This and that

Late last week I took off to the Boundary waters with some friends. It got real cold on us on the second day. By the last morning there was frost. Not only was the air cold the whole time, but it was windy as can be. Hurricane Thelma we figured...

For lack of warm clothes these had to do...

Without this, surely death.

Frost

Sunrise in the fire zone

Then the mist cleared...
We covered pretty much the whole map. Starting at round, going through Tuscarora, over to Gabimichigami and then back home.

Since then I have basically been trying to put together two cross races. I am finally down to the finishing items. One of the races is going to be at night. It is going to be quite fun. So Sept. 27 and 28 get ready for some good fun!

Today was the hill ride. A record low turnout of 2. Nonetheless we rode the 20 most prominent hills in Duluth, in absolutely perfect weather... It ended up being 161 km and taking 7 hours 10 minutes. Surprisingly I feel pretty dang good still.


In other cross news Specialized won the bid for giving me a team this fall. So thanks much to them!

Update!

Due to the fact that the first two hills are not actually in the city, and add around 40km to the ride. It has been decided that they will be removed. Thus the route is shorter, and more manageable. Everything else is the same.
Remove:
1. Highway 23
2. Jay Cooke

Route

From there we head West then come back East, Go more East. Stopping whenever we feel like it. Then come back to the BU for beer (a bunch of it for free).

Here is the map.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-st ... 8711107708

Print this out before you come up. A list of the hills
1. Highway 23 to overlook
2. Jay Cooke to Tompson
3. Becks Rd., Midway to just past golf course
4. 59th Ave West. To Highland/Gretchell
5. 40th Ave West
6. 27th Ave West to Skyline to 28th Ave West to Exhibition.
7. Lincoln Park
8. 24th Ave West to piedmont
9. (take Skyline to W. 5th Street to 11th Ave. to 1st. to Glen Pl. to Superior St.) then back up to 10th Ave W. to Observation Rd. to Arlington.
10. (down to Skyline, to 8th Ave West. To 4th Street. Over to) 5th Ave West “goat hill”
11. Lake Ave. to 1st Ave E. to Mesaba, to Rice Lake Rd.
12. (Central Entrance to 2nd Street) 11th Ave E. to top by Summit School
13. 19th Ave E. to junction to up by UMD dorms
14. 21st Ave E.
15. (London Rd) 32 Ave E. to Superior St. to Hawthorn, to Vermillion Rd. to Wallace, to Arrowhead. Stop at Super One
16. Congdon park dr. from superior st.
17. (Superior St.) 45th Ave E. to Glenwood.
18. 7 Bridges Rd.
19. Lester River Rd.
20. (to) Strand Rd. Riley Rd. (Jean Duluth) Pleasantview Rd.

() indicate how to get to hill...


Places to sleep can be figured out without a problem.

A better use for wind...

Last week Thursday brought about a strong east wind. That means big waves on the Lake. So as soon as I got of work, instead of riding bikes I decided to go sailing. It was quite a nice little break from the road. We (Max and I) only tipped once, and it was not really our fault, the rope got caught on the boat. Anyhow it was really fun, it better get windy again soon...

We were often looking up at the waves.

Enjoy some "virtual sailing"

Don't forget August 30th. Hill ride, be here.

Wet rides and an invite

Today gravel roads started. It was dry all day long, of course it decided to rain in about a 5 mile wide path. The path exactly where all of our gravel is...
It was still a party, just really hard with skinny tires at some points.

A few of us...

It was dark when I got home.

I would have to consider it epic...

And the invite.
Mark your calender. This coming Sat. August 30th will be the annual hill ride in Duluth. The exact course is yet to be finalized, but it will be over 100 miles, with lots and lots of climbing.
The basic idea is to hit as many of the hills in Duluth as we can. Starting out west and coming east.
The ride will start at the Burrito Union, on 4th street, and travel way out west to start. a good 50-60 minute warm up. Then climb all the way past home and then back to the BU for a bit of a party.
I will get the course figured out soon and see if I can conjure up a map. At least a list.
Check back often.
For sleeping, I cant offer much in terms of beds, but plenty of tent space. Although, I am sure many of you know someone in Duluth.

These are some samples...

Infamous Lake Ave.

Steepest paved hill in Duluth (note stairs in sidewalk)

The well hidden Minneapolis Ave.

Any questions?
jwboyce@gmail.com

For Sale

Cat 1. rider sick of not having a team. Can be bought for the cheap cheap price of a kit and all or some entry fees. 4yrs. exp. road racing. 3 yrs. exp. in cyclo-cross.
Act fast! Offer only while supplies last.

Week Off.

State crit went alright, the new bike worked great, but the old legs did not. Thus a week off*.
Next week we are starting up "Gravel Road Wednesdays," the title is pretty explanatory. But in case you did not get it, we go ride gravel on Wed. and go fast from as soon as the gravel starts until we find pavement again. It should be a party, if you are interested. Meet at The Ski Hut in Duluth at 4:50 for a 5:00 start.


*excludes commuting, and riding bikes for work.

Boats, Beer and Music

Tuesday evening brought the bands: Collective Soul, Blues Traveler, and Live to Duluth for an outdoor show down at Bayfront. The great thing about that venue is that it is outside. Not only does it make for a pretty area, but also gives the possibility of watching and listening free if you so desire. There are some things that I really like about Duluth, and being able to sit on the water and listen to good music is just one of them.

A couple of people from Ski Hut, and one of my friends made a nice little flotilla.

We were not the only ones floating (stage is the metal roof on the right side).
The Coast Guard was on patrol, luckily we did not get boarded like these people...

Gateway to open water.

In biking news, I broke my Madone's fork at some point. I have no idea when or how it happened. Yay for warranty...

The new ride is ready to go. It rides wonderfully. Incredibly stiff but not harsh, I am very pleased. Now I just have to get it adjusted right. With the same wheels as I had on my Trek (powertap included) this weighs 2 pounds less. Out of the box it was 15.4.

Shortly a break.

This bike season has been a long one. For the most part good, but very long. It is nearly time for a break. After the State Crit next weekend I will have my chance. Finally...
The week started off with the Doughboy coming up for a few days of bike practice. We found some hills and ice cream.
As the week progressed I was really looking forward to racing, but I sold the Madone bought a new bike on Friday instead. And with the high entry fee I was unable to afford riding in circles. Oh well. At the Northfield crit a few weeks back I felt great, the week following I went hard and long, and ever since then I have been tired, sore legs are not good for racing. However the strange thing is that even with my legs feeling totally shot, I can still pedal. Yesterday I rode my cross bike on single track for 3 hours. Then today I went out to hit up 40th Ave. West in Duluth and crushed my previous record by 57 seconds. I don't get it.
On the note of legs hurting, the results are in from the biopsy. I'll put something up when I know what they mean.

I also finally made it to the Lake, as did Tess and Hazel.

Into the Abyss?

On some other notes, I have had some very strong urges to go sailing and golfing. Maybe I'll get around to that during my break.

Northfield

The race went smoothly, results can be found here.
My actual race went for the most part well too. Right from the start I felt great, much better then I have the last few races. Somewhere near the middle of the race, something happened up front and a rider went down right in front of me. There was nothing I could do besides go straight into him. After getting my head back together and getting the bike ready to go again thanks to On Support, I was back in the race. Besides my body hurting from the crash I still felt great, and had my bike not been ghost shifting I think I could have had a good sprint. Oh well, I still had fun.

Sean and his new bike.

Karin caught this kid in the act of ripping up the Masters field.

Sean raced again

Downtown

This weekend is some more racing, I think I am ready. I still feel good, but I am training hard because of it. We will just have to wait and see what happens!

Gas

Is getting expensive...
So
Ride bikes!
Like Chinese
Like bike racers

Or even better, like the Dutch!

Then no more

These would work too.

If we all used bikes and made trains, then maybe everyone would quite bitching!
And we would all be happy and skinny again.

So start by going:
Here
or Here

As an added bonus,
We can stop this, and
save these guys.

We are all winners, and even if you don't believe in global warm/climate change. What is wrong with making the world a better place?

On another note. Come here.

Classifieds

Are you interested?
Please inquire.

A steep learning curve

I recently ended my Nature Valley Grand Prix experience, of course it did not end like I wanted to but I learned more about racing in the last few days then all spring. And being able to race against some of the best the country has to offer was a good experience.
I have been thinking of reasons for my lack luster performance of the last couple of days and I think I have figured out why I just did not have it. Not nearly enough of it in fact.
Mind you, these are not excuses, they are things I did wrong and thus can change in the future.

First off, my racing took a bit to long of a hiatus. In fact I am pretty sure it is what screwed me over. Between Nationals in the middle of May and Last Wednesday I did two short time trials and the State Fair crit. For me continuous racing is really what gets me up to speed. Thus going into Nature Valley I had plenty of base, but not the top end speed that I know I can muster. I know I can race with many of those guys, I raced with some of them in St. Louis, Collegiate Nationals, and around Minnesota. My body can do it, I just have to be prepared right. With that realization I know what I have to do.

Second, I found out I am afraid of the rain. I shouldn't be, but Wednesday I was terrified of crashing. That is no good. I need to work on fast cornering on wet streets. The only crit I can remember before Wed. in the rain was one in Lincoln, NE two years ago, and there were not even really any corners.

Finally, my diet. Spaghetti is good, but I need more that that...

I'll post pictures as I find them.

Also, I really would like to that Daniel Casper and Linda Sone for letting me shack up there for my run. Also the not so Doughboy and Mr. Hutton for being support for a few of the races. Having to do everything by myself sucked when I had to do it. Also for Dr. Boyce for stopping by for the TT.

Livin' the dream

Next week I get to live the dream. Race, eat, sleep, repeat. It should be a good time...
I just got my 1 upgrade, now I get to to race Nature Valley GP. I get to race with the big boys of American cycling, I get to get my legs ripped off for 5 days next week (hopefully).
I just want to thank all those who helped me out in being able to qualify, especially people such as Daniel Casper, Sean, Larry Martin, Tim Mulrooney, and everyone else. Hopefully I can make it though the race, that is my goal at this point.

Anyhow, last night was the last qualifier, it was fairly fast and a good time. I think I could still smell the old fryer grease on the State Fair Grounds.

This is another reason why cars suck...

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/06/02/mexico.bikers.ap/index.html

A lot to learn

about life in general, but more specifically time trailing. Last Wednesday was the Blackdog TT that I wanted to do well in to get some more points for the NVGP qualifier.
The TT did not go as well as I wanted, I think I started to fast. Although I was feeling good for the whole going out section, and the first part of the way back. However I did manage to hold off anyone from passing me, which is always fun, even if not by a whole lot.
In comparison with last Sunday, I was just over 20 seconds faster. I figured I would be much faster than that, but oh well. I think I know why I did not go so fast...
First my legs have been shot recently, I think I may have put a little to much training in while not getting enough sleep ever since Nationals. So I am backing it off for a few days. I am already feeling better. Also Casper thinks I am to high in the drops. Thus catching a fair amount of wind. So I will drop those down in a few minutes here...



In other news all I have to do is pick up my diploma and I am officially a college grad. Good and bad. Good, I graduated. Bad, I have to live in the real world now....
I wanted to skip graduation and go race up in Duluth, but I guess I only get to walk across the stage once.

A good investment.

This week has been a fairly good training week. Thursday the highlight, nearly calm winds, 75 degrees, absolutely wonderful. In addition to it being nice The Ghost ripped my legs off on a hill repeat session.

I also rode lots of this over the week.

It got dusty at some points.

Friday I picked up my new TT bike. I traded Ben at the shop frames, he really liked the De Rosa (which I picked up not long ago), and he had a TT frame he has been trying to get rid of for awhile. I said hey lets trade. We are both happy now.

The El Go Go is wanting to go...

The bike came just in time. Today I had two races. The first was the bike section of the Olaf Triathlon. I got a fast girl swimmer, and a fast guy runner. I have not heard the results yet, but things look promising. We may have even set some records.
For that I had 13 or so miles of open rode to cover, an early estimate is just under 30 minutes, but the heart rate strap was being weird so I don't know if it recorded right.
As soon as I finished that (and finished fixing a flat that appeared right after the finish) and cooling down a bit, I hoped in the car and went up to the TT at Blackdog Rd. A good training run for Wednesday. That race went alright, I was a bit gassed from the morning, and last night...But I made it hurt and my official time was 15:40. Slower then it needs to be, but again, I was not at all fresh. Hopefully I can take a good chunk of time off with preparing properly. Anyhow, it looks like I am getting good use out of my investment in the TT bike.

Oh, and for school I am under the 1 km banner and the chase group is 5 minutes back. I just have to enjoy the remainder and finish up.

It's a dangerous game.

As a cyclist I know that crashes happen, they happen to everyone at sometime or another. Most are fairly minor, but there are always some big ones. I have known a couple of people who have taken big spills during races, Finn, Tone, and a few others. But for some reason those, although fairly serious, just have not really quite hit home as hard as Sean's attack on the guard rail in Colorado.
Maybe it is because I did not see the crashes happen, or at least ride by seconds after impact, or maybe it is because I was not at the crash minutes after to see how beat up the others were, or maybe because the others had people at the races to take care of them. Or maybe it is simply because I have spent so much time training, traveling, and racing with the Doughboy that not having him around makes it seem like I am forgetting something. After all what fun is a recovery ride if you have no one to talk about the stupid people during the race with.
Anyways, a big crash of someone you know really well is one of the things that reminds you of how dangerous racing is. The fact that you know the person, and know that they are most of the time capable of riding their bicycle reminds you that it can happen anytime and anywhere...

On that note, Sean is in Colorado for a few weeks. Last week he was pushing me to stay out yonder to train and enjoy the mountains. Looks like he gets to stay out there, unfortunately he will not be able to train, and will have to settle for a view of the mountains.
I had some pictures of his bike and all, but I'll let him post those if he wants.

For me Nationals was a bit of a disappointment. I felt strong both days, and was having a blast attacking during the road race. On the final climb, arguably the most important part of the race I dropped my chain and thus was out of contention. I chased as hard as I could up the hill, down the next hill, hitting 95 km/h chasing down, seeing two bodies plastered against the guard rail, then seeing Sean's bike. Oh shit... I continued chasing and ended up about 15 seconds back from the group I would have been in, which was sprinting for 5th or so... After that I immediately took off back up the hill to find out what had just happened (see above).
In the end I finished 22, I know that without the chain drop it would have been much better, I was feeling good. But how much better it will never be known.

The crit was not any better. Right off the bat things were hot, at some point some riders got away. Soon after some more kinda rolled off the front and being boxed in I could not get anywhere. I tried multiple times to get away, but to no avail. I ended up 24th. Again disappointed but better than last year.

Training ride.

More training

The hill, Sean and I are the two dots on the hill.

Crit start

Trying hard.

It's Final...

I am transferring to Carleton for the last few weeks of school. The papers and everything have been approved. Just in time for Nationals as well.

Unfortunately the camera was on some weird setting for the picture, however, after some editing it turned out well. Kinda cool actually.

In other news, this is pretty entertaining.

It's go time.

Saturday Sean went on up to St. Cloud to partake in the exceptionally windy Marty road race. For me it was pretty much final preparations for nationals which are this weekend.
The race was 72 miles of fun in the wind, with 2.6 laps left I got forced into the ditch, luckily for me (not for them) a couple of strong Grandstay guys had been gapped as well. After a brief chase where I saw the race drift away from me, we got working together. Turning with the wind I and 2 other put it down to try and bridge up. 100 meters from the back of the peloton I dropped my chain somehow, and watched as my companions caught the group. Until .75 of a lap left I was chasing hard with 4 others. Eventually we caught the peloton as a group of 7 had gotten away, and no one was chasing. The Ghost had been chasing with me the entire time, after resting up a bit in the pack and seeing nothing was going to happen, I told him I was going to go as soon as we got a tailwind and that he better be on my wheel.
Things happened just as I had said and the last few miles The Ghost and I spent drilling it home. I finished 8th overall, with after enjoying the ditch I thought my race was done for. Chasing so much was good I guess because it gave me the hard race situation of a break (without the glory) that I wanted, and needed to prepare for nationals.
Yesterday Sean's mom came up and we did some fast motor pacing, then I rode my bike some more. The rest of this week is just ride easy and sleep. It should be fun...