Cocked and Loaded

Just waiting to pull the whistle here at work then and early morning of clients at Saris Cycling and it's off to Ohio. It looks like the weather is about 50/50 for rain, but great temps. I have a double secret plan of attack for this race that I will unleash with great vengeance and furious anger. I hope for a finish time around 8 1/2 hours, but we will see what happens. It will be great to have some company as I am joined by Specialized rider Scott Cole for this one. Gotta go, full report on the flip side.

TGIF

Monday 2 hours easy, Tuesday 4.5 hours of Hills, Wed. 3 hours off road, Thursday 1 hour run. Friday Off. I just came to realize the whole week has just disappeared into a week of prep for the NUE race next week. The Scoletrain and me are getting ready to take no prisoners. Thank god its Friday.

Hammer Nutrition

We are carrying Hammer Nutrition, details and product are forthcoming. I have been a long time user of All of the Hammer products, never sponsored by them as it was just a little to much of a hassle, but none the less a committed advocate of their products. Jill has become Certified by the State of Wisconsin which means we will be able to recommend and sell nutritional supplements to patients and clients. More info to come, but we are happy to announce we will be carrying much of the Hammer line that is Not carried in local bike shops.

The Longest Yard

I'm not referring to the movie old or new, rather my ride yesterday, I got up early and was ready to tackle between 80-100 miles depending. I planned on riding in the neighborhood of 4-5.5 hours, but the neighborhood turned into a bombed out ghetto. The first hour started off great, then I turned south for an hour and that was it, I actually herd my will crack at the 2 hour mark. At one point I looked down and saw 400 watts with a speed of 11mph and this was on a dead flat pancake portion of road. I looked at my map to determine my option out plan and then started the 2 hour return trip home. Great tail wind for about 30 min. then it was back into the cross winds again. At the conclusion of this brain beater I had ridden 4 hours 10 min and had only gone 68 miles. I know its about time, watts, effort and not distance, but that thing still remains in the back of your head that says " I wanna see ots o miles damn it". So it was the hardest 15mph average road ride I can recall, but I fall down a lot so my memory isn't so good. This has been memoirs of suffering with lee.

Into the Dark

South of town a new rail trail that stretches from Madison to Illinois, a little 100 miler 1 way. We didn't quite make it that far, but we did make it to this great train tunnel carved out of the hills. I'm glad we brought a light because it stretched on into the void where light could not penetrate. As we approached, the 70 degree day gave way to a chilly breath from inside where we found the last remaining snow still clinging on.

Bike To Work Week Madison

Its that time of year again, although this is preaching to the choir grab your bike and head to work. Assuming most of you are already doing that, then use this week to teach not lecture others about the ease of commuting to work, in fact help someone pick a route, change a tire, or even commute in with them. Bike Fed

Big Freakin Catfish

Just a little Blue Cat. I ran across while in Nashville, be careful when your wiggling those little piggies in the water cause there are more than a couple of these monsters out there.

Some of the Southern Seen

The announcers for the SSUSA race.
Yes, he rode this way for 16 miles and automatically advanced to round 2.
Darkness, thug from Madison.
Creepy, Thug from Madison, held his own on the joust of death.
Jerry, me, and Judy. This is my pit crew.
Great restaurants on Broadway, Nashville, TN.
T-shirt I didn't buy.
Me at the Grand Ole Opry
Don't order soda or pop, just coke.

SSUSA & DSG

The above Photo comes from Jeff Kervove, be sure to link over to him for tons of great pics. More pics later this week, if I can find my camera.

After many hours of driving and a day of sight seeing in the Honky Tonks of Nashville we finally arrived in Fayetville for the inaugural SSUSA race. I had planned for a fun light atmosphere, but had not planned on it being debauchery on wheels. The first stage consisted of a 8 mile loop, chug a PBR then head out on another 8 mile hammer fest. At the start I could see that myself and a few of my bare knuckle friends were a little over kitted for the festivities, the attire dejour was more like superman costumes or drag queens. After the first 8 miles I was sitting comfortably in 5th with 6,7,8 hot on my heals, but my true Wisconsin training helped at the beer slam were I promptly put a minute on the chasing posse. At the finish I came in still holding 5th and qualified for the second round of pain, the HILL CLIMB. In this stage we followed a rabbit on a bicycle to the start of the hill were he yelled, "go" we pounded up to the top were at almost the summit I got kicked off my bike and ran it out. I finished 6th, wich should have put me in to the final round, but as is the right of any organizer of an event like this they can determine who goes and who stays. Several of us were then informed at the top that this was a bike race and not a foot race, didn't we mention that at the bottom. Oh well, no round 3 of jousting and brain beating, but it sure was fun to watch other get beat up on.

The DSG, should be renamed MSG cause it was mud fest central for awhile. The night before it poured buckets leaving the course a muddy slick rock strewn mess. At the gun I got a good start and stayed in the grass, avoiding the mud, but as soon as we hit the trails it was over. The mud began to collect and I spent more time walking than riding. I regretted not grabbing the single for the first lap, but I had made my bed. After and 1 hour and 40 min I finally crawled in and handed my bike to my dad, grabbed the single and took off for lap 2. Taking the single on lap 2 didn't exactly speed things along for me, but I got it done, got back in, grabbed my clean bike and took off. I would like to say that things got better for me and eventually they do, but for much of the day I continued to suffer from the rising temps and high humidity. Although others might laugh at 75 or 80 with the same humidity I hadn't ridden but 1 day over 70 this season. In fact when I left Madison it was 50 so the 30 degree jump was a shock to my sweat glands. Anyway I suffered along until about 4pm when suddenly I just started feeling great, the course was dry, the humidity was blown off and I could breath again. So I stopped limping and started racing. I could actually feel myself coming back after 8 hours. I started posting my fastest times and just kept it pushing till the end. It was a little late but I was glad to feel myself back and finish with my last 4 hours faster than the first. In the end I was 10th Pro, much worse than I had hoped for, but a really talented field made for a great race. I mean when you turn your head to one side and see a world champion and to the other a national champion and then look down the row and see the other top 4 or 5 in the country you have to cut yourself a little bit of a break or at least I did. Well that one is in the books, time to heal up, fix bikes and get ready for the Mohican.

Thanks to my Parents for all their help, without them I would still be there cleaning my bike and packing up. Thanks to Van Dessel, Ergon and Planet Bike for getting me the best equipment on the planet.