Chicago Single Speed MTB

Lumberjack 100

2009-06-21T23:11:00.004-04:00

Ok, I'm not going to dwell on the fact that I haven't posted since March, but that's pretty much the state of affairs of mountain biking in Chicago in the spring. It ain't happnin.

First race (Sylvan Island, IL) DNF in the mud, second race (6 hours of John Muir) horrible bonk, and not a lot of trail miles in between. Some road miles, but the majority of my training has been on foot. Ironically, this may have been the best thing for my Lumberjack training! (I'll get to that later)

For the uninitiated, the Lumberjack 100 is a 100 mile mountain bike race held in the Manistee Nat'l forest near Wellston, MI, and is part of the National Ultra Endurance series. Lumberjack has the distinction of being almost completely singletrack, no fire roads or dirt roads.

I've been wanting to attempt this race for the past couple of years, but my training was never up to the task, so I passed. This year I planned to do several endurance races leading up to LJ, and got my registration in early, sealing the deal. I hung up the road bike and vowed to only ride trail this spring! Then running came along, and so did the rain that has kept Palos Hills forever underwater.

Long story short (too late) I've managed only just over 700 miles in the saddle year to date, and only 150 of that has been on the dirt!! Needless to say hopes were not high going into this weekend. Add to that that I bonked out of a 6 hour race the week before, managing only 3.5 hours and 30 miles and my goals went from "just finish" to "make the 10 hour cutoff!"

Thunderstorms Friday night set up a VERY fast Big M course. I have ridden the 8 mile "inner" loop on previous occasions, but the 17 mile "outer" loop was all going to be new to me. We arrived at the course at about 6am, setup our coolers, and soon were peddling down the road to the start point, two miles from the trail head, affording a long leadout to thin the herd before the trails begin. Due to my lack of any real miles on the legs, and the cardio training I've been getting from running, I decided to pick the lowest gear I thought I needed to finish, and then go with one gear lower. This resulted in a 34x18 ratio, or approx. 50 gear inches. A VERY low gear for me, but I figured my legs would go much sooner than my lungs, so best to spin my heart out!

We hit the trail and almost immediately the first climb which forced the mortals (myself included) off their bikes for a short hike. This is a rideable climb, but between the sand and the traffic, you really have to ask how many matches you want to burn this early in the race. This would be the rule of the day for me. Survive! I latched on with a former teammate who followed a similar rigorous training regimen, so I figured we might keep each other company for a good part of the day. However, after spending a few miles yo-yo'ing off the back of a group of about 15 geared riders, I decided to make a few moves on the climbs to get some clear trail in front of me, allowing me to keep my spin up, saving the legs for the real climbs to come. About half way through lap one I started to feel a level of fatigue and foggyness that I'd hoped wouldn't start until after the 50 mile point. Thoughts of the previous weeks bonk started creeping in. I did my best to collect myself and ride smart. I noticed my shoulders were hunched and tight, head was down, and I was basically riding like crap. So I corrected my posture, relaxed my shoulders, took deep breaths, and I was back! I've never experienced such a dramatic turn around!

When I came through the pits after lap one it was bitter sweet. I felt great, but I also still had 75 miles to go. I wasted no time in the pits swapping bottles and downing half a bottle of 5 hour energy. That stuff really works! Back on the course I was feeling great! Not much to report in the second lap. I felt like I was pushing the same pace on the flats, an was able to climb just about everything with only 2 or 3 exceptions. I was really stunned at how good I felt. I'm sure that had everything to do with the low gear selection and my running this spring. It quickly became apparent that the 10 hour cut off time was not going to be an issue as I had come through lap 1 in 2hr 16min and knew I'd be close to that on lap 2. The race now was to just get through lap 3, and lap 4 would be all about taking it easy to the end!

I had been subsisting on Hammer Perpetuem mixed at a ratio of about three heaping scoops to roughly a table spoon of water and dispensed from a plastic flask. The resulting batter like substance actually doesn't taste too bad, and seems to be easier to get down than the full water bottle mix I used to do. So on the bike I was able to carry a pure water bottle and a 1/2 water 1/2 Gatorade bottle. Roughly every 5-10 minutes I was either squeezing "Perpetu-gu", drinking water, or drinking Gatorade. My stomach was tolerating it well, and I seemed to be getting the fuel I needed. However, by mile 40 I was looking for a little insurance so I stopped at the aid station, downed some Endurolytes, a 1/4 PB & J, and refilled the water and was off. This gave me a huge lift through the end of lap 2, crossing the line at 4hrs 34min, almost an even split with lap 1!

After a quick pit to refresh water and Gatorade and grab a new flask, I was off. I was already beyond my longest trail ride of the year, and still feeling great! I remembered my buddy Mike's words though, that the last half of Lap 3 was the toughest. Lap 3 started much like the others, but I soon saw a change. Despite the low gear, the lack of miles on my legs started to show and even the easy climbs started to burn my legs. A few climbs saw me get off toward the end, and some of the harder ones I didn't even attempt. I never felt like I was in danger of not finishing, but I knew this was where I could start to really bleed time if I wasn't careful. Given what I know of friends' past performances and my lack of training I had pegged a finishing time of somewhere just under 11 hours, and my current feeling was why. In Lap 2 I looked forward to meeting up with other riders, usually who were overtaking me, to help keep me honest. With someone riding your tail, you tend to keep an honest pace rather than sinking back into your comfort zone. On Lap 3, however, I was glad to let people by, and dreaded passing slower riders, as it meant doing some work to put them behind me for good! There were two riders I especially had no problem pulling over for. Jeff Schalk and Christian Tanguy were mere blurs as that lapped me and another rider some where in the second half of Lap 3!! It's unreal the pace these guys can push for over 6 hours of racing! I kept listening for the chase group that never came. Third place, Chris Etough, may have slipped by while I was at the aid station, and 4th, Mike Simonson, finished just minutes after I completed my third lap. I eventually made it to the aid station, and refueled with another 1/4 of a PB&J, some more Endurolytes, and about a 1/4 can of Coke! While I didn't quite get the lift I did on Lap 2, it was something! It was at this time, too, that my watch quite keeping time. Rather, I turned off the GPS while the timer was auto paused. With nothing to tell it that it was moving again, there was no way to restart the timer. Unfortunately I didn't discover this until I was back on the trail, some unknown distance/time from the station or the end of the lap. This was not a major tragedy, but I began doing the math (which IS a tragedy!) If I was able to keep the damage within about 10-20 minutes, then I should finish Lap 3 close to 7 hours, which would give me just under 3 hours to finish SUB 10 MINUTES! Really, it was just then that it dawned on me. While there was still a lot of riding to do, I was looking at not only possibly finishing, but far exceeding my expectations for myself. While I hadn't set the bar particularly high, I was still excited at the prospect! Indeed I came across the line at 7:06:56!

One last quick pit stop and I was off. I cleared out my watch and started a new timer, the last lap timer. I wasn't sure how long I was in the pit, perhaps 4 minutes, and I had to take a nature break shortly after, so with a small margin of error, I figured I had 2:45:00 to break 10 hours! I haven't really discussed the course layout to this point, so here it is. There is an 8 mile inner loop which brings you back near the pit area where hand ups are allowed. As I had no support at the race this is irrelevant except that I had pre-rode this portion, and decided it was "short and easy" at roughly 45 minutes and a good first demarcation point. From here you begin the 17 mile outer loop which is conveniently bisected by the aid station, so the course is broken into roughly 3 equal sections. As I said, I was making the first 8 miles in around 45 minutes, and the aid station was supposed to be about 8 miles into the outer loops, so figure about 45 minutes (though there were some longer climbs) to there. Given that the last section was probably longer (and I hadn't really paid attention to time) I wasn't sure how long I'd been riding this section in, and what to project. Giving myself a little more padding of shooting for a 2:40:00 lap (where i figured I had 2:45:00 to give) I decided I needed 50/50/60. 50 minutes to the end of the inner loop, 50 minutes from there to the aid station, and that leaves an hour to get to the finish!

Now, just working out those calculations got me almost all the way through the inner loop :) I was looking at about 40 minutes and not only was I not seeing the markers I knew put me near the end, I also realized I had fallen WAY off my feeding schedule. I was getting so tired of the Perpetuem that I was forgetting to eat. While I knew I was probably close enough to make it through to the end on much less fuel, I also knew that a bonk could take me out in a heartbeat, reducing me to a snails pace. So I forced down another shot. I was just about to resign myself to a slow 50 minute inner loop when I saw and heard the spectators at the end of the inner loop! just over 46 minutes, I hadn't lost much time at all!

I decided to keep on my projected schedule as arriving sooner would only give me a lift, so I was aiming for hitting the aid station at about 1:40:00 into the lap. By about 1:20:00 I wasn't sure I was going to make it. I was craving another couple shots of coke and some other quick sugar as I was so close to the end. I knew I was somewhere near 90 miles in, more than twice my longest trail ride of the year, and my body was ready to give in. I knew that I was covering a fair amount of distance in 15 minutes or so, but the aid station felt a lot longer than 20 minutes away. However, just 10 minutes later the sign announcing the station came into view! I had made it in 1:31:00. I was almost home free. To be honest, I'm not sure what I ate this time. Much of the "real" food was gone, and there was a lot of candy to be had. Gummy bears, Twizzlers, cookies, pretzels, etc... all I really wanted though was fresh water and Coke! I tried to be very careful not to guzzle too much and finally push my stomach over the edge, I did still have up to an hour of very hilly and bumpy single track to go!

This is where not knowing the true distance or time from the aid station to the finish started playing with me. I was back on the trail at about 1:35:00, leaving me 70 minutes to break 10 hours. Nothing was guaranteed, so I had to keep pressing. There were also at least 2 killer hills that I'd been walking since Lap 2, another that I'd ridden each lap, but was trickier each time, and several smaller climbs that had gotten me off the bike in Lap 3. Lap 3 had grown by 15 minutes from Lap 2. Another 15 minutes and I'd be right in the 10 hour zone :( So there was no letting up!

Somehow I was finding the strength to ride many of the climbs that I had walked in Lap 3. Basically everything except the two big walkers that lap! Even the somewhat tricky switchback came easily, and I knew that I was nearing the final decent of the day!! And that's when I flatted......

No. Not really. But I figured if you're still reading and didn't already know the outcome, I owed you a little drama! ;)

I still wasn't sure of the distance from the last screaming downhill to the finish, but I knew it was all but over from there and I was at about 2:40:00.. I was going to make it! When I rounded the corner and saw tent city, an enormous grin came across my face, and I knew I had done it. The 9:42:16 on the clock was just icing on the cake. The real prize was that I had finally tried and finished my first off road 100 miler! As I collapsed on the ground and crawled my way over to the Simonster's tent, he offered me cool $100 bucks to go out for another lap.. :D I laughed and he (hypothetically) upped it to $1000. At that moment I realized there was almost nothing that could get me to get back on my bike for another 2 1/2 hours... But rest assured, nothing will keep me from racing the Lumberjack again next year! Rick Plite and all his volunteers put on one of the best races in the Mid West!! Thanks, Rick!

Georgia 2009

2009-03-23T10:25:00.005-04:00

A year ago this same time I was fortunate enough to be invited down to Georgia by my good buddy, Scott. He had acquired a free cabin for a week in Helen, Georgia, very near some of the stages of the Tour of Georgia, so great for riding!

This year my new team Half Acre Cycling chose Blairsville, GA as the destination for our inaugural spring training camp, just minutes away from Helen. I was psyched. I signed up right away. I couldn't wait to return to the mountains and those screamin' fast descents. Oh, and those climbs too.. :(

The only real similarity between the two trips was the view from my window as we pulled out of town. In fact, this was the view from my window for almost the ENTIRE ride down to GA. The only thing that changed was the amount of daylight.

Our three cars met up at Montrose beach, distributed bikes, people, and gear, and headed out of town at 8pm for the 11+ hour drive. We planned to take our time driving through the night and arrive in time to eat breakfast at the Waffle House, get a quick ride in, and then get settled.

Our first gas stop in Indiana..

5 bikes on a little Focus!

Despite mother nature's best efforts, we arrived safely in Blairsville the next morning around 8am and made a beeline for the Waffle House! There we replenished our food stores and excitedly chattered about the rides to come! It was becoming clear that there was no plan for where to ride, so if I wanted to get back into the mountains I was going to have to find a map and make some suggestions. Just then a lovely young woman sitting at the bar asks it we're cyclists. Turns out she and her friends are also down in the area for spring training.. for 6 WEEKS! They had been down for a week already and had some good routes mapped out in the area, and had maps that I could use to get back to the major Gaps in the area. We made plans to meet up later.

The HAC gang departed, and after getting a little lost, found the realty office, checked in, got into the cabin and suited up for our leg stretching ride.

Boy Scout Rd Ride
Find more Bike Rides in Blairsville, Georgia

Afterword we got settled into the cabin...

The view from our back deck!

To be continued...

I'll post again...

2009-02-17T00:46:00.003-05:00

I swear.. really I will.. just havent' felt much like writing the last several weeks. Stuff's going on, but it's taking all my powers of concentration to handle life, so... I'll be back.

Promise.

Goin' back to Cali, Cali.....

2009-01-07T21:13:00.004-05:00

Ok, not really.. But it does look like I'm headed back to Georgia for some spring training with some of the other Half Acre crew! It should be awesome!

Unfortunately I have to pay for that trip, as well as both NUE race registrations this month.. on top of being way over budget from Christmas, I think I see lots of Ramen in my future.. :(

Perfection

2008-12-29T00:56:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas Internet

2008-12-23T20:14:00.003-05:00

Fin

2008-12-07T23:53:00.010-05:00

Today marked the end of racing and riding for me for 2009 in the form of the Illinois State Cyclocross Championships at Montrose Harbor. This would be my second go-round at Montrose, and the conditions were lining up to be almost as epic as last year.

I rolled out to Montrose from my apartment, a 3 mile ride. Great way to warm up. However, it meant packing creatively to have enough dry clothing to keep warm apre race. Temps at race time were 21 degrees, with a "real feel" of about 15. Snow over the past couple days deposited about 3 or so inches on the already wet, slick ground. I'm pretty sure this is exactly the kind of thing that would make your mom say "You're Crazy!!"

And the course promised nothing but FUN! The start lead to a nice set of switchback turns,and then to the first tunnel. A loose downhill to 90 degree left hander. On the other side was a rideable hill (though I was concerned about a bottle up on the fist lap, more on that later). Cricket Hill last year was a suffer fest. Two runups in 6 inches of snow. This year not only was the snow tamer, but there were NO BARRIERS on the hill! A quick up and down, excellent for passing. A long back stretch led to the first set of barriers. A nice zig zag set of doubles that alone weren't all that bad. But the ground on the other side was SLICK! I had to be very carefull on every lap as it felt like I was just an inch away from being on my ass! A sketchy, deep snow section lead to a short steep hill and the second barrier, sitting atop the hill. Pre-riding paid off here as I learned that the quickest strategy was to dismount at the bottom keeping stride, running up and remounting for the off camber downhill lefthand sweeper. A fast stretch out the the beach lead to my favorite feature of the course. Not only did we have to deal with snow, but they worked in the sand :D And they used a nice step-up that required some mt bike skill. Then along the shore, utilizing lots of fun, off camber, twisty turns. Finally my second favorite feature. A long pavement section leads into a hard right hander with about a 6 or 7 inch step up from the pavement back onto the dirt which immediately become a short, steep downhill to hard left. A couple more sharp turns leads back to the start/finish straight. Awesome!

Earlier I mentioned my concerns about the first short rideable hill. Typically in the Cat 4 fields I'm used to riding in the first lap is a series of severe bottle necks due mostly to the sheer number of riders, and in part to some lack of technical skill. But today I would be making my Cat 3 debut. I was excited to see what the smaller, more experienced field would be like.

During my pre-ride I noticed the right side of the start was very bumpy and kind of rutted out. But on the left was a man-hole cover, and the first turn was a left. Lining up I decided that since the first turn would be so slow anyway that starting left and going left of the manhole cover was the way to go. Man was that a good call. At the "GO" I took off down the left, trying to move up as much as possible before the turn. Suddenly I hear the unmistakable sound of bike carnage, and to my right I see bikes go flying! A rider had hit one of the deeper ruts and did a superman over the bars. His bike went flying, and I think the rider behind him was thrown as well. The crash did help to sort out the field a bit, and by the time we got to that first rideable climb it was a breeze.

At the start line Naz and Tim from Half Acre said they were marking me, and I know Naz wanted to finish the job he started at Carpentersville. I had my sights on Zach and Kevin also from Half Acre, and just hoped to be lucky enough to be able to see team mates Paulo, Luke, or Greg. Now on course I could see Paolo a bit up ahead of me, but I think I was clear of all of the Half Acre guys. Lap two or three confirmed this as Kevin went f l y i n g by me. He was on fire! a lap or two after that and Zach got around me on the pavement. Around a couple of the parts of the course where it switches back on itself I was marking Naz and Adrian behind me. They would gain a little on the flats, but the I would extend through the technical sections along the waterfront. But overall they were holding position which gave me concerns for the final laps. With them racing each other they could ride back into me, and having stated his goal at the start Naz would be highly motivated to get around me. Naz had a bobble on the first step up which gave me some breathing room, but soon was was back on Adrian's wheel. Coming into the last lap I was bracing for a shootout. Just through the start/finish with the "1" showing on the lap counter I heard someone bearing down on me FAST! To my surprise Nevada Dave goes around me at the first switch back. "Are you lapping me?" I asked (silly question becuase there's no way I stayed out in front of him for 6 seconds let alone 6 laps. He answered in the affirmative of course, so I said "you're done dude!". Spectators on the course confirmed it. What was important to me, though, was that this means I'm the last rider on the lead lap, and everyone else that was lapped should have been pulled. A couple quick looks over my shoulder confirmed that no one, especially my stalkers, was behind me. I passed a rider climbing Cricket Hill, but for the rest of the lap I was able to just pleasure ride. A great ending to a so so season.

And...

Today not only marked the end of the season, but also my time with one of the most recognized, well run, and successful bike teams in Chicagoland. Next year I'll be hanging up my xXx Racing/AthletiCo. kit and don the colors of Half Acre. I've made some good friends on xXx, and I know those friendships will continue. There is a lot of support and comraderie among all the teams in Chicago. My discision basically came down to the convience of meeting site, shop support, and riding schedules. So I wish all of xXx the best in 2009, and I look forward to some great rides!

Ok, it's now way past my bed time. Hope everyone had a great weekend, racing or no. I'll be sure to share anything of interest over the next couple weeks, but I'm cleaning and hanging the bikes up until January.

Photo Credit:

Photo 1, Nikki Cyp
Photos 2 & 3, Ed White
Photos 4 & 5, Amy Dykema

Plans

2008-12-04T22:50:00.002-05:00

Hello internet. Long time no talk, eh? I wish I could say that I've been so busy doing all sorts of really cool exciting things and that's what's kept me regailing my loyal followers with witty prose, buuuuuuut, no. I got nothing. It's been pretty boring around here.

So, one more 'cross race and the season's over. Illinois State CX Championships! Yeah, well, it'll just be circles in the snow for me, but it should be a good time. I had a blast at this race last year, and I expect this year will be no different. Knowing a few more people in the cycling scene this go 'round won't hurt either.

After this weekend, I'm not even going to think of the bike until January. It's not like I've been riding too much. In fact, it's the opposite. But by taking the rest of the month off I won't have to feel guilty about not riding.. Pretty clever, eh? This moutain bike season was pretty lame I must say. There were a lot of legit resasons - new to the area, tight budget, etc... - but a lack of focus was big part of it. So I've decided to simplify and narrow my focus. I'm still fine tuning my race schedule for next year, but I will say this. Besides Iceman, the only scheduled races will be 12 hour and 100 mile endurance races. My goals for the season, to complete at least one Hundy and ride a complete 12 hour solo race (in past attempts I've only gone about 10 hours due to either fatigue or severe conditions).

More announcements to come, but I'm gonna wait until after this weekend. Good luck to all those racing Montrose and elsewhere, it's gonna be snowy goodness fun!!

Iceman 2008

2008-11-11T20:48:00.011-05:00

As usual, another phenomenal Iceman weekend in the books! I was concerned that this year was going to be more low key due to the large number of people that decided to stay home for various reasons. I learned, however, that the Michigan mtbing scene is truly close knit and, while those who couldn't make it were sorely missed, we could throw a rager with just two of us in a room!

I took Friday off and drove up early to meet Macromius for a pre-ride of the last few miles of the course. We met up a little after 4 and did a little out and back. I'm always astounded at how easy those last 4 miles are when you haven't slogged through the first 23...

This year's finish shoot was similar to last year. Shorter than years past, but with some good twists and turns, leading to an uphill sprint underneath the bridge. I could see some exciting finishes in the future!

After the ride we headed to the highschool to pick up our packets. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had forgotten that I ordered an Iceman shirt, and they are orange this year, my favorite color! We spent some time hanging out and talking with friends, then headed to dinner. D, Allie, Payneful, Laurie, Mike and I met up at Red Mesa for food and drink. Ward and a buddy were there as well so we hung out for a couple more drinks and stories, but someone couldn't keep their eyes off the bottles...

The rain and snow that had been forcasted were seemingly holding off. Though it sprinkled a bit the night before and the ground was wet the next morning, there was nothing falling from the sky at the start. I was pretty well prepared with the right gear. We dressed and left for the start. After what seemed like an eternity for Mike to get his s**t together, we were spinning around the block and then lining up at the start. This year they broke the singlespeed class in two. 39 and under and 40+. They also stuck the Tandems and Ladies with the 40+ SSers. The icing on the cake, however, was that they sent us off in front of the expert women. So, the only traffic to negotiate was going to be the Clydes and the slower expert men. Also new rare was the size of our wave. Only 45 riders! Mike and I managed to start on the front row, and Iceman first for me.

They gave the "Go!" and it was like we were shot out of a gun! The start was unusually soft and sandy. I was bouncing off shoulders and handlebars and narrowly avoided going down in the sand. Around the first turn I was sitting 5th. Then across the road onto the two track and guys starting going around me like I was sitting still, including Mike. He said his goal was sub 2 hours, and to beat me.

Given that my training has consisted of one 30 minute cross race each week for the last couple months I had no right hoping for a sub 2 hour time, but that was my goal none-the-less. Knowing the brutality of the hills in the last several miles to come, I decided to ride within myself for the first half then see what was left. The rain leading up to race day did wonders to make this yet another extremely fast Iceman course. Despite going up another gear to 58 gear inches this year I've got to go higher. I tend to be more concerned with being able to make the climbs in the last half of the race at the expense of speed on the flats in the first half.

I passed numerous clydes, 65 by my best estimation of the results, as well as several expert men. Despite all the clydes the climbs were relatively open and passable compared to years past. Unfortunately I was passed by several more SSers as well. I would hang on their wheel for a while, and usually even gap them on the climbs, only to lose them eventually on the flats. But I was feeling pretty good and the miles passed pretty quickly. The ride across Williamsburg Rd. afforded the the usual lift. I made sure to keep eating and tried to keep my power up. Pretty soon I was down to the same final 4 miles that had been so easy the day before. Its in this 24th mile where I usually start to cramp up pretty bad, but this time I felt no twinges. With 3 to go I had to tackle "Ice Breaker" hill. This hill is so brutal not only becuase of its length, but also becuase just as its starting to wear you down it gets steeper. Much steeper. Ahead of me there were about 8-10 riders pushing their bikes up the hill. I was contemplating riding as far as I could and then walking the steepest part, but then my pride took over. I kept the cadence up as much as I could and then when the trail turned up again I stood and grunted and got all over my bike until I crested the top. I'm sure it looked a little over dramatic but I haven't walked that hill since my first Iceman (ironically on a geared bike) and I wasn't about to do it again!

Between 3 and 2 to go I was passed by a tandem just before heading into one of the last sections of singletrack. Once on the trail they hung up on a tree and I dismounted and ran around them as they tried to get back on track. While remounting my right calf went into full cramp! But I was able to get clipped back into my eggbeaters and stretch it out and push on. From here on it was just a matter of trying to pin it as hard as I could to the end. I had hoped to catch sight of Mike somewhere in the last 4 miles and this was my last chance. I did manage to catch one last clydesdale at the line, and I was finally done. Mike was there waiting for me, still in the chute. In the end he nipped my by just over 30 seconds and one place. We finished 17th and 18th respectively. Overall I'm very happy with the result, although I'm disappointed to once again miss my goal of sub 2 hours by just over a minute. Next year with some training and a few more gear inches 2 hours doesn't stand a chance!

Perhaps I'll cover the post race festivities in a part 2. But here are some of the pics...

Iceman Report to follow...

2008-11-10T00:08:00.003-05:00

I'm still in recovery mode. I'll write up the Iceman weekend later.

The Orbitsuns put on a hell of a show at the Loading Dock, I'm just hoping the ringing in my ears goes away soon. I might have considered that before spending 4 straight hours in front of the stage... :(

But I will say it was great partying with all my friends, especially the ones I only get to see at these big races. And it was great making new friends as well! I'm already looking forward to 2009!

YES WE DID!

2008-11-05T00:39:00.002-05:00

Final push.

2008-11-04T17:04:00.002-05:00

As we're making that final push and (some of us) holding our breaths. I just thought I'd post this as a reminder of why I'm so invested in this choice. Bill Clinton excited me, but Barack Obama moves me.

Chills.

"NOTHING can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change."

Great Weekend

2008-11-04T01:24:00.008-05:00

Saturday I got myself out to Palos for a little last minute Iceman training. I am in such deep trouble! I'm almost wishing for bad weather just so I don't have to worry about comparing my time to past years... ;)

Despite my woeful fitness, the riding was awesome. I'm finally starting to know my way around Palos. And much like Stony Creek Metro Park back in MI which I didn't much care for until I knew my way around, I've come to appreciate the trail much more.

And the colors on Saturday were awesome! At points I would come over a rise in the trail and suddenly be immersed in yellow. The rest of the trail was awash in color as well, and I had to stop a couple times to take it in. I wish I had thought to bring my little camera..

Sunday was another Chicago Cross Cup series race at Campton Park in St. Charles, IL. This was the first race last year that I doubled up and raced both Masters 30+ and Cat 4. This year I have no where near the fitness, and my legs were already a little heavy from a steady 2 hour ride at Palos the day before. It kind of sucks racing so late in the day. I would much prefer to race earlier and then hang out for a while watching the later races. It was this thought that finally pushed me to upgrade to Cat 3 in 'cross. I had hoped to make a run at being competitive in the 4's, but that certainly isn't happening this year. And I'm becoming convinced that the pace isn't THAT much higher in 3's, but the riding is cleaner. And most importantly the races start 3 hours sooner! So, hopefully I'll get the upgrade in time for Woodstock.

The course this year was very similar to last year, except run backwards. I think I preferred this course. Much more technical, but brutal. The fun, woody, water-barred downhill became a slow uphill slog, followed by a barrier, then more water bars that prevent you from putting the bike down for about 30 feet. Ugh!!

The start was very narrow, leading to a hard right turn. I got a bad spot at the start, got swallowed up in the middle, and came out in the bottom 1/4 at the turn. After the uphill to the barrier, it was more slight, bumpy uphill where the field started to ride away from me. I recomposed and latched back on. Through the big downupdownup off camber it was pretty messy as expected for the first lap. I had to dismount and run, but came through ok. Given my poor start I was picking people off slowly, and paying for it each time, but with no real challenges, so I was able to recover before attacking the next.

On the second lap things thinned out and I was sitting about mid pack. Back around to the off camber I was glad to have less traffic, but I over cooked the first turn, failed to get all the way back up the hill, and ran into the course marker post breaking the post. I caught myself from falling down the hill, dismounted and started to run with my bike, but the bike refused! I found the right front brake pad was wedged against the rim... In these moments of oxygen debt, I have a hard time thinking clearly, so I sort of stared at it for a moment. Then I started checking cables and housing to make sure everything was seated. Still, the pad would not budge. All the while I could hear several riders passing me by. I was just about to through in the towel when it occurred to me to check the wheel alignment. I released the lever and the wheel fell back into place in the fork. Tighten the lever again and the wheel spun free!

I hopped back on, and the rest of my race was clear. Catch as many people as possible! It was a little disheartening given how hard I'd worked already for some of my passes. It felt like I was in no man's land, but pretty soon I was catching riders again. The XXXers and Half Acer'ers and all the others cheering and yelling at the switchbacks were awesome.

If you've ever seen one of those Matchbox car race tracks with the motorized device that launches the car around the track at high speed and just as it starts to slow down it loops back around and the motor launches it off again, then you know what it's like to have a cheering section like that. I rocketed out of those switch backs each time, ready to gobble up more places.

I crossed the start/finish with 2 laps to go, but my clock ready 25 minutes. There was no way I was going to get two laps in 5 minutes, so I was a bit perplexed. I caught another rider in the back stretch coming to the last turn to the line, and he asked "how many laps left?" I told him the sign said 2, but I have 31 minutes. We half sprinted to the corner, rounded the turn and the lap counter sign was turned sideways so we couldn't see the number. I sprinted out to the line only the hear the bell announcing one lap to go. UGH!! My legs felt like lead at this point. Through the woods and over the barrier, shoulder the bike.. I kept waiting for the other rider to come around me as it seemed he backed off the sprint and saved something. Back on the bike I slogged up that bumpy hill and around the ball field. Still no sign of an attack. down the hill and over the barrier, and now I knew he was cooked. My goal each race has been to pass at least one person in the last lap, so I had to keep the pace up in the hopes of finding another rabbit. As it was I didn't find my victim until the last part of the back stretch, and he'd already started his kick for the line, no chance of catching him.

So, despite the mechanical I was able to once again hold my own race within the race. I ended up 31st. I was pretty darn near dead last after the brake fiasco, but had fun making up as many positions as I could. And thanks again to all those that stayed and cheered!

PHOTO CREDIT:
Greg Heck
Greg Heck
NycCip
Greg Heck

Excess

2008-10-28T02:34:00.006-04:00

So, what do you do when you take 600+ frames and only come out with about 70 good shots?

I don't like feeling this way.

2008-10-25T23:12:00.004-04:00

Snowboard, Bindings, 2 pairs of boots, Gloves, Goggles, Board Bag.... Have a good winter you b@#$% a@# m@#%@#%@! coward of a f@#%@% theif. Karma is a bitch. Enjoy your cancer.

Consolation

2008-10-24T22:19:00.002-04:00

No matter how bad of a day I've had, I can rest assured that Sarah Palin probably had a worse one...

A new low

2008-10-21T23:50:00.001-04:00

I guess I missed hearing about this before.

Carpenter Cross Race Report

2008-10-20T20:19:00.009-04:00

I arrived in Carpentersville in time to photograph the Men 3's and Women 1/2/3's. It takes up a bit of the day, but it's so nice to be at the race venue with plenty of time to hangout, get dressed, warm up, and race. I don't recommend the show and go method. My pals at the Bone Bell can tell you about that.

With the temperature hovering around 60 degrees I opted for arm and knee warmers, and got in lots of warm ups. I had a chance to ride the course a couple times, which had changed a bit from last year. A much shorter starting straight lead into a series of sharp, somewhat tricky turns over very bum-bum-bumppity terrain. The single barrier followed by the ditch jump was still there, but this time you had to make a hard left hand turn into the barrier. They threw in a longer pavement second with a 180 leading back to the rideable ditch crossing, and then the sandbox. This is a tricky pit to ride due to the 1) very bumpy ground leading up to it making it hard to get up to speed and 2) the 4-5 in inch drop into the sand that, if you're not careful, will put you on your face! Once again they used the bump of a hill in the middle of the course as a run up. I love this one because it's a short intense burst run rather than a long slog like the toboggan hill from last week. And the short remount period at the top really pays dividends if you're on your technical game, and just in time as the finish is right around the corner.

I felt great all day warming up and at the start. I was in an ok spot in the second row. But a bad start, and then a big jam up in the first turn soon put me in the hole. Everyone in front of me suddenly came to a stop and my wheel was pinned against the wheel in front of me. I started to fall to my left but before my foot even hit the ground someone ran into me from behind. Let me just tell you, being violated by a brake hood is NOT the way to start a race. I rode that d*mn thing from one side of the course to the other, ticking off a few riders in the process I'm sure. I couldn't sit again for the rest of that lap!

The field was so deep that I was still in the thick of things, though decidedly at the back of the pack. By the second lap, though, things started to thin out a little. I began gapping up to riders ahead, recovering, and then getting another. On the final lap going into the single barrier/ditch combo I banged my banged my rear wheel off the ground either right after the barrier or on the bank of the ditch. Either way, my chain jumped off. The same thing had happened to me in warm ups, but then I was much faster at getting the chain back on. Just as I got the chain on my buddy Naz from Half Acre caught up to me. I remounted and said "Ok, its you and me, Naz!" I knew we'd duke it out to the finish. With Naz hot on my trail I couldn't let up a bit. I stood up on the pedals on the pavement and making the turn I could see he was still there. Last time through the sand pit I rode it again and Naz caught me, running, by the end, but I was able to pull away quickly. I could feel him setting me up for an attack at the run-up. So after the off camber section I clicked up a couple gears and hammered the long stretch around the field prior to the run-up. Naz hung on strong. I had to clean the barriers and make a clean remount or get eaten up. Jump. Jump. Sprint. I pedaled away and took a look under my arm. Still there! A few more hard pedal strokes to the finish and I held him off!

After nearly collapsing at the finish, I made my way over to the Half Acre tent to re-hydrate! :D The only thing I like more than good beer is friendly people with a cooler full of good beer. What a great way to spend a Sunday. Thanks to all the folks involved with the Chicago Cross Cup series. Great job once again!

PHOTO CREDITS: Top: Luke Seeman Middle: Velogrrl Amy Bottom: Me

The rest of my pictures can be found on my Flickr site.

Carpenter Cross

2008-10-19T20:25:00.008-04:00

Finally, temps are starting to get 'cross-like. I'll take the sunny days, though...

More to come, as well as a race report.

Holy Macro!

2008-10-17T22:21:00.002-04:00

Hawthorne Woods CX - ChiCrossCup Race #3

2008-10-15T15:08:00.007-04:00

This past Sunday I made the trek up to Lake Zurich to race in the Chicago Cross Cup race #3 at Hawthorne Woods.

Since I was last on the bike for the Apple Cider Century exactly 2 weeks ago, I had very low expectations for this race. Again I would race the 4a's. Last year it was Carpentersville when I started doubling up in the Masters 30+ as well. But this year time, budget, fitness and motivation will probably conspire to keep my in the 4's only. Plus, I'm working on my sports photo skillz by shooting the earlier races, something that I cannot do when racing in Masters. I arrived early and was able to shoot the 3s race (here and below). Not terribly happy with the results. I still struggle with direct sunlight and concentrated more on my exposures than composition.

So, the course was pretty straightforward (well, ok, there were some turns... ;) ) The biggest challenge was going to be the giant toboggan hill that we had to climb not once, but twice. This guy seemed to be more of a climb that Cricket hill, but now in retrospect I'm not sure. The nice thing is you could at least ride it the first time up, then there was only a barrier at the bottom of the second climb, prompting some to try to remount and ride the second time as well. I rode it in practice, but pretty much knew I'd be "running" it in the race. Besides the barrier at the run-up, there was only one other barrier, in a pretty open straight just before the Gazebo at the center of the course. This made it a great spectator spot and where most of the cheering was going on all day. Lastly there was a culvert/ditch that we rode along side for about 20 yards or so and eventually crossed at a 45 degree angle. The fast line was also in the deepest part of the mud, and you had a tree with low branches to contend with. The right side was more open, but put you at a bad angle on the other side, and with a bit less traction.

My goals were pretty meager. I wanted to hit the open barrier at full speed and take it clean, and I wanted to pass one rider on the last lap. My standing goal for all races is to at least finish in the top half.

I was certainly more apprehensive going into this race than any in recent history. Riding all out for 30 minutes (yeah, I know, boo-hoo it's only 30 minutes) when you haven't so much as touched a bike for 2 weeks is no picnic. I also have not been sleeping well lately, so that didn't help. And the feeling stuck with me right up to the work "GO". It makes for sort of a surreal start as you find yourself sprinting in a mass of elbows and handlebars and wheels and your still thinking "do I really want to do this??"

I made the decision to get a spot in the front because I didn't want to be tied up in traffic as we hit the hill at the beginning of the lap. I was sitting about tenth as we climbed the hill, and held that position up and down and up and down again.. As we came to the flat around the ball field, and then onto the pavement, though, people started to pass me as if I was standing still. I decided to ride my own race at this point and just stick to my plan. It's not fun getting passed like that, but it's no fun when your lungs explode and your legs fall off either, so I chose humility.

It was a fairly long course, and I think we only did 4 laps. Once I settled into my race about mid pack, it was nice to see that i was able to make time on the technical sections. I passed people through the barrier and the mud ditch, usually to be passed again on the flats, but that's ok. Going into the last lap I could see I had a chaser about 20 yards behind me. Thankfully the switchbacks on the hill allowed me to see that he was gaining pretty fast! If I wasn't going to meet my goal of passing someone on the last lap, I sure as hell wasn't going to let myself get passed. I tried to put a little more pressure on the peddles as we hit the ball field, and by the pavement I could tell he had dropped back a little. One more time through the barrier I worked for the cleanest pass yet. It was fast, but my remount wasn't pretty. That's ok, move on to the mud and it's hammer down to the finish. Picking up the pace to drop the chaser brought the rider ahead of me into view. Along a long back stretch just after the mud crossing he was just a few seconds ahead. "You don't have it in you" I thought. "Of course you have it in you, but do you want to hurt?" I retorted. "You're gonna do what you always do which is just let him go, aren't you.." Now I'm not only concerned with my racing, but also my mental health. The fact of the matter is my head wasn't really into the race from the beginning. So I told my brain to take a hike and let my legs take over. It wasn't really an explosive effort, but more of a gradual building until I was on his wheel, then sailing by, hoping to dissuade any thought of a counter attack. As I went by he said "Nice pass". The ultimate compliment considering just seconds ago I was languishing in self doubt! Now the finish was in sight, and I just kept the power on. I finished much stronger at Jackson park, but I'm pretty happy with this finish from a mental standpoint.

2008-10-09T22:24:00.001-04:00

Apple Cider Century 2008

2008-10-01T19:57:00.006-04:00

Now that I've scared most of you off with that picture, I'll tell those that remain about the Apple Cider Century on Sunday.

Despite the fact that my dad had ridden more miles this year then perhaps he has in his entire life (ok, not really, but close!) he and I had not been able to get in a ride together. So we planned on meeting in Three Oaks, MI this past Sunday to ride the Century together. This would be a cool down ride for pops who completed a cross country bike ride this summer, and then rode the One Day Ride Across Michigan (ODRAM) earlier this month. I, on the other hand, have not been getting much riding in at all.

It was a perfect day for a bike ride. Temps in the 70's, overcast, and not too much wind. I took advantage of the folks being in town for this one and drove in to MI on Saturday night and slept in the RV. I was able to register Saturday too, so Sunday it was an easy up, eat, and out!

We got on the ride by about 8:30. We started at a nice 18-19mph pace, but I could soon tell this was a little faster than the old man had in mind. So we slowed to about 15mph. Soon, however, we're back at 18-19, and dad's setting the pace. So I just tried to stay a half wheel back and let him control the pace.

At the first SAG stop I ran into a co-worker, Charlie, and some xXx guys. I also saw Jeff who was complaining of some rustyness, but from what I could see he was riding just fine!

The lines at the port-o-john's told the story of the 5000 rider count this year. We got a late start last year, and that seemed to be to our benefit as most of the crowds had already passed through the SAGs. This year it was hurry up and wait!

It was good catching up with my dad for most of the morning. It was also nice riding at his pace as I really didn't need to worry too much about fuel. I could eat whatever I wanted as I wasn't pushing too hard, and at the same time I didn't need much for the same reason.

By about the 60 mile mark the miles and hills were taking their toll on dad's legs, and he said if I should lose him on a climb to feel free to ride my pace to the next SAG. Just then a buddy Kevin from Half Acre and his friend Julia rode by. We chatted for a while and sure enough, I noticed pops fading into the distance. I gave him a wave and shouted I'd see him at the next SAG. It was good riding with Kevin as we kept the pace spirited up the climbs. It was good to stretch the legs! There really must be a name for the disease that causes you to grin from ear to ear at the sight of pavement turning skyward.

I bid adieu to Kevin and Julia at the SAG as the old man rolled in barely a few minutes after us. I would catch up to them again after this stop for a short ride, but given that I had not been fueling for harder efforts, I quickly dropped back to finish the day with my pop. While a challenge, it was nice to take it nice and easy for the last 20 miles or so. We talked biking, politics, Fuller Center for Housing, etc... We finally rolled back into Three Oaks at about 5:00 pm. A little longer of a day than we had hopped, but I wouldn't change a thing.

Dinner #1 in the big tent near the start/finish was followed by showers, a change of clothes, and then dinner #2 at Roma's pizza with both of the folks.

So, only my second century is in the books. Days like this remind my how much i really dig riding my bike.

Truer words...

2008-09-24T23:38:00.003-04:00

From freep.com on the firing (thank you baby jesus) of Lions President, Matt Millen...

“Matt worked tirelessly…” William Clay Ford Sr. said in a statement Wednesday, “and he would be the first one to tell you that you have to win in this league.”

No, Mr. Ford. He’d be the first to tell you.

We know.

Jackson Park - Chicago Cross Cup #1

2008-09-22T15:25:00.005-04:00

Cross season is under way! xXx Racing was in charge yet again of the kick off race, and I must congratulate Greg for putting together one very smooth, well run race, and an awesome course design to boot! If I can get a few more courses designed by mountain bikers, I might just be ok this season!

The day started at 6am as a hearty bunch of us met at the Park to put up posts, tape, flags, and banners to make Gregs vision a reality. The time really flew! Having gone over the course with Greg and Mike the previous week really helped. Before I knew it it was 9:30 and races were ready to get underway and the course was ready to rock!

Waking at 5am I had the option of getting out of bed and getting my gear together or sleeping in a few more minutes. I chose the latter, and pretty much had myself talked out of racing by the time I left the apartment. After all, I haven't been riding much, money's tight, blah, blah, blah... But once I saw the course, I knew I had to dig my tires in! So I headed back for home to get my gear together and made it back in time to shoot the Cat 4 Women and Juniors.

The rest here.

The most wonderful time of year!

2008-09-03T21:03:00.003-04:00

'Cross practice started in earnest this week. Parker and I hit Horner Park at 6am (what the hell is wrong with me!?) for some intervals. I learned that not only am I out of shape but my technique has gone out the window!

Tonight, I hit up the wednesday night practice put on by the Pony Shop guys. This is always a good time, with some great riders to share their expertise to those that need. After about 30 minutes of general barrier practice and warm up we did some race starts going all out for 1 lap, and finished up with a 20 minute tempo ride. My re-mounts are still all over the place, but getting better.

Three Weeks Away!

What I spent my Labor Day doing....

2008-09-01T17:05:00.003-04:00

Alex Winston

2008-08-15T21:16:00.010-04:00

A month ago I got the itch to look up a couple old friends of mine from the U. Chris and I had Spanish together. He wrote the best music review column on campus, ironically for the most right wing paper, The Review.

He and his brother Drew are musicians that were in a couple different bands during my time in Ann Arbor. I'm not ashamed to say I was one of their biggest groupies. I'd see'em play at the Blind Pig and other A2 venues, and would follow them to Detroit on occasion. I was just starting out in photography, and would often bring my camera to their shows.

Anyway, I googled the brothers, and came up with a Myspace page for Alex Winston?! It turns out that they met up with Alex in the Detroit area, and they've been touring with her in the past year, opening for Ted Nugent!

So I got ahold of Chris and caught their show at the House of Blues when they passed through Chicago. This girl can ROCK! Very energetic show, I had a blast. However, I don't think I've gotten any better at shooting live shows.. :(

Seriously.. you should go buy her music. Now.

Wow.

2008-08-07T08:51:00.003-04:00

So, I went the whole month of July without a post? That sucks.

That's just pretty much the state of my riding life. And life in general. Not much going on.

I did help Paula move out to Philly a couple weeks ago. That was an adventure. Late night bus ride followed by a day long drive in the moving van, and then a day of unpacking. We did get a couple of nice rides in, though. She's a few miles from a really nice park with some sweet, rocky trails. And right at the end of her block is a path that goes from downtown Philly out to Vally Forge. We headed out to Vally Forge on Sunday and got our history lesson for the month!

Apart from that I have managed to get out to Palos a couple times. Once with teammate Greg, and another by myself. I've still got to figure out all the trails out there. I keep riding the same short loops...

After a year and a half in Chicago, Today I finally caught my first sunrise over Lake Michigan. It was pretty spectacular. Scott and I have managed to meet up two whole mornings this week. Might try to make it a regular thing until he leaves. I feel like I have to start the whole 'base miles' process over for 'cross season.

So, that's it for now. Pretty lame I know, but isn't that the soupy you've come to know and love?

Unexpected DIRT!

2008-06-24T19:19:00.001-04:00

(No, I'm not talking about you, Nick..)

So I decided I HAD to get on the bike today. I'm starting to feel fat and lazy, and I don't like it.

I'm done with the lake front trail, so I need a new ride I can do when I can only get an hour or so in. Theres the Forest Preserve path that follows the Chicago River North Branch, but that's a long road ride to get to, and not really a relaxing ride. However, there's "proposed" trail from my neighborhood via path and side streets to get there as well. I didn't know if there was any path in place, but a friend has said she's ridden it on her cross bike, so I figured I'd go exploring.

The first couple miles were short sections of paved park path and some side streets, but then at Gompers park I found a wood chip trail that led down to the river and through a gate and suddenly I was on honest to goodness DIRT! With rocks and roots and everything!

While this was no Potowatami (or Island Lake for that matter) it was the closest I've seen to trail in weeks. And it was a chance for me to carve some turns and sprint the legs without 100 other people around. There was event the modest climb now and again. The trail was broken up by RR tracks every mile or so, but it was fun none-the-less. And I can get there without driving!!

So, I guess I've been good and that was my reward. I guess Santa really is keeping a list!

More Updates

2008-06-23T10:12:00.001-04:00

Someone cut together some video taken of my dad's trip. Here it is...

Ride Update

2008-06-22T18:34:00.002-04:00

Since I just finally learned how to embed google maps into my blog, I figured I'd post tomorrow's route for my dad and his comrades.

View Larger Map

I was jealous before, but now that the pictures are starting to come in, I'm insanely jealous. I miss my week in Georga!

I did not get to ride dirt again this weekend. I'm not sure what's going to happen this summer, but I'm afraid it isn't going to include much mountain biking. I'm gonna have to change the name of the blog again.. :(

At least I've got other things to keep my occupied. I finally got the new iMac set up and running. Man it's been a learning experience over the last few days, but I'm getting there.

Pre Mac

Post Mac

Good things come to those who wait.. and wait...

2008-06-18T19:46:00.002-04:00

After much anticipation and all the "adult" patience I could muster, I finally have taken possession of my new iMac! I had to drive out to the distribution center in Northbrook, but it was worth the drive, and the wait!

I'm going to need a bigger desk now though. Looking at the 24" screen is kind of like sitting in the front row at the movies. I have to look up to see the top and down to see the bottom. It's HUGE!! No more shuffling tool bars and palettes in Photoshop though...

On the same day I got an email from Dell saying that they've credited my account for the monitor fiasco. Thank God. Had they been able to actually deliver the monitor to me in a reasonable amount of time, I'd still be slogging through on the 8 year old dog of a PC.. I may be jinxing myself as the money hasn't hit my account yet, but I've got faith.

Props to Jimmy P., Customer Liaison at Dell. It's sad that I had to complain in public before I could get anyone willing and capable of helping me out, but I'm glad I met Jimmy. Kudos (I know he's reading this.. ;) ) An email will be going to your supervisor as soon as I work out the details and my letter to Mr. Dell.

God Speed

2008-06-14T21:25:00.004-04:00

Today I was fortunate enough to be able to see my dad off on his bike trip from San Diego to Shavanna, GA. His flight to CA had a lay-over at Midway aiport in Chicago, so I sat with him for the hour or so between flights.

Good luck to all of the bikers on the inaugural Fuller Center Bike Trip. Have a great time. I'm jealous as hell!

You can follow their adventures here. I'm not sure how often they'll be able to update, but I hope it's often!

An open letter to my friends on the Lake Front Path.

2008-06-12T19:19:00.005-04:00

To Mr. No-Hands:

I'm curious. What is it about winds gusting up to 20mph off the lake, 30 people walking and riding within 3 feet of you on a 10ft wide path, and those patches of sand strewn all over the asphalt that just says to you "oh yeah, this is safe!". I would applaud your efforts to clean up the gene pool by your attempt to hasten your departure from this earth, except that I'm sure you'll do great bodily injury to others in the process.

Just as I was wondering (quite literally) if anyone could match your stupidity, along came your sister...

To The Woman Showing Mr. No-Hands That "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better!":

THE FUCKING HELMET GOES ON YOUR HEAD, NOT ON THE HANDLEBARS!!!! I will never understand this mentality. Ok. Don't wear a helmet. As a kid my favorite part of haloween was alwasy gutting the jack-o-lantern cuz it looked like splattered brains to me. Getting to see that any other time of the year is just an extra special treat. But for God's sake, if you're going to shell out your hard earned cash and then you even bother to bring the thing with you on your ride, PUT IT ON YOUR FREAKIN' HEAD. Especially if you're going to ride no-handed in close quarters with a crazy cross wind pushing you around. But never mind that, the pavement doesn't care how it becomes aquianted with your skull. It will kill you just the same. God.. What if these two procrated!!

To The Woman Letting Her Toddler Play In Traffic:

I can't even make light of this one. Not 5 minutes after I encountered the geniuses above I cam upon a woman sitting on a park bench surround by others of varying ages. The youngest (no older than 2, just old enought to walk) , however, was toddling out into the middle of the path. This woman was making no attempt what so ever to retrieve, protect, or otherwise show any sort of parental (or at least adult) responsability for this defenseless child. Fortunately the path was rather clear at this point and I saw her well in advance and was already riding at a slow pace as, contrary to all-too-many cyclists' opinions, the LFP north of the city at 5pm is NOT a good place for getting your 30mph rocks off. As I passed I pointed to the toddler and said "Someone has to look out for her." I can only pray for her.

To The Young Lovers:

Finally, on the south side, away from the idiot throngs I can finally ride just a little more relaxed without the fear of impending doom from the human circus that is the LFP. Then I come upon two pairs of young lovers out for an evening stroll. Walking 4 abreast, hand in hand, playing the Chicago version of Red Rover. They literally had the path covered from edge to edge and wondered back and forth making it impossible to figure out where they were headed. I mean, c'mon.. What am I supposed to do with this? I wasn't sure if I should announce myself on the right or the left, so I yelled "PICK A SIDE!!" At this they managed to part enough for me to split the difference.

I feel like I should make it clear that I headed down to the path to enjoy the weather, my bike, and the scenery. This was not intended to be a workout by most definitions. I always try to ride respectfully, and especially when wearing the team kit I try to represent cyclists in the best, most respectful light I can. I would have had these same views if I was in shorts, sandles, and riding a schwinn cruzer (anyone have one for sale?). The path is just not safe at any speed. I'm afraid it's time to bid it a fond adieu for the summer and find another slice of chicago for my non-training, out-for-a-Sunday-stroll bike rides as well.

No Mas

2008-06-06T09:50:00.003-04:00

Well, I've finally given in. I can honestly say that up to this point I've not let the high price of gas dictate my travel plans whether they pertain to racing or just travel in general. But I've just tossed out my completed Ore 2 Shore regsitration having decided that the race just isn't work the $200+ in gas alone it would take to get up there :(

I'll also be sticking to the WORS races that are closer to home, say within 2 hours, and always (hopefully) carpooling.

On the plus side, I'm saving those non gas-buying pennies and should soon have one of these

I'm getting the 24" model.. all the better to email you with!

I was a little concerned about going back to a Mac after all these years since college, but after playing with my friend Tom's, I'm hooked. Then again, I was hesitant to spend $300 on an MP3 player until I touched an iPod.

This is all predicated, of course, on getting my money back from Dell. Jimmy came through with help getting the monitor returned, but I guess it's up to the powers that be to actually refund my money. It's been a week, but I was asked to wait 10-15 business days from when they receive the monitor, so I will. Pray for me.

12 Hours of Gears

2008-05-25T11:24:00.006-04:00

Since my fingers are the only part of my body that DOESN'T hurt today, I figured I'd take a moment to recount my second 12 Hour solo race attempt.

I had intended to sign up for the 6 hour solo race, but there was no 6 hour solo singlespeed class, only 12. And since the price was the the same for both races (a relatively cheap $35), I decided to take a shot at 12 hours.

Now, had I really looked at all the particulars, I probably would have signed up for the 6 Hour Solo Men open class. I'll explain. The 12 hour race runs from 8am to 8pm (unlike 10am to 10pm in the Fun Promotions series). The race venue is 2.5 hours from Chicago. Now, the 6 hour race ran from 1pm to 7pm. You can check my math, but leaving home at 9am sure beats the hell out of leaving at 4am. But that, indeed, is what I did.

After roughly 3 hours of sleep, I was headed north.

When I arrived at the New Fane trailhead near Kewaskum, WI 1.5 hours before the race start, there were only 3 other cars there. I sure hope I got the right place! I setup up my meager pit area, and looked around to see if I knew a SOUL here.

Fortunately I eventually spotted Ben and Molly out looking for a spot to setup the Half Acre tent for their due team of Julie and Amanda. I was more than happy to share!

I have to give a huge shoutout to Ben for being my impromptu support person. Without his help I wouldn't have been able to go my first 5 laps without stopping. At about 4.7 miles those 5 laps only took 2 hours, but it was a good start.

The trail was a pretty easy mix of reclaimed ORV trail and singletrack. They laid out some new single track through a grove of pine that was not only extremely tight and twisty with trees that would take your skin off if you hit them, but it was also VERY bumpby. This is the reason I can't bend more than 5 degrees this morning without feer of throughing out my back completely. There were about 3 long loose climbs and a couple short steep climbs. But there were 3 AWESOME screamin' fast down hills. One of which was in very tight, dry, and loose singletrack. This was a stay-off-the-breaks-and-hang-on-for-dear-life rollercoaster of a ride. I looked forward to it on every lap. Fortunately I only got held up by slower traffic on a couple laps.

I pretty much managed to stay on 25 minute laps throughout the day. My first few laps where closer to 20, and later in the day they were more like 27, but as it got later in the day I started staying in the pit longer. I had set a goal of 20 laps, and it was definitely achievable, but at 17 laps and 10 hours my body told me it was done. It had tried to tell me earlier in the day, but it was fibbing then. This time it was for real.

Unfortunately the organizers stopped updating the 12 hour singlespeeders at about 4:30, so I had no way of knowing if I was in position to lose spots by stopping or pick up spots if i just did one more lap, but I was done. As of 4:30 I was in 7th of 10, and it appeared the podium was only to 3 places, so it didn't really matter. I was just surprised to find out, though, as I checked the results, that indeed I had moved up to 5th. My 17th lap in fact put me into 5th. I would have needed 4 more laps to move into 4th, however, and there just wasn't time. So even blind to the standings, I managed to do just what I needed to to get my best finish. I'm pretty happy with that!

Congratulations to Julie and Amanda for their 2nd place in the 12 Hour Women Duo catagory!!

And to Dave Norton for his WIN in the 6 Hour Solo Men Open catagory. In 6 hours this dude completed just 2 fewer laps than I managed in 10! Not only that, but his time would have been good for 2nd in the Duo catagory. Amazing job, buddy! (Sorry, not picture :( )

I kid you not. On one of my laps out in the woods I could SWEAR I smelled rootbeer. Yes, rootbeer. In the woods. Anyway, I instantly wanted a rootbeer float. Fortunately, several hours later I was able to sate my desires at culvers with my pit and racing buddies.

Goog times. Thanks again to all those that shared it with me!

WORS #2 Treadfest

2008-05-22T00:32:00.002-04:00

This past weekend marked my inaugural WORS race. I played it smart this go 'round and entered the Sport SS class. I would be making 3 laps of the roughly 5 mile course laid out up, down, and arround the Lake Geneva Ski Resort.

I'll just give some quick impressions of the race. I started well, given that 100 yards off the line they had us climbing straight up the ski hill. The first half of the first lap I felt almost asleep. I really didn't feel much, and had a hard time getting into rhythem.

I have NEVER seen so much congestion in a mountain bike race. EVER. The course was well laid out with lots of single track, and plenty of openings for passing, but there were just so many people on the course at one time that there was almost never a moment I wasn't on someone's wheel. Combined with a stiff gear, I had a really hard time on the short steep climbs back in the woods when there was ALWAYS a slow geared rider spinning up, or more often stopped, on the hill.

Finally I was racing a guy named Roger from Alterra Coffee for the whole race. I had planned to make my move in the clearing just before the last descent to the finish line. I didn't have to jump and was about to resign myself to finish in order when I notice he was taking the last corner too hot and might not make the chute. I put the hammer down and we came to the line in a photo finish. I have no way of knowing who was first to the line, but my momentum carried me first through the chute. It felt like a pretty sleazy pass, but I guess that's racin'. It was good for 7th of 26.

After my race I used a 70-200 L glass lens to get some pics of my team mates and friends.

More on my Flickr page

The F Word

2008-05-21T17:54:00.002-04:00

Forclosure.

I found out this weekend that the house that I grew up in, the house that my parents took a bath on when they sold it a couple years ago, is now in forclosure with the new "owners". Procededings began in December, and if I understand correctly the current owners will have to be out by June if they can't make good on the loan.

It's so sad to think of the house that my parents loved and cared for for all those years, and that I grew up in will sit vacant with bank signs in the windows. I could say more but it makes me too sad.

In other news, It looks like Jimmy P from Dell (see my last post and comments for details) is nothing but a robot reply, on the look out for Dell bashing. Hmmmmm, do you suppose there's a lot of that going on in the blogosphere these days? I sent an email that day to customer_advocate@dell.com as requested, and I have yet to receive any response. So that's about on par with the lousy customer service I have recieved from Dell thus far. Meanwhile, my money is in their bank account, and I'm warehousing a dead monitor. Hey Dell... YOURS IS HERE!!!

Dude, you're never gettin' your DELL!!

2008-05-15T21:02:00.003-04:00

Paula suggested I use this public forum to express my extreme displeasure with Dell and their sad excuse for customer service.

Originally I tried to convey the entire experience I've had with Dell, but the novel I ended up with would surely cause some of you to jump in front of traffic.

So I'll sum up.

I researched and settled on the Dell 2007WFP LCD monitor as it seemed to be the best for photo editing (for those not in the know I'm a part time wedding photographer).

Ordered 4/21
Delivered 4/25
Set up and no display, not even the self test.

First call to Tech support 4/25 - The advisor in India did not seem to understand that I simply wanted to exchange this monitor for the exact same model. He made it seem like that was not possible, and I would need to return it, and re-order the one I wanted. He claimed to have taken care of the return for me. Told me to wait for return shipping label.

Later 4/25 - First dude's "manager" calls ME back and says that the first dude wasn't allowed to call returns on my behalf. He said he'd get someone on the line for me and put me on hold. A few minutes later he comes on line and tells me that he can't get through so he'll call me back once he gets through. Acutally what he says is "I'll have you call me back". I clarified "you mean you'll call me back when you get someone on the line?" He says, "yes, I'll have you call me back." For real. I could not make this stuff up folks. I'm not that smart.
He comes back on the line says that the returns department is now closed, he'll "have you call me back" on Monday.

Second call to Customer Service 4/28 - This person had a shred of brain and sets up an exchange for me. Or so I think. I have no proof except an exchange number which seems good for nothing rather than people telling me that I have an exchange number. Supposedly something will happen in 24-48 hours.

Third call to Customer Service 5/1 - 72 hours later and nothing has happend. The woman tells me that it takes at least 8 business days for "something" to happen. "Please be patient."

Fourth call to "so called" Customer Service 5/9 - It's been 10 business days, and while "things" are happening all around, "some" thing has yet to happen. While most people complain about the accent of help desk advisors in India, I don't think I would have understood this woman in ANY language. She really ought to be doing those voice overs for car or bank commercials where they read REEEAALLY fast to get all thet legalease in at the end. Yeah. She'd make millions. So now I really have no idea what's going on. I've given up on the idea of something. Now I'm pretty much hoping for anything.

It's now been 15 business days since I first called for support on my DOA Dell monitor. Dell has had my money for 15 days, and I've got jack. I think I've been more than patient.

Did I mention that in my full time job, I travel all over Illinois as an IT consultant for one of the Big Three? Right now we're in a period of fast technological growth in the auto industry. Technicians are starting to consider a computer to be just like any other computer they'd buy for their toolbox. They ask ME what kind of laptop they should buy, what BRAND do I recommend? Hmmmm... well, there's lots of choices, but I'd stay away from Dell.

Like Son like Father...

2008-05-10T19:10:00.010-04:00

Ok, I guess one could argue who started the biking thing, but my dad's definitely taken it to the next level. This summer my dad will be biking 3300 miles (Take that Paula! ;) ) across the country from San Diego, CA to Savannah, GA to raise money for the Fuller Center for Housing. Below is the letter he's sent out to his friends and collegues in an attempt to raise the $4,000 required for him to participate.

Dear friends,

I need help! (Mary says that all the time – now I believe her.)
Most of you know that I do a lot of bicycling. You may not know that for some time I’ve had this itch to bike across the country. Well I got my wish.

Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, has started The Fuller Center for Housing, with basically the same mission of eradicating poverty housing worldwide. For details see: http://www.fullercenter.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AboutFAQ.

Mary and I support both organizations, but the big difference between them is this: only the Fuller Center is raising funds via a cross-country bicycle trip! About a dozen 18-27 year-olds (and moi – hey, I told you I need help!) will be biking from San Diego, CA to Savannah, GA from June 14 to August 8. We will also spend 6 days building houses at various sites along the way. I have committed (no – not been committed) to raising $4,000 – half for Michigan and half for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (where $2,500 will build an entire house).
This is where you come. A penny a mile would be $33.00, but any amount will be greatly appreciated. I’ll need a few significantly larger donations (or a lot of new friends!) to make my goal of $4,000.

Please send a tax-deductible donation payable to Fuller Center Bike Trip (put my name in the memo) to:

Fuller Center for Housing
PO Box 523
Americus, GA 31709-0523

Or you can donate on line at www.fullercenter.org/bikedonations If you do this, be sure to donate “in honor of Tony Campbell” (so I get credit) by checking the box at the bottom of the donation page

THANK YOU, for whatever you can do to help. It would take thousands of Fuller Centers and Habitat for Humanities to meet the need. If you are not able to help financially, please pray for the safety of the riders and the success of the ride.

In partnership,
Tony Campbell

PS The trip is paid for by registration fees and an anonymous donor. All funds raised go toward housing for those in need.

PPS If you have more time on your hands than you know what to do with, click here:
www.habitat.org/rv/contact_info.aspx.

I myself will be donating a penny a mile. I know we're all strapped for cash these days, but anything you can do to help would be put to extremely good use! And, as my pop says, if you can't send money, please keep him and his riding companions in your thoughts this summer so that he (and his shiney new bike) gets home in one piece!

I can't put into words how proud I am of my dad, not only for all the hard work he's put in to prepare for this ride, but also for the work that he (and my mom.. Hi Mom!) does every day. They're a couple of retirees with nothing else to do but travel all over the country at their whim, but they continue to give back by not only building houses for Habitat but also leading Habitat builds as members of the Care-a-Vanners, and volunteering for the Red Cross. God bless them both!

So, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll have birthday pictures up this weekend.

Time Flies..

2008-05-07T09:08:00.003-04:00

My my... every day I keep thinking I need to post, but I need to get one of those "roundtuits"..

This past weekend I went back to the Motherland to ride some awesome trails and surround myself with friends as I moved one year closer to the infinite abyss.

I'll make sure to sit down tonight and write all about it and post pics. I will becuase it seems that I need to sit down more these days, and if I don't write things down I forget them more quickly.. What's up with that??

Today's ride.

2008-04-27T02:00:00.002-04:00

I don't have one of those fancy GPS bike computers, but I was able to plot today's ride with Map My Ride.

04/27/2008 Route
Find more Bike Rides in Chicago, Illinois

I had intended to just take Elston to the North Branch Forest Preserve Trail at Devon, but after locking my house keys in my car (with my car keys safely locked in the house) I decided to make a detour by my management company's office in the hopes that someone would be there and could give me a spare. No dice. So it took some time to find my way over to the path. But I made it, and today I finally made it all the way up to the Botanical Gardens.

Rock Cut Race Report

2008-04-20T22:55:00.004-04:00

I have so much to say about the race today, I'm afraid I would lose all my readers from being bored to death. (both of you.)

Part of the reason I have so much to write is because I retreated into my mind for about an hour and a half of the race today once the pain became unbearable 8( . I figured I was either going to sum the whole thing up on 2 or 3 simple words, or I would ramble on forever. I'll try to compromise.

The first race of the season for me used to be the Yankee Spring TT. A short, 50 minutes of pain and you were done. Still, it was a good race to judge my early season conditioning and handling skills.

The race today was like skipping to the end of the season and racing Iceman, without the benefit of all that extraneous training and racing in between :P . Once again I bit off more than I could chew by deciding to race the 35 miler. Granted, I did think I was ready for the distance. Perhaps I overgeared. Perhaps my diet wasn't right. I certainly could have used another water bottle during the race, but I don't think that can account for the misery I endured.

The first lap started unassumingly. I got a not so favorable starting position, and a larger part of the field when zooming by. The charge was lead by Jesse and Marko LaLonde, the brothers of screaming hellfire on wheels. I went out a little harder than I probably should have, but I soon settled into a pretty decent rhythem. And the cool thing is most of my xXx teammates where there too! The course had a little of everything. Singletrack, two track, tight'n'twisty, fast'n'flowy (though I would have liked more), a couple creek crossings, and some really nasty mud. I rode the first couple of these with some success. Once I had to dismount things went down hill fast. Imagine yourself running through about 6-8 inches of slightly wet peanut butter (and if you rode 12 Hours of Addison 2006 you can). In an attempt to keep my position after the mud, as soon as I got on solid ground I attempted my best 'cross mount. I failed. Miserably. Let's just say one of my Baby Makers isn't on speaking terms with me for a while.

At the end of the first lap I was greeted by the BoneBell spurring me on for another lap of pain. Only this time, it really got painful. I had been trading places with teammate Ken who was now up the trail a bit from me. He had reeled in Parker and moved on. I decided to try and bridge up to Parker and see if we could pull eachother on for a while. I caught up, and we too traded places back and forth for a while, his geared kung fu was far superior on the flats and downhills, but my singlespeed jedi mastery bested him on the climbs, at least for while. We encountered another minature Everglades and both dismounted. However, before remounting I had to clean the gobs of crap that had amassed betwixt my front wheel and the fork bridge. I also noticed that my front wheel brake was full on!! A rather ill-advised brake cable routing was causing the housing to pull out of the caliper and engage the brakes. I have no idea how long or how often this occured during the race, but it SUCKED. Parker was gone, never to be seen again.

In the middle of the first lap it began to feel like my breakfast was going to make a second appearance. By early in the second lap it was full blown heart burn. That was odd, but certainly unpleasant. Midway through the second lap I dropped my waterbottle, and things just got worse. No water to put out the fire, and I couldn't get food down without water to process it. Not good. Combined with all this, my legs were starting to give out. No cramping, but I just didn't have any more juice. Teammate Greg passed me right about this time. He was on his second and final lap, as he had the great wisdom to choose to race the 2 laps rather than survive the 3. He remarked that he didn't know how I was going to go out for another lap! He wasn't alone! I was climbing so slow that I was just about ready to throw in the towel. That's right. DNF. I just didn't have it in me to go on. I've never DNF'ed before, and I wasn't thrilled with the idea, but at this point it seemed I would be reduced to walking the entire 3rd lap. But I knew I had a watter bottle waiting at the start finish line, so I decided to grab it and get some water down and see how I feel.

Question: What happens to water in a plastic bottle sitting in direct sunlight for 2 hours? Needless to say, I wasn't drinking that! Fortunately teammate Guy was there at the start/finish, done early due to a detached crank arm :( . He traded me a better bottle, and I was off. After that sacrifice, I couldn't just quit!

The third lap was just about survival. I walked when I had to, though I managed some technical climbs I didn't think i had in me. I don't even remember the finish line. There was no final kick. I definitely left it all on the trail.

It took probably 30 minutes sitting or lying by the start/finish before I felt well enough to go back to the car, get some soda, and change. I got the soda, and spent another 10 minutes laying on a park bench before I could wash up and change. Luckily some friends from Half Acre where there with a yummy malt beverage. Now I was back among the living. A stop at Culver's on the way home for a well earned (thanks Sugargirl) Butter Buger and a Shake, and all was well with the world again!!

Bring on the Stampede!!

God made dirt....

2008-04-19T19:58:00.002-04:00

No more slicks.

No more dodging fruit booters.

No more excuses for a Pink Bike.

Tomorrow the mud flies again!

Deep thoughts....

2008-04-18T00:06:00.001-04:00

Chocolate shakes, while yummy, do not make good pre-ride drinks!

Who needs hills...

2008-04-17T00:17:00.004-04:00

...When you live in the Windy City!

Today we broke 70 degrees!! I think Spring has sprung.. maybe.

My buddy Tom invited me over for a BBQ this evening, so I had to squeeze a quick ride in after work. Just a quick 20+ miles down to the Pier and back. Does seem like much, but I was able to do about 40 minutes of intervals on the LFT into a pretty stiff head wind. And by intervals I mean sprinting like mad between the masses of walkers, bikers, fruit booters, etc.. that come out of the woodwork when the weather turns warm again. Looks like it's time to start riding up into Evanston again...

So, after the ride I headed over to Tom's for some char-grilled goodness. And I discovered New Belgium's Springboard Ale to boot! A light, but crisp spring ale that I can see going down very easy in the shower after a good ride!!

Just in case...

2008-04-14T14:16:00.006-04:00

Well, things ain't lookin' good for "Do the Rock" in a week. With rain forecast for Wednesday through Saturday, I'm thinking at least it's getting pushed back to the rain date if it runs at all..

So, in the spirit of planning ahead, Here's my backup plan..

----------------
Now playing: Air - People In The City - Jack Lahana Remix
via FoxyTunes

Rain, Rain, go away!!

2008-04-11T20:09:00.004-04:00

(I'd be interested to find out how many bike bloggers have used that same title in a post.. I bet its A LOT!)

It's not so much that it's been raining a ton, it's just the knowledge that any rain right now just delays the time that the trails are truly ridable out here.

Fortunately I used that thing.. Ummm.. what is it.. oh yeah, planning ahead. Knowing it would be pissing rain all day yesterday and today and that I will be shooting a wedding all day Saturday, I made sure to make time for a couple hours' ride on Wednesday. Nothing special, just a good spin down the LFT and back. Enough to keep the legs from forgetting what pedaling feels like, and get my heart rate up. I was hoping to get a short ride in tomorrow morning, but we leave for the wedding at 9am.. :(

Sunday will see me and some fellow dirt-inclined xXx'ers at Waterfall Glen. I've never been, but I picture a sort of Michigan Metro Parkesque loop trail of crushed limestone.. Sort of like the Paint Creek Trail only in a loop and with hills. I'm putting the road gear on the PUSS, so I should get some good hill work.

First race of the season will be the "Do The Rock" Mtb race at Rock Cut State Park in Rockford, IL. I wonder if the trail will be rocky?

Race date is April 20th, but from the sounds of current trail conditions, it will more than likely be pushed back to the 27th if they run it at all.. Glad I'm planning on racing the Fort Custer Stampede first weekend in May!! I'm starting to go through withdrawl... :(

I love it when my apartment smells like bacon!!

2008-04-06T19:21:00.003-04:00

Sometimes there are rides that are just so the right thing at the right time that they require no further explanation or detail. Today was one of those days. It was an awesome day, I got lots of miles, and had awesome riding partners in Paolo and Greg.

Ride time was 5:45, 80 miles.

Here's a few pics from the ride...

Having not eaten anything all day but gels and Clif bars, I made a fat club sandwich with some turkey bacon. Hmmmmmmm bacon....

The end.

Two Good to be True!

2008-04-05T15:46:00.005-04:00

Just after my friends Val and Kate left town I was graced by another visitor. My friend and Dark Horse girl Andrea was in town for work. We were able to meet up for Dinner this week. Here she is in front of Rock Bottom Brewery.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30am to a text message from Scott telling me to get up and join him at the xXx team ride. Little did he know that I had everything all laid out and had every intention of making the ride. So I left him hangin' on the text, knowing he'd think I would bail. Oh the games we play..

Waiting at Pratt rd.

Riding up Damen I ran into a group of stragglers headed for the Pratt rd meeting spot. There were about 15 in this group. When we got to Pratt rd. there were about 20 more waiting. This was going to be a big group!

In all there were about 70 out this morning. Not surprising given the sun and promised temps in the 60s by midday.

It was a slow ride up to Highland Park. Lots of yo-yoing due to the large group. What little hills we have here in Chicagoland seemed to especially give us fits. Scott and I opted to join the group headed right back to Chicago. I need miles, but I also need to clean my apt.!

The pace back was much better.. about 22-23mph. I was on the front with my teammate Mike, another mtb'er, when a sprint started for a county sign or some other nonsense. Suddenly I was beset by stomach cramps. No really, my stomach hurt, and riders just started riffling by me on both sides. I was able to regroup when we pulled into Winnetka, but I was still in bad shape. Soon I was off the back again, and caught out at a light. I had to work my tail off to get back on just as we pulled into Evanston. Finally my stomach started to calm down, and so did the pace.. I'm not sure what the problem was. I ate plenty for the effort, and was already through one water bottle in just over an hour.

The rest of the ride was pretty much without incident. I ended up with 45 miles in about 2:40.. Would have been faster if not for the large group on the way out.

Tomorrow it's off to the Prarie Path with a couple other MTB'ers for more miles! Do The Rock mountain bike race is just 2 weeks away!!

----------------
Now playing: The Postal Service - We Will Become Silhouettes
via FoxyTunes

Visitor

2008-04-03T00:22:00.002-04:00

My friend Valerie stayed with me for part of the week while she tried out for Project Runway here in Chicago. She got pretty far in the audition process, even getting interviewed by the show's judges. Alas, you will not be judging her on TV any time soon. :(

In other news... Why the hell did I go buy a scale???

Georgia: Day 5 & 6

2008-03-29T19:47:00.003-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted sooner.. I've been too busy crying for the last 12 hours having just returned to Chicago, and sub 40 degree temps... :(

Day 5 was Wednesday. The guys were headed off to do the 6 gaps ride, and I was off to Gainsville to meet up with Eddie and Namrita ride some more trail. Eddie promised a less intense day than the Fools Gold course.

We met up at the Chicopee Woods Park. The plan was to ride the trails until we got bored. Unfortunately about 10 minutes in, Eddie had a mechanical that took his bike out of commission. Namrita and I finished out the short loop while Eddie headed back to the car. He attempted a field repair, but to no avail. Namrita, trooper that she is, offered up her Jaberwocky so that Eddie and I could ride on. A quick parts swap and we were off again. And, yes, guys can ride pink bikes!

The trails were pretty sweet. Nothing terribly technical, lots of up and down. Great riding for my 3rd trail day of the year. Boy do my handling skills need some work. Chicago is making me soft!

We rode for about 2 hours. We swung back to the parking lot, and Namrita was back from her run. Perfect timing. We said our goodbyes, and parted ways.

I can't thank those guys enough for showing us around this week. Without them, I'd have seen a lot less trail time. Thanks again you too. If you're ever in Chicago, drinks are on me!

Day 6

There was no avoiding it. It finally came. We barred the doors, turned up the TV and hid our heads under the covers, but it would not go away. Our last day in Georgia.

Dan and Tim hid their pain by driving back to Kentucky to get another day of riding in with a buddy there. For Scott and I, there was only one thing to do. We'd done just about all we came down to GA to do, except ride to the top of it. Brasstown Bald. The highest point in the state of Georgia.

We parked at the base of the climb, a steep 3 mile climb. We met up with some of Scott's friends from Northwestern. We started of with a ride down and then back up Jack's Gap to warm up. I was behind from the start having to pump up my tires at the last second. At the bottom of Jack's I latched on to a group of 3 that was just behind Scott. We were riding at a real good pace for the 5 mile gradual climb. But with Scott just in sight, I decided to gap up to him. Just as I reached his wheel, a little out of breath, I began to wonder if that was such a great idea with Brasstown looming ahead. We continued on, eventually reaching that hard, steep right turn onto the road up to the top. Ugh!

I'd heard that the beginning was aweful, and if you keep going it gets better... Until you hit "The Wall". Sure enough, after a few minutes of pain, the road leveled out (and by leveled out I mean got slightly less steep). Onfortunately I started the day with arm warmers on, and now I was paying the price. I'd alread pulled them down, but they had to go. I feared if I stopped, though, I might now get started again! I stopped at the best point I could and lost the arm warmers. I pushed mt bike back onto the road and, closing my eyes, pretended it was September and did my best 'cross mount to get as much forward momentum as possible. Surprisingly, I was able to keep up the speed.. for a while.

Eventually (Inevitably?) I was passed by one of the kids in our group. Her name was Michelle? (yeah, yeah... This girl was STRONG!) She didn't exactly fly by, but she was riding with purpose. We eventually came to the base of "The Wall". I think the grade at this point is about 20%. When my speed fell below 4mph, I figured I'd go just as fast on foot, so I hoofed it. I watched Michelle? as she fought tooth and nail to climb that wall. It was inspiring! She pulled out every trick in the book, but she maid it to the top without dismounting. My hat is off to her! While I was off the bike, I grabbed this pic of our destination.

As soon as I crested the wall, I hopped back on and resumed the suffering. One of the Northwestern guys who couldn't ride that day was driving up and down the road shouting encouragement as he went. Much appreciated! If nothing else it was a good distrcaction from the pain! One more pass and they were telling me I was near the top.. SPRINT!! So I sprinted! Ok, by this time my sprinting was pretty relative, but I gave it all I got, and soon was up at the top admiring the view from the top of Georgia!

The Northwestern guys offered us a ride down in their car. Are you kidding me? I only suffer up these climbs so that I can ride down! And the ride down was SCREAMIN' fast. I wish I could've done shuttle runs all day! But alas...

Scott and I decided to call it a day to get a jump on packing and rest up for the long drive home. A good meal, bad nights sleep, and 12 hour drive later, we arrived back in Chi-town.

It was a great trip. I had a great time hanging out with Dan, Tim, and Scott! Got some great riding in, including finally getting some good dirt miles in! I can't thank Scott enough for sharing his time share with us! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Georgia: Day 4

2008-03-26T22:40:00.002-04:00

Decisions Decisions.

Even with the easy day yesterday, I'm feelin' like I could take the day off today. Everyone's feelin' about the same I think. It's a little warmer today, but not much. And to top it off, Tim's eyes have been bothering her something fierce. So we all found things to do in the morning to stave off the eventaulity of having to decide to ride or not in the afternoon.

Dan, Scott and I headed into Dahlonega to hit up Lifetime Bicycles. Scott's thinkin' of getting new cleats, and after the Fools Gold fiasco, I'm thinkin' of picking up a new hydration pack to make sure I've got enough water and food carrying capability before mountain biking again. I ended up picking up a Fox hydration pack. My old Camelback Mule is about 100 years old, so it's about time for an update. We picked up a Hot'n'Now pizza for lunch, and then picked up some sundries from Walmart.

Returning to the condo we found Tim dressed and ready to go. He waited for Dan and Scott, and off they went. As Timmy so eloquently put it, I've had some bike neglect issues to address. Normally my bikes are fairly well maintained, and if I hadn't been travelling all week before the vacation I would have had time to make sure both bikes were ready to go. Luckily Dan was able to make my Raleigh's rear wheel ridable despite it being seriously out of true. So I decided to stay in and make sure my single speed was all set to go for riding with Eddie and Namrita tomorrow. Drop to 32x17, install my Reba suspension fork, and a new chain just for good measure. I also finally put on a set of chain tugs to help line my rear wheel up and keep it in place. My last bike had an eccentric bottom bracke and verticle drops. So much easier for gear changes and wheel/tire changes. My next bike will have an EBB again.

Finally I decided to check online to see what trails were in the area and maybe ride to one. I found the Helen to Unicoi park trail. It starts right in town and is a 7 mile or so loop. I had about 2 hours of daylight left, so I figured I was safe to go.

It's just a short ride to the trailhead. There was a nice big bulletin board at the entrance, but no maps. Once on the trail it was extremely well posted. At least in terms of direction and to let you know you were on the trail. But, as I've found common in Georgia, the mile markers seemed to make no sense, giving you no idea how far from or to some point you were.

The ride starts with a long climb out of town. It was switched back pretty well, but still pretty steep, especially to these raw cityboy legs. It's an old jeep trail that's being reclaimed and tightening back up. All the climbing finally led me to this view over Helen.

A screamin' downhill followed from this point. Man do I miss ridin' trail!! It was about this time that I realized I was going on on MTBR.com review trusting that this was indeed a 7 mile trail, and that it did indeed loop back to where I started. After Danielle and Namrita's ordeal, I didn't want to get caught out in the dark too. Gauging the best I could from the cryptic mile markers, I figured I was about 1/2 way done, so I decided to press on. I passed a couple signs for the Unicoi Lodge, and prayed for the best. Before too long, the trail looped back on itself and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

All in all it was a pretty nice trail. Intermediate only due to the steep climbs and fast descents. The best part is how close it is to town. I may hit this trail up again later in the week with Scott. Tomorrow I hope to meet up with Eddie and Namrita at a trail of their choosing.

Georgia: Day 3

2008-03-26T16:53:00.012-04:00

After yesterday's pounding on the legs, I was in for a little lighter fare today. I think we all were. Looking at the map, we decided to try a little route that circles Helen, promising only rolling hills, no sustained climbs.

It was another chilly one today, but we were all shocked - frozen at the door wall in fact - trying to comprend the white flakey stuff falling from the sky. That sum'bitch snow followed us all down here! (Then again, it wouldn't exactly take a bloodhound to track Timmy's scent... :0 ) Much grumbling ensued, but we managed to saddle up none the less and head north.

We took a detour into Unicoi State Park just to see what there was to see as falls were promised at the end of the road. The scenery was nice, and the riding somewhat spirited. I don't know what buisness I thought I had teasing these lions, but I don't think they took me very seriously.

At the end of the road there was nice picnic spot with a view of the river, but I didn't see any falls.

Riding out of the park I got to taste the speed of the road again, but one stout climb and I was jetisoned off the back of our little foursome. We turned left out of the park and headed into some beautiful rolling countryside. I made some hard efforts, and eventually latched back on, for about 30 seconds. Again I watched the three pull away. I'd like to think there's something to the fact that I was riding a 'cross bike with 'cross gearing and larger 28c tires that is weighing me down, and not just that I'm a big fat azz who's too out of shape to keep up even on a "slow" day.

Eventually I could see up ahead that Scott had dropped off of Dan and Tim's wheels. I pushed it again, trying to catch up, and even thought I was making progress, only to look up again and find him nowhere in sight! "Damn, he's flyin' today" I thought. That sneaky bastard.

Finally I came to the end of 386, and turned onto 197. There was a sign for a store up ahead, surely the place where they'd be waiting, if they were going to wait. I got to the generaly store/restaurant in Batesville, minus waiting bike riders. This was sort of a "every man for himself" day, so I was not suprised.

So I grabbed a snack and pushed on. This, after all, was a rest day so I was done chasing. I'd noticed on the map a covered bridge, so I decided to do a little sight seeing. If you click the first picture, you can see the snow falling.

I continued on and made the right at 17. Almost home I was surprised to see this historical site on the left that I hadn't noticed before. This is why it's great to get out of your car every now and again, you miss too much behind all that glass and steel. I think that cow was more interested in me that I was in the mound.

When I got back home, sure enough, Scott was there waiting. Turns out he had taken a turn off of 386, making it seem that he had dissappeared in a blaze of smoke and tire rubber. :D

That night, we headed into town for dinner again. After an exploration of Lewis and Clark proportions to find an open restaurant, we managed to find a pretty decent burger joint. Drinking was in order...

More to come soon!!

Georgia: Day 2

2008-03-24T22:30:00.011-04:00

Welcome to Georgia, hope you brought your climbing legs!

I can sum up this whole post very easily. 70 Miles. 5 hours. 8000+ feet of climbing.

The day started innocently enough at the Huddle House in downtown “Little Bavaria” (also known as Helen, GA.)

It was a beautiful day. High forecasted at 58 and not a cloud in the sky

The train pulls out of Helen, prepped for the first climb of the day. 10 miles up hill. It started gradually, but it wasn’t long before I was showin’ the pain face… I've never climbed for so long. It was like sitting in an ice bath. Eventually you just become numb to the pain... I thought it would never end.

The payoff was a sweet, wide open 2.5 mile descent. Keeping an eye out for oncoming trafic we used the whole road, tucking and pulling G's on the corners. Big headwinds, ‘cross gearing, and lack of road descending experience conspired to keep my speed down around 40mph all day, but that didn’t keep it from being fun as hell! Here’s a shot of me with the big s#@t eatin’ grin after the first descent.

The guys trying to keep up… ;)

Mercifully there was a store along the route to rest and re-fuel. And better yet, I was able to pick up a sweet coon skin cap to add to my collection.

From here we rode across Wolf Pen Gap, followed by another screamin’ twisty descent. I could do this all day long, if someone wanted to drive my fat azz up to the top of each hill...

There’s a famous mountaineering shop near the end of the Appalachian Trail on Blood Mountain, the top of Neel’s gap to service hikers on the trail. This is the view from their patio/overlook.

From hear it was back the way we came over two climbs, and then a 10 mile descent back into Helen. It’s awesome descending down the tight, banked road faster than cars. I’ll remember that one for a while.

We rapped up the day with a stop at Paul’s Steak House in town. Cheers!

Georgia: Day 1 (or Oh. My. God.)

2008-03-24T11:04:00.007-04:00

It looked like the planets were going to align, and Scott and I were going to hook up wit Danielle, Namrita, and Eddie for some mountain biking on our first day down in Georgia. The plan was to meet at the start/finish for the Fools Gold 50/100 at 11am Saturday.

Namrita and Danielle’s Wild Ride changed our plans. I’m bummed we weren’t able to meet up, but I’m glad they’re OK.

However, Eddie did come out to show us around his course. He was an awesome guide, putting up with our late arrival, and, shall we say, some minor mishaps. There are so many clichés I could use to describe our ride, but I think the most accurate thing to say was that my ego wrote a check that my body just couldn’t cash.

Granted, my frame of reference for a 50 mile ride in IL is a far cry from a 50 mile dirt road/trail ride in GA. When Eddie said we were going to ride the Fools Gold loop, 50 miles, I thought, “No problem, I’ve ridden 50 miles. I’ve got 5 hours in the saddle. I’ll be fine”. What I should have been thinking was, “How am I going to survive this?”

Had I had more time prior to coming down to Georgia, I probably would have worked up a good healthy fear of what I was getting myself into, and setup my bike to save myself as much pain as possible. Like, say, a nice easy 32x17 gear, and, oh, a little suspension up front?? But no. My dumb a$$ thought going rigid would be cool, and I never go below 34x17, so why would I now?? (Hello, mountains)

Our ride began with about 4 miles of climbing on some pretty rocky dirt roads. Unrelenting, but manageable… Until about 100 yards from the top. I just couldn’t’ turn the pedals over with enough tempo anymore to keep myself up. Shoe leather time. I told Eddie that Scott and I may have bitten off a little more than we can chew, but he assured us that it got better from here. I’m glad we listened. Lets just say that I now know what folks mean when the talk about a screamin’ fast fire road decent. We hauled azz down the other side of that climb. And the rest of the ride did get better. There was a little issue of Scott’s flat, for which we had to bike back up to the top to of a sweet decent. But that just meant we got to tear it up again! It was amazing to watch Eddie disappear down the dirt roads. Granted he had the right tires, suspension, and 29” tires, but he’s just damn fast.

Getting some single track dirt under my tires for the first time this year was almost a foreign feeling. And roots? How are you supposed to ride over these things?? ;)

All in all it was a great day, despite some other issues. Mainly that I was a couple bottles shy of having enough water for the day. I had plenty of food, but not enough water to process it. By the end of the ride, about 4 hours and 30 some miles, I was toast. Hopefully I’ll never make some of these mistakes again, but I doubt it.

Cooling off in the river after a hard day's work.

Dan and Tim came in tonight, and we’re headed out for some road action tomorrow. For now, I’m drinking plenty of water… ;)

Georga: Travel Day

2008-03-24T10:59:00.003-04:00

The day finally came. And with the forecasted weather, it couldn't have come at a better time!!

Scott and I left bright and early at 8 am. The weather was already starting to come in.

About 30 minutes south on 65 and it started to warm up and get sunny. I passed the time on the drive no by watching the miles go by, but by watching the temp climb into the 70’s…

We worked our way through Indianapolis and Louisville, and made a left turn to I-75. Once we were on 75, the choice for our lunch stop became clear…

Scott had NEVER eaten at the Waffle House. It’s unfathomable! So an All Star breakfast later we were back on the road…

There were 2 hours of side road driving on some fantastic twisting road that had Scott just about putting his “brake” foot through the floorboard on the passenger seat. Yet, we arrived safely at about 9:30 and found our accommodations. Pretty sweet compared to other time shares I’ve stayed in. At least all the furniture matches.

There’s no internet in the room, though, so I have to go down to the “community” center for wireless. So I’ll be posting the first few days all at once.

Packed!

2008-03-21T00:28:00.003-04:00

1 26" mtb, 1 29er, 1 road bike, 1 cross bike, tools, riding gear and clothes...

Scott and I leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow. And just in time, too. They're calling for up to 7 inches of snow by tomorrow night!!

The forecast for Helen, GA is high 60's and mostly sunny all week!!! =D

Guiness and Thai

2008-03-16T18:52:00.001-04:00

Everything goes good with Guiness.. ;)

St. Patricks Day

2008-03-15T16:40:00.007-04:00

Ok, not quite, but close enough. With Saint Patrick's day coming on Monday, the Chicago parade took place today. I decided to ride my bike downtown to see what all the hubub is about.

I picked up my new camera yesterday. I took this chance to test it out. My favorite new toy is the stitch assist and photostitch software. Super easy panoramas. I can't wait to get up to the top of Brasstown Bald in GA.

I checked out the parade, but couldn't get a good vantage point for pictures. I did however get some great pics of the green Chicago river.

Training camp

2008-03-12T22:14:00.003-04:00

So, part of the team is off in CA this week for spring training. Some of those of us stuck back in the windy city decided to hold a camp of our own.. Minus the nice weather, elevation change, and tan lines... The goal, ride every day of the week and post our miles. I started strong with about 60 miles posted over the weekend on the single speed. Then Monday I got sick. Just before the best weather of the week is about to roll in. I thought I'd be back on the bike by today, just in time for the predicted 50 degree temps. No luck. In fact, I didn't even go into to work today. I'm taking time to recover now so that I'm good and healthy for Georgia.

Speaking of Georgia, I'm gonna pick up a new camera before the trip to capture the good times. I've been wanting to get a point and shoot digicam for a couple years now. One that's nice and small to fit in a jersey pocket, and takes decent pictures. I'm thinking of getting this.

Look for a new look soon. Inspired by our new kits and a friend's link to this blog from his.

So, here's hoping that spring comes soon. The woods are calling my name.

Slow News Day

2008-03-07T15:19:00.003-05:00

Not much going on these days. Not riding nearly as much as I'd like, but I'm hoping that will change for the better soon!!

The most exciting thing to happen recently is our new team kits arrived. Check it out!

----------------
Now playing: The Ramones - Blitzkreig Bop
via FoxyTunes

Let me OUT!

2008-02-24T22:47:00.003-05:00

If you frequent the blogs of the midwest, what you're about to hear may sound very familiar...

I've had ENOUGH! I can't take this weather any more. I haven't suffered cabin fever like this in YEARS. The cold I can handle, but the unrelenting snow and ice are driving me nuts...

To try and regain some sanity, I escaped to Cleveland, OH this weekend to bust some moves at Ray's Indoor MTB park. Ok, so I don't really have many moves, but I took the opportunity to polish up what I got.. ;) Most of the day was spent in the MOEN sport course area practicing on the beginner rhythm jumps. Took me most of the first day, but I got'em down pretty good. Today was spent trying to clean just ONE of the bigger boxes in the intermediate jump line. I got close. I'm just short of making it. Don't know if I'll get back there before they close, but if I do, I'll be spending a long day on those jumps again.

I can't wait for spring now, and getting to discover the jumps and parks around Chicago. I'll be there for the first day of digging at the Plainfield park being built by CAMBR. These guys put in a lot of hard work and have negotiated a great opportunity for free-riding in Chicagoland. Check it out!

Time to put my aching body to bed.

'Cross + Snow = Versluis Snowcross

2008-01-26T21:43:00.000-05:00

And Versluis Snowcross = Awesomeness!!!

I've never been one for symmetry, but today put a nice cap on the cyclocross season. I started the cyclocross season in September with the KissCross Kickoff ride, and today I ended with another KissCross event, the Versluis Snowcross.

Hosted on Nate and Sheri Versluis' Apple Orchards in Grand Rapids, MI, and promoted by Mr. and Mrs. KissCross Rick and Cathy Plite, the Versluis Snowcross has been bringing good folks together for good racin', good food, and good beer for the past 4 or 5 years.

Up at 6am and on the road by 7am, I made it to the race course in plenty of time to get dressed and get in a pre-lap. Nate plowed about 1.5 miles of an undulating, somewhat technical course that snaked around the slumbering apple trees. More important, however, were the parts he DIDN'T plow. He left the 10 feet before, and roughly 20 feet after each barrier unplowed. I tell ya, if I learned anything this season its that I DO NOT like running in snow!!! Otherwise the course was nicely frozen with a light layer of snow in spots. 3 barriers if I recall, plus a pretty nasty uphill that was rideable, but some chose to run it. There was a nice line right down the middle most of the way, get out of that line, however, and you could be in trouble, as I found out on lap one.

The race went off a little after noon, as we waited for Paula to make it in from Detroit. Something about almost burning down her apartment. Gosh, I hope her land lord doesn't read this.. :P lol

We started on the pavement out of Nate and Sheri's driveway, so I was able to start fast and jump on the leader's wheel for a little leadout for the first lap. Into the first downhill I got a little out of the line, and almost paid the price. I'm pretty sure I was squealing like a little girl as I fought to keep the rubber down. Disaster avoided (for now!). My leadout was becoming a little bit of an anchor, so I tried but failed to pass on the run after the Sadistic Snow Runnup (SSR). I tucked in behind for a fast downhill to a sharp, off-camber lefty. As we rounded the corner we were caught by two guys on mountain bikes. Plying their sizable advantage with the fat knobs, they got passed us rather easily on the off-camber, deep section on the back of the course. Shortly after I passed the crosser in front of me as he got bogged down. The final "straight" before the finish was a snow rutted mess. I picked what appeared to be the best line on the right. The snow belied the washboarded terrain below. Bump-bump-bumpity-bump.... the trail goes straight, my wheel goes dead right! 10 feet off the course into 2 foot deep pow-pow. Finished making snow angels, I snowshoed my way back to the course. I pushed to get my momentum back, but got passed back on the uphill. With that lap out of the way, I got my confidence and stuck to my lines. I passed the crosser in front of me again, but got passed by another rider or two, and lord knows where those mountain bikers went.

The race was set for 3 laps. I was tempted to jump in with the "A" race to do 6 laps, but after two laps of icy hell, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't have survived 6. On my third lap I ran into quite a bit of lapped "A" traffic, and some others. One more time up the SSR, I dug deep and passed 4 riders on the run. Back on the solid ground, I dropped the hammer (I've never been so happy to have gears!!) and tried to put some space on my chasers. Not normally sure footed in the snow, I kept my bum off the snow, and once again found myself headed down that final straight to the finish. With a couple guys in hot pursuit, I picked the high line this time and kept my feet turning. Made it through clean, and came across the line Third! At first I was in shock. I was sure I miscounted and finished too soon. I was only getting warmed up. Wish I'd gone with the "A"'s :(

The best part of KissCross (well, OK, the beer is really the best part) is that you carry a tag with your name on it, count your own laps, and stick your tag on a spike at the end to mark your finish. Keep It Simple Stupid! A Sixer of Founder's goes to the winner, and other prizes to random finishers determined before the start. Today, 10th place took home a jug of Heed from Hammer Nutrition, and last place got a bottle of Hammer Gel. I love it!

I look forward to the start of 'Cross season next year, but even more I look forward to kicking it off with KissCross!!

Illinois State 'Cross Championships or Good Things Come in 3's!

2007-12-09T21:07:00.000-05:00

FUN!!

Man, I feel gyped..
all the rest of 'cross season was hot, dry, and bland. :( Today was none of those things!

It was a tad warmer than yesterday.. about 33 degrees at race time. After an awesome pancake breakfast at Rachel's, I headed back home to get ready. I decided to ride to the race instead of bring the car. With the right timing, I should get there warmed up, ready to register and get on the course for a quick warmup.

I think I've said it before, but I think I'm really zeroing in on how to dress for the cold. I was a little chilly starting out for the race, but warmed up pretty quickly, without overheating or sweating too much. That is a huge load of my mind. But, once the race started, I can tell you that the cold was the last thing on my mind!

I got there and registered. I tried to get out on the course for a pre-lap, but it seems they were running behind. At 2pm they were calling for 2 more laps for the 1/2s.. So I planned on taking a lap when they called the 4's to line up. We're usually standing there for 10-15 minutes anyway. Well, that wasn't to be either. When they finally did call us up, they went right into the race intro. Looks like I'm doin this one cold (so to speak).

So they blow the whistle and we're off. I'm sitting near the back of the pack of about 40 riders again. With the snow, mud, and ice, I would like to have been out front, but figured where ever I was, I had to watch for other people stacking it up. It was messy for the first 1/4 mile. A short starting straight led to a series of tight turns. People where hitting the brakes all over the place. One guy behind my got the right idea and ran the whole section the first time through.

This led to "cricket hill" as I've heard it called. A 2 pack of barriers led to a long b***h of a run-up. We mounted back up to ride down the back side of the hill in about 5-6 inches of deep loose snow. At the bottom, the first sucker punch. A 180 turn with a barrier immediately after the turn into another nasty long run-up.

Again, back on the bike to a sweet long snowy downhill. Shortly we reached the most technical part of the course. Several tight, back and fourth esses climbing up and down the hills either side of one of the bridges in the park. A somewhat technical descent to a loose lefty under the bridge, then sucker-punch #2.. another quickly lefty RIGHT into a barricade.. damn, didn't see that coming. A quick run-up, more esses, then back down on the other side of the bridge and under again. From here, it was mostly flat, a chance to pick up some speed, with some not too terrible turns. Then I spot a cool little 20ft. down-up. This should be fun. I hammer the peddles to get up some speed, and BAM! Sucker-punch #3. Some sadistic so and so put a barrier RIGHT AT THE TOP OF THE HILL!! I could really have used some practice on this one.. It took a good two laps to figure it out since you had to pick up enough speed on the downhill to coast the last part of the uphill while dismounting. Not easy. The last bit into the start/finish was not too bad, save for several branches that seemed to want to reach out and slap you off the bike. There were lots of spectators in the start/finish, making it easy to drop several gears and hammer through, aided by the fact that this was the only solid, non-muddy footing on the whole course! Ultimately my strategy of keeping the rubber side down served me well. I heard several people bite it behind me, and saw at least two go down in front of me. I stayed up and picked up places.

Man, that was fun! I wish there were more like it. I kinda wish I had done the Masters race. But, alas. There's always next year.

Thanks to Thomas and Katie for coming out and being an AWESOME cheering section! And for taking pictures. You can see all of Tom's pics from the race at slackphotography.blogspot.com. He's an awesome photographer! More of his work is at www.slackphotography.com.

Good night!

----------------
Now playing: Gotan Project - Track 04
via FoxyTunes

Where does the time go?

2007-12-08T21:36:00.000-05:00

Wow... where have I been?

Not a whole lot to report these days. It's cold. Really butt crazy cold. It all started a couple weeks ago at Thanksgiving.

I joined Robert and about 15 other hardy souls for the Annual Thanksgiving Day Turkey Role at Pontiac Lake State Rec Area. It was a chilly, wet, snowy day. It had rained for 24 hours prior, and then a couple inches of snow on top of that. Not the best conditions, but a fun time was had by all!! I started off riding a pretty good clip, but then slid out pretty good on an off cambre section and took it pretty easy from then on. After the ride I managed to get a couple pics...

Our fearless leader

A couple mysinglespeed.com boys...

My buddy Andy's hot new Soul Cycles Hooligan.

Time to go home.

It continued today with a xXx team ride up to Highland Park. 15 Degress with a wind chill of 8 at ride time. Got in 50 miles in 3.5 hours. I think I've just about got my winter gear down to a science. I was layed up pretty good today. My only downfall was when we stopped in HP. I had a cold apple juice, and got a bad case of the shivers. They continued pretty bad until we finally got back on the road and up to speed.

Tomorrow is the last Chicago Cross Cup race of the year. The Illinois State Cross Championships! After this morning's frosty ride, I decided the wise thing to do is to race only the Cat4a's in the after noon. Getting my gear all sweaty in the morning, and trying to race again in the afternoon would not be such a good thing. So, one more cross race of the season. I don't know what my goals are for this on. Probably just staying upright will make me happy. Some folks went out to "dig out" the course today, but I still expect it to be a challange. Last year's pics show some pretty gnarly off cambre turns. Wish me luck!

Lan Oaks

2007-11-23T22:27:00.000-05:00

Chicago Cross Cup series race #5 took us to Lansing, IL and Lan Oaks park.

Brrrr... finally winter starts to settle in, and the weather is getting more 'cross-like. Temps in the low 40s, but still dry.

This was a roadies course if ever there was one. Flat, flat, and more flat. Wide turns require minimal cornering skill, and onle two sets of barriers. And a looooon, deep sand pit, but even it was ridable with enough speed.

Again I raced Masters and Cat4. I used the Masters race as a good warm up and familierization session. 10 minutes into this race and I was ready to drop out. I just didn't have it in the legs, and as this was an all out leg-fest, I feard I'd having noting at all for my second race. But I stuck with it, found a gear that worked, and just worked on smooth barriers, and even worked a little on working with other riders. This is a skill that i MUST foster if I want to have any success in cross. I finished near the back in 19th, but that's about the effort I gave.

The Cat4a race again saw 40+ racers at the start line. And as usual they lined up with 15 minutes to go, refusing to give up a front row position. And this time, I was one of the lucky ones on the front who wasn't gonna budge!

At the start we were bunched pretty good, and there was a lot of jostling for position. This is where I usually play it safe and passive, and lost lots of places right off the bat. But this time I stuck with it, and was sitting 5th going into the first turn. From this point on the goal was to grab a wheel and try and hold it as long as possible. Aggressive in the first lap at all costs. "You're not gonna blow up" I kept telling myself. I did get dropped by a number of riders up front, but then settled into a battle with about 3 riders for the second half of the race.

I was forced to run the sand pit each lap, as there was always too much traffic in front of me to reliably be able to blast through. This was ok, though, as I didn't lose any ground to the guys that were riding it. I put in a few good attachs in the straights after the pit, and even dropped a couple guys. In the end I finished up around 15th. Alas the folks who put on the race seem to have lost any record of me, as I don't appear in the final standings. I was too busy changing and getting warm to be able to get over to check the prelim results, and the final results were not posted when I left. I never worry about a place here or there b/c I'm never in contention, but I never expected to be left out of the results altogether. If any of the 4a's out there are reading, and you finished in front of or behind the guy with the black XXX jacket with Orange Sweep XC helmet and blue Raliegh, please let me know what place you were so I can figure out where I finished. I know it was around 15-17...

Anyway, I'm back in MI for Thanksgiving. Good times. Gonna hit the KissCross race at Richmond Park in Grand Rapids, MI on the way home. Looking forward for a different paced event from the ChiCross Cup races. I'll be sure to tell you all about it.

Gotta run, almost out of Juice!!

New beginning...

2007-11-18T20:15:00.001-05:00

This weekend was Chicago Cross Cup series #5 at Lan Oaks. I'm still getting pics up, so I'll have my race report up soon. Beside, I feel this topic deserves its own post.

This week I joined xXx Racing/AthletiCo. They are a large team in the Chicago area, somewhat akin to the Flying Rhinos for you MI folk. The team participates in Track, Road, 'Cross, and MTB disciplines. They have Juniors, Men's, and Women's development squads, and Serious and recreational riders alike. I decided to go with a big team for my first year in Chicago to help meet new people, do some networking, and basically have fun! Next year I'll re-evaluate based on my season, but I expect good things from these guys. I've been warmly welcomed already!

While it seems like a no-brainer to join a new team with the move to Chicago, it saddens me to no longer race under the "Orange Crush" of the Cycletherapy Racing team. Ernie at Cycletherapy is easily the most friendly, helpful, awesome shop owner and maybe person I've ever met! Going into his shop feels like a second home to me (as he'll attest as I still spend most of my time back in MI in his shop.. ;) )

So, for all those folks still back in MI, if you haven't already, do yourself a favor and stop by Ernie's shop one of these days. You won't be disappointed!!

Thanks Ernie!!

Iceman 2007

2007-11-11T22:01:00.000-05:00

Another one is in the books!

The driving is done, the clothes are in the wash, the bike is caked with dirt, the pictures have been taken, and the beers (oh so many beers) have been drunked!

Iceman 2007 goes down as one of my favorite. There were some notible people missing from the party this year, and tho I missed you guys, it was still a great time! I turned in my best Iceman performance yet, and pretty happy with my ride.

After a minor snafu that lead us to have to drive to the finish to pick up some items left in the "finish line car" (it doesn't matter how much you plan....) we arrived at the start with about 35 minutes to get ready for the SS start. It was in the low 40's at race time. After stripping down to jersey, shorts, and knee and arm warmers, I was feeling pretty good. Then I started moving.. Brrrrrr!! the wind wipped right through my single layer.. So i proceded to warm up up and down the main road alongside the school that serves as the start of the race. I ran into Paula and did another out and back with her, being careful to get back to the start in time to stage with the SSers, and try to get a spot at the front! True to form this year, I was stuck farther back than I wanted, but still in the top 3rd.

After some creative maneuvering (pimping) at the gun, I was able to get around some slower traffic, and to the outside where I prefer. I passed Amanda just as we came to the left turn at the fence that marks the end of the initial leadout. Just before the road I passed Danielle and wished her well. She is crazy fast, and I knew this would not be the last time I'd see her. What I didn't know was that She'd pass me back within the first mile.

My goals for the race: 1) Be aggressive at the start for at least the first mile. 2) Sub 2:00 time. 3) Top 20 finish.

Upon seeing Danielle pass me back so soon, my heart sank a little. Then I realized meeting goal #1 didn't mean I had to beat the world in the first mile, but rather how I dealt with situations like this. So I jumped on her wheel and we trucked through some traffic. I had thought to ask if she wanted to work together during the race, but then it occurred to me that would require that I get up front and do some work keeping the same pace, and at the moment I had my hands full keeping her wheel!!

Eventually, I was able to pass back on a climb, but she was able to get on my wheel. This would continue for some time into the first bit of single track. As usual, the single track was a backed up mess, and as Danielle was pondering if we ride or run the tricking, rooted uphill turn, the train in front of us stopped. So off we went. I shouldered my bike and hoofed it up quickly, around some slower riders. At the top I managed a pretty respectable CX mount, and away I went.

The majority of the middle of the race was unnotable, except that I felt better than ever this year! The conditions were AMAZING, and somehow my body was up to the task! Some fond memories: Passing/getting passed by Cat and Craig several times, yet never getting my ass slap in. The afformentioned Cat and Craig leading a train of bikes down the long downhill dirt road, Cat "choo-chooing" as they blazed by! NONE of the sand pits presenting a serious problem. Williamsburg road, always a blast! Making all but one climb at 58.5 gear inches.. Time to move up next year!

I was amazed at how well I felt at Williamsburg road. There were 3 SSers I was battling with all day. An orange Ionic, a White Gary Fisher (rig?), and another guy in a white jersy (728?) I think I had the advantage on most climbs, but was a little two passive on the flats. I think I saved a little too much in the last 5 miles as i believe they all bested me. With 5 miles to go I tried to get back into aggressive mode, but I just couldn't convice myself that the worst was over and I could cut loose. It was until 2 to go that I decided whatever was left I could handle. By then, however, we started to get back into the single track sections that made passing difficult. I could see the Ionic slip away as I was stuck behind to slow "experts" in the single track. Next year perhaps I'll study the course better.

The finishing kilometer at Timber Ridge was excellent this year. They still got you close to where you could hear the crowds from far out, but once you got to the campground, with the exception of one small section through some trees, it was fast and furious to the finish. Many warned of the grass to gravel to pavement turn at the end, but I had no trouble negotiating any of the final chute. JHK wasn't so lucky..

As I rolled accross the finish, I saw 11:51:35 on the clock. I started to pump my fist in the air, and then some mental math set in.. 2:01:36 was my time... So close, yet so far. And to add insult to injury, once the results were posted, it showed that 1:59.59 would have been good for 19th. Oh well. I had an amazing race. About as good as O2S early in the year. And the after race festivities were amazing as usual.. I huge shoutout to the Dark Horse Mt. Bike team and the Bells Brewery/Quiring Cycles Mt Bike team for hosting awesome awesome parties. Also a shout out to Cathy and Jason for serving up some awesome post-race stew.. :D

Can't wait till next year!!!

2007-11-09T00:08:00.000-05:00

I should so be going to bed to prepare for the long drive to Traverse City tomorrow for the Iceman Cometh!! But I figure I better finish off my last race report to make room for the tails of drunken debauchery that is Iceman weekend!

When we left our hero he was recovering from his Masters 30+ race, awaiting the start of the Cat 4s several hours later. It was about now that I was beginning to curse my decision to not bring any real food. It would have to be Hammer Gel and Clif bars for lunch to sustain me through another 30 minutes of hell.. I mean super fun racing!!

There's not a whole lot to report from the Cat 4 race. I yet again failed to get myself a spot on the front row.. This is partly due to the fact that the guys insist on lining up with 20 minutes to go. I mean c'mon fellas... I got a good start, and gave a little more in the first part of this race, but soon found myself in no mans land again. The course had dried and traction was awesome. The off camber section was a non issue with the extra traction, AND they had lowered the middle stake, so you could take a pretty straight line all the way through. My nemisis straightaway also was tamed by the line burned into the grass.

I was riding more in the big ring this race as there was nothing to save my legs for, and there was little on the course requiring the small ring. I was still having trouble getting up the hill, but as the race went on I badgered the little girl in me to "dig damnit" and get up that hill faster.

With two laps to go I was passed by a xXx'er.. I'm not sure if I was lapped, or if he just got a second wind. Either way, he helped to pull me up to the racer in front of me. At first I assumed that this fellow had popped and was coming back to me. I kicked it up a little to assure that I would go by with athoritah! However, I made and ass out of u and me. There was life in this gent yet. As soon as he heard me breathing (well, weazing really) down his neck, he responded. We went back and fourth like this for the whole lap. At the beginning of the last lap I knew i would have a chance on the climb. I dug deep, and decide that I would pay whatever price at the top to try and pass him on the climb. I came up a littel short, but by the top I was on his rear wheel. Payback meant giving up a little ground on the ensuing flat, but I kept the pressure on. I recalled that he coasted the second half of the long down hills straight just before the woods, so I kept it in the big ring and gapped back up to him just as we entered the woods. He responded again getting a couple bike lengths. After the woods, just one barrier stood between us and the line. I knew if I could get even with him at the barrier I would have a good chance to make time and possibly out sprint him to the line. It was a downhill approach to the barrier and I'd been taking it increasingly faster each lap. But now I was all out sprinting! As we approached, I second guessed myself and backed off just a bit to make sure I cleaned the barrier. Indeed I was faster on the dismount/mount and got back a length. With just 20 yards to the finish I gave all I had, but just couldn't nip him at the line.. :( I regret not going all out into the barrier. Even a spectacular yard sale would have made a better ending to the story. But I did go for the win. I think even a better gear on the re-mount might have given me the edge I need. So good lessons learned.

This weekend it's Iceman. The weather is looking like it'll be cold, but no snow. Another shot at breaking 2 hours. As this might be my last Iceman for a while, that sure would be neat-o.

See ya on the other side.

Lessons Learned

2007-11-04T17:46:00.001-05:00

These are some things I learned this weekend at Campton park:

1) Dew + Grass = Slippery
2) When you can see your rear wheel in front of you and you're still riding your bike, something's not right. Oh, and look out cuz here comes the ground!
3) If one race is fun, 2 is TWICE as fun!
4) OH MY GOD do I need some hill work.. :(

Chicago 'Cross Cup series race #4 took us to Campton park in St. Charles, IL. I chose to race both the Masters 30+ race and the Cat. 4a this week in an attempt to increase my learning curve.

I was also looking forward to racing in the morning, rather than sitting around all day until the Cat. 4 race at 2pm. I arrived just in time to change, register, and get in a slow preview lap of the course. This one was pretty rowdy.

A not too long starting straight leads to a 180 degree tight corner. Lotsa fun in a 40+ person starting field! Some nice S curves lead to the first double barrier. This is followed by another quick left/right and a ditch that was ridable, but just barely. Into a long straight and the biggest pain of the course, a barrier at the base of the longest climb of the course. Not particularly steep, but with all momentum sapped by the barrier, it was formidable.
The back half of the course was wonderful respite from the "technical" first half. Despite an off camber down-up-down-up, this section was fast. Long straights broken only by the afformentioned off camber and a short steep climb.
The final straight leads to a path through the woods that was a little greasy, and had rail road ties set in the ground perpendicular to the path for water run-off. These were easy to bunny hop and exit the path fast to a short grassy downhill into the final barrier which could be taken with good speed only about 20 yard from the finish line.

About 20 lined up for the Masters 30+ race. My plan for this race was to try to hang on to the back and just get a feel for the course and practie my dismount/mount. The start got off clean and I was sitting mid-pack. Into the climb I'm passed by a few on the way up. On the back half there's a long downhill straight to 90 degree left hand turn. I came in hot and tapped the brakes as I leaned into the turn. SEE LESSON #1. Suddenly I'm Brandon Inge slidding into 3rd! Luckily there was a spectator there to spur me on to get back on the bike and go go GO!! Lap 2 and I'm pretty much in no man's land. I press on working on my barrier technique, and using my gears to save my legs.
Now on the back half, this time entering the straight that took me out in the first lap, again coming in HOT! I tap the rear brake to scrub some speed... SEE LESSON #2. Luckily I went down on my right this time, balancing out the bumps and bruises. The rest of the race went without incident. Well, besides being 10 minutes longer than I had expected. Ugh...

I'll report my Cat. 4 race in a separte entry.. We'll just let this one set in.. :D

Seriously!!!

2007-10-30T21:14:00.000-04:00

What is going on???

Tonight was an awesome night for a ride. Temps in the 60s, not too windy, dry and clear. IN CHICAGO JUST 2 DAYS FROM NOVEMBER!!! What is wrong with this picture?

It looks like by moving the Iceman back a week, all the organizers have done is give us another week of late summer-like riding to prep for yet another balmy and dry race.

I'm trying to keep my riding up, as I need to figure out this problem I'm having with dead legs on race day. I've got another 'cross race this weekend, and I'd like to actually race with good legs one of these days. I'm sure my problem in my last race was the 50+ miles I rode the day before. But I didn't really have any legs for the first race of the season either. This week I'm going to try racing the Masters at 10am and then the Cat 4 race at 2. We'll see what that does to me...

Picked up a couple wheels from Andy, so I now have 5 bikes and 5 sets of wheels! it's Miracle!! I can't wait to get the Loki back together. Gold frame and gold rims.. HOT!! Plus I need my Ray's bike in tip top shape for the winter!

So true...

2007-10-22T20:24:00.001-04:00

Quoth the Bike Snob.

Carpentersville Cross

2007-10-21T21:07:00.000-04:00

Today was the second race in the Chicago Cross Cup series at Carpenter Park in Carpentersville, IL. Incidentally, I ran into someone who also rides a Raleigh Rx1.0. He said it's made in Carpentersville, though I've yet to confirm it.

I'll try to be breif, as I know I can get a bit windy here.

It was yet another unseasonably dry and warm day for a 'cross race. The course was mostly flat though there were a number of false flats, and not much room to stretch the legs. Obstacles included a double barrier leading to a run-up, a barrier followed by a small dried culvert you had to jump (repeated again later in the course)
and about 30-40 feet of playground sandbox. In warmups I both ran and rode the sand, but opted to run it in the race. What made the sand partiularly tricky was a 6" drop into the sand, making it difficult to pedal strong into the sand. Rather, to prevent endoing, you had to lift the front and drop into the sand, losing precious momentumum.

Only about 45 on the line for the 4a's this week. Despite the reduced numbers, I still failed to get a spot on the front line. I lined up on the second row in the middle, making it very difficult to get free at the start. I settled into the pack about 30 back. The first two laps were uneventful, save for the searing pain in my legs. Beginnig lap three, before the first set of barriers is a paved straight with a sharp left turn at the end. I hear a racer come up on the inside of the turn fast. I'm thinking, how the hell is this guy gonna make the turn coming this fast and on the inside of the turn! Well, the answer is, he wasn't. I later learned he thought it was a RIGHT hand turn.. :( So, when I turned left into the turn, hoping he would hold his line, I ended up running smack into his rear wheel. I went down, and he made it through more or less ok... At least I was able to launch off the bike as I went down to land on the grass and not the pavement..

I remounted and tried to pedal away. My saddle was severly skewed to the right, so I stopped and corrected. However, upon remounting, something still wasn't right. I thought my bars had turned too, but luckily it was just a shifter turned a little out of wack. I tried to straighten in, but to no avail. It was so weird to me to be standing on the course of a cyclocross race. I've come to know CX as an all out sprint to the end, and even though you do get off the bike from time to time, you're NEVER standing still. And yet, here I was. It was not a good feeling.

Getting back into the rhythm was tough, and I don't think I ever quite got it back. I reeled back a couple of lost places, and managed to hold off a late attack by a couple of guys who had been working together most of the race. I ended up 17th of 45. A ways off of my top 10 a couple weeks ago, but considering the cirumstances, I guess I can't complain.

All in all, a good day. Got to hang with some new friends and make newer ones! And I manage to snap a few pics in the process. Good times all around.

Someday there'll be snow...

Soup

Proof that God loves us....

2007-10-20T17:45:00.000-04:00

Gorgeous days like today!!

Went for a 50 miler on the inaugural Spider Monkey club ride. Some members of the Higher Gear club/team? are puttin' together a new club. They're riding saturdays at 8am from Roscoe Village Bikes.

It was a nice 20mph pace most of the day. Good to spin the legs before the Carpenterville race tomorrow. Looking forward to a good showing in the 4a's.. I'm hopeing to have a little more in the legs and less on the stomache for tomorrow's race. And with the 4's being split into a's and b's, I won't have to fight through the hordes for the first lap. Gonna try to go out hard and work my way through the top 10. But we'll see.

Hope y'all enjoyed the day in one way or 'nuther!

soup

Trainin'....

2007-10-13T12:11:00.000-04:00

Now that I'm starting to get a little more settle here in the Windy City, I'm trying to get out and meet more of the cycling community. And trying to get some good training rides in is good motivation to get my but out of bed early on the weekends to meet up with any of the various team/groups rides out of the city..

There's a weekly saturday ride with xXx Racing that meets at 8am not too far from my place. They're a pretty large group, but I've been reluctant to join b/c I'm not sure if I could hang, and 8am is damn early for me on a saturday.

Alex, owner of Roscoe Village Bikes, let me know about another group that goes out Saturday mornings even closer to my house, but still at 8am. So I thought I'd give it a shot this weekend.

So I managed to get out of bed early after a night of drinking and bowling (badly). I made it to the meeting spot, introduced myself around, and we were off. It was a nice brisk 20mph pace from the city up to Highland Park. 2 by 2, we were able to chat along the way. We toook a break at a coffee shop in Higland Park next door to Higher Gear bike shop. A few minutes after we arrived, the xXx group rolled in en masse. There must have been about 50 riders! After some chatting, nibbling, and a lot of shivering, we got back on the bikes.. We started off at a slow pace to lessen the chilling effect of the wind. Not long after the xXx Express went blowing by and we latched on to the back. Now were talkin!! We were hummin' along now at about 24-25mph, with sprints up to 30. I wasn't sure how long I was gonna be able to hang, but was feeling good so far. With such a large group now, we were able to blow through many intersections, and the pace stayed high. I was happy, at first, to see at least one other 'cross bike in the group, till I noticed he was riding SS... and FIXED!!

Both of us, however, got our props for riding 'crossers in a predominantly roadie crowd. It was at this point that I looked around and noticed we'd shed all but about 15 riders. I don't know if we dropped the rest or if they just took a different route. I was starting to feel the effects of the pace, but as long as I stayed in the draft, I figured I could make it. Fortunately I knew the roads we were travelling, so in the worst case I could find my way home. Eventually we came to Montrose and Damen, so I bid the group adieux and headed east toward home.

I'm feeling pretty good about today's ride. A much better result that the last up tempo training ride I did, though I was in the draft almost the entire time this go 'round. But still, I'm getting some good hard efforts in, and think I'll be in good shape for my next 'cross race in 8 days...

Ok.. time for food!

Jackson Park CX Vid

2007-10-04T00:21:00.000-04:00

The above is a quick clip of me clearing the second barrier on my second lap. It is also my first ever youtube video.. yay me...

'Cross eyed

2007-09-23T19:13:00.000-04:00

The day finally arrived. My maiden 'cross race! Race #1 in the Chicago Cross Cup series. It's kind of sad that I've been waiting on this day almost like Christmas, but then it does sort of signify the start of my local racing career here in Chicago, so I guess it was a big deal.

I got to the park early, taking the El for most of the journey and then biking the last couple miles. Certainly a new routine for me... They treated the mens Cat 4 race as the "main event" putting it at the end of the day. I'm sure this was more becuse of the sheer number of racers, they wanted to make sure all other races where completed and off the course.

The course was dry and slightly soft with many corners loose and sandy from the pounding they'd taken troughout the day. Ride time temp was in the 80's. NOT your typical 'cross conditions! 79 men started at 2:45pm for the 30 minutes of hell that would follow. I made the unfortunate mistake of taking a warmup lap, so that by the time I got back to the line, most of those 79 men were already lined up :( I begrudgingly took my place at the back of the pack.

Sucky. I did manage a spot on the outside, however, and eyed my escape route.

The race started (slowly) and I shot to the outside. We started with a long sweeping left turn, so I jumped to the outside and put the hammer down. Not too far from the start was the firt run up. We took a 180 degree turn into the runup which normally required dismounting before the turn. However, with the mass of humanity leading into it at this point, I actually had to dismount 2 turns before the run up. I managed to get myself an inside position on the 180 turn, and had a clean run up. Shortly after we were biking back up that same hill, and I used my SSkillz to move up some more places. At this point I was in about 24th.

You can see the masses I had to navigate

After a long back stretch we entered my favorite part of the course. A series of chicanes had been setup around 4 bushes. It was a blast. Sharp right to enter, hug the next bush tight around to the left, and again on the next tight to the right. Shoot straigt across to the last, hug tight, then a sharp right hander, sandy, to the exit! On my first lap I passed no less than 6 riders through the chicanes. I was stealing inside lines like they were going out of style! And anyone that knows me knows that tight cornering in loose conditions is not my forte, but my Raleigh RX 1.0 was hooked up! (Thanks Ernie! )

Had to gas it up again out of the chicanes to another long bumpy stretch, another 180 left hander, but a little more room. Down the back stretch and into the second barrier. This one was a bitch. It starts downhill into a sharp left 180, sprint back uphill into the barrier. Dismount, run downhill again, 180 degree turn, run back up hill, 180 left and them remount and ride away toward the start/finish. I thought this downhill remount and then the long start/finish straight would lead to some sprint battles. But, honestly, after the barrier and run-up, I was toast, even after the first lap..

By the time I came around on my second lap I was in 13th place! I glanced behind after clearing the first runup and there was a huge chase group. "there's no way I can hold them off!" I thought. I've really got to work on my mental game!! But I kept pushing hard, and the massive train I expected to blow by never came. I pick off another another on this lap and I'm in 12th. I hadn't bothered to check the lap count up to this point, so as I go by the start/finish, I glance over to the right... 3 laps to go! Again i think "I don't think I can keep this up!!"

I'm in a bit of a no man's land at this point. There was a single speeder within striking distance (I later learned he was on a fixed gear!!!!! ) but he had disappeared. I'm sort of yo-yoing off of the next closest rider. As we enter the chicanes again, I can tell he's struggling on the turns, so I try to ride clean and fast through the corners and I gain on him, but in the flats he stays away. I start to reel him in again as we approach the run-up on lap 4.

I'm right behind going into the downhill, and then attack on the climb back up. I had to go all out as I wanted to make the pass stick. My legs are starting to twitch all over like they want to lock up, so I just concentrate on long smooth strokes. We get into the flats, and I can hear him starting to fade. Into the chicanes, right, left, right, he's right behind.. one more hard left and I hammer again... By the next turn about 200 meters away I can see he's started to fade!

I come throught the start finish again and hear the sweetest sound ever.. the bell lap!! all I have to do is hang on and I'll finish in 11th, meeting my goal of a top 15 finish. To top it off, I've even passed some lapped riders! What a race... the lap goes without incident, no one very close at all... I cruise in for a great finish. Later, checking the results, it turns out some of those riders weren't lapped at all and I actually took 9th!! Top 10! I'm psyched.. a perfect end to a perfect day!

Got this from Andy B...

2007-09-05T18:26:00.000-04:00

I can't wait!!

Dear Diary....

2007-09-04T23:13:00.000-04:00

So, no one's on the boards, I have no PMs, I have no emails... It's too late to call anyone.. I don't know anyone in this town anyway, so who would I call??

I can't believe I'm actually turning to this blog becuase I don't have anyone else to talk to....

Making new friends isn't easy. Especially when there's nothing wrong with the friends that you already have, except that they live in another state...

A minute ago I was all fired up to talk, and now I just feel like going to bed..

good night.

OK, Where was I??

2007-08-14T23:32:00.000-04:00

Oh yeah...

So, as I pondered what might have been as I watched Erin disappear on the horizon, I reminded myself that this was going to be my longest ride of the year to date, and all I'd had for breakfast was a peanut butter and honey sandwich. I had to ride my own race or I was gonna die out there.

I'm a little hazy on what followed immediately after the road climb, but shortly I was riding a fairly rocky, loose two track that quickly turned downhill. This is going to be fun. The signs on the side of the trail warned of washouts, all the better. Since my Super D experience in VT I've gained a lot of confidence in my downhilling, especially back here in the midwest. And to top things off, who do I run into again but Erin. Again, we exchanged encouragement for a moment. Now if you know Erin, you know that she needs to be staked down in a stiff breeze. This was not helping to keep her in front of me as the trail turned downward, so I picked my way by and let go of the brakes! What a ride! There was nothing technical or tricky about this section, but it was fast and loose. At the end was a sign that I couldn't really make out, but I imagine it was to warn me of the washout at the bottom of this hill I had just come screaming down. Now, there's a somewhat sharp right hand turn at the bottom, and lo and behold, the trail is washed out with only a rather narrow spot to cross through the rut smoothly. As long as you stay to the inside you're ok. I wasn't to the inside. Just as I was marveling at the idea that the organizers had put a gap jump into the trail, I noticed the narrow crossing. I locked up the breaks, but managed to hit the opening and get across unscathed. That could have been ugly (right Cary?? ;) )

Ok, so here's where waiting this long to post this race report becomes a problem. I'm a little hazy on the details of the trail from this point on. With less than 10 miles to go I was passed by Lyle from the BKB. At this point I had no idea where I was in the standings, but I tried to imagine he had just put me out of the top 10 as motivation to ride back into him. It was no use, he was g-o-n-e... So I continued to ride my race, hoping to limit the damage to the end. AT this point a woman passes me on my right. DAMN. And, of course, not long after that, Erin again. This girl is insane. A couple years ago she wrapped herself around a tree at Yankee while we were out pre-riding. I helped her up and waited for her to recover a little before getting on my bike and hammering out the rest of my lap thinking she would be quite a bit behind. She was less than a minute behind in the end (over about 4-5 miles). This girl can ride through some pain!!

Only this time, as E goes by, she's complaining that she's got no legs left, she's hurtin', and the woman that just passed was 5th place. So I yelled at her that she's got no legs, just a massive Detroit Diesel pushin' her over the course, and to get her ass up there and catch that chick!! And dammit if she didn't take off like a bat out of hell!! Respect!

Feeling I had done my job, I pushed on, hoping to not have to follow my own orders if another SSer should pass. a couple miles later, a rider does go by, and he's sportin' the unmistakable locks of Kevin LaRoe.. He's an SSer I've seen around the last couple of years, though I think he's been SSing much longer than I. I'm pretty sure that I've always gotten the better of him, but today seems to be a different story. He just went flying past on one of the rare hard packed dirt roads. He was 20 yards up the road before I even knew what was going on. Again, I lacked the power to gap up to him, but it did give me a kick in the butt to make sure I kept my cadence up!

Shortly after that we came to what I would find out was the last climb of the day. A soft, sandy straight climb that they had to use wood chips to FIRM UP!! As I began my climb, wondering if I'd be best to walk, I hear screams of pain coming from the top of the hill.. It's ERIN! She'd been brought to her knees by leg cramps, and was trying to get back up and onto her bike. With every step Her legs wobbled and then seized up again in pain. By now I am off the bike and walking up the climb, just watching in empathetic agony. I finally reach the top and Erin still hasn't been able to mount her bike. I helplessly asked if there was any way I could help, but she declined and said she'd just try to get through it. Man, what a bummer. She was riding so hard and having a pretty good race from where I sat. What a way to end the day.. :(

But my day wasn't over. I'm inside 5 miles to go now, and just trying to muster everying I have left to make sure I leave nothing in the tank at the end. I ramp the cadence up again, and curse the fact that there's no-one out here for me to chase. So I have to turn to those chasing me for motivation. Soon there's a sign indicating single track again. Finally!! Just before the single track I can hear voices behind me. There's a lone rider and a Tandem. I'm guessing that it's friends Cris and Craig. Midway through the single track there's a tricky quick climb through a few trees over some rocks and roots. The loose sand has been giving my Maxxis semi-slick rear tire trouble all day, so I opted to hop off and cyclocross it. I hopped back on feeling confident that I hadn't lost much ground, when I hear sounds of a crash behind me. I think Cris and Craig had trouble navigating the climb and got hung up. Great, more space.

Shortly after We're into the last 1.5 mils to go. I pop out onto some pavement and my heart sinks. There's no way I'm going to out run a tandem on the pavement in my 36x17!! But a quick check over my shoulder and they're still a ways off, so I start to work up the cadence. Slowly at first b/c there's still over a mile to go. There's a short stint back on the dirt and some extremely unpleasantly bumpy grass, and back onto pavement that must be near the finish as I can see the complex of buildings where the finish is located. By now I've worked up to a pretty high cadence.. 90-100 rpm? But still not going nearly fast enough to hold off a charging tandem I think. I glanced back and they were still a ways off.. As I round the corner there's people lined up on on either side. I must be in the finish straight!! They're yelling for me, but then I can hear them immediately cheering for the tandem as well. I turned my little legs over as fast as they would go, tunnel vision on the finish. I came in just yard ahead of Cris and Craig who were charging up fast!! Relief!! I hit the end of the finish chute and was greeted by a nice old lady who took my timing chip. I could barely stand my quads were screaming in misery!!! I nod to some of my friends who were there still milling about, and then turn around, and what do I see.. There's ERIN, less than a minute behind me!!! Even after being brought to her knees by leg cramps, she gets back up on the bike and almost runs me down. This girl is F.A.S.T.!!!

Well, I'll spare you any more boring details. That was it. My race. I had one of the best ride of my life. Probably due largely to the fact that I was in no shape to really race, so I basically rode against myself and learned how to manage a long race and portion my energy and effort to get me to the finish. Hopefully next year I'll be able to pair that with better training, and improve my place and time. Final result: 19th of 35 in SS and 165th of 518 overall.

That's the one with the sand, right??

2007-08-13T10:57:00.000-04:00

Yeah, that's Ore to Shore.. the one with the sand. Lots of sand.. And where there isn't sand, there's more sand.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate sand?

And yet, somehow, this was probably one of the most fun races I've ever competed in. I guess it doesn't hurt that my training this year has been nearly non-existant, and so my expectations weren't terribly high, though I was shooting for a 3:15 finish time which would have put me in the top 10. As it is, I eeked in the top 20 with a 3:28 finish. But the most amazing thing was how good I felt through the whole race!

The morning started too early. I was hardly able to sleep the night before as a combination of nerves and Adams inhuman snoring kept me very alert. My nutrition plans were woefully lacking (surprise, surprise..) so my breakfast consisted of a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and the free Amino Vital water they handed out at registration. I tried to eat a little bit of a poppyseed muffin, but by this time it was close to start time, and my stomach was not very happy with me.

I saw my dad off as he started the 28 mile Soft Rock. His first race ever. Way to go Pop!! Still feeling pretty bad, I got over to the Hard Rock start and got a spot in the 3:30 to 3:10 seeded starting grid. I noticed Little Mike was several riders ahead of me in the 3:00 finish spot. Cheater.. >:( (j/k)

The start was fast and furious. Well, for the single speeders anyway. About 2 miles of rollout on pavement in 36x17 makes for one hell of a spinfest. I was grabbing every wheel I could to try to draft my way out of town. The combination of no warmup and then the furious spinning and tucking lead to some bodaciously stiff legs by the time we hit the dirt!! I just tried to keep spinning at a resonable pace, passing as many as I could as easily as I could so I didn't have to hammer too much until my legs could get some decent blood flow going.

Adam caught up to me just prior to the Power Line climb, and we both caught Little Mike. By now my legs had settled in, so I pressed on and made it over the Power Line with little problem. I was managing my heart rate really well through this whole race. I knew my lack of training and poor eating set me up for a spectacular Bonk!, so it was going to be crucial to manage my energy well.

Some time after the Power Line came Misery Hill. I remember seeing it off in the distance. One crazy, rocky, sandy climb, and a string of bikers, bikes shouldered, winding there way up like so many ants. I'm not sure if the leaders rode this bastard or not, but if so, my hat's off to them. I hopped off at the base and started the trek up.. I thought I might pass a couple on the climb, but my legs had other ideas. So I just patiently climbed to the top and away we went.

It was some time soon after that I caught up to Erin. I'd pretty much resigned myself to the fact that Erin was going to crush me in this race, so I was pretty psyched to see her on the trail. It was also great to see a friendly face out there. She was great, we're both suffering out there, and she had nothing but great, encouraging words for me!! I was feeling pretty strong, so I pressed on along with another single speeder, Lyle, from the Bare Knuckle Brigade.

We chatted a bit on one of the flat sections after Misery Hill. The BKB have a pretty bad ass kit. Check'em out here. By the time we hit the all out speed fest on Route 510, I latched onto some gearies in a pace line and dropped Lyle (for the time being... )

Following the glorious downhill was a three tiered road climb. I powered past most of the folks I'd descended with on the first climb. Some of them rode back into me on the second, and by the third I was just saving my legs. Just as I was hoping to make it to the top of the hill with my lungs still firm planted INSIDE my chest, I hear a cheerful "C'mon Soup!!".. Erin had drafted her way back up to me. I made a half hearted attempt to catch her wheel, but she sped by so fast, and I knew that over exertion now could spell disaster later on, so I let her go. Oh well, at least I glimpsed greatness.. ;)

TO BE CONTINUED.... (I'm getting carpal tunnel!!)

Long time no update...

2007-08-05T01:37:00.000-04:00

Well, I don't know if I'll ever get back on a regular schedule of updating this blog. The fact is there are a lot more important things I need to focus my energy on these days. But I'll try. In the free time that I do have, I've been working on bikes.. (go figure) Here's some of the results.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I removed both derailurres (Duh) and the rear break. I had to drill out the rear drop outs (wish I'd gotten a picture of those) as they were only half 'open' from the factory, so you couldn't slide the wheel back and forth to adjust chain tension. That was an ordeal that took almost all afternoon with a drill and a rat tail file.

Then there's the oh so trendy bullhorns

I just flipped and chopped the original steel drop bars. Not sure if I'll get a bmx style brake leaver or leave it as is. One thing's for sure. I better make the rear wheel fixed soon, cuz one brake ain't enough to stop my fat ass!

So the last thing to do is to chop the downtube shifter lever mounts

And get a fixed/free rear hub and rebuild the wheel. Then I'll have my little urban hipster fixed commuter. I'll be SO Chicago...

When in Rome....

2007-07-10T20:35:00.000-04:00

No.. I haven't gone and moved again.. :D

It finally happened.. I went and got a road bike. While some may consider this the selling of my soul (you know who you are..) I just look at is adaptation. I'm not getting out onto the dirt as much as I'd like, and riding the mt. singlespeed on the pavement isn't much fun.

My buddy Tom picked up this old Giant Kronos from one of his neighbors. He couldn't use it, so he passed the deal along to me.

So far I've removed all the reflectors, swapped out the old Gel seat, and removed the middle chainring and front deraillure. So it's currently a 1 by 7. Eventually I'll swap the rear hub for a flip-flop and make it a fixed gear with a front brake... I'll try to post up my progress....

That's all for now....

soup

Visitors from outter space... no, not really...

2007-06-25T21:52:00.000-04:00

Yay! I had company this weekend. Kim, in town for new job training, and Robert came to ride bikes with me on Sunday! we got in roughly 37 miles biking from my house down the Lakeshore Trail south of the city! It was a great day for a ride. Not too warm, and overcast, though that didn't stop be from getting fried on my face and arms.. damn whitey!

I don't currently have bike computer.. (paula ;) ) so I don't have stats, but it was deffinitely a leisurely pace. I think we gave Kimmy a little workout, but I know that Robert was chompin' at the bit. I was too sorta, but was running a relatively low 36x17 on pavement, so I was pretty much spun out anytime we picked up the pace. Case in point when about 20 bicycle cops came pouring out of their compound and onto the trail and passed us in single file. It was actually Kim who took up the chase to reel them back in. I asked Robert if she has lot's of tickets.. he says "yes!" :D

So we jumped into the Piggy Peloton (please, no flames.. It was just a funny name.. I like cops.. for the most part. Unless they're pulling me over.. for running a YELLOW light!.. fucker.. >:( ) Pics to follow as soon as Kim and Robert get them downloaded.. :D

Anyway, they peeled off to go police the Gold Cup tourny that was in town at Soldier Field, and we continued on our way.

On our return trip, as we paused on the bridge over the canal at Whacker street, Robert got a whole boat load of tourists to wave back at him as they passed below us. It's nice to see that people haven't become so jaded that they can't indulge a bunch of goofy adults in spandex and colorful jerseys waving at them from a bridge!

We topped the day off with some good grub and great Guiness at McNamara's on Irving Park. Good day, great friends.. who could ask for anything more??

My first Chicago ride report...

2007-06-17T15:12:00.000-04:00

Ok.. so I've not been around here much. Truth is, I get precious little time in front of the computer any more, and when I do, it's work work work... I think i'm getting averse to sitting down at the computer.. Who'da thunk it...

Anyway, I've had the chance now to settle in a little bit, and i've got a couple rides under my belt. (yes, sadly, only a couple.... :( )

I got up to Kettle Morain in Wisconsin a few weeks ago with Ross. This was a pretty decent trail. Long fast singletrack. There was some nice technical stuff thrown in on a supplemental loop that we hit off a connecting trail. Overall, I'd rate it about a B-.. Not bad, but hard to justify the 1.5 hour drive (without traffic)..

More recently I've been to the Palos Forest preserve in Willow Springs, IL.. For my MI homies, the best comparison I can draw would be to Stony or Bloomer. Mostly that Palos is a system of separate loops connected by two track or other singletrack connector trails. There's also a fair amount of legal and bandit trails.

The terrain is fairly similar to Stony too.. I think most of the trail at Stony flows much better, but there are some sections that are pretty fun. Gravity Cavity is a short, mile or so section that's pretty straight, and runs mostly downhill. There's a fair amount of root drops and fun little features built into the trail, but as far as speed, it's not terribly steep, and you have to watch out for riders in the other direction.. >:( "Out and Back" is a nice little 1-2 mile out and back with some really nice 2-3 foot log piles and decent flow. But, again, lookout for other riders...

There's plenty of mileage to be had, so I won't lack for training miles. But speed an climbs are going to be lacking.. gonna have to find some back road hills somewhere..

Well, that's it for now.. I'm pooped... It sucks being out of shape...

One last taste

2007-05-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

Today I got an awesome fast lap in at PLRA... It'll probably be my last taste of Dirt for a while.

Amanda and I just ripped PLRA up! I was working on cornering, after getting thoroughly embarrased at Mayberry a week ago.

Riding for fun is so much better than training for the next race. This is a nice side effect of not racing much this season.

So, I'll post up more when I have more info on the scene in Chi-town...

Soup

Huntin'

2007-04-14T19:53:00.000-04:00

Well, it's been two weeks in the new job now. Still training really. And looking for an apartment. And trying to sell my car... and my house.

Damn. It's no wonder I'm tired all the time.

I guess I'm going to have to do a re-work on the site again one of these days. But time, especially time online, is something I lack these days.

Last week I spent as many hours in the car as I did working. Of course, driving is part of my work now. That's gonna take a little getting used to.

So if anyone knows of any palacial 2 bedrooms in chicago going for next to nothing, drop me a line.. ;)

Hope to be getting back into the blogging soon!

Long time gone

2007-03-28T08:59:00.000-04:00

Well, if anyone is left checking this blog, I'm back!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I've been interviewing for a new job, as it's no secret that I was ready to move on.

Last week I was offered, and accepted the job. I'll be a regional consultant for GM service departments. The craziness comes in that fact that I'll be based out of Chicago, IL.

I've changed jobs plenty of times, but never relocated for a job. I'm excited about moving to Chicago, but there's a lot of complication along the way. First and foremost is the fact that the job requires too much travel for me to be able to keep my dog Nero. I love Nero dearly, but I guess I've known all along that I'm not the kind of pet owner that is going to spend ungodly amounts of money on procedures for a pet, or prevent myself from taking a great professional opportunity. I guess some people can't understand that, and so they have not qualms about making me feel like I'm an absolutely horrid person for abandoning my dog.

I certainly did not adopt Nero 2 years ago with the intention of ever giving him up. But I learned in that time that I'm really not the ideal pet owner, either. As much as I know Nero and I have formed a bond, I really think he'd be better off with someone who's more devoted to his needs. Of course, he could also be in a much worse situation as well. Which is why I'm trying to be very careful about where I place him, even if it's only a foster situation until a new permanent home can be found.

It's killing me thinking that I may have to leave him with a rescue agency and not a real family, but time is running out. It seems some people think I'm heartless for giving up my pet, and believe me, right now, I wish I was.

It's you or me, turkey, and it feels like Thanksgiving

2007-03-09T23:54:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week I felt a "sick" day coming on, so I decided to go all legit and take Friday off. I'm headed to Chicago this weekend, so it seemed like it would be a good idea anyway to have an extra day to get stuff done.

Holy Moly did I pick the right day to take off. The high temp today was 46 degrees and mostly sunny. And with the threat of rain in the morning tomorrow, today might be the only day I can get a ride in.

I started with a quick stop at the shop for supplies. Man, that place is like a black hole. I just get sucked in there. Even if I'm not spending money, it's just a giant time suck standing around talking bikes and... well, bikes.. So with great effort I tore myself away, and got underway.

The route was the same as last weekend. Only this time I rode the whole thing. Including the metro park path, and mileage from the shop, the total on the day was 42 miles. Time was around 2:50. It's not a particularly hilly route (see elevation profile at the link above) but I managed to keep up a pace close to 16mph, so the legs got a good workout. I also did some one-leg drills on the moderate rises in the park. There's nothing like one-leg drills to really get you to focus on a good spin. My problem is with my seat set high for road riding, it gets a might bit uncomfy if you know what I'm sayin'....

While back in the woods on the Indian Springs Metropark path, I happened upon a couple turkeys just hangin' out playin' in the mud or something. I wasn't too concerned until I got closer.. man, these things were HUGE. One good freakout and they could take me down no problem. So I kinda slowed down and thought about what type of menacing noise I ought to make to get them to take off. Just then they hopped
on off the trail on their own. That's right! They saw what was comin' if they tried to get a piece of THIS.

I had hopped to vary the route a bit for the return trip, but I hadn't really studied the map too well, so I stuck to the same route home. I was trying not to get the heart rate up too high, stay aerobic and burn fat no sugar, but at the same time I wanted to keep the pace swift. It helps that it is mostly downhill on the way home.

So I was quickly back home, enjoying a juicy 1/3 pound of cow and some awesome garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmmmmmmm recovery.. :D Hopefully the rain wraps up early and I'll be able to get out early tomorrow before the long 5 hour drive to Chicago to celebrate the opening of Thomas' new studio!!

Punxsutawny Phil, that Rat Bastard!

2007-03-04T15:59:00.000-05:00

Tge begubbubg if nt reak traububg kast seasib was ( <-- ok, this is what happens when you try to blog while watching TV.... )

Last season my training began in earnest when I joined the Tree Farmers on their weekend rides from Walled Lake to Kensington/ILRA. I've got many more miles on my legs this year, but I figured it was time to return to my roots. So I met Paula and Erin, the Gorgous Ladies Of Biking (or G.L.O.B.'s) at the CVS parking lot this morning at 8:30am EST (Erin'S Time) ;)

It was BUTT COLD at the start. Really, it was only about 25 degrees F but after a few rides in the 30's I must be spoiled! I don't know about you, but I don't see any early spring coming, unless you're getting the hell out of dodge. There's barely more than 1 day predicted to break into the 40's in the next 10 days. Punxsutawney Phil might find it easier to see his own damn shadow if he were to put down the crack pipe once in a while.

You can find the route here. We got underway at an easy pace. Just needed to warm ourselves up. And the G.L.O.B.'s had done a similar, nearly 4 hour ride yesterday, so I'm sure they had a couple kinks to work out. I was feeling pretty good, but I only did a pretty flat 1:45 ride yesterday. The first big climb came on Buno Rd. I love that climb. I think my legs were much stronger after this climb than last year, though I'm still not recovering they way I'd like, but I guess intervals will take care of that. The roads were a mess, pothole-wise, which made it impossible to enjoy the ride down.. :(

Kensington and ILRA went by without excitement. We all guessed the # of cars in the ILRA parking lot and the winner was..... someone else, cuz we all LOST! (I was the big loser at 2 cars) I guess I need to have more faith in my biking brothers!

At the end of the ILRA road we stopped for a quick snack and discussed the relative merits of Sport Beans vs. Cliff Blocs, and their vast superiority to Bonking! It's no secret that I have a biking and eating problem...

The ride back was a spectacular. We had the wind to our backs most of the way, and we rode my second favorite hill on this ride, up mount Trashmore. According to Routeslip.com this is highest point in the ride. It's a long, sometimes grueling ride to the top, and a short but excitingly quick ride down the other side.

We were soon off the bike path and back onto the dirt (potholes) of South Hill rd. There is no truer representation of Hell on Earth than a muddy, potholed, dirt road in the middle of the winter. There is no rhythm (save for that bouncing in the saddle), no speed, and no joy...

The remainder of the ride home was delayed only when Erin got off her bike to kiss the pavement when we got back to W Maple Rd.

Back at the CVS parking lot we bid adieu to Erin who was off to get her Grandma drunk (at least I THINK that's what she said), and Paula and I capped the ride with a big fat sub!

So, come on Tree Farmers... It's that time again.. :D

PS. When I started this post Nero was at the right foot of the sofa. By the end of the post he was at the left foot, and I'm pretty sure it was his farts that propelled him there.

Mt Bike snowglobe

2007-03-03T22:54:00.000-05:00

That was today's ride.

Big, fat, fluffy snowflakes fell today as I headed out from my house to Indian Springs Metro park. It was about 3pm and most of the snow and ice had melted. The roads were wet, but not too wet. However, the falling snow was accumulating a little bit, making it hard to discern puddle from pavement. I had to take some sidewalk before crossing Dixie into the neighborhoods. I promptly ran through about 15 feet of 5 inch deep not quite frozen puddle. Yuk. Well, I was dry. Luckily my feet didn't seem to get too wet, but I'm still afraid this will shorten the ride.

In an effort to get more miles this month before the trails are dry enough to ride, I'll be using routeslip.com to plan out longer rides from my front door. Today's ride was planned to take me to Indian Springs. I studied the streets and turns before leaving the house, and figured I'd wing it from there. Actually, this was a test run to see just how good I am at "winging" it. I love Robert's rides because I don't have to think too much while riding. I wasn't sure I could do the thinking and still enjoy the ride. But it was an awesome ride! There's a few bugs to ironed out in this route. A couple of the roads were too high traffic and narrow. But otherwise, it was a great time, and it looks like I'll be able to get plenty of miles from home this spring!

The ride took me by PLRA. I didn't bother even checking out the trail as there were several inches of snow everywhere that wasn't plowed. I did, however, take a shortcut from the PLRA parking lot to Gale road that took me through some of that deep snow. That was a trip. Slogging through 5 inches of snow, in 42x17 with a semi-slick on the back. And I almost made it... ;)

The dirt portion of Gale road was in terrible shape. It was a veritable mine field of potholes. I finally turned back at this point as it was getting too tiring to try to avoid all the holes. I'd hoped to be out for 2 hours whether I made it to the metro park or not. I turned around and 50 minutes. I tried to stretch it out on the way back, but it's mostly downhill on the way home, so I only managed 1:45 by the time I got back home.

Tomorrow I meet Paula and Erin in Novi for a 4 hour ride out to Kensington and back. 300 miles here I come!!

PS and now a quick note about how Fire Fox kicks IE's ASS!!! After spending a significant amount of time composing this post, I accidentally cut power to my laptop. After rebooting and launching FF, the "restore previous session" option acutally returned me to the post page with my post INTACT!!

Burrrrrrrrito run!

2007-03-01T08:29:00.000-05:00

Man, it's about time I had some biking to blog about.

I finally got my sorry butt back out on the bike last night with the WRCS ride # 47 of 48. Robert had dubbed this the Burrito Ride, so our penultimate destination was Qdoba restaurant for some big fat burrito goodness.

Starting north of Royal Oak as is the Wednesday night norm, there was much speculation as to which Qdoba we would patronize that evening. Nancy played a little Mexican roulette and parked her car at the Royal Oak location and rode her bike to the start from there thinking that would put her at her car after eats rather than having to get back on the bike after the Qdoba cool off.

Nancy lost.

Leaving the senior center parking lot promptly at 6:50pm, Robert announced that our mealtime milieu would be either the Troy or B'ham locations. Doh!

There couldn't have been a better night for the Burrito Ride. I got in the car to leave for the ride feeling pretty crappy. Low blood sugar I'm sure. I had eaten well yesterday, just not enough. But let me take this opportunity again to say how much I LOVE Espresso Hammer Gel. A couple shots of this stuff before the ride, and I felt like I could've ridden forever. The one thing it couldn't do, however, was make my tummy feel full. Enter the Chicken Burrito.. :D I've never devoured a burrito so quickly. I was like a ravenous coyote.. but I digress...

The pace was a little more brisk than the previous rides I'd joined. It felt great. I guess the idea was to earn our calories, and to get a couple extra miles in before the stop. We hit all the regular spots, Berkly, Royal Oak, B'ham (where we ate, btw..) and I think even farther west. I don't really pay too close attention to where we are. That's the best part of these rides for me. I just turn my brain off (I know, not a big stretch from the rest of my day) and follow the wheel in front of me. This is why i think I would enjoy road riding (just to break up the mountain biking, of course.) Alas, only enough dough for one working bike (read: one wheelset) at a time right now, and I don't think my fat 2.35s would fit between a road frame's stays.

And the weather! What a perfect night for a ride. Sure, it will get more perfecter as it gets warmer, but after several rides with wind chills below 0 deg. Fahrenheit (I can't believe I spelled that right on the first try!!) it was nice to ride above the freezing mark. I left the jacket in the car, and was actually able to take my time getting ready outside my car. My toes stayed toasty all night, and I even started to feel a little flushed during the heart of the ride. Warming up after our stop was not an issue at all. For someone who used to be truly (again, spelled right the first time) challenged at dressing for the weather regardless of what I was doing, I'm really starting to get this winter riding gear thing down!

Last night I learned that the Monday night ride from American Cycle & Fitness in Royal Oak on Woodward goes on year round. Looks like I might have found myself a new weekly ride.

So that brings mile total mileage in February to a whopping 50 miles! That's a hair under my mileage for last february, but on the whole I'm still up 130 miles. March last year I did 240 miles. I'll make my goal for this year 300 miles. Look out, March, here I come!

III am so smart., III am so smart.... S - M - R - T!!!

2007-02-28T09:09:00.000-05:00

yeah, ok.. so I don't put much stock in these things.. but I like puzzles... :D

The lost city of... Detroit . Eh?

2007-02-28T08:29:00.000-05:00

This is pretty funny... Funny cuz it's true!

Detroit really is a sort of geographical, social, and political oddity.

The politics are a mess. City council member's seem to care more about their 15 minutes of fame than they do the City.

I'm sure Detroit isn't the only city to have experienced white flight, but ours seems to have left much longer lasting and damaging scars. Getting folks to come back down to the City after hours has been a fight. The "scene" in the D is almost completely underground. There's little in the City to bring shoppers and there money. No big retail stores like Borders or Best Buy at street level to encourage foot traffic around the city. Most of the clubs are in 'seedier' areas, or off the beatin' path (this of course adds to the cool factor, but does nothing for the more mainstream nightlife..) The new Lofts going in are a good start. Those young folks will want places to shop and hang out closer to home. Hopefully some of those amenities will follow!

Geographically, no one knows where to put Detroit. It's kind of an industrial wasteland. No longer the sole hub of the Auto Industry, it's a city without an Identity (thank god we lost Murder Capital)..

Growing up in the City, I've got a lot of affection for Detroit. I hope some day it returns to glory as one of this countries metropolitan cultural centers. But Lord knows it has got a long way to go.

All that cryin' for nothin'

2007-02-25T12:47:00.000-05:00

I just returned from the 1st annual Climb Detroit. 70 flights up the Detroit Marriott (center tower of the Renaissance Center).

Let me just first say I almost didn't make it. Man were the roads bad on I-75. Snow, slush, and ice. A couple times I almost put my little fwd GTi into the wall. At least it got my HR up prior to the race!!

My start time was 9:15am.. Things were pretty chaotic at the RenCen, with people seemingly going off whenever they chose. I ran a few laps around the tower and headed back toward the stairwell starting area to stretch.. It turned out there really was someone coordinating starts, and my teammate Ed and I started right about at our 9:15 time.

There were folks there from all over the athletic map. Lots of runners, some cyclists, generally fit folks, and then the not so fit. Most were wearing some workout gear and were generally fit, but there were a number of folks in jeans an t-shirts, and some sportin' some healthy guts...

My plan was to start running one step at a time and see how it goes from there. I had no time goals at all, but figured it might take about 20 minutes if I had to restort to walking any length of time. So I started and immediately was running past folks who were walking from the start. I was utterly amazed, however, when I passed the first aid station on the 10th floor in just a little over a MINUTE! I had no idea the floors were so short. In fact, only one 11 step flight of stairs between floors! Shortly after the 10th floor, still running, I was passing folks stopped on various floors in the doorways huffing and puffing. At one point, I passed a father and son (jeans and tees) and the son says "man, this is a lot harder than I thought it would be." At least he was there! Far too many kids opting for the gameboy over real life.. Anyway, at about the 20th floor I looked down at my HR monitor.. It was pegged at 200bpm! I could just about feel my heart jumping out of my chest. My legs felt great but I was starting to get a little light headed, so I decided to start walking 1 step at a time until my HR came down a little. And I waited. and waited... My HR continued to hover around 197bpm... So I guess I know what I need to work on for this season... ;)

It was about this time I started to notice how dry it was in the stairwell. It could have been the burning in my throat or the two dry husks of lungs I was coughing up. I stopped around the 40th floor for water. They had water stations (and EMS) every 10 floors. I had heard earlier that you had to leave the stairwell for water, and didn't plan on needing any anyway. Thankfully there was a guy there on the landing with a few cups. Only catch was that you had to drink it there, understandable as spilled water on the stairs would have been very bad. So I downed the water and noticed my HR had dropped to the mid 180's. I took off running again, but after a couple flights had to go back to walking as my HR was pegged again.

It was about this time that I had the concurrent thoughts "Gee, this isn't so bad, it's almost over" and "Hey, that second handrail looks really good. Bet I could use it to haul my sorry carcass up these stairs for a few more flights as I seem to have lost all motor control over my legs." These are the kinds of crazy juxtaposed thoughts you begin to have when your brain becomes dangerously deprived of oxygen in a dry, dusty stair well. So I kinda blanked on the next ten flights, and then with 5 flights to go decided to kick it in running 2 at a time. Cuz, you know, it doesn't matter what corner you go off to die in as long as you look good crossing the finish line... ;)

Ok, so it wasn't that bad. But it wasn't that easy. My goal was kinda to run the whole thing. To me, walking is not a race. So next year I might actually train for this thing and try to do well. Either way, I had a blast, and will definitely do it again.

Ran into DJ before his race. He looked confident and ready to take on the stairs. Looked good after too. Turned in a good 10:19. My final time was 9:46. Max HR was 201 and Avg. was 193.

Who the hell do they think they are?!?!

2007-02-23T11:45:00.001-05:00

The New York Times and other news sources have reported recently that the Iraqi Insurgents have been making coordinated, purposeful efforts to bring down coalition aircraft, and that these helicopters haven't just been falling out of the sky on their own. Whew, well that's a relief... But, wait... does that mean... THEY'RE SHOOTING AT US?!?! Who the F@#k do they think they are??

Please pardon me. I'm certainly not a very politically minded person, nor would I consider myself a satirist, but when I heard this the other day it just boggled my mind. I mean, aren't we at war? Isn't the point of war to try to cripple the other guy's ability to make war against you? Don't we have one of the world's greatest air forces, well renowned for their ability to stop a fight before it starts? Wouldn't you start there?

Perhaps I'm missing something. Now I'm sure not all of the downed helicopters of late have been of the Apache variety with the big ol' guns and missiles, but they were moving US troops somewhere to do something that was probly going to end up getting insurgents killed or captured, so, is it really news that they we've discovered that they're shooting at us. On purpose. With real weapons.

I'm certainly not condoning the action. I'd rather that no one was over there shooting at anyone else. I guess I shouldn't be shocked that we find it newsworthy that we've managed to turn up REAL DOCUMENTS to prove that the insurgents are targeting US aircraft. It's a hell of a lot better than finding NO PROOF WHAT-SO-EVER of the WMD's that got us into this mess in the first place (that is if you choose to believe the White House's line... We all know Little G just had to show Big G that he wears big boy pants now by finally removing Saddam from power).

So, please, if you have more insight into this than I, feel free to share. Again, I wouldn't put it past myself to have missed some glaringly obvious reason why this is news. I mean, sure, the helicopters could be just falling out of the sky on their own. But, wouldn't that be more remarkable?

Still time left...

2007-02-22T22:42:00.000-05:00

Only 3 days left till Climb Detroit. There's still time to make your pledge here. I go up at 9:15. I really have no idea how long it's going to take to climb 70 flights.. 20 minutes?? I guess it depends on how many times I stop to puke... Bah, I'll be ok.. It won't be easy, but I plan on passing DJ by the 3/4 point (wink wink)

And now to talk about manly-man things. These freakin' ads for women's health and pregnancy are starting to weird me out (not that there's anything wrong with healthy pregnant women... I'm just not one of them).

So, it's been a full 2 weeks since I've been on the bike!!! I'm going nuts! I took a week off after my snowboarding crash. Since then I've been running/hiking/climbing to prepare (if you can call it that) for the stair climb. The weather is turning nice. Well, nice is a relative term. When it's been in the single digits for weeks, 30 degrees starts to feel like shorts and t-shirt weather. I'm lovin' it! But I'm not getting any miles in >:( And who knows if I'll even be able to walk next week... :D

Oh, and GO LEVI! Pretty crazy action in the Tour of California. Crazy pile up on stage one. Discovery is in Yellow courtesy of Levi Leipheimer. And another American in the top 5, Chris Horner. Just crazy to me, seeing Ivan Basso supporting Levi... I guess that's the world of cycling. And I'm sure things will change race to race.

It's been a while since I've posted a pic on this blog. If you haven't already, check out Mike's Daily Pic! I've pulled out some old vintage and toy cameras and I'll be working on taking more pics on a daily basis. And I'll be working in *GASP* film!! I'm pretty sure at some point after switching to my Canon 20d I said "I'll never go back to film!", but I miss the tactile satisfaction of working with film and developer and paper. I'll probably just scan the negatives, but I'll be processing the negatives and may even fire up the ol' enlarger once in a while as well.

So here's a gratuitous pic. One of the first images I made with my 20d. This was shot at 3200 ISO in my basement with no studio lights (obviously) hence all the noise. On top of that, this is cropped down to about 1/10th of the full frame. Still pretty amazing to me.

Laters

Change is good

2007-02-22T08:38:00.000-05:00

Ok. So if you've come back to the site a couple times in the last few days you may have noticed that my banner, masthead, or whatever you care to call it has changed. And changed again. And yet again.

I think I've settled on this for a while. I'm really just experimenting until I come up with a template where I can just plug future changes in. I think I'm there. I'm not 100% happy with the current banner, but I'm tired of changing it, so I promise I'll put some real thought into the next one and post only the final version.. ;)

On a separate note, I started an experiment a few weeks ago and it's proving quite interesting. While I know there's no way in hell I could expect to generate any serious revenue from this site, I decided I'd like to see how the whole dealio works for those people that do. So, as I'm sure you noticed, I started running ads on the site. Apparently they rank the most current information higher in terms of ads that are displayed because in my last post I alluded to my blog as a newborn, and the next thing I know all my ads are geared towards motherhood and birthing sites!! Now I know there's a way for me to filter for the sites I want to advertise, but I think that's more of on a ad by ad basis, but we'll see. Of course I'd prefer that the ads remain bike related, but we'll see I guess.