In the basement

Been spending time with the mill and the trainer in the basement, and trying to line up new sponsors for the team. We scored another local bar, Captain Bradys' Showboat Saloon and Kenda has the team on the Rider Support Program for 2010. Moosejaw Pizza and Dells Brewing Company are still on board. Mark has been supporting the team since he owned Pump House Brewery, that makes this year number 12 for him and his business. Pete and the guys at Wildside Adventure Store are title sponsors again and we hope to win more shiny plaques to hang in the shop this year.
So far I am ahead in my training from last year. The watts are up and the weight is down, unfortunately I am still a clyde. Have two more months of hard work before I stop worrying about the weight and focus more on the racing. Signed up for my first event, 10K Shamrock Shuffle, still up in the air about Berry Roubaix.

Shot Time

The first real road ride of the year and I definitely can feel it in the legs. Managed to get three full hours in and see a bit of the Sauk County country side. I have been offered a shot during rides before but this was a first for a non pub crawl ride. We were about 5-6 miles from finishing up at the Krayers when some nice fella stuck his head out of the door of a bar and yelled " do you want a shot of peppermint?" I think he was kind of shocked when we all turned around and said "heck yeah". He proceeded to get a bottle of peppermint schnapps and glasses. He was just as equally surprised to find out that the lycra clad bike riders Ryan and Lisa were his neighbors. What a great ride, I hope offers of food and beverage keep coming as we pass through the little towns and villages of the state this year.

Snow biking

For the second Sunday in a row I have ventured out on the snowmobile trails of Sauk County. We start at the Krayer's and ride from their home in Denzer to the trail that is just down the road. The first week it was through Leland and west of there. This rout had a fair amount of elevation change and we ended up on a high ridge overlooking the Leland area. This week it was towards Sauk City and the recent snow made for a lot of work, this ride was a bit harder than week one. We would hit areas that were drifted over and not as packed in as the rest and the bikes and riders had a hard time negotiating the trail. We only cover about 7-8 miles of trail each way so we do not get a lot of mileage but it is made up in effort. We have started sprinting for the stop ahead signs just like our summer road rides but you can't get much of a sprint on with 10lbs of air in the tires and three inches of fresh snow. It has been a blast and reminds me of the days in Houghton/Hancock of riding on the trails with Matt and Jeff. Oh to be a college student with not much in the way of responsibilities again. The local people on there snow machines have given mixed but slightly positive reactions. No one has yelled but the waves or thumbs up are outranked by no response 10-1. Hopefully we will be back out again on Sunday, it beats the heck out of the basement trainer.

Ringing in the new year

The annual New Years Day ride was a pleasant 15 mile ride on the snow covered roads today. It was a small turnout this year compared to last, but the weather always plays a roll in the amount of people that show up. If the temp is below 20 it cuts the number in half just by itself. The eight of us ventured out at 2:00 p.m. sharp and road for about an hour. It seems that every year we have grand plans to ride every weekend in the winter, we will see what happens on Sunday when we are supposed to hit the Sauk County snowmobile trails.

And so it begins

Last year on this very day I weighed in at 232lbs. After a lot of mediocre work I whittled myself down to a svelte 206 by the time I raced Ore to Shore. Well after a six week hiatus from the bike I started running yesterday and rode the trainer today. After scaling myself this morning I have gained 6 pounds since the Iceman Cometh. Now the challenge is to get carving the fat and get down under 200 for the 2010 racing campaign. Looks like all our sponsors will be back again next season and we are hoping to pick up a few more. Still trying to convince Pete that Spencer needs every other Sunday off for the WORS series, we will see what happens. So now the work begins on the bike and off the bike to be a better rider. Hope to see you at the New Years Day Ride.

The rest period

Well I have not been on the bike since Iceman and it feels good. It was strange taking the roof-rack off the car for the drive to Muskegon for Thanksgiving, but it did improve gas mileage to 33.9 mpg for the trip. Its funny how I drive like I race, the car has real time gas mileage updates, so I always stay in the draft of larger vehicles until the very last moment before the pass. Had a great time with friends and family, had the best Chili Dogs ever, and drank more beer in three days then I did all year. Looking forward to just doing the maintenance on the bikes in the next couple of weeks then back to the trainer and DVDs of past pro races or college basketball. Hope to lose another 20 pounds over the winter like last year. Heck the way work is looking I may have a lot of time on my hands. Our team dinner is next weekend and hopefully we will be able to ride the MTB trails in the Dells before tearing into the worlds best pizza and beer.

Had a good birthday weekend. Watched my Alma Mater get spanked by the Budgers, and enjoyed some delicious PBR afterwards with Niki, Bryan, and Chasity. Got up the next morning and went to help Ryan just in time for him to be done cutting wood for the day.

Iceman and Chron's Cometh

What a great race, all you Iceman haters and naysayers can take a step back, no other point to point race that I have done has been this interesting or had single-track, yeah it had some sand but it also had character. The start was somewhat relaxed and I sat fourth wheel trying to do no work and just sit in. The guy in first attacked as soon as we hit the trail and steadily built his lead. Okay so I am probably not going to win but maybe I can be top five. I sat and went with every move the now three guys in front of me made. I remember a guy at the start telling me that the last 6-7 miles have lots of climbs and to pace myself for it. I just tried to ride my race and then to my surprise single track, this is awesome 4000 racers and single track? Well it was a little clogged up so I just started yelling left, left, left, and they all moved over and let me through. By this point we must have been at about the 4-5 mile mark and I looked around an there were only five of us from my age group within sight. When we hit about the 10 mile mark the attacks from the small group started and I got left behind and now figured I could be top ten. I started passing people laying all over the trail, people shedding winter riding gear, cramped up, or just hanging out eating. This is were it kinda got weird, I was passing people who started over an hour ahead of me. People with huge backpacks with food and clothes and tools, people with baskets on their bikes full of who knows what, and the weirdest was a guy with a big bag of dog food strapped to his back. When the hills started coming in waves in the last five miles I started to get passed by a few age groupers and was struggling, with 2 to go I could see that the barn doors were open and wanted to head for home. Made a few age group passes in the last mile and stood and hammered the last two climbs to finish 10th in age group out of 150. Not bad for having my first bout with the old Chron's Disease of the year this weekend, almost made it the whole racing season but it popped up Thursday. The Shedmaster was there to high five me in the finishing chute, and Cupcake won his age group along with some cash to take home.
Chasity had a good race. No cramping or crashing. After not riding her bike since the middle of Sept she decided to do the race anyway and had a great time. Ended up 24 out of about 50 and thought it was a great event also. We will definitely be back, but will have to make it a four day weekend next time instead of three so we can enjoy the great scene at the finish and have some delicious beer and pizza.
It was great to be back home in MI and see some friendly faces from WORS and the hometown of Muskegon. Greg and Jen hope to see you at O2S next year