Count on Family

So my bareknuckle friends bailed on me at the last minute for failing to find race days, times, and subs to work, so I got on the phone and asked my very first pit crew if they wanted to ride along, hang out in Nashville for a couple days and watch a race and they of course said they couldn't wait. I am of course speaking of my parents who have always been there for me and continue to get excited about watching the spectacle that is mountain bike racing. I am of course reminded of Tinker who brought his mom as his pit crew to at least 2 of the World Championships. This actually works out great cause now I get to go do some other things besides just drive and race. We are going to hang out in Nashville catch some music and get the feel of the south, we also have plans to visit my old buddy Jack Daniels, but I think I will be spending time at his house after the race. Busy day today and tomorrow so the next update will be post race. See you there or at the next one and remember get your shit wired tight for the race, ditch your 10 man pit crew and invite you mom to the race.

7 Hours of Fun in the Sun

With temps coming into the mid 70's I decided to get some more long miles in before the start of the season, the Rock Cut Race was appealing but I felt I needed to spend more time riding than driving this weekend so on Sunday I grabbed my riding partner Ben and took off from Madison to Gibraltar Rock in Merrimack. Its this little park that I had heard about but never been to so with maps in hand we took off with one single goal in mind, reach the rock. Above is my favorite Road, a thrilling ride of unexpected twists and turns a road that is pretty smooth down the center, but rough around the edges, just like me.
Here is Ben perched above the soaring Turkey Vultures that dominate the Rock.

The road to the top was closed in the 80's to prevent young impressionable youth from driving to the top to have keggers, so it was a little hike across the barricade and then straight up. The climb to the top was what you would expect out of a road that had not been maintained in 20 years, lots of moss covered marbles ready to throw you down at the first opportunity.
When I saw this sign I knew we were in for some climbing. You know its steep when you pass people hiking to the top with trekking poles and taking a break, but they cheered us on as we made for the summit.

Some commuter pics

I like to hit these before I get to the office......yeah right. This is a little mtb park I ride through on my morning commute to the clinic. I haven't seen anyone huck their bike off them yet, but I'm waiting in desperate anticipation.
Really steep rocky climb to the top, with a fast single track decent on the other side. This is a tough little mother that I do repeats on to make myself strong like Bull.
More Difficult to the Left and Most Difficult to the Right, always a perplexing decision. The Video I shot is from the trail to the right so obviously not to death defying.
Slick rock in Madison? This is the trail down the Expert section. Its not very pretty yet, but summer is a commin.
Love this little park, only a mile from home makes it the perfect place to tweak my gear before races.

Helmet Cam Try Outs

This is my first test run with the helmet cam so bare with me. I am still figuring out if its better to run it on the bike or helmet and at the best angles. The footage is from a portion of the 4 mile off road commute to and from our clinic. The camera is really small and completely self contained so I don't have to deal with cords or any kind of external recording device. My big picture, no pun intended, is to shoot some race video through-out the season.

Mohican 100 is Go

All registered for the Mohican 100 and got crazy fast man Scott Cole riding with me to the event. We have all the driving and lodging figured out so that's one less thing to think about this season. Now I just need to work out logistics for the Breckenridge 100, with another crazy fast guy from Iowa and no its not Kerkove. If anyone out there has done the Mohican race or has info on ways to beat it please let me know.

Blown Away

Just trying to pound myself into shape before the DSG. I have been spending the last couple days riding off road to avoid the 30mph winds that are ripping across most of the Midwest. For the first time while riding I actually felt like someone pulled and pushed me backwards as I was riding, the gusts are so strong it felt like someone had tied a rope to the back of my bike and just yanked it as hard as they could about every 30 seconds. In unrelated news of yesterday, I got my new helmet cam out for the first time to shoot some wicked fun, rock filled down hill sections. I will hopefully get a chance to post the video in a couple days, but work looks like it might prevent me from having a second to do that, that's a good thing for financial reasons, but a bad thing for blogging fun reasons. Headed back out and off road today as we are expecting more high winds. I've always dreamed of having someone drop me off about a 100 miles away on a day like this and riding with a tail wind home, but that requires someone willing to make a 200 mile round trip for my dumb ass so I am betting it will remain a distant dream, but I'm willing to pay for the gas if there are any takers.

Hope 4 H8R

I'm looking outside from work at this very moment and am filled with mixed emotions, on one hand I long to go racing and on the other its snowing and really freaking cold out right now. I feel I have spent enough days in the snow to deserve a race in warm weather. Dido the sentiment this Sunday when instead of racing I will be driving away from the race so I can get back home and get ready for work the next day. I must remind myself every year to just chill out, there are lots of races and I don't need to get blown up before the season hits. To all you guys out there today have fun I wish I was there with you, kinda, and I will catch you, or maybe I won't, at the next one.

No Stampede for Lee

It looks like father time is going to cut me short in the Quad Cities, unfortunately I am going to miss out on some great competition, but will be back to race again another day. I didn't realize the race dosen't start until 2pm, that puts me back in Madison way later than I need, sooo good luck to everyone and I will catch you at the next one, hopefully.

Stampede

No H8R for me this weekend, sorry, I will be back in Iowa visiting my new nephew. I decided I better check the local listings and ta-da there is a mtb race right in town so if time allows I will try to hit it before I head back to Mad Town.

115 Mile Weekend

Very little steady state today, great training for the mtb season.
4.5 hours to go 74 miles, can you say slow. I knew I was in trouble when I looked down saw 12mph and 450 watts and that was going flat. Didn't take a HR today, just thought it best not to see those kinds of numbers while riding.
Felt good for the 4th day out on bike.

Great weekend for getting some miles in, and that's exactly what I did. I put in a hour ride before hooking up with the Saturday noon hour ride. Myself and about a dozen other guys and head south into the roaring lion of 20mph wind. We took turns pulling through which made for a pleasant enough experience, yet still challenging. At the 1.5 hour mark some of the guys were blown and decided to catch the wind back, leaving only 6 of us to hit the hardest part of the ride, wind plus death climbs. The remain 6 had their fitness about them which made for a slug fest up every hill, we kept it fun and didn't let anyone get dropped, but it was still a kick in the head for the next couple of hours. I would like to say that the return trip was a big tail wind, but somehow we managed pick a great route home that allowed for more wind and more hills, ugh.

Sunday a little more of the same, except this time just me and 1 0ther guy went out for a easy 2.5 hour tour. More wind and bigger climbs, but we kept it in check the whole morning.

Today is recovery and rehab day.

Saris love

I just came back from a great 1.5 hour hill ride and on my way back into town I ran into a good friend that works over at Saris, we got to talking about my current need to haul 6 bikes to the DSG in Tennessee. I'm lucky enough to get the Friends and Family pricing through Saris, but he is going the extra mile to see what he can find for me that would be the best bang for the buck. I started thinking about all the Saris gear I have and decided, hey maybe I should give them a shout out even though they aren't an official sponsor. So here it is, the equipment you get from Saris is the best, I have their roof rack, truck bed racks, Power Tap, Fluid Trainer and am working on getting a Thelma, OK and a Power Tap for the MTB's. I have had zero problems with all of it including the Tap and I beat that thing, so if your on the fence about purchasing similar product from another company, well, forget about it. OK, that's my shout out to everyone over at Saris, thanks for all the help and great products.
Get with it and get power, great tool that keeps you on track all the time.
Fluid Trainer, Bomber and Quite.
Working on getting the 3 bike Thelma so I can haul myself and fellow hooligans to the races.

Ahhhhhh. the Power Tap with Disc, this has been a long time coming, as soon as I get a chance to try this out you will be the first to know, just don't tell my wife cause this little thing is pricey.

DSG is Go

Just finished registering for the SSUSA and DSG. I am also excited to say that I will have some company on the long drive down as Jesse and Mark Lalonde will be riding down with me. As a funny turn of events Gary Fisher will be here in Madison on the 1st then is Flying down for the race weekend so he is going to get a double dose of Madisonians. Next registration is the Mohican 100. Its shaping up to be a all national event calender kind of year.