set me up to go off un-chased in a break the following days.

Day two: Wisconsin RR
Another beautiful day up north, with little wind and open roads the 42 riders in the open field were off. 4 laps totaling 72 miles on a relatively flat course, although there was a long not so steep uphill that did make me hurt. On each lap there were points for either KOM or Sprints on the line, after coming through on the first lap and the field being broken up I took the chance and struck out into the open. After about 1/4 lap of blasting away solo I was joined by two companions and we hammered along for the rest of the lap, the field never letting us get to far away. Coming through the line again the field broke up a whole bunch and a group of 8 or 9 of us ended up up the road, a group that size was deemed to much a threat and halfway through the lap we were caught. Break attempt one over. I spent the rest of the race just chillin in the pack enjoying how easy it was. The final 2km were pretty dang fast with a good size crash included. Rolled across with the field.

Day three: Home turf (Lakeview RR)
I finally got to ride my bike to a bike race. The course was on my usual training roads, only about 20 minutes bike ride for me. A perfect warmup. Up the large hill known as Strand Rd. 6 laps of racing, but 7 times with the "neutral" roll-out. I know these roads well, and knew when the best place to attack was. 15 minutes into the race right about where I wanted to go a group went off and I got on. 6 of us total, and for the next 2 hours 20 minutes we worked well together over the challenging course. It hurt a lot. Our lead yo-yoed quite a bit, going from 1:15 down to 10 sec. then back up to 1:55 before the field caught us on the top of the hill with one to go. To make things interesting we even had some redneck shooting at us with a high powered pellet gun. Luckily he only hit aluminum, but still, that makes me nervous to ride out there. Crazy people with guns are bad...
Anyhow after being caught I just sat in and recovered so I would not get shot out the back on the final climb. I by no means stayed up front, but managed to keep it together and not loose any more time.
All in all it was a good day, I tried my best to make it happen at home, but it just was not going to be.

Early onLater in the day. Things starting to hurt...

Day four: Cloquet Crit
New course this year. A short lap, with a punchy little hill and a nice fast downhill corner, besides the corner not technical at all. It was just windy enough for that to be a factor.
Last night I had talked with Lance Bruening and Mr. Casper and figured that Lance and I may as well try a sprint from the gun to try and get away. However, that was not to be as everyone had the same idea. I was right at the front and tried a few times to make something happen. Nothing was going that soon. For a good 15 laps things were fast and together, a few small attacks for primes, but nothing that was going to stay away. shortly after the halfway point Hollywood launched off on the hill and brough Rod Raymond (teammate for the weekend) with. They got a good gap very quickly. The next lap saw another 4 or 5 guys get a gap. Timmer deemed the chase group to dangerous and I went back up and put in a bit of work. We caught them shortly and the lap after that Casper, Brian Crosby and I just kinda rolled off the front. I just sat on and let them pull up to the break. The 5 of us had a pretty good gap, but with Crosby threating and Casper right in front of Timmerin GC there was not any point in Rod or I working too hard. Kinda disappointing, but racing is not all about you when your on a team. We stayed away until one lap to go. Easily rejoining the group. Timmer was set up perfect coming into the final hill and he just blasted off and in for the win.

Round and round we goHollywood goesCasper pulls at a nice clip. It looks like I am trying to flap my wings and fly away...ha!Hopefully I don't always look like that.

By my best estimates I spent slightly over 4 hours in breaks during the weekend. With 7 hours of racing being pelotonable and 35 for a TT. Kind of entertaining to know that most of my time was spent away.

After four days of racing, and being out front a whole bunch I feel great. I am ready for more. With my low standing on the GC I was able to race super aggressively and not really worry about my overall time. Had I been dropped after getting caught so what. But I never was which is encouraging. Next weekend is another qualifier for NVGP and I need to race smart there, big change in tactics...
Hopefully this weekend will set me up fitness wise for Nature Valley. That is the plan at least...

Well that needs work.

2009-05-17T01:48:00.005+02:00

First off bike racing is hard. Even harder when you forget...
Luckily Daniel Casper was there to save the day. His feet are relatively close to the same size and shape of my feet, so things at least functioned for the most part.
I do in fact know how I left the shoes at home, well actually work. Due to sleet last night I got a ride, and never crossed my mind that I forgot to change back into my bike shoes before leaving work, until I got to the race today, oops!

Anyhow, the wind greeted us all with a big gust at the TT was off.
As this was my first 40 K I really did not know what to expect. I just took off and settled in. Kept my heart rate at uncomfortably hard but not overdoing it. My legs just did not want to turn though. I am not really sure whether it is due to lack of TT bike practice or fatigue. But I am going with both right now. Either way, not any excuse for being slow, but fixable. I just kept plugging away and after way to long I finished. About 4-5 minutes back from where I believe I should be finishing, and am pretty sure I can finish.

After getting home I tinkered around with my position for a good hour, ranging from seat height to tires. Already much more comfortable.
However, my bike still does not look like this...

Zoom zoom.

Hopefully I can learn how to TT by Wednesday evening...

Also, buy my mountain bike.

May snow brings June flowers?

2009-05-14T17:13:00.002+02:00

Yesterday for the Wednesday night ride in Duluth nearly 20 people showed up. It was amazing, biggest group of bike riders I've ever seen up here, there were people taking pictures of us all over for some reason.
Anyhow, part of the reason there were so many people was due to the fact that it was 75 with bright sun. Although really windy, it was really nice out. I rode in shorts and short sleeves until about 8:30, then added arm warmers.
I started my ride this morning at 8. It was snowing.
Less then 12 hours difference and nearly 40 degrees, it is to entertaining to be angered by!

Torn between two worlds

2009-05-07T05:12:00.004+02:00

But first, weekend recap.
Saturday:
A bright sunny, not that windy day for Marty. The first of four NVGP qualifiers. Right from the start the 48 of us were haulin. The first two laps averaging 27 mph is what I heard. Due to copious numbers of center line violations the official, for good reason, stopped the race and made it known that that was not ok. Despite destructing the momentum we had going, it worked out because I got to pee, which was a good alternative to exploding. And it also was needed to keep the center line in check.
The next lap slowed down a bit, then slowly picked up. A few breaks tried to go, but nothing was going to get far. As we came whistling down the final straight (with a tail wind) I was sitting right on Doug's wheel ready to at least sit in the draft, but alas I did not drink enough or something and started to cramp up. Balls... I struggled in and held onto 6th. Not by any means bad, but I know I have some sprint in there somewhere.

Sunday:
La Crosse. Drove down being entertained by the antics of Dan Swanson, unable to get comfortable and sleep for some reason. After the race on Sat. I had a 12 hour clinical, and I got the call that we needed to leave earlier an hour into my nap... Anyhow, the course was for the most part flat, a small rise, but nothing to make a difference in the race. Right from the start it was go go go. 67 people makes things a bit more interesting. The speed never really let off, I did a little work at the front after a split in the group making sure Timmer would have at least somewhat of a chance in the end. I was in great position coming into 1 lap to go, but the field decided to sprint that time and I got moved back way to far, way out of any kind of contention. Ended up at the front end of the pack. Nothing special, but a good first crit with corners to get the jitters out. Nice and fast too, word on the street the average was 29 mph.

Two worlds:
Bike racing and wilderness. The two do not go together at all. I truly love both. The thrill and exhilaration of bike race, whipping around corners at 30 mph with 60 guys within 100 feet of you. And of course the good feeling when you finish a race and have nothing left. At the same time there is the peace and freedom of the woods. The rocks, trees and water, a place where life is simple and simply good.
Sadly they do not go together very well. If I wanna be at all competitive taking a 4 days to a week off of training at this time would not bode well for any aspirations I have of making NVGP and making it through. And of course, carrying a bike at least 20 miles into the woods is not going to happen. I love both worlds so much, no way I can give one up. I've got to figure out how I can make this work!

Peaceful

Extreme
Peaceful
Extreme

Choices choices

Let it begin

2009-04-26T01:49:00.002+02:00

I'm a bit slow at this right now, with class, clinicals, work, training, and sleeping. Blogging a relatively low on my priority list. I know I am letting you all down, I just don't know how you can go on living without knowing what is happening in my life! Ha!

Anyhow, last weekend bike racin in these parts started up again. Up first was the rolling hills of Durand. My first time at that particular race, and it was a good one. A whoppin 66 man strong field. The first laps were not to fast, everyone catching up on the past few months. That did not last to long, the attacks started and off we went at light speed. The large field making it very fun. Everything was just fast, not to exciting until the last lap on the biggest hill. A group of very strong guys got away, Mr. Timmer was not there, so up to the front I went and blasted away to try and catch them. It hurt, but eventually a few others got the idea and on the last corner we all were unified once more. Just in time to wind up for the sprint. After my effort I did not have much and ended up cramping, rolled across 12th. I am happy with my performance

This past week I did a good number of hours. Even got to preride the course for the Sogn race. Friday morning my body told me I had ridden a bit to much. Oh well, at least I know what my body is telling me.
Thursday my new wheels showed up. Got one training ride on them to try and break them in.

Ready to rock.

Friday night a few Duluth souls ventured down and stayed in the appartment above Milltown, thanks Ben for that.
This morning we were off to Sogn Valley for the day. Lucky us it was dry. A little windy and cool, but dry. A good size group of mid 30's or so showed up.
Again the first lap of the race was not super hard, the second picked up a bit. The last to laps only let up a few times. Full on bike racing. The third time up the hill I got a bit crampy for some reason, luckily I hid in the drafts for a bit and felt decent again. With about 3/4 lap to go the Ghost (Mr. Casper) snuck off the front, and with about 1/2 lap to go Doug and Wold blasted off. Should probably have been watching a bit better, but we all make mistakes...
They were long gone by the time any sort of chase was organized. Which for a little while was actually looking pretty good, with a Synergy, Nature Valley, and GP group working together. Some reason it did not last long and things fell apart. Naturally coming into the final climb things were going to be hard. I was hurting more then normal by this point and missed the initial group that got away just enough to gap the rest. Luckily with the help of Mr. Stanford the two of us caught back up. I was hurting a bit from that coming into the sprint, but still managed to pull of 9th.

The past two races have been extremely hard compared to last years, or at least from what I remember of them. Perhaps from the bigger fields, or people just wanna go fast. Either way, I like it!

I'll hopefully find some photos and post them.

Time keeps on tickin

2009-04-10T04:27:00.004+02:00

The past few weeks have been relatively similar. Bike practice, work, class, clinicals, repeat. Not a bad schedule, just not worth writing about!
I have had a couple of good adventures. The most recent of which being yesterday. A water adventure.

A bit chilly, but sure pretty

They can't stick there head in the ground here.

It was too icy to use studs at some points...

Band-aids are good tire patches.

Lots of water.On the way out to sea.

Tried to make hot cocoa out there.

Max thought swimming would be fun too.The stove never worked though.

Swimming with a pack above the water is hard.

Soon, bike racing!

Rocky Mountain high.

2009-03-20T15:10:00.006+01:00

Just got back from Colorado this morning, it was a good time. Since the last update this is what has been happening:

We went to Arapahoe Basin, one of the lower key places to ski in Summit County.

Low key does not mean little...Or easy!At the end of the day someone gave me beer.

The next day was bike riding. A good 4.5 hours around Boulder. It was warm out, 75 or so. I got to ride in shorts and short sleeves, worked on my tan.

St. Pattys day was spent at Breckenridge with Nels and his Breckenridge outdoors center co-workers. We had a good time exploring the bars of the uppity mountain town.

Beer... Nels also hooked us up with some Vail passes. Thanks Nels!

Good thing too, tickets are $97 a day...And all you get is a ride up a T-bar.Not really. Vail is so big it blows my mind. This is just one part of one mountain...

They have grills strategically located. Brats on top on the mountain.

This face "Tea Cup Bowl" was then most fun with the snow conditions.

With being at Vail for 7 hours, I bet we skied maybe 1/4 of the resort. So damn big. So cool.

Thursday I worked on my tan for another 4 hours, then it was back in the car and back home

The high plains.

On another note Ollie, a college friend just released a music video. Enjoy!

I-70

2009-03-18T00:54:00.001+01:00

Road construction in the Mountains, I-70 is turned off, too bad no one around us has beer...
Internet somehow?

Earning your turns.

2009-03-16T03:44:00.005+01:00

Today was my first back country skiing experience, it was great. Three of us went out on the adventure. We were in the Frisco area of Colorado, on some random mountains.

Way up through the trees we went.

Lunch break was needed before...

we got past the tree line.

Not much snow on the wind blown summit.

Gear.

Decently high.

I've never heard of sledding above the tree line...

Lots of open space up yonder.

Bike race!

2009-03-15T02:11:00.004+01:00

Got back from Europa, two days rest, then off to Colorado. Two continents, two countries, two mountain ranges, two weeks!

We (Joe Stromsness) and I, blasted out here, driving though the night. Got to Denver area yesterday morning at 10ish. Welcomed by blue skies and 50 degree temps. The only logical thing to do then was ride my bike. I did for a bit over 4 hours. Exploring mountain roads to their fullest. We are actually in Westminster, rockin the suburbs. And I rode through the mountains and then came back out on the high plains in Boulder. I like Boulder, very bicycle friendly.

Up up and away!

Nice view.

I found some bumpy grav.

With cool rocks.

We attended the UMD vs. CC hockey game for entertainment during the night.

Today (Saturday) it just so happen that there was a bike race in Boulder. Being that it not far from where we are, I decided to do it. Depsite the fact that I have not done any speed work at all, none, this year. Racing does not start for another month back home. My goal was simply to sit in and finish with the field.
The race was put on by CU, and I arrived during the collegiate races. The A field was huge! 100 guys or so, compared to collegiate races back home being around 20...
Anyhow, the next race was womens feild, a few pros actually. Then the 3/4/5 race. The last two race was supposed to be the pro 1/2/3, they closed registration at 100 riders, but then the pros showed up and pulled some strings, and it ended up being pro 1, then 2/3.

Womens race. Zoom Zoom

I was unsure if this would work out, due to the fact that with 100 riders, I would have plenty of places to hide from the wind. With less people, and more concentrated fast people, things would be a bit harder. It ended up with 40 or 50 in my race. With guys from Garmin, and Bissle, and Jelly Belly it was a fast race right from the start. The first half was not bad, I was able to hide out for the most part even when we were stretched out single file. Then all of a sudden a split happened and about 15 guys had a gap. Game time. It hurt a whole lot, but somehow I managed to get up to them. Nearly died, but I did it. Of course a few laps later the race came back together, but I had fun getting my legs ripped off. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful, but very quick. Good times. I made my goal and finished with the pack. Wahoo! Avg speed was 46 km/h.

I will try and find some photos from the race. Their were lots of cameras.

Finland

2009-03-10T03:41:00.001+01:00

Celebrate life, not mourn death.

After recovery from the news of Hazel, it was time to enjoy Finland and my sisters wedding, which was the reason I came here in the first place.
The day after I arrived it was of to Koli, a national park not to far away. The slight elevation change causes build up of frost and snow on the trees, and then with little wind it stays. Quite pretty. Besides that Finland looks a whole lot like northern MN...

The fam +
Ski Trail
3 cents for 2 euros?

Skiing on the lake.
It was flat.

Throughout the week I did a whole lot of skiing, the roads were just to crappy for bike riding. That's ok though, it was a bit early for training camp, so the cross training will be helpful still.

This old man ran fast.

I did manage a bit of riding though...

Saturday was the wedding. A good time was had by all!

Then a mass exodus, hauling stuff around Finland.

A few days break of from travel, then to Colorado.

In Loving Memory

2009-03-03T22:38:00.003+01:00

She lived not nearly long enough but will live forever inside us all.

Off to Finland

2009-03-03T13:32:00.001+01:00

After the Alps, and returning to the Buehlers it was time to come to Finland. I got everything packed, and we were off to the airport. But first, a big thank you to Leo and Vera for letting me stay there and eat all their food. Trip not possible without them!
At first things went smoothly at the airport. I got charged 25 euro for the bike, whatever, not to bad compared to what I have been charged. But then I got called back to the counter, apparently the case was too big to fit onto the plane. Which is a load of BS, because the plane was probably only 1/3 full. So I had to leave the bike in Stuttgart for the night while I continued. In addition to my bike not making it, my other checked bag got put on the conveyor belt, instead of being put on another airplane, they really messed it up! After a bit of searching I found a relatively cheap hotel to use up my 10 hour layover.
When I got to the airport in the morning the checker-iners were convinced I already had 2 bags on the plane and tried to tell me I had to pay a bunch more. I argued until they realized their mistake and got everything checked in again (except bike). Of course they decided that only one carry one was allowed this time, but it did not cost extra and I have it, so that was actually nice.
So I now sit in the airport in Helsinki waiting for my bike to show up in another hour (been here 2 already). I have been told to go to my place I will be staying, and to wait for the bike. I will wait for it, I would rather not loose it...
The internet is free in this airport, so I dont mind too much. Still sucks, but so is life.
Bikes are a bitch to travel with, but they are so fun that it usually is worth it.

Alps

2009-03-03T13:07:00.004+01:00

But first.
I spent my last training day riding to the Alps. I took the train to Konstanz and met up with Sascha, who kicked his mother out of his house so I could stay... Ha. Not really, but thanks for the place to sleep and food!
After changing Sascha and I set off, he rode with me for a short 30 minutes, then had to go to the airport.

Bike practice.

So from there on out it was back to myself again. Shortly after parting ways my shifter crapped out on me, in a high gear. Maybe I don't trust SRAM so much anymore. I am going to have a word with them when I get home...

Mountains require a lower gear, thus I rigged up a downtube shifter.
The mountains got closer and closer.

Up up up.

Winter.
Summer.
Nice little ski hill at the top.

After a short Sport Beans break, back down. Really really quickly.

Complete with motor pacing!
Lower by the Lake is fairly green.
And here lives Jan.

Am Bodensee

2009-02-28T19:49:00.006+01:00

Yesterday, like the rest of my time spent here in Germany, was spent for the most part on my bicycle. An easy 60 minute cruise in the morning to loosen up, which was really quite nice. Then a good lunch, followed by 6 x 5km of steep climbs. I would have needed another two hours of daylight and a different bike seat to get all 10 in. Plus, 30 km of steep was all I really needed. Due to the wet streets, it got very cold as the sun went down...

Top of one climb.
Light up booties saved me again...

Today I traveled south, into a nice headwind, down to Konstanz, where I met Leo and Vera (the people I am staying with). We had a nice time walking around the city. It was really nice to be back, and the weather was really really nice, 55 F or so. The air was clear to, so you could see the Alps in the distance.

Make it big, see the Alps
3 hours 20 minutes into ride.
3 hours 30 minutes into ride
Back to the Lake.
Downtown
This lamp costs 2,248 Euros...
So warm there is a palm tree!

Tomorrow I take the train back to Konstanz, possibly ride to the Alps, then stay my last night in Germany at a friends house from the bike team.

Back to Germany

2009-02-26T21:26:00.005+01:00

Finally, figured out how to make blogger work!

I showed up in Frankfurt after a days worth of traveling, and not nearly enough sleeping. I was just not comfortable in the airplane seat this time. Anyhow it was good to be back in Germany, and to use my German again, it is a bit rusty, but it is coming back quickly. I am not really having trouble communicating, just talking about details...
Anyhow, after the plane and then a 4 hour train ride, I showed up to the Bühlers, my exchange family from the first time I came here. Both the kids my age are off at school, so I am hanging out with the parents and eating good food. No nighttime activities which make good for my week long training camp here.
Despite feeling like I was going to tip over from exhustion upon arrival I set out on a bike ride (yes, of course I brought the bike, and it flew for free here). I ended up riding for 2:45 in rain/snow. It was 5 C so not to cold. This place is very different in winter, the roads are harder to recognize. I am told that usually at this time of year the flowers are starting to bloom, bad luck. But it is much warmer then home still. The last 2 days above 10 C.

The Germans like their signs.
One of my favorite climbs in the area, a good 5km of steep.

Wednesday I decided to try and ride to Konstanz, 80 km. one way over very hilly terrain. Normally not a problem. But I got lost a whole bunch of time and had to turn around 15 km short, I still got back well after dark. Luckily, and thanks to Pearl Izumi at Frostbike my booties now light up, without those I probablly would have been run over....

On the way to Konstanz, towards the steep hills on the horizon.
This photo was taken 45 min later... Elevation makes a huge difference here.

Bodensee! Can´t see in this photo, but the Alps were visible. Sunday I think I will make an attempt at them. All in all ride time was 6:12... I slept to much and started at 1 instead of 10 like I wanted.

Thursday I decided to explore the Swäbische Alpen. The hills in the area around here. I found lots of nice roads, got lost again, and ended up riding 5.5 hours.

This was a fun climb.

Complete with tunnels.

Tomorrow I think I will stay in the area and do lots of climbing. 10 x 5km. That should wear me out.
Saturday to Konstanz, Sunday hopefully Alps, Monday Finland...

Change Up

2009-02-15T05:36:00.007+01:00

Due to the fact that over the warm spell the hiker destroyed the trails I have had to find other places to pedal.
Yesterday I explored some snowmobile trails, and today as follows:

You've heard of crust skiing, but how about...

crust biking?

After hanging out at a local ski race it was time for round two. Again with the trails ruined I had to go elsewhere. I chose to explore Park Point again.

It was really bumpy, again with help from hikers, but there were some good sections that were nice and icy, thus fast and fairly smooth. For the most part it was way to bumpy...

But sure pretty.
My chamios zone could not take the beating for another hour, so I stumbled onto the bay. Which happen to be really nice and icy and smooth. Quite nice.
And all open...
Plus, I got to see a flying boat.

But, even with the ice being feet thick, and full of cars, people still manage to find thin spots. So one must be careful!

In one week I'll be here.

For Sale!

2009-02-08T17:32:00.005+01:00

Everything must go!

Tarmac SL2 Pro. $3,250!

S-Works mountain bike. Starting around $825.

Rudy Project Glasses. $70 for everything.

Salomon Snowboard boots, $55.

Salomon Snowboard and bindings. $145

Click

2009-01-26T00:02:00.004+01:00

Time to get ready!

About a week ago I clicked into bike race mode. Time to get into shape. I don't really know what the catalyst was but that's ok. It is not like I am in poor shape. I have been playing outside lots, doing all kinds of fun activities. But now I am ready to train again. Still do all the activities, just maybe more of them, without days separating them. All I need to do is keep things under control and have fun while training. To intense now will burn me out later.

Enjoying myself thoroughly is still of outmost importance

Today (Sunday) was quite a good day. I decided to go do the xc ski race that was happening in Duluth on this extra brisk day. Showing up in my Clown suit I took off like it was a cx race and ended up getting a group of 3 of us way out front, then at 4k into the 13k race I got tired and had to slow. The start was enough to bring home the bronze though. For not being very close to race shape I am very pleased with my performance, the two guys I was with for a bit are very fast skiers.
(Hopefully I can find some pictures)

After hanging out at the ski race, enjoying the post race food and chatter I came home and decided I had not had enough. Word on the street is that the Big Lake was rideable, so part of bike practice took place down on the ice. My plan was to work on turning on the ice to prep for next weekend, but the big cracks and all the noise freaked me out, so I just cruised. The ice was plenty thick, there are fish houses and all out there, but riding on the ice suspended over the largest freshwater lake on the planet (which is awfully cold, especially in Jan.) just did not allow for relaxation...

Plenty safe, but still...

Kinda deep here already.
Darkness below...

After bumming around for a good 20 minutes I decided to go ride around hockey rinks to practice my corners, at least if I broke something on one of those I was close to something.

I had a good time testing the limits of the studs.

Then I rode some trails, going up this staircase included. Winter riding is so much fun. Everything is open.

Ha!

2009-01-07T02:52:00.001+01:00

Up, up and not so fast down.

2009-01-05T03:39:00.004+01:00

But first this photo is from bike practice a few days ago.Apparently it is strong enough to ride across. I did not try. Lake Superior in January is awfully cold...

With the recent purchase of downhill skis and AT (alpine tourning) bindings, boots, and other gear. I have been finding all the fun places to ski in and near the city. My main skiing partner and I have found a few good places. There would be many many good places if there was not so much damn brush. All the little trees that make it impossible to go down the hill without impaling some body part. But when an open area it is usually pretty dang good.
Today we set off on an expedition to try and find some bigger hills up the Shore. I looked around on Google earths new terrain feature because it makes looking so easy, and then with the satellite views, even better.
Anyhow, up the shore. From the road one of the hills I had zeroed in on looked pretty damn good, so we were off. as we got closer to the base the brush got quite thick, but we continued on in hopes of clearing, when there was no clearing we continued on in hopes of the backside being clear. 2.5 hours of pushing through waist deep snow at some points up very steep slopes brought us to the summit of Carlton Peak . To my surprise it was very windy and cold up there, bare rock and no trees even. Almost like a real mountain, except that it was only 1600 feet high... Oh well. Some day soon.
After a bit of hot cocoa and freezing our fingers it was time to try and start down. We found a clear trail, but it was not very steep, thus not very exciting. Before long it was back into the brush. With the effort put in going up, neither of us had the energy left for another try. Despite the lack of skiing it was quite an adventure. Well worth it.
All we need is a good forest fire and that place would be amazing, like many of the places in Duluth. Common Forest Service, I know you want to!

Backpack full of liquid + 2 pair skis= heavy

Top

Back to the top after cocoa break

Brush...

Ice galore

2008-12-31T07:12:00.004+01:00

The last few weeks have seen, for the most part, cold temps and good winds. Some coming off the Lake. Thus down on Park Point there are some very large ice shelfs. With the discovery of how well studs work on icy trails, I decided to put them to the ultimate test of lake ice. Once I found the proper line, which happen to be right near the 4 foot drop off into the water, it was quite fast. Every once in awhile there would be big chunks of ice that I had the joy of just clawing right over.

My warm up.

Cool formations.

Studs worked so well I almost made it up a wall.

On the way back up the hill to my house I took some trails, and to my surprise was able to ride right up a snow covered stair case.
I kinda want to go do laps at a hockey rink now.

I am a stud

2008-12-29T03:38:00.000+01:00

fan now. I just bought a pair of studs for my bicycle and man are those things incredible. Ice is no longer my enemy but something I can tear around on like it is dry pavement. I had no idea they made such a big difference. Unfortunately the cost my a weeks worth of working, but I am told they will last 10 years, I guess that would make them worth it.

Zoom Zoom. Winter training here I come.

Shortly after the last post life got really quite busy. Between working at the Hut, my second home and taking all kinds of tests for EMT certification. I had zero time to train or even really just sit. Now that class has been successfully completed (feel safer when you come to my bike races, unless Daniel and Linda are there, then feel really really safe) I have more time to play.

Right before Christmas I got new downhill skis, boots, and all. Not normal downhill stuff, but rather Alpine Touring, meaning I can easily access any hill I damn well please. No need for lift tickets...One of my new play grounds, the depth does not show up too well, but it gets nice and steep.
Skiing fun.

I am pretty excited to go out and explore some more on the skis. Thursday calls for a trip up the shore for good views and deep snow.

Let it come

2008-12-14T19:33:00.004+01:00

Winter is coming, we are currently being clobbered by a large snowstorm. Fun! The more the merrier. Now I just need my skis to arrive (on order), life will then be delightful.

My practical and written tests for EMT certification are this next week, I've been spending a lot of time out at the training center to practice. Inside there is a giant treadmill. After riding out to class (20 some miles out there) I realized I could get some good heat training in!

Much more entertaining then rollers!

Don't Ask

2008-12-11T03:19:00.002+01:00

I don't know why. But hey, it is entertaining, and this time no words were put into my mouth!

Gettin my redneck on

2008-12-08T00:54:00.005+01:00

There are some things I like about this country, others which I strongly dislike. However, one of my favorite things is that when one has the urge to go shoot things, there is not much to stop he or she from doing so.
Last night that urge hit, thus Max, Jason, and I cruised on up to an undisclosed location and got our redneck on. Meaning, we shot just about anything and everything we could find, except a chipmunk enjoying a nut, and each other.

We were searching for Bugs Bunny, but alas, he out smarted us. This time...

The kill of the day.

Conditions became dangerous.
But we made it home, and the tree made it into the car. Somehow...

On a completely different note. I took the following photo the other day while night biking. It turned out pretty cool looking.

Econnoisseur

2008-12-04T05:09:00.004+01:00

Econnoisseur:

One who insists on the highest quality at the lowest price.

Being an econnoisseur I bought the ten dollar chilean wine instead of the fifty dollar french.
This is indeed who I am, the last of the Moroccans found it on urban dictionary.

On that note I am getting some downhill skis. Now I just need lots of snow to go tromp through the forested hillsides on Duluth and the Northshore. And to go on a mountain adventure out West somewhere. Hopefully that will happen sometime this spring.

Due to the fact that there is little to no snow, the bike trails are all really really fun right now. My searchlight and I have been tearing it up again. It is just so much fun being out there when there is not anyone else. You get the trails all to yourself.
Tonight's ride involved riding some new trails, as well as plenty of old, and some nice views.

The old hockey haunt. Glen Avon.

Some trails are faster then others, and even more fun in the dark.

As much fun riding is right now, I could use some job security. Luckily the Jet Steam looks to be a bit more favorable then it has the past few days. Maybe we will get some winter sometime soon...

Happy Army?

Funny how it works

2008-11-30T07:36:00.003+01:00

Last year at this time all I wanted to do was be done with the bike season, and I still had a few weeks left. Right now all I want to do is go putz around on the trails. Funny how it works out like that.
As of now the trails are frozen mud, with a light covering of snow, some frozen ruts. Again last year at CX Nationals the frozen snow covered ruts were part of the cause of my misery, now I am entertained by riding through those sections quickly...

Trail in day, with frozen ruts.

I recently purchased a Nite Rider headlamp, the last few nights have been very fun. The woods at night are a whole different experience. Earlier tonight, Dean, Ross, Ryan (Ski Huters), and I went for a cruise in the dark. It was really fun, I highly recommend it.

Between trails. Ross and Dean.

Nice bright light

Ross enjoying the spotlight.

For Sale

2008-11-25T00:12:00.005+01:00

08 Tarmac SL2 Pro

I just got it, you know you want it. Lets chat.
My best guess puts less than 800 miles on it. And fewer than 100 miles on the wheels.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, and I love the bike. I just want a new one, with scram on it.
It retails for $6,100.
I am asking $3,250.
A great deal.
Talk with you soon. jwboyce@gmail.com

New Bridges

2008-11-25T00:08:00.003+01:00

Well done to the bridge builders in Hartley. They are quite nice.
The woods here are absolutely lovely. Super fast, not muddy, not icy. Just plain fun. So much for my week off!

Max hitting up one of the new bridges.

Fini

2008-11-16T16:41:00.004+01:00

the 08 season has finally come to a close, a good year of ups and downs ended with the always super fun State CX race. Good thing it is done too, another month of hard training would probably kill me. To anyone who is doing nationals, have fun training in the cold, wet, and dark. I'll be racing my couch!

Anyhow, on to the State CX race. As usually the biggest race of the year, as usually a good course. With the expansion of the race to include the far side of the park, things got quite interesting.

Good thing the race started 15 minutes late, I was not paying any attention to the clock, I was just going to go take a lap of the course when I saw the entire field lined up and just about ready to go. So I choked down my sports beans and lined up, within a minute we were off. And somehow I actually had a good start, despite not being ready at all. I was right where I wanted to be until the corner after of the stair run the first lap where I botched the turn and got gapped. From there on out it was Mr. Casper, Mr. Taylor and I chasing the lead group. We were working quite well together, eventually catching a hurting Harland and Swanson. the remaining 4 of the lead group held there lead. Thus we were racing for 5th place. Mr. Casper put in a hard attack on the pavement before the sandpit. As we came into that at about 50 mph I missed the rut I was aming for and just about went over my bars, Mr. Taylor and Casper were gone. I chased hard but they are just to fast to try and catch after any mistake. In the end I rolled across 7th. Not bad at all, but not the top 5 I was going for, at least I was in the running for it though. This race was probably the most fun Ive had all year.

Eurostyle, one of the reasons this race is so much fun. A tunnel of people yelling at you.

Hard day

Stairs are fun.

The pit. My eventual downfall. However, Mr. Taylor probably beat me out of the pit this lap too. He just blasted through it every time.
most photos stolen from Sean Burns

Well, thats it for 08 bike racing. It's fat season! After a week or two off it will be back to training, hopefully some skiing. Which I will be able to afford, because no bike races!

If there are

2008-11-12T17:20:00.002+01:00

legitimate expenses, like Super Rookie mentions, then the prize list may have to be smaller. But most of these races cost more, have few expenses and have very very little pay out. Someone who actually wins money at MN races mentioned after the last race that Iowa seems to have it figured out, they pay more with fewer racers. However, I am not going to Iowa to race, because for the most part MN is more competitive thus more fun for me. But we all could learn from their ideas.

People get to angry

2008-11-11T02:46:00.004+01:00

calm down. Take a deep breath, drink some cocoa and get angry about things that actually matter, such as the price of cold weather clothing not some silly blog or message board.

Anyways,
Saturday.
Velodrome CX. Much much better then last year, my least favorite race award has already been given out, even without that, I don't think this race would get it this year. No garbage water!
Still to many turns, but they worked with what they had, and I still think we should ride in circles...
The race itself was not so good for me. I had my worst start of the year, and on that course there was little opportunity to move up until the field spread out which was much to late to matter. And for some reason I felt a bit sluggish, maybe it was the Arctic temps, but it just did not go so smoothly. I did better then last year though, all I had to do was finish!

If you look real close you can see the Velodrome in the distance.

Sunday
Lake Rebbecca CX
Same course as last year, which I find for the most part entertaining. When dry or packed, nice fast single track, however much of it was really slick mud for a good part of the race, which made things interesting.
My start would have been good, except I have enjoyed not using glasses in cross this year, thus the muddy gravel start was hard on my eyeballs. It took me a couple of laps to see clearly again.
After taking out a good portion of the field on the first run up due to slippery conditions I once again missed the lead group and spent the rest of the race chasing, of course to no avail but a 5th place.

The laziness of bike racers never ceases to amaze me. Is it really that inconvenient to drive 29 miles outside of the city? I wish people would drive to Duluth, the whole 150 miles, but not even driving 29 because it is out of the urban sprawl is getting pretty pathetic. The only people who I will listen to complain about driving are those who live in Moorhead, or further away then Duluth. Some of them even came to Duluth!

I hope they got some money in my races that paid out top 10 to men and 5 to women, the total purse being $600 both days! And know what is sad, I did not even end up paying out all the money (see above comments).
Hopefully this will generate some discussion, then my job is accomplished.

In the mean time, enjoy the cold and see you all next weekend!

I am not moving to Germany

2008-11-05T06:20:00.004+01:00

or Canada, at least not quite yet. The election went mostly how I wanted. It is great that so many people got out and voted, but we still have a long way to go.
Number of people eligible to vote in the US.
217.8 million
Number of people who voted yesterday.
120,115,867
55%...

In other more entertaining news. I always thought something on the ballot coming down to one vote was something for the Simpsons. But I was proven wrong yesterday. A proposal to allow liquor sales in Duluth's far east end was defeated by one single vote. Incredible!
2,827 against
2,826 for

Almost

2008-11-04T05:48:00.004+01:00

Last week it snowed Monday, and was 70 and sunny on Thursday...

After eating lots of delicious candy and other foods, and drinking delightful drinks on Friday night it was off to one of the race course I have absolutely no issues with, believe it or not. The Red Barn rolled around and it was time to squish around the tree farm for a bit. After growing my facial hair out for a good 3 weeks or a month, so long ago, first for my costume, and second so I could have an attempted mustache at the race, I was quite ready.

A delightful dessert

After an ok start and a few laps the main groups were established. I was duking it out in group two, hoping to catch up. No dice after getting gapped, so Mr. Casper, Mr. Moran, Mr. Reits, Mr. Roy, and I had fun beating up each other. Mr. Casper and Moran each took a tumble, leaving the last few laps down to the rest of us. Mr. Reits went on the attack with 3/4 a lap to go, I stuck on, and coming through the barriers (my strong point that day) I took off for 7th place.
Only issue I have with the race this year was chip timing... I say no more.

Sunday sent me down to Milaca for another fun course (besides the bridge). After a super slow start I tried to chase onto the lead group which was not to far ahead. Mr. Dickey was doing a fine job of pulling me, when all of a sudden he dissappeared from in front of me and popped up in front of the lead group. All in the blink of an eye. So I rode with Mr. Casper for most of the race, in the end we were catching Mr. Taylor after his crash. We rode hard to catch him, Herr Casper selflessly leading me down the road to try and get me to him, but it did not quite work out and I came across 6th.

I really need to get those starts down. I know I can hang with the lead group, I just gotta get there. 3 more tries...

Also vote, I was thinking about a write in.
Solve the puzzle and you will know who!

ogbreweguhs

First one to solve it wins a special prize.

Afton Alps

2008-10-26T21:57:00.003+01:00

What may be one of the last warm days until spring brought me to Afton Alps for another lovely cx race. I cruised down with Ross, who after having a very slow start to his season cruised away from the B field and can now hopefully race A again. Then we can leave Duluth later. Anyhow well done to him.Ross on his way to victory.

Dave Langely rode in circles as well.

The course to my delight was in many respects very similar to the Olaf cx course. Mostly flat with a big ass run up.
Not nearly soon enough the race was off, I felt good, I just sat in the top 5, cruising along for the first couple of laps, I did not even feel as though I was working. On the decent my chain bounced around and somehow got over my chain guard, thus forcing a stop to repair, and loosing contact with the lead group, screwed over once again by the damn chain. I tried to chase, but with a long into the wind road section it was not possible to regain contact by my lonesome. Nevertheless I continued to chase with a few guys sitting close behind, then as I got on my bike after on of the barriers my chain had randomly decided to jump ship again. I considered throwing the bike into the chair lift pole for a bit, but ended up getting back on, chasing the group that went by me. With 1.5 laps to go I regained contact, but had zero in the tank. On the big hill I got gapped by two of them and ended up pulling the 3rd all the way down the road, right up to near the last barrier where he decided to pass me by ramming my bars. This guy has a serious issue with cutting people off, consider this your last warning. Unfourtunatly he beat me to the line as well. I ended up 8th I beleive, when I should really have been much higher then that. I felt good for most of the race, the mechanicals just really seem to take it out of me, totally destroying my rythm and concentration. I have tried to fix it, but I can never get the chain to jump track in practice, only races, and when it happens then I have no time to sit down and ponder the reason. This week I will put many hours, but few dollars into fixing it.
I just discovered I missed getting my race paid for due to my chain, I think I want to burn it.

Run up

I raised my seat a bit again, I think that made a big difference.

Right before dropping chain for second time...

Sunday I decided not to race for various reasons. I still rode and became quickly dissappointed I did not race. I felt really good. Why waste feeling good? So I went out and hammered it for a good 30 minutes in the rain and cold.

Gauranteed to make you faster...

2008-10-23T15:15:00.001+02:00

Challenging vs. Stupid

2008-10-20T05:35:00.005+02:00

But first...
Saturday was the delightful race at Ham Lake, I really do enjoy that course, it is just so damn fast. Roadie tactics can pretty much be used, which makes the racing really entertaining.

Another early morning brought the argyle suit out to the line. The race was started on the road this year which made for an extremely quick get up and go. I let up a little to early and got behind Mr. Hole Shot. Who after starting blazing fast faded blazing fast, causing a gap to open up that would be impossible to close. Thus the lead group was established with my group getting the chase title. There were attacks and crashes and all kinds of fun things, it always came back together after each event though. Mr. Anderson and I worked very well as team mates, first time I have ever had one wearing the same kit. It was great. With 1.5 laps to go someone dropped their chain behind me (I was pulling) and Harry yelled go, I took off, opened up a gap, then soon after the Crossniacs took each other out. Harry sat on the wheel of Jess from Nature Valley, who after sucking wheel (we joked about this, I am not angry) brought me back. He ended up getting the sprint, I rolled in right behind him, with Mr. A rounding out the top 10. Fun stuff.

I spent more then my fair share of time on the front. But no one else would pull...

Fly away home.

The group

Sunday I decided to forgo Hudson round 2 and race in Ashland. I also dragged Father Boyce along for hist first cross race, to bad about the course... Hopefully it did not spoil cross for him.A bunch of them came to my race, so I feel I should support them. Had I known the course, I may have done otherwise...
It was a course made for 29ers. Started as a normal cx course, dropped onto a sand beach, which is fine, then after a short run up, went onto about a 200 meter section of rock. Not gravel, rock (see photo)
I got the hole shot, led over the beach, then as soon as we hit the rock it was like I was riding in sand and the guys on the 29ers were on pavement. All I could do was watch them ride away, I was going as hard as I could but going nowhere, I simply sunk into the rock. And that is how the rest of the race went, in the 200 meters the 2 guys in front of me probably got 15 seconds if I rode the rock perfect, there was no way I could close that gap on the soft grass that was the rest of the course. So I struggled for an hour, not feeling stellar at any point, and wanting to die on the rock.

He warned me about the rocks... At least there was a nice veiw.

Path of death

Size 43 shoe on the rocks.

Other then the course, the race was fun, very low key not even USCF. Thanks to those guys for putting a race on.
In my opinion there are two different kinds of hard, at least for bike racing. Challenging hard, for example the hill at Olaf, last years Twine Ball, speeds at Ham Lake, super fast single track, and things like that. And I thoroughly enjoy a challenge. Then there is stupid hard, i.e. this rock path, or the drainage ditch at last years Velodrome race. No not because I am slow on them, or have bad races, but because they make the race simply not fun. Stupid hard is an unnecessary part of a course that when you ride, you just think what the hell am I doing this for. I know everyone has thought that about some course, so don't everyone go get all upset about this. And no stupid hard does not derive from your weaknesses, I love riding in mud, but I hated the drainage ditch.
Yes, I complain, but how are things going to get changed if I don't.

Getting faster, slowly...

2008-10-14T03:53:00.005+02:00

The weekend started off with the long haul from Duluth to Darwin, home of the worlds largest Twine ball.
The race changed from last year, the large hill was eliminated to my disappointment, but I managed to cope with the loss for I received a wonderful gain. We (the Specialized team) got our skin suits Saturday. New things usually make me happy. The only issue I had with it is that since it is designed for cross it is a bit thicker, and for some odd reason it was 80 deg. But that problem should be remedied very soon, and then I will be very happy for the thinker suit. Anyhow, thanks to Mr. Hartney and Specialized for that.

On to the race... As it has been established it was hot. Not that I mind to much, just a change from the 42 and rain in Duluth.
The evening before I had the inkling of a sore throat, which I promptly tried to ignore, but one never knows how much that affects your performance. The race was off nonetheless and I did not feel like crap right way. The race spread out quick due to the single track and I was positioned well, until the barriers where I dropped my chain. After that I rode with Mr. Roy, Mr. Thorlson, and Mr. Anderson. There were a few attacks, a fair amount of hurt, some stayed away, some did not. In the end Mr. T got away, Mr. Roy got around before the last corner, and a bit before that Mr. Anderson got tired.
I know I can still go faster, lots faster, I just gotta figure out how.

Stolen from Linda

Sunday was a late start, luckily. I got some good sleep and felt a bit better in the morning. And luckily I had lots of time to find the race, not being that familiar with the Cities I don't know what some of the things on the directions mean. Anyhow the course was, surprisingly, the most single track yet this year. Good thing I have been training on it a fair amount. Starting position was very important, and I played it right and was right up there. Things were going pretty well for most of the race. Then not to my surprise, on the the bumpy downhill my chain popped off and the group that had just formed around me got away. I managed to chase down 1 guy by the end, but there went 3 places. Other than that things went well.
On the chain note, I spent a few hours dinking with it, and hopefully it works now.

Morgan and Matt (Olaf friends) showed up and took some photos.

Racing all over

2008-10-08T06:11:00.003+02:00

No not geographically...
Saturdays race went like crap. Perhaps due to a late night with various activities and sleeping on a floor with no pad, or maybe I am just plain slow this year. I have not figured it out yet.
As I mentioned, crap. Not at any time during the race did I feel good, right from the start things did not feel right. My legs just did not want to turn over, my lungs and cardio never really felt like they were working. Just zero power.
I was not too impressed with the course, it was not bad, just not my kinda course, but the dirt jumps were lots of fun!

Saturday night I attended Ben Witts wedding, congratulations. I left early due to exhaustion, then rolled on over to Northfield and hung out with Daniel and Linda, and retired early to bed. Thanks to them for the use of a bed.

Sunday was off to Hudson.
As usual it was half single track, which I did not mind for the first time, and lots of mud. I felt much better then Saturday and things were going decently (besides being slow because I can't ride technically still). Any time lost on the trails I could gain no prob. on the beach run. I could close a gap of 20 meters no problem in the 100 meter run. Then I dropped my chain, then dropped it again. That cost me a few places needless to say...
Better luck next weekend.

Normally if I were racing this slow I would probably just wanna hang it up. But I am racing so up and down (see St. Cloud, Duluth, and these results) that I don't wanna be done yet. I know the speed is in me somewhere, I just have to figure out how to coax it out...

Race Results

2008-09-29T02:38:00.001+02:00

Thanks to all who came up for the weekend. Hope you all had a good race.
Pictures will hopefully be found soon.

Bikes and Lights

Cat 1/2, and 35 +
Place Overall	Category Place	Category	Name	Team
1	1	1/2	Aric Hareland	Synergy
2	2	1/2	Ezra Taylor	Kenwood
3	3	1/2	Kyle Fry	Cycle Solutions
4	1	35+	John Struchynski	Great Plains
5	4	1/2	Jake Boyce	Specialized
6	2	35+	CJ Faulkner	Crossniacs
7	5	1/2	Harry Anderson	Specialized
8	3	35+	Jay Henderson	Hollywood
9	6	1/2	Kent Throlson	LSC
10	4	35+	Jared Roy	Crossniacs
11	7	1/2	Rick Laliberte	Great Plains
12	8	1/2	Lance Benning	Grandstay
13	5	35+	Matt Stein	Hollywood
14	6	35+	Scott Hale	Crossniacs


Cat 3, 45+, women open
Place Overall	Category Place	Category	Name	Team
1	1	3	Joshua Tesch	u/a
2	2	3	Paul Belknap	Bay City Cycles
3	1	45+	Robert Douglas	Ridley
4	3	3	Dace Schuneman	Peace Coffee
5	4	3	Shawn Gort	LSCC
6	5	3	Thomas Manderfeld	LSC
7	6	3	Mike Smith	Ridley
8	2	45+	Bill Kuster	LSC
9	7	3	Charlie Schad	House of Pizza
10	8	3	Eric Sundstrom	LSC
11	9	3	Rich Bergstrom	Gopher Wheelmen
12	10	3	Joe Schlechter	Ridley
13	11	3	Dan Cleary	LCS
14	12	3	Adam Bier	Velo Rochester
15	3	45+	Dean Gies	Ski Hut
16	4	45+	Rich Whitman	Ridley
17	1	WO	Margot Herman	Ridley
18	5	45+	Todd Trembley	Milltown Cycles
19	6	45+	Dave Langely	Team Beat
20	13	3	Mike Hall	LSCC

DNF	40
DNF	53
DNF	58



Cat 4 men/women, Jr. 10-14. 15-18
Place Overall	Category Place	Category	Name	Team
1	1	4	Mario Hernandez	Vlaam Scythes
2	1	Jr. 15-18	Conrad Roberts	Barraboo Sharks
3	2	4	Scott Nesvold	u/a
4	3	4	David Muecke	Birchwood
5	4	4	Zach Mohr	u/a
6	5	4	Nick Vetter	u/a
7	6	4	Jake Boening	u/a
8	7	4	Richard Dryer	Vlaam Scythes
9	1	Jr 10-14	Nils Bolberg	MnJRC
10	8	4	Taylor George	Crossniacs
11	9	4	Patrick Groupman	SPBRC
12	10	4	Jeff Colbeth	Big Ring Flyers
13	11	4	Nate Swanberg	Synergy
14	12	4	Randall Dietel	Vlaam Scythes
15	13	4	Steve Pippen	MCT
16	14	4	Matt Leizinger	Excel
17	15	4	Gustavo Barradas	u/a
18	16	4	Kurt Martinson	Crossniacs
19	17	4	Curt Cline	u/a
20	18	4	Dennis Liphart	u/a
21	19	4	Clay Kramer	MCT
22	20	4	Danieal Boyles	u/a
23	21	4	Matt Hill	Vlaam Scythes
24	22	4	Jim Redmond	Crossniacs
25	1	W4	Kris Brazil	Milltown Cycles
26	23	4	James Oliver	u/a
27	2	W4	Andrea Peabody-Smith	Big Ring Flyers
28	24	4	Quinn Williams	u/a
29	25	4	Paul Tocko	Synergy
30	26	4	Kenneth Smith	Gopher Wheelmen
31	2	Jr 10-14	Katie Liphart	u/a
















Back to School CX

Cat 1/2, and 35 +
Place Overall	Category Place	Category	Name	Team
1	1	1/2	Kyle Fry	Cycle Solutions
2	2	1/2	Ezra Taylor	Kenwood
3	3	1/2	Micha Moran	Grandstay
4	4	1/2	Jake Boyce	Specialized
5	1	35+	Oliver Vrambout	Fahatik
6	2	35+	Jared Roy	Crossniacs
7	3	35+	John Struchynski	Great Plains
8	4	35+	CJ Faulkner	Crossniacs
9	5	35+	Jay Henderson	Hollywood
10	5	1/2	Kent Throlson	LSC
11	6	1/2	Harry Anderson	Specialized
12	7	1/2	Rick Laliberte	Great Plains
13	6	35+	Matt Stein	Hollywood
14	8	1/2	Josh Schwantes	Kenwood
15	9	1/2	Scott Houle	Crossniacs

DNF	8

Cat 3, 45+, women open
Place Overall	Category Place	Category	Name	Team
1	1	45+	Gregory Goblirsch	Ridley
2	1	3	Nikoli Anikin	Coninental
3	2	45+	Rob Douglass	Ridley
4	3	3	Peter Flanagan	FCCC
5	4	3	Shawn Gort	LSCC
6	5	3	Rich Bergstrom	Gopher Wheelmen
7	6	3	Kolyn Kirkham	Peace Coffee
8	7	3	Mike Smith	Ridley
9	8	3	Dan Cleary	LSC
10	9	3	Dave Schuneman	Peace Coffee
11	10	3	Paul Belknap	Bay City Cycles
12	11	3	Adam Birr	Velo Rochester
13	12	3	Joe Schlechter	Ridley
14	13	3	Samuel Meier	Synergy
15	14	3	William Kuster	LSC
16	3	45+	Rich Whitman	Ridley
17	4	45+	Mike Weispfennig	LSCC
18	15	3	Margot Herman	Ridley
19	1	W	Sara Morse	Ridley
20	2	W	Dave Langely	Team Beat
21	5	45+	Todd Termbly	Milltown Cycles
22	16	3	Mike Hall	LSCC





Cat 4 men/women, Jr. 10-14. 15-18
Place Overall	Category Place	Category	Name	Team
1	1	4	Mario Hernandez	Vlaam Scythes
2	1	Jr 15-18	Conrad Roberts	Baraboo Sharks
3	2	4	Scott Nesvold	u/a
4	3	4	Zach Mohr	u/a
5	4	4	Richard Deyer	Vlaam Scythes
6	5	4	Randall Dietel	Vlaam Scythes
7	6	4	Nate Swanberg	Crossniacs
8	7	4	Jeff Colbeth	Big Ring Flyers
9	8	4	Adam Hansen	LSCC
10	9	4	Matt Haggerty	u/a
11	20	4	Curt Cline	u/a
12	11	4	Graham Tolbert	u/a
13	12	4	Matt Liezinger	Excel
14	1	Jr. 10-14	Nils Bolberg	MnJRC
15	13	4	Jim Olives	u/a
16	14	4	Dan Boyles	u/a
17	15	4	Dennis Liphart	Bay City Cycles
18	16	4	Tim Morse	u/a
19	17	4	Sam Fehrenbach	u/a
20	1	W4	Kris Brazil	u/a
21	18	4	Quinn Williams	u/a
22	2	W4	Jean Peabody-Smith	Big Ring Flyers
23	19	4	Peder Morse	u/a
24	20	4	Boh Houle	u/a
25	2	Jr 10-14	Katie Liphart	u/a