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Livestrong Challenge

2010-10-26T12:33:00.009-05:00

This past weekend I had the privilege and honor of participating in the Livestrong Challenge in Austin, TX. Our team, “cancer sucks.”, raised $26,895 for the event ($20k + by team leader Kari Kehr alone. Awesome). Total raised for the weekend by all participants was $3.1 million. It was 3-days of emotional highs and lows, inspiration, and a fair bit of suffering over 90 miles of Texas hill-country roads.

Got to meet Chris Carmichael, Lance Armstrong’s longtime coach, which was cool. Incredibly nice guy, by the way. Saw Levi Leipheimer, Lance, Patrick “McDreamy” Dempsey and others throughout the weekend. But for me, the coolest part of the weekend was the unbelievable outpouring of support from people along the 90-mile course. People sitting and standing out in the heat and humidity for hours, clapping and cheering on each of the 3,100+ riders like they were family. A total stranger walking up to me as I am filling up my water bottle, shaking my hand and thanking me for what I’m doing. It’s times like that when it really hits you just how devastating and far-reaching cancer is. If you don’t know someone who has cancer or who has died from cancer, you are a truly fortunate human being.

My mother’s battle and eventual death from breast cancer was obviously on my mind the entire weekend. I also thought a lot about both of my grandfathers, as well as other friends and relatives I’ve lost over the years. I also thought of the survivors and those who are currently fighting their own battles. The 90-mile course was tough enough on it’s own, but trying to ride while trying not to cry makes it even tougher. One minute you’re fine, just focusing on turning the pedals over. Then you pass someone with a picture of their 6-year old daughter pinned to the back of their jersey, and you pray to God that you don’t see the words “In Memory of” above the photo. But then you do, and you lose it. The next minute you pass someone who has a “Survivor” tag on their jersey, and you give them a huge smile and a thumbs up as you ride by, and you feel inspired to hammer up the next of a seemingly endless string of steep grades. Your legs are on fire, your ass hurts from being in the saddle for over 4 hours, and it’s over 90 degrees outside with a steady 20mph headwind, but compared to what that person with the “Survivor” tag on their jersey has been through, you’ve got nothing to complain about. And you don’t complain. You put your head down, turn the cranks and thank God for the fact that you are alive and well.

Perhaps the only thing that rivaled the roller coaster of emotions was the actual roller coaster of a course we were riding. Just shy of 3,000 feet of elevation gain over 90 miles of ranch land in the Texas hill country. It seemed like we were climbing forever, with the occasional but way-too-brief downhill. Not the smoothest roads in the world, with a headwind for what felt like almost the entire route. The morning started out overcast and it felt like rain was a foregone conclusion. Then about halfway through, the clouds were gone and it got hot.

I rolled out with “cancer sucks.” and Peace Coffee Racing teammates Clayton McClagan and Cory Mortensen. We caught up to our other teammates who got to start with Lance Armstrong’s group, and stopped for a team photo. Then we all rode at our own pace. Clayton and I rode together, and we were absolutely flying for the first 40 miles or so. I’ve been in cyclocross mode for almost two months now, which means no long endurance rides, just short high-intensity intervals. Usually no more than an hour of riding. Well, I had basically just done about 2 hours of hill repeats at Tuesday Night World Championship pace and my ass was dragging big-time, with another 2–3 hours to go. I could tell the bonk was coming—had that hollow feeling where you are so hungry you feel as though you no longer have a stomach, just an empty space where it used to exist. Got to the next rest stop and I was just hoping to find a banana or a bagel. Even better was the box full of PBJ sandwiches and quesadillas. 3 sandwiches, a peanut butter and strawberry quesadilla (outstanding), some ClifBlocks, a Gu, and a bottle of Gatorade later I was a new man. The last 40 miles were 100x better than the first 50, even though the hills just kept on coming.

After our “safety break” near the end (some people in a minivan with a cooler full of ice-cold Shiner Bock), we rolled back towards Dripping Springs for the finish. The last few miles were lined with people cheering everyone home, with tons of people at the finish chute clapping, yelling and workin’ the cowbells. Cancer survivors had their own lane at the finish and each got a yellow rose. Very moving to watch people cross the line as they were greeted by family and friends.

One of the things I like most about Livestrong is their focus on the patient. A percentage of your donations goes towards research for treatment and hopefully a cure, but one of their main goals is patient advocacy and education. Just knowing where to start when you are diagnosed is an unimaginable task. Doing this ride probably isn’t going to result in a cure anytime soon. But it will give somebody the resources they need to help them navigate through the maze of specialists, insurance claims, employment issues, finances and so on. That is a very tangible benefit that you can see in action. I’m already looking forward to next year’s ride. I would strongly encourage anyone who has thought about doing it to join me. Whether you raise $250 or $25,000, ride 10 miles or 90 miles, you will know that you made a difference.

A huge thanks to everyone on Team Cancer Sucks. It was great meeting you all -- can't wait to do this again next year.

Top Photo: Chris Van Ert, Cory Mortensen, Clayton McLagan

Second Photo: Chris Van Ert, Chris Charmichael

Third Photo: Chris Van Ert, Clayton McClagan, and two ice-cold Shiner Bocks

Fourth Photo: back of our team jersey, with "In Honor of" and "In Memory of" lists

Bottom Photo: Team Cancer Sucks. Corey Mortensen, Liberty Lucken, Tom Crouch, Chris Van Ert, Clayton McClagan, Shawn Parker, Kari Kehr

Pork Chop Challenge CX

2010-09-27T11:42:00.003-05:00

Headed up to St. Cloud on Sunday for my first-ever cyclocross race. I had no idea what to expect, other than 30-minutes of all-out suffering. I was not disappointed in that regard.

Ref called everyone up to the line and I got stuck 2nd row. Race starts and I'm about 10-15 guys back going into the first turn. I passed as many as I could before the first uphill and barrier section. When I went to dismount for the first barrier my legs were so jacked from the start effort that I almost couldn't stand up, let alone clear the barriers. The course then zig-zagged up and down some steep, punchy hills. The mountain bike handling skills definitely helped here, as I passed several people who were having to ride their brakes. It was the uphill barrier sections that killed me. Definitely need to start running some hills and steps (while carrying the bike).

Bell lap, and I really had no idea where I was sitting. I towed a Birchwood guy halfway around the course and he passed me on the first set of barriers. I got on his wheel but ran out of gas on the final uphill barrier. He got me on the line by about 2 seconds for 4th place, but I'll take 5th out of 55 for my first cx race. I was only a minute and some change off the leader. I'm pretty happy with how things went.

I definitely have some areas to work on as far as technique and cx-specific interval training. I also need to figure out who is who in the Cat 4 field so I know who to mark. I hope to get things sorted and dialed in the next few races and then upgrade to Cat 3 before the end of the season for an extra 15-20 minutes of suffering per race. We'll see how it goes.

Photos from www.skinnyski.com

Salsa 24 Race Report

2010-09-02T15:57:00.005-05:00

The Team: "Peace Coffee Racing", 4-Man Open (Alan Eastlund, Joe Kjeer, Bryan Rhody, Chris Van Ert)
The Mission: Survive 24-hours of racing at Afton Alps and finish in top-three.

All four of us race in the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series and are teammates on Peace Coffee Racing. Joe was originally signed up to race solo. Bryan and Alan approached him about doing it as a team if they could find a fourth. That's where I entered the story. Bryan shot me an email asking if I'd consider it. Truth is, I had already been considering either doing the 8-hour solo or finding a team to join. Decided to do a solo 100-mile ride to gauge my fitness and mindset. The ride went well, so I was in.

I arrived at Afton Alps to find a sweet base camp setup: 3 EZ-Up's (one with a full-screen), tables, electric hook up with power strips to charge lights, food & bevy, and all the spare bike parts you could need. And, Joe's legendary MacGuyver shower, which deserves it's own separate write up. All of this was set up under a nice shady tree that was a stone's throw from the chalet and the start/finish/transition area. Perfect.

Alan "volunteered" to ride first and do the LeMans start (a 100-yard run up a hill, around a maintenance building then 100-yards back down to your bike to begin Lap #1). For no particular reason we settled on a rotation of: Alan, Joe, me, then Bryan. We were still undecided about how to handle the night shift, but we had plenty of time to figure it out.

Afton is a pretty brutal course. It is physically, technically, and mentally demanding. You don't get much chance to recover from all of the climbing and you can't afford to let your guard down on the steep, twisting, tree-lined rocky descents. It is either uphill or downhill, with only a couple of very short connecting segments that are "flat". The climbs vary from short and punchy to long and steep. There are three main climbs: Bridge Loop, Shady Lane and Manhandler/Whistler. These three sections are connected by a series of steep switchback climbs and rocky descents. Each 7-mile lap presents a leg-burning 1,150 feet of climbing. Painful to ride, really painful at race-pace. Punishing for 24-hours straight.

We had the racer's meeting and it was time to start. Alan was off for Lap #1 and the rest of us went back to base camp to get ready for our turn on the pain train. Expert racer extraordinaire, Sam Oftedahl, was the first racer through the transition area with a blistering 34-minute lap. Insanity. When Sam's teammate and top Minnesota pro racer, Brendan Moore, rolled across next with another 34-minute lap, the race for second place was officially on. Well, it was a race for second place the minute they registered. This is, afterall, the team (Team TrekVeloLag: Sam Oftedahl, Brendan Moore, Chris Fisher, Ben Moore) that won the 24-Hour National Championship in 2008.

The four of us got those first laps out of the way and we were all in the low to mid 40-minute range, which was great. I wasn't sure what to expect for lap times since the MnMBS race in May was a slightly different course, but I was hoping we could average 45-minute laps for the entire race. So far, so good.

We kept plugging away during the very hot and humid afternoon, trying hard to stay hydrated, get electrolytes in, and keep our fuel tanks topped off. We found ourselves in second place, a few laps down on the All-World team and a couple of laps up on third. The heat and humidity was taking it's toll and we were all looking forward to dark.

I had the first night lap and headed out as the sun was setting. I was only running a helmet light, which I won't do again. It's nice to be able to have the light shine where your eyes are pointing so you can look ahead of the bike. But, not having lights on the bars as well meant no depth-perception, which made it difficult to see little details on the trail like: rocks, roots, washouts, drop-offs. You know, the little things. There were several times where I took a descent way too hot and got bounced by something I couldn't see or where I tried to rail a corner only to discover it was loose, sugary sand. Fortunately, I kept it together and stayed upright. I decided to dial it down a bit, thinking it was better to lose a little bit of time in favor of keeping the rubber-side down. Gotta be in it to win it.

Joe had a minor crash his first time out after dark, but it was his next lap that will become the stuff of legend. Somewhere shortly after the Shady Lane summit he caught a rock on his front sidewall, went over the bars and ripped a hole in his tire (tubeless). He threw in a tube and got back on, only to have the tire blow off the bead a short time later. Joe tossed the tube removed what was left of the tire and proceeded to ride/run about a half-lap on nothing but rim. The large, "socially-lubricated" crowd at the top of Whistler was heckling Joe as they saw him pushing his bike up the hill. "He's walking! Get on and ride!", they yelled. When they got a closer look the heckling changed to, "Holy shit!, he doesn't have a front tire!!", followed by pandemonium. Fellow PCR teammate Clayton McLagan was Johnny-on-the-spot with a replacement wheel, and Joe rolled in to the transition area with a time of 1-hour. If you can have all of that happen to you and still turn in a 60-minute lap (at night, no less) you are a rockstar.

We had opted to continue doing one lap in a row for the entire race. For my previous three 24-hour races we had always done two laps in a row at night. This gives the other guys more time to rest and maybe even catch some sleep. I think one lap at a time was the right call. I didn't sleep at all for the entire 24-hours, but trying to drag your ass out of your sleeping bag after a fitful hour of "sleep" is much worse than not sleeping at all. Don't get me wrong, we were all tired, but once you get on the bike the race switch gets flipped and it's just kind of automatic. You can sleep when it's over.

The crowd on Whistler was great. As previously mentioned, they had been partying up there for some time. Riding through a group of 20 or so screaming lunatics (I mean that as a term of endearment) at the top of a tough climb gave us a taste of what it's like on Alpe d'Huez during the Tour de France. Two guys were out there the entire race, cracking us up as we'd slog up the hill. "This is nothing but a pile of dirt! You are getting your ass kicked by a pile of dirt!", was one of my favorites. They'd always follow up a good-natured jab with a water hand-up. Definitely gave us all a much-needed boost.

I had the last rotation on the night shift, heading out just before sunrise. My legs were pretty heavy at this point and motivation was pretty low. Once I got to about Shady Lane, the sun was out enough to see without lights, and my mood improved. Now that I could see again, I was able to attack the course a bit more. I was able to enjoy the sunrise over the St. Croix valley for a few seconds on the switchbacks out of "The Plunge", then it was time to put my head down and push upward.

One lap to go for all of us, and we were in pretty firm control of second place. All we had to do was finish our laps without incident and we were good to go. I rolled out for my 8th and final lap at 9:00. I was really tired, but gave it full-gas since this was it. I passed quite a few people before Bridge Loop and felt pretty good until halfway up Shady, when I starting getting the telltale twinges of impending cramps in my quads. I ate some gel, forced down some more HEED and switched from power mode to spin mode. I did not want to risk having my legs seize up on me, and just made sure I got through the tough climbs before I opened it up to the finish.

I got to the transition area, tagged Bryan and sent him out for our last team lap. My appetite suddenly made it's first appearance in about 12 hours and I began eating everything in sight: pancakes, tuna pasta salad, Pringles, spaghetti, cookies and who knows what else. After 24 hours of Gu, HEED, and ShotBlocks, real food tasted fantastic. A quick look at the standings showed the one team we were worried about had fallen way back overnight. We were up 4 laps on the closest team behind us in the 4-Man Open and were 2 laps up on the closest team behind us in the Overall. Bryan came through the finish (yes, it was no longer the transition area, it was now the finish line) at about 9:30 and our 2010 Salsa 24 was over. Well, not quite...

We still had a trip to the podium at the awards ceremony. We rode steady, consistent laps, survived a potentially disastrous mechanical/crash, and finished 2nd in the 4-Man Open and 2nd Overall. Definitely felt as good as 1st place, considering the only team we lost to was the former National Champions, who finished 4 laps up on us. Not bad for a bunch of old guys. We would have won the Masters category as well (all racers on team older than 35), but Bryan doesn't turn 35 until November.

After a long, painful and often times demoralizing rookie season racing as a Cat 1/Expert, this race made my entire season. 24-hour mountain bike races are every bit as difficult as you might imagine. Most mtb races are individual efforts, so the team dynamic of a 24 adds a lot of pressure. Especially when you have the expectations of a high-finish. You don't want to let your teammates down. We handled the pressure well, kept things fun and kicked a little ass along the way. I've done a lot of racing in the past 10-15 years, and this one will definitely earn a top-ranking.

Thanks to Alan, Joe and Bryan for asking me to climb aboard the pain train. You guys rocked! Props to all the other PCR crew out there on teams or doing the solo thing. We had 14 guys representing, which was way cool. And props to everyone else who raced or came out to cheer us on. Once I stop feeling like I got hit by a truck, I'll start thinking about the next epic adventure. Switching to CX mode for the next few months, and heading to Austin, TX in October for the LIVESTRONG Challenge 90-mile.

Thanks for reading.
Later

Salsa 24, by the numbers.

Lap Distance: ~7 miles
Lap Elevation: ~1,150 feet
Total Team Laps: 32 (8 laps each)
Total Team Mileage: ~224 (56 miles each)
Total Team Elevation: ~36,800 feet (9,200 feet each)
Average Team Lap Time: 46 minutes
Average Team Day Lap Time: 43:42
Average Team Night Lap Time: 49:25 (including Joe's little "adventure")
Total Time on Course: 24:32:03
Total Team Calories Burned: ~32,000 (8,000 each)
Saturday Hi Temp: 87°, Dew Point 60°, Overnight Temp 66
Sunday Hi Temp: 91°, Dew Point 62°
2nd out of 17 4-Man Open Teams
2nd out of 89 Overall Teams/Solo Racers

Livestrong Challenge, Austin, TX

2010-08-25T09:24:00.003-05:00

Most of you who know me know that I lost my mother to metastatic breast cancer in 1999. I also lost both of my grandfathers, aunts and uncles on my wife's side of the family, and a few friends to this disease in its various, insidious forms. I have other friends and family who are either cancer survivors or who are currently fighting battles of their own. To say the least, cancer sucks.

The more cancer kicked my mom, the harder she kicked back. She never gave up and never hesitated to offer whatever encouragement she could to others facing a similar struggle.

It is with that same fighting spirit and desire to help others that I will be taking part in the 90-mile LIVESTRONG Challenge ride in Austin, TX on October 24, as part of Team Cancer Sucks. My goal is not just to participate, but to raise $800 to help further the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s mission of inspiring and empowering people affected by cancer. To reach this goal, I need your help.

If you have been affected by cancer, or you care about this cause, please consider donating toward my fundraising goal. You can donate online at http://austin2010.livestrong.org/vert2223. Thank you in advance for your support. Together, we can make a difference in the fight against cancer.

Thanks!

Chris

Spring Training

2010-04-23T09:53:00.003-05:00

Training for the 2010 race season is in full-swing — well half-swing, anyway. Racing in the Expert class this year is going to be interesting, to say the least. I haven't increased my hours on the bike at all over last year, which probably doesn't bode well considering I'll be racing an extra lap this year at an even higher pace. But, after two years of racing Comp and doing well, it's time to avoid the sandbagger label and go suffer with the big boys. Lots of guys I've raced with the past few years are moving up this year too, so it will be just like old times in some ways.

Did an impromptu threshold wattage time trial test the other day, and my numbers were about where I expected them to be. Got a 50-mile mtb race in a couple of weeks which should either whip me into shape or destroy me. Possibly the Cable Off-Road Classic the week after, then the MMBS season starts the following Saturday. Pretty sure I want to do 24 Hours of Moab again this year, so I'm looking at the race season as training for that. We'll see. No matter what, this year will be a learning process and an adventure. Looking forward to it. I think...

New 100-mile Mountain Bike Race!!!

2010-02-11T10:35:00.002-06:00

Press release: February 11, 2010
Exciting new ultra-marathon mountain bike race to take place at super-awesome trail.
The "WTF 100" promises excitement, suffering and a test of endurance, and that's just the registration process. We will promote the hell out of the WTF 100 and then cap the number of racers at a generous .001% of entrants. The lucky .001% of racers who get in will be determined by a lottery system. By lottery, we mean you will have a better chance of winning the Powerball than ever lining up on race day. Registration opened one hour ago (to the general public), and will be closed before you finish reading this press release. Be sure to tell your friends, as they will not want to miss out! All racers accepted for this year get automatic entry next year, meaning you will never get in, but we do have a waiting list to make you feel better about trying. See you there, and be sure to tell all your friends, "WTF!!"

Why you should brew your coffee at home.

2010-01-28T09:32:00.002-06:00

I waited for you to park your car (3 attempts). I waited for you to order, after you asked about EVERY drink on the menu. I waited for you as you ordered, changed your order, then changed it again. I waited as the 8 cars in the drive-thru that prompted me to go inside to place my order in the first place all got served. Then you just had to go and do it, didn't you? You said, "I'll have an expresso". It's called espresso. The key to getting it right is to look at the letter s that's right there between the e and the p. I know it's difficult — just like parking, apparently. If you're going to make me use a year's worth of patience all at once, don't top it off by going nuclear stupid on me. Sorry, nuke-u-ler. You took so long to order that representatives from Fox approached you with an offer to do a spin-off of "24", where viewers can tune in for 24 episodes and watch you make up your mind in real-time.

All this time gave me a chance to answer the trivia question. Upon giving my answer, you tried arguing with me, telling me I was wrong. Question: "Outside of Alaska, what is the northernmost state in the US?" Easy. "The answer", I said, [SPOILER ALERT] "is Minnesota". You were all, "No, it's Maine". At first I was impressed that you knew that Maine was a state and that it might be a northern state at that. Then, I went all Nat Geo on your ass and said, "Northwest Angle". To which you of course said, "What?". I wanted to say, "Oh sorry, you probably pronounce it, Northwext Angle", but it would have been wasted on you. Anyway, I proceeded to explain how Maine is below the 49th parallel, while the Northwest Angle of Minnesota sits above it. "What?", you said again. "Look it up", I said.

You can Google it. I'm guessing you're still in line, and they've got free wi-fi.

Fundraiser for Jay Guthrie

2009-11-19T12:00:00.004-06:00

Jay is a fellow cyclist and an all-around good guy. He's been fighting cancer for a while now and there will be a fundraiser for him on Thursday, December 3rd at Now Bikes and Fitness in Arden Hills (map). See message below from Steve Thatcher, head of Ride & Glide Cycling & XC Ski Club for more details. See you there.

I'm sure most of you have heard about long time R&G club member Jay Guthrie and his battle with cancer. Now Bikes, County Cycles, HED and R&G are joining together in a fund raiser to help Jay and Anne with medical bills. To that end we will be having a "Get Together" at Now Bikes in Arden Hills on Thursday Dec 3rd at 7pm. We will be showing the video of Greg Lemond's 1989 TDF victory over Laurent Fignon and will have a "Guest Speaker". Steve Hed will be talking about aerodynamics and what's happening in bicycle racing. The video has special significance as it could be claimed that Greg's victory over Laurent was instrumental in the beginning of the aerodynamic era in bicycle racing. Steve will also talk about what's new at HED and I'm sure have many fascinating stories and will take your questions as well.

We'll have pizza from Davannis, which is right next door to Now, and beverages and some door prizes generously donated by HED, Now, County Cycles and R&G. Tickets will be $20 at the door and get you one ticket in the door prize drawing and free pizza and good times. Extra tickets for the drawings can be purchased as well.

So please come on over to Now and socialize with your cycling buddies, swap stories about Jay, and take some time off your trainer. You may even win one!

Please RSVP to Steve Thatcher at sdthatcher@q.com so we know how much food to get.

By all means please forward this to your cycling friends that may not be on this list.

How I spent my two-week off-season.

2009-10-15T08:59:00.005-05:00

End of the racing season and I took a break from the bike. Time to catch up on the house.

That lovely blue sink is about to turn 46 next month. It's going on Ebay, because apparently there is a market for vintage sinks. Who'd of thought. Anyway, the original plan was for one sink cabinet and two drawer units from Ikea. According to the measurements listed in their catalog there would be just enough room. Well, apparently the Swedes haven't quite mastered their metric to English conversions, because after assembling everything and measuring they were off by over an inch. Just enough to kill Plan A. After lots of brainstorming, I came up with Plan B: one sink cabinet, a drawer cabinet and an end shelf unit on each side. It would just fit into the 47.5" space (I know, it's a luxurious spa of a bathroom and you are jealous). But, I would have to ditch the metal legs and make a custom wooden base to support everything.

Finally got the cabinet shells installed last night. I just need to find a workable solution to hook up the drain (Swedish setup not compatible with Vietnam War-era plumbing). I tested the supply lines last night and they fit (after learning that the Ikea coupling is not a standard size and finding an adaptor, surprise, surprise). So, I'm off to the hardware store today to hopefully find a workaround and with any luck I can get it hooked up tonight. All that remains is to add a piece of melamine to the top of one end unit to make it flush with the drawer cabinet, then install some corner bracing and install the stainless countertop. Then, rip out the old medicine cabinet and install the new one. Got new lights to install and I think I have an electrician lined up to install a GFCI outlet. Retrim the windows, door and baseboards. Done. Then it's time to begin training for the 2010 bike season...

Cue the Jefferson's Theme Song...

2009-09-28T09:05:00.003-05:00

"Well I'm a moving on up -- moving on up -- to the Expert class -- moving on up -- to a deluxe beatdown on the bi-i-ike..."

Peer pressure and the fear of being labeled a sandbagger are horrible things. So it looks like I'll be racing Expert class in 2010. Most of the guys who upgraded to Comp with me 2 years ago are making the jump, so I guess it's time.

Saturday was the last race of the year, and it couldn't have come soon enough for me. Motivation is gone and I need a break. I gave it a go anyway, came in 3rd in my age group and 9th overall. Locked up 2nd place in my age group for the season and possibly a spot in the overall Top Ten for the season as well.

This was definitely my best season ever on the mountain bike. I had only made the podium 3 times in the last 10 years or so of racing. This year I climbed the steps 5 times: 1 first, 1 second and 3 third place finishes in a row to end the year. I started and finished all 11 races, which is a feat in itself. It was a very tight, competitive race for the overall all year. Clayton thoroughly deserves the top spot after an outstanding string of victories. Ben and Brandt made sure it was a battle all year. Owen "raced" twice this year and had a blast. It was great having him and Jen cheer me on and hand up water bottles all year. Looking forward to a couple of weeks "off" then maybe some cyclocross, then back to Base 1 training phase for 2010. Or as it will be known, "the year of the Lanterne Rouge"...

Spirit Mountain

2009-09-15T20:48:00.004-05:00

Top: looking down the mountain towards Lake Superior
Second: the new Peace Coffee Racing tent
Third: Owen and his buddy Gary.
Last: Owen, zonked out, holding dad's coffee (from my 3rd place at Maplelag — so nice to race on a team sponsored by a coffee company!)

Second to last race of the season on the hardest course around. Rocks, boulders, granite slabs, roots, gravel, scree, streams, mud, trees, and some serious elevation puts the mountain in mountain bike racing. Had a decent start and got to the singletrack ahead of the pack. Was doing great until I got crashed into a rock face, knocking my rear derailleur out of whack. Chain was jumping everywhere, leaving me with about 2-3 gears in the back. Frustrating, because the legs felt great. Did what I could to keep the bike moving and managed to come in third in my age group, 7th overall.

Knocked me out of first into second for the overall. I'll need a win and some help at St. Cloud to take back first, but it's looking like second overall for the second year in a row. I'll take it. It's been a great year overall, with two thirds, a second and my first win. Before this year I'd only made the podium twice in 10+ years of racing. To hit it 4 times in one year has been great. And, it's pretty awesome to hear Owen scream, "Go Dad! Dad Fast!" when I come by.

Maplelag

2009-09-07T15:51:00.003-05:00

I knew it was going to be a long day when I woke up to, shall we say, "an armed rebellion south of the border". First time my pre-race routine involved Immodium instead of PowerGel. Warmed up a bit and headed to the start line not sure if I was going to make it. It seemed like the entire field got a call up, so I ended up 3 rows back and we headed out.

The usual logjam at the singletrack backed everything up and there were plenty of sketchy riders making it slow going. Managed to pass a few on the xc-trail sections, but starting the first lap after the prologue there was a collegiate racer from a certain corn belt state who could not ride the singletrack to save his life. To make matters worse he wouldn't get out of the way. Before long he had a train of about 10 guys behind him, with minutes ticking away. A few of us finally got past him on the climb up Suicide Hill and could actually start racing.

Last lap I was suffering but had worked my way up into top 5. Then it was: chainsuck, stop to fix, get back on, hammer to pass 5 guys again. This happened a total of 3 times. Then I managed to clip my bars on a tree twice, hitting the deck hard both times. So, again, it was get back up and hammer to pass the same guys I was ahead of. All of these extra efforts were killing me, and the only thing keeping me going was the 1km to go sign. I put it in the big ring, put my head down and prayed for the finish line.

Somehow ended up in third, about 25 seconds out of second place. That was a hard-fought podium spot. I damn near passed out in the dining hall during the awards ceremony. Nice to have two Peace Coffee guys on the podium (nice job on first Clayton!). Hoping Duluth goes much smoother next Sunday.

Photos by Skinnyski.com

Buck Hill Photos (Dana Schoppe)

2009-08-13T12:50:00.004-05:00

For once in my life there's nobody else in the photos because I'm out in front! Usually it's because I'm in no-mans-land. Thanks to Dana for the great shots at all of the races.

MNSCS#7 Buck Hill

2009-08-10T08:50:00.003-05:00

I came down Thursday to do the Penn Cycle race at Buck to check out the course. It was super dry and dusty with loose, sandy corners. There were also 230 people on the course at once, which was pure insanity, especially considering this is a 2.7 mile loop with a 12-13 minute per lap average. It's pretty much a dirt crit and the direction they ran the course meant no real sustained climbing to speak of.

Sunday's course was similar, but run in the opposite direction. So, we started at the bottom of the south end and climbed around the base up to the top. We got some serious rain on Saturday which really helped pack down all the loose stuff. Trail was nice and fast. And for maybe the first time all year, it felt like summer. Hot and steamy.

Clayton and I got our call ups to the line and waited for the countdown. As usual, Clayton was 100 meters up the trail before I even got clipped in. Brandt was on his wheel and I slowly clawed my way up to him. We were 1,2,3 out of the first section of singletrack at the top of the hill. Clayton and Brandt eased up a bit before the next little kick up the gravel road and for whatever reason I decided to surge. After two laps of sitting in traffic on Thursday night I had decided I would rather be first into the singletrack and blow up than to get stuck behind people. Well, I got the holeshot and stayed in front the rest of the lap.

With all of the switchbacks in the singletrack it was hard to gauge how close behind people were, so I kept pushing the pace as much as possible. Came through for laps 2 and 3 feeling pretty good, grabbing a drink through the start/finish area and trying to hit the climb as fast as possible. I got passed by 2 guys along the way, but wasn't too worried. By the end of lap 3 and start of lap 4 I started catching the Expert women and lapping some of the Comp guys. Lap 4 I was feeling a bit tired but knew if I could hammer the climb I could recover a bit in the singletrack. Was able to hold my position but I could see and hear people not too far behind me. I was able to make a couple of passes before the downhill, and I think this helped me open a little gap.

Final lap and I gave it everything I had up the climb. I could see Andrew, Ben and a couple of others not too far back. I got that adrenaline boost that comes on the last lap and rode pretty well the rest of the way. Dropped it in the big ring before the downhill and hammered the rest of the way home. I thought I did ok, probably at least third in my group. Turns out I got first in my group and eighth overall in Comp. First win ever. Gotta say, felt pretty good, especially after a disappointing result at Hillside. Close race, too. First through fourth place were only separated by about 30 seconds. Hopefully I can recover and have good legs for Sunday's Border Battle in River Falls.

Hillside Photos

2009-08-03T12:30:00.002-05:00

Some photos by Dana Schoppe from last Sunday's race.

MNSCS#6 Hillside Attack

2009-07-28T14:39:00.003-05:00

Got a call up as the series leader in my age group, which will probably be the one and only time that ever happens. Clayton got a call up as well, and we rolled to the line and got ready to drop the hammer.

Clayton tore ass down the road and up the first climb. I was sitting 3rd going into the singletrack, and was really hoping my heart rate would come down a bit. Started Lap 1 huffing and puffing but hanging on. Played leapfrog a bit with another guy in my group and we started passing a few of the Expert women. I was blowing up big time, so I let a handful of people around on my next lap. Grabbed my gel flask only to notice that the top had opened and everything had leaked out. No fuel for me and I was struggling.

I don't know if it's because I was that tired and on the verge of bonking or if it's because I'm so used to starting my laps there in the front lot but I thought I still had one more lap to do. So, as I'm coming out of Section 3, I eased off the gas a bit to save something for one and a half more laps. Made it through 4, recovered a bit in 1 and when I got towards the end of 2 I could hear Zilla announcing something about Comp leaders coming to the finish. Huh? Got passed by Scott and asked him if we had another lap and he said, "I sure hope not!". Grabbed his wheel and followed him to the finish.

Had I known that was my last lap I would have pushed it a little bit, but I was pretty much in no-mans-land so I'm not sure I could have caught anyone or if I had the legs to go much faster than I did. Gel flask is going in the recycling bin and I'm going back to gel packs. Pretty disappointing race for me, 5th place when I had realistic hopes of reaching the podium. I guess it cancels out my Spring Cup result.

Memorial Classic

2009-07-13T09:23:00.002-05:00

This is one of my favorite courses because it's got a little bit of everything: tight twisty singletrack, screaming downhills, and steep technical climbs. This year the course got longer which meant much less congestion. The prologue was almost twice as long, so there were no waiting lines heading into the singletrack. A new downhill and climb kept us on our toes and the switchback climb at the end added some extra pain.

I wasn't feeling the greatest at the start, so I did what I could to keep towards the front going into the singletrack. I think I went into the woods sitting in 9th. Tried keeping a high tempo first lap but just couldn't get the snap I needed on the climbs. I dialed it back a bit to keep from blowing up. Made it up Stairway and the Quarry and around for Lap 2.

Ben Rogowski and were playing leapfrog for most of the race. If I managed to pass him he'd come around before too long. He spent most of the race in front of me. I started to recover a bit halfway through Lap 2, and when we started Lap 3 I tried to throw down a little attack on Ben. Didnt' work, and he grabbed my wheel then passed me before the singletrack. He managed to get by one other rider before I could, so I figured he'd gap me. I hammered all of the double-track sections and took some chances on the downhill. I felt ok at this point and decided to try to attack one more time. I was finally able to pass Ben and make it stick on the long climb up to the Stairway entrance. I passed a handful of guys before the downhill, and caught up to a big group at the base of Stairway. This is a long, steep climb over a bunch of loose rock (see last two photos above). I went hard and passed a few people but then got swerved into twice, forcing me off. I managed to get back on and pedal the rest of the way up. Made it up the Quarry climb for the 3rd time (first time I've ever done that) and went as hard as I could to the finish.

Ended up 4th in my age group, 12th overall. Clayton beat me by 19 seconds. It was like Groundhog Day -- last year I got 4th and missed 3rd to Zilla by about the same margin. If I could have had a stronger first lap I may have done better, but I made up about 5 places on the last lap and a half and was happy with how I rode towards the end. Feeling it today -- very, very sore. Good race, all in all.

Photos from skinnyski.com

More from Mt. Kato

2009-07-02T09:11:00.005-05:00

Some race pics from superstar photographer Dana Schoppe. Bottom two show Mad Squirrel, which is a really tight, 180-degree switchback that drops away fast. I came within about a tire-width of ending up like the dude in the last photo. Ouch. Full crash sequence here. I'm not picking on you dude, those are just some wicked photos. Think cycling isn't a tough sport? Think again.

MNSCS#4, Mt. Kato

2009-06-30T10:12:00.003-05:00

I'll try to keep this one short since I wrote a recap for the MNSCS site, which should be up sometime this week.
It breaks down like this: 2 weeks ago I went into Mont du Lac sick. Came out worse, with a 8-9 day cold/stomach bug. So between Mont du Lac and Mankato I got in 3 rides on the bike. I had no idea what kind of legs or lungs I'd have going into Mankato. So, I made a point to focus on three things I've let slip so far this season: hyrdation, nutrition and warm up. No beer the night before, no coffee the morning of. Good meal Saturday night, good breakfast and snacks Sunday, with lots of water. I warmed up for about 45 minutes and drank an entire bottle of sports drink. At the start line I took in a little gel and off we went.

I was 3rd up the first climb and held on all day to take second in my age group, 11th overall. That was the best I have felt all year, and the best I've felt during a race in a long time. I think the mild weather helped. I think locking out my rear suspension for the entire race helped (very smooth course and the few sections with some roots weren't bad). I absolutely believe being properly hydrated, fueled and warmed-up made the biggest difference. I got tired on a few of the punchy climbs, but I never blew up. Most of all, I had fun. It was tough, to be sure, but it wasn't a death march like Mont du Lac or Afton. I hope I can build on this for Red Wing and beyond.

Photos from skinnyski.com

PJ Harvey

2009-06-15T09:41:00.004-05:00

To say the camera on my phone sucks would be an understatement, but at least from the blurriness above you can get an idea of our kick-ass seats for PJ Harvey and John Parish on Saturday night at of all places, the Minnesota Zoo ampitheater (cool venue). Holy F can that woman sing. She could sing my grocery list and it would sound awesome. How does someone that tiny have such an enormous voice? Band was great as well. The whole set was comprised of songs from her two albums with John Parish, none of her other work. Second time we've seen her and we will definitely go again next time she's in town. Pop Parker opened up. He was kind of like a one-man Flight of the Conchords, only more subtle and not quite as funny. Entertaining though.

Dirt Spanker

2009-06-15T08:51:00.003-05:00

Well, after doing everything I could all week in an attempt to not catch the cold making it's way through my family, it hit me Saturday night. Got about 4 hours of sleep and felt like crap Sunday morning, but it was race day so what else was I going to do? Sleep? Nah.

Picked up Clayton and headed up to Mont du Lac for the Dirt Spanker. This is a fun course. Well, fun if you like a race that starts you at the bottom of a 230' climb with no warm-up. Normally I love it, but just didn't have the energy yesterday. Had no illusions of greatness going into it, just wanted to ride and see what happened. For the first two laps the answer was, "not much". I was suffering like a dog on the climb to start lap two, to the point where I briefly considered calling it a day. But, I figured 4+ hours in the car and a $35 race fee, I may as well keep riding. Towards the end of lap two I started feeling a little better and was still mid-pack in a pretty long train of riders. I passed a few here and there, but mostly I just sat on, knowing this was a throw-away race.

Ended up 7th and my time was only about 2-minutes slower than last year. Not bad for being sick, but probably not worth the toll it's taking on me today in the grand scheme of things. At least it's a rest week. Congrats to Clayton for killing it and just missing out on the hardware. Props to Kevin for another win and to Matt for finding the podium in the Expert field. Cool to see father and son McBurney medal. Jamison continues his statewide podium tour. Peace Coffee rocks.

MNSCS #2, Afton Avalanche

2009-06-04T15:51:00.003-05:00

When I first got here it was actually a bit chilly. I knew it wouldn't last. The terrain at Afton makes for a scorcher of a race. The climbs (and that would be most of the course) come up out of the river valley, so there is almost never a breeze. The oxymoronic Shady Lane and quite aptly-named Manhandler are the longest, steepest ascents, and you are left totally exposed to the sun the entire way up.

Decided to ditch the Camelback and go with bottles. Also decided to mix gels directly into sports drink instead of throwing a few in my jersey. Turned out to be a mistake. First lap I felt okay. Got a decent start even though I was stuck back about 3 rows on the line. Passed my way into top ten by the time we got to Bridge Loop. Picked off a few more on Shady, held my own on the Southern Switchbacks and made a few moves on Manhandler. Not too bad. But, I noticed when I rolled through the start/finish that my bottle was only about half-empty, meaning I was not drinking enough or getting enough gel.

Felt ok up Bridge Loop but my next foray up Shady left me low on power. Manhandler treated me like the new guy on the cell block, and I was starting to wonder if I could actually do another lap. Had to small ring Shady and the Switchbacks on last lap, spinning out the leg cramps. Same with Manhandler, although I started to recover a bit towards the top, and passed a few on the final part of the climb past the lift tower. Gunned it the rest of the lap, but too late to make up much ground. 4th in my age group. Just glad to finish that one. I was really digging deep for a while there. Think I'm sitting top five, which is fine at this point. Long way to go, and honestly, I don't care as much about the overall this year. Just wanna have some fun and try to have a life off the bike too.

Photo from skinnyski.com

Spring Cup 2009

2009-05-18T16:11:00.003-05:00

First race of the year for me (that wasn't on snow). Bone dry conditions meant fast, fast, fast. This is pretty much a roadie course (which explains all the Cat 1-2 guys showing up on CX bikes). No hills, nothing really technical at all, just an all-out dirt crit. Despite my call up and front row start, I let too many people in front of me before the singletrack. There really aren't too many places to pass out here: lots of twisty, tree-lined sections and most of the open spots are really cupped and lined with prairie weeds and hidden wheel snaggers. I managed to pass a few people, but the effort required almost wasn't worth it. Faded on lap 3, felt better lap 4 but not in time to reel anyone in. 9th in my group. Looking forward to Afton and some hills.
Top photo from Skinnyski.com, bottom photo by Greg Hawes

Spring training

2009-04-28T08:30:00.003-05:00

Build 1 phase is over, thank God. 3 weeks of hill intervals was brutal. Right now I feel like my road fitness is about a 7 out of 10. My mountain bike fitness is maybe a 5 or 6. Overall, I think I'm right about where I should be for this time of the year. First race is in 3 weeks. Giddyup.

One More

2009-03-19T21:43:00.003-05:00

From Top:
That's why they call jail, "The Clink".
Temple Church Detail
Windsor Castle Cannon
The Orangery, Kensington Palace

London

2009-03-19T21:37:00.003-05:00

From Top:
Cell, Tower of London
Queen Victoria Statue, Windsor Castle
High Street Kensington Underground Platform
WWII Memorial
Oliver Cromwell Statue, Parliament

Yeah, more London photos

2009-03-18T21:35:00.002-05:00

From Top:

St. John's Chapel, Tower of London
Kensington Palace
Hillgate Arms
British Airways Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, double-decker bus
Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar Square
St. Paul's Cathedral, Millenium Bridge (taken from boat on River Thames)

Scary Neighborhood

2009-03-18T21:27:00.003-05:00

Top: Winston Churchill's house
Bottom Two: Crappy cars in front of Winston Churchill's house. (Between the Aston Martin, Maserati, 3 Porsches and several Mercedes, Range Rovers and BMWs, there was well over 2 million dollars worth of cars on this tiny cul-de-sac).

More London Photos

2009-03-18T21:21:00.002-05:00

From Top:
Red Lion Pub, Westminster
Hyde Park Gate, Kensington
Pub Sign, Campden Hill
Yeoman Warder, Tower of London
School kids, Windsor Castle

But wait, there's more...

2009-03-17T09:23:00.003-05:00

From Top:
Westminster Abbey
Trafalgar Square
Shakespear's Globe Theatre
Statue on Parliament Building
London City Limit dragon statue

Still more London...

2009-03-17T09:19:00.001-05:00

From Top:
Tower of London
Windsor Castle
Big Ben and Parliament
Kensington Palace Garden
Queen Victoria statue, Kensington Palace

More London

2009-03-17T09:07:00.002-05:00

Top: Queen's Guard, Windsor Castle
2nd Top: Big Ben from Westminster Bridge
2nd Bottom: St. George's Cathedral, Windsor Castle
Bottom: Round Tower, Windsor Castle

London

2009-03-17T09:01:00.004-05:00

Top: Tower Bridge, taken from Tower of London.
Middle: Temple Church (built by Knight's Templar in 12th century).
Bottom: Somerset House. Cool palace off Strand with giant central courtyard. Had it all to ourselves.

London, Day 2

2009-03-12T13:14:00.004-05:00

Slept in, which felt great. Headed up the street to a little corner cafe for breakfast, then hopped the Tube to the Tower of London. We followed one of the Yeoman Warders for bit, then went on our own. The place is massive and I can only imagine how miserable the conditions must have been for prisoners. They still torture people there today, making them go up and down the never-ending spiral stairways. I'm still dizzy.

From the Tower, we walked across Tower Bridge and along the Thames. Had lunch at a cool French cafe, then made our way down to the Tate Modern. I could spend a week here alone, but really came for the Rodchenko exhibit (constructivsm and Soviet posters and graphic design). It was pretty awesome to see his cut and paste collages from an inch away. You can see the glue, the white-out and the imperfections of artwork done by hand, not on a Mac. Up on the 5th floor, there were some cool Picassos, Mondrians, and an entire room of gigantic Soviet propaganda posters. That made the visit for me right there.

We hopped on the river shuttle and floated up the Thames toward Parliament. By the time we made it to Westminster Abbey it was closed, which sucked. Got a few photos, then walked around Parliament and Big Ben for the madatory photo ops. We walked up to Trafalgar Square for a few more photos, then back on the Tube to the hotel.

We're meeting Mark and Verena tonight and heading to the Blue Elephant in Fulham for some Thai. Should be great. Tomorrow, strolling along Kensington Palace/Notting Hill Gate in the morning, then getting the local non-tourist insider tour of the "real" London from Mark.

London, Day 1

2009-03-12T13:02:00.002-05:00

We booked an earlier connecting flight out of MSP to avoid the bizzard. Got out on time with plenty to spare at Detroit. Board the plane for London then sit on the tarmac for 2.5 hours while they fixed a door. Of course. Got into Heathrow and went to baggage claim, where my suitcase was the first one on the carousel. That never happens. After wandering around trying to find the pickup point for the cab we called, we gave up and took a different service out to Windsor, home of Windsor Castle. Place is ginormous and pretty cool. (I forgot to pack my USB cable for the camera, so until I find a computer store near the hotel, no photos.) They don't allow photos inside, which kind of sucks because the chapel and some other rooms were really cool. In the chapel I was able to find the Knights of the Order of the Garter coat of arms for the Duke of Buckingham, who is like my 15th great grandfather or something like that (if my research is correct). Walked a bit in town and headed back to Heathrow, then to our hotel in Kensington.

Met Mark for some fish & chips, a few proper pints and some Champions League football at the Greyhound Pub. The room with the Man U game on was packed, so we were at a table with the Arsenal match. When Man U scored the place erupted, which was cool, as I was afraid London would be full of haters. I was a bit confused as to how many Arsenal fans were there, considering we were just up the road from Stamford Bridge. Oh well. Good night out, especially with the Red Devils advancing.

So...here's where it got really interesting...

2009-03-01T18:11:00.003-06:00

I thought it would be fun before we went to London if I did a little family history research. I knew my mom's maternal grandfather was either English or Irish. So I started looking into the Pickett family. I found a website where someone had already done the homework for a lot of the family. I followed my mother's direct line as far back as I could; to some dude named Zerubbabel Pickett from Kent, England in 1591. That was cool. Then, for some reason I started looking at the wives of my great grandfathers and was amazed to find how far back I could follow the various branches. Suddenly, I'm seeing kings and queens from England, Scotland, Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Holy Roman Empire, Denmark. I followed one branch all the way back to 6 freaking AD. Go to familysearch.org and have some fun exploring your history. Apparently, my great grandfathers knew how to marry up.

F Word

2009-02-18T09:40:00.003-06:00

February is my new "f-word". Last weekend there was hardly any snow, mild temps and I got about 50 miles in on the road bike. I even got out for an hour after work last night and did some tempo and hills. Woke up this morning to a fresh blanket of white and ice. The next 6 weeks or so are my least favorite time of year. It's sunny and 50 one day, slushy and 20 the next. Wake me up when it's June. Winter can go February itself.

Theo

2009-01-26T08:41:00.000-06:00

Hit Theo yesterday morning. It was another cold Minnesota day with temps hovering around the zero mark. The windchill wasn't much of a factor since I was in the woods. Somebody must have been out on Pugsley's that morning, because there were fresh tracks and the trail was groomed to near perfection. Everything was rideable, including the skinnies (although the expert loop at the beginning was pretty choppy and kind of tough with normal mtb tires). Theo is the perfect singlespeed trail in the summer, and in the winter it's even better. Those little ups become more challenging at slower speeds and with less traction, providing a good workout. Got 3 laps in and headed back to the parking lot, where I ran into the legendary John Schmidt. He claims to be in his early sixties, but I need to check his driver's license because he skis and rides like a man in his thirties. Good guy and a hell of an endurance athlete.

Another January Ride

2009-01-24T19:25:00.003-06:00

Got out for about an hour and a half today, despite the Wind Chill Advisory. It was a balmy -2 with -20 to -30 windchills. I was a bit chilly starting out, but once I hit the unplowed section of Rice Creek I warmed up in a hurry. The path was covered by about a foot of super-compressed, choppy hardpack, making it feel almost like riding the singletrack at Leb. Riding the singlespeed meant keeping a high cadence and lots of weight shifting to maintain forward momentum. On the way back I saw this family of deer resting by the creek. Cool. My feet got a little cold towards the end of the ride, but the hands were super toasty with the ATV handlebar mitts. Best $20 I've spent in a while.

Winter Riding

2009-01-21T16:27:00.002-06:00

Since the rain stopped in November and the cold and snow moved in, I've been riding outdoors 2-4 times a week. Here are a few things I have learned about riding outdoors in the Minnesota winter...

Bike Paths Don't Suck as Much (but they still suck)
In the summer, they suck. The only thing worse than riding on a bike path would be having to do it while watching the Rachel Ray show. They are filled with people like "takes up the entire width of the path rollerblader guy", "innattentive dog walker couple" and "iPod cranked so loud he can't hear your repeated shouts of 'on your left' and then yells at you when you pass for not warning him guy". Again, bike paths suck. But, in winter, they are mostly deserted, and provide an excellent route free of drunk drivers (but not necessarily free of drunks) and all that road salt and sand. String together a few trail systems and connector loops and you can get hours of traffic-free riding that won't destroy your drivetrain or components. Be aware that not all cities clear the paths of snow. You can be cruising along having a great ride only to run into an impassable suburban glacier. Have alternate routes planned, just in case. Studded tires are a good idea.

Your Favorite Summer Trail Probably Still Kicks Ass in the Winter
I've hit Lebanon Hills about 5 times this winter. 4 out of 5 times were absolutely killer. The last time out not so much, due to a pretty sizable snowfall. Riding on the paved paths or roads is ok to a point for fitness-purposes, but nothing feels as good as singletrack. When it's packed down just right, it's as fast and fun as summer. You get more of a workout due to the extra weight of your winter gear, plus the extra energy you have to put into body position and handling. Also a great way to work on balance and core strength. Bring a lunch -- you're gonna burn some calories. For the most part, no special gear is needed. Studded tires are great if you have 'em, but regular knobbies with low pressure work just fine. Bring a pair of snowshoes with as your backup plan if there's been a recent snowfall. If you can't ride you can go pack down the trail with the shoes to help get it in better riding condition. Good workout and good karma.

Your Summer Cycling Shoes Are No Match for Old Man Winter
For temps below freezing you can pretty much forget about it. If you want to keep all of your toes you're gonna need to invest in some SPD winter boots, or wear regular boots and run platform pedals. If buying SPD boots, get them a size larger than normal to accommodate a thicker sock. I picked up a pair of the old-style Lake boots for $50. Smart wool socks for near-freezing temps work fine. Rag wool for temps in the teens and 20's, and for the nasty stuff I'll also wear neoprene booties. Keep your fingers functional with lobster mitts and removable liners. For those truly arctic days I bought a pair of ATV handlebar mitts at Fleet Farm for $20. They even have pockets for chemical warmers if you need 'em. I've ridden a few times in -5 to -10 air temps with windchills in the -30 to -40 range with this setup, and I was fine.

More info on clothing in the next issue. Go ride.

Subzero singlespeed tempo ride

2009-01-13T19:35:00.003-06:00

-6° with -20° windchill when I left the house. Went with an extra layer of shoe cover, but it wasn't enough. About 40 minutes in my feet were frozen. My hands were getting cold as well, but started to come around. The pogies are working well. Almost got t-boned by a deer, scared the crap out of me. Managed about an hour ride before heading home for a hot shower and some Guinness stew.

Saturday Leb Hills ride

2009-01-12T09:17:00.003-06:00

Hit Leb at noon on Saturday. Temps were mid-teens and sunny, so not too bad weather-wise. Rode the singlespeed (32x16) and had a blast. Ran into Janet and friends at the start of the second section. I went up ahead and could see and hear them along the switchbacks, but after waiting for a while at the start of the next section I kept riding to stay warm. I was riding pretty well, grinding it out on some of the climbs, but riding everything. I decided to hit the X and XX loops, and was glad I did. The trail pack was about half as wide here as on the outer loop, but still 100% rideable. Most of the rock gardens were buried, so they were pretty easy to ride. Even Tedman's Curve was no problem. The only trouble spots were the log ladder climb and the stupid gnome tree. Exit loop was fast and fun. Got to the parking lot, grabbed a gel and did another lap (outer loop only this time).

Second time around fatigue and calorie deficit were setting in. Not nearly as smooth as first lap. I kept straying off the hardpack into the snow. Just about went OTB on the Exit Loop, but somehow saved it (but smacked the top of my thigh into the top tube repeatedly, making for a nice bruise). All in all, about 2-1/2 hours of riding and another trainer-free day.

Cold Bear

2009-01-04T16:35:00.003-06:00

With a -4 air temp, -25 windchills and zero sleep from another night of screaming baby boy, it was a perfect day to race. Got to Hillside just in time to register and get the pre-race 411. I signed up for the advanced class which meant 2-laps. There were 3 of us, everyone else was on Pugsley's or doing sport (1-lap).

The pirate flag dropped and we made our way to the singletrack from the parking lot. As soon as I hit the trail I knew it was going to be brutal. I rode Leb yesterday and it was super packed down and very easy to ride. No such luck today -- very loose, deep snow the whole way. I stopped about 2 minutes in and let out as much air from my tires as I could. Even with studs it didn't do much good. Riding the singlespeed (32x16) wasn't the best idea either. So, I did a LOT of walking. Pretty much any incline meant hopping off and hoofing it.

Did I mention it was -4? About a quarter of the way through Lap 1 my fingers were stinging from the cold. I sat for a minute and thought about calling it a day. My Camelback was frozen solid, my fingers were frozen solid and this had turned into a long walk that was briefly interrupted by occasional bursts of biking. The part of my brain responsible for reasoning was frozen, so I continued the slog. My hands suddenly felt better, and now I was roasting. I finally made it to the pay lot and Section 1, meaning I was halfway back to the start/finish. Lots more hike-a-bike, then into Section 2, which I was able to ride most of. If the whole race had been like this it wouldn't have been so bad. I got to the lap/exit sign and looked at my watch. What would be about a 40 minute lap in the summer was today about an hour and 45 minutes. I took the exit and downgraded to sport (which was an option presented in the pre-race meeting). The reasoning part of brain must have thawed, because I did not have the energy, desire or need for a 4-hour day on the bike (well, mostly on my feet). Saw one of the other advanced riders I started with throw in the towel after attempting a second lap.

Next time I need better gearing on my singlespeed or a geared bike. Otherwise, it's not a lot of fun. Think I finished 5th or something like that, but my overall concern was just to finish one lap, and keep all my fingers and toes. Managed that much.

Ice Ride

2008-12-28T17:09:00.003-06:00

It got up to the 40's the other day, so everything melted and then froze. I would have been better off with hockey skates than a bike today. Definitely could have used studded tires. Only went down once but man that hurt. Tried out some new "pogies" today. Bought some ATV handlebar mitts at Fleet Farm for $18.99. Wore my lobster mitts underneath and was toasty warm. We'll see how well they do when the mercury drops again (low 20's today, not too bad). Anyhoo...I managed to slide around for about an hour and 20 minutes or so. Sketchy, but good to be outside.

Solstice Singlespeed Slog

2008-12-22T15:26:00.004-06:00

It was the shortest day of the year, and maybe the shortest ride of the year as well. It was -7° with 25mph winds making it feel like -35°. I decided to change tires after I was about 90% dressed, so I was cooking by the time I got out the door. I got to the bike path and found it tough going. Parts had been cleared but the highway was plowed afterwards, creating several stretches of hub-deep, thick and choppy snow. Riding downhill in this stuff felt like riding uphill. Then, I'd hit some packed down snow and ice which felt like riding on greased-up rollers. Before too long, being cold was not an issue as I became a rolling Cannondale sauna. Dropping my balaclava below my chin helped cool me down a bit, but it was so cold I could only do that in spurts or my face would start to freeze (literally). I had planned on doing a couple of laps around the park, but the portions near the road were impassable. I was on borrowed time with my lights so I didn't dare ride on the road. I headed for home, back UP the section that was a struggle going down, and around the block to cool down. That's right -- -35° wind chill and I needed to cool down after a 40-minute ride. It was worth it. I got a "thumbs-up" from a hiker and with my red-tinted goggles on, the sunset was awesome. And once again, I successfully avoided the trainer...

Nightride

2008-12-16T20:43:00.002-06:00

Got out for an hour tonight on the singlespeed. It was a balmy zero degrees with a negative 15 wind chill. The homemade pogies aren't sewn yet so I didn't get a chance to test those out. Instead I layered as follows:

Feet: wicking bike socks, wool socks, Lake MTB boots, 5mm neoprene booties
Legs: fleece long underwear, Cannondale windproof winter tights (old school), Castelli Y-Pro shorts
Core: wicking long-sleeve base, Castelli Zone 2 winter jacket, thermal race jacket
Hands: Gore-Tex mittens, Burton snowboard mittens with fleece liner
Head: Gore-Tex balaclava, Giro snowboard helmet, Smith goggles

I think my clothing outweighed my bike, but even in the driving snow and cold, I was pretty toasty. The snowboard helmet and goggle made a huge difference. Only bad part came when my glasses fogged up inside my goggles. Took the goggles off to get the glasses off and the goggles fogged too. So, I rode with neither -- a little blind and a little painful getting pelted by the frozen snow, Next time I'm wearing contacts.

Sun Dogs

2008-12-15T09:08:00.002-06:00

Photos taken with my crappy phone, but you can see the sun dogs. It was -11 this morning when I woke up. Supposed to get to -20 overnight. Why do I live here? I guess it will be good conditions to test out the handmade pogies.

Ninja ride

2008-12-12T08:38:00.005-06:00

Went for a night ride without lights last night (still waiting to get my NiteRider's back from the factory). First of all, the only time I was on the street was for about half a block to get to the path, so no need for safety lectures. There was enough ambient light (or light pollution, depending on how you see it) for me to see just fine.

I hit the new section of paved trail through the old Twin Cities Army Ammo Plant and the loop across County I. This would be super boring any other time of year, but when it's single digit air temps with below zero wind chills, it's a nice loop with no traffic that I can spin on the singlespeed. I can do laps to get the miles in without getting more than a mile or so away from home. So, when I get frozen solid I can just bail and go home, instead of being stuck somewhere in BFE with a 45-minute death march to warmth. Plus, being 99% paved path, I don't have to deal with the road salt (which by the looks of things, Ramsey County must have gotten a KILLER deal on this year. I think they began salting the roads back in September).

Riding the singlespeed is already pretty quiet and stealthy, doing it after dark with no lights is ninja-like. I rode to within arms length of several deer that were chilling by the side of the path, which was pretty cool. The tires make a sweet, soft crunching sound when they run over snow and then hit blacktop. Other than that, it's quiet. No joggers, dogwalkers or rollerbladers. It's far from a perfect summer day, but it beats the holy hell out riding the trainer. I'm trying to ride outside at least 2-3 days a week this winter. We'll see how it goes. So far so good.

Hillside Snow Ride

2008-12-02T21:39:00.003-06:00

Hit Hillside in Elk River on Sunday with Clayton. Fresh layer of snow and temps in the 20's would provide ideal testing conditions for the Lake Boots. We did two full laps, and I was toasty warm. I only ate it once when I hit a pile of leaves buried in the snow on a fast corner. The bike and the boots faired well. It's amazing how fast the fitness disappears. Lap 1 felt good, but by the end of Lap 2 I was dragging.

Rich and the DirtWirx crew have done a phenomenal job on this trail. It's open 24/7, 365, thanks to their nonstop work. Go check it out.

MNSCS Awards

2008-11-17T19:44:00.002-06:00

Saturday night was the MNSCS Awards Party at Quality Bicycle Products. That place is ginormous, and very, very cool. The Peace Coffee crew grabbed a lot of hardware: several riders winning or in the top 3 in their age group and class, plus we Comp racers got second place in the team standings. I squeeked out second place for the season by 2 points, finally finishing in the top 3. We got a sweet Park multi-tool and a nice framed photo from superstar photographer Dana Schoppe for our awards. It was nice to see everybody one more time before the annual winter hibernation.

Cool invention idea

2008-11-13T15:45:00.004-06:00

Somebody needs to integrate Playstation controls into a bike handlebar (that idea ©2008 Chris Van Ert). How cool would that be? Some sort of funky STI shifter/hood configuration. Anything to kill the boredom of indoor trainer riding.

Weekend riding

2008-11-03T11:43:00.004-06:00

Got out with the "Friday Night Lights" group and hit Theo. My new lights weren't working for some reason so I borrowed a backup set. That was my first night ride in a couple of years, and I forgot how much fun it is. The hard stuff gets easy because you don't see it until you're right on it and your brain doesn't have time to tell you to freak out, so you just let the bike ride right over it without thinking about it. The easy stuff gets harder when the shadows start playing tricks on you. Hopefully the weather cooperates and I'll be able to get out for a few more in the coming weeks.

Saturday I hit Battle Creek with Ton, Kevin, Andy, Jamison and Mario. Ton must have saved all of his training for this ride because he was setting a very painful pace from the moment we left the parking lot. We hit the upper section, down and back up the sand and across the road to the middle section. Down the Wall of Death and over to the section by the lower lot. Ton skipped the hard climb to the top and took us to the switchbacks and down to the abandoned road. The new Overlook Trail is pretty sweet. When you go from the bottom up, there's some good technical climbs and sharp turns. There's also a nice "skinny" feature towards the end consisting of a foot-wide, elevated concrete wall that zig-zags for about 50 yards or so. Nice painful climb up to the overlook. Checked out some other trails, then headed back. Rode for about an hour-and-a-half but if felt longer than that with the fast pace. My legs are still sore today. The post-ride carbo load at the Black Dog hit the spot.

Saturday Ride

2008-10-30T14:05:00.003-05:00

Saturday looks stellar, who wants to ride? Lebanon Hills, Murphy, Red Wing?? Let me know.

Wirth

2008-10-16T13:38:00.003-05:00

Snuck in two laps after work at Theo last night. It's the first time I've ridden there all year and maybe the third time ever. Nothing really technical -- just fast, twisty, flowy singletrack. The first lap was a little sketchy with the setting sun flashing through the autumn leaves, creating a strobe light effect in certain spots, and making for a few close encounters with some trees. Second lap was fast and fun. Near perfect trail conditions. Good times.

Murphy, redux

2008-10-14T14:16:00.002-05:00

Hit Murphy again on Saturday. Weather really could not have been better. My race fitness is definitely fading fast, but I was able to hang with Jamison for 2 laps. Other than the fact that it's almost an hour away, this is fast becoming my favorite trail. It flows like butter. Good stuff.

McBain Waylon

2008-10-07T09:05:00.003-05:00

Ever have one of those nights where you can't sleep because your mind is racing with all sorts of crazy, random thoughts? Well, this is one of the things that popped into my head at about 3:00 am. I'm thinking of printing some yard signs and bumper stickers.

Murphy's Law

2008-10-06T16:32:00.002-05:00

So, I had a pretty decent time at Murphy and on my second lap decided to hit the "61 Skinny". I made it about 3/4 of the way across this thing, then had to eject. I ended up killing my XTR rear-wheel, but managed to grab a tree on the way down which kept me from going to the ER. Good times. Photos from MORC.

End of season

2008-09-30T11:00:00.005-05:00

It's that time of year when I have absolutely ZERO motivation to train anymore. I was going to buy a cyclocross bike and try racing this fall, but can't justify spending that kind of money with the economy in freefall. So, right now my riding pretty much consists of one or two 45-minute rides after work, the occasional ride towing Owen in the trailer and a weekend mtb ride if it's not raining. There's a mtb race in Red Wing on Sunday, but it's at 9:00 am, meaning I need to leave my house around 6:30. It's a fun course, but I'm not sure it's worth getting up at 5:30 on a Sunday. We'll see.

What do you do to stay motivated in the shoulder seasons?

Economy

2008-09-26T14:02:00.003-05:00

$700,000,000,000
That's a lot of zeroes. That's $2,317.88 per man, woman and child in America. If that kind of jing is going to be handed out, it should be in the form of a loan, and all 301 million of us should get quarterly interest payments equal to or greater than the rate I have to pay on my unsubsidized student loans.

Expiration Date: Jan. 20, 2009 12 p.m.

2008-09-25T08:24:00.005-05:00

First, there was an immediate threat to our nation, and if we didn't give Bush all the power he needed to invade Iraq our country would be in grave peril. That turned out well. Now, there's an immediate threat to our nation's economy, and if we don't let Bush give Wall Street a blank check (with no oversight, regulations or auditing) our economy will collapse. Sounds like a great idea. What could possibly go wrong with giving Bush more unchecked power? By the way, if Wall Street got into this mess by being grossly overleveraged, what would you call expanding our nation's already morbidly obese debt by 1 trillion dollars? It's an election year, so you know that taxes won't be raised to pay for it. Instead, we'll keep digging a bigger hole to China (literally) with my kid left holding the shovel. And, in true Bush "You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie" fashion, the CEO's responsible for this gaping craphole still get their golden parachutes. They don't need the parachutes -- their fall will be gently cushioned by the backs millions of American middle-class taxpayers. Maybe W will award them Presidential Medals of Freedom, too. That would be Compassionate Conservatism in action.

I agree something needs to be done, but something doesn't mean putting blind faith in someone who only weeks ago said our economy was fundamentally sound, and that Freddie and Fannie were fine, etc. Is throwing $700 billion onto the fire going to douse the flames, or fuel the fire? I'm sure Sarah Palin has the answer. She has a checking account, so therefore she has economic experience. Maybe she can shoot at the bad corporate debt from a helicopter.

I'm just a public university educated moron who lives on "Main Street", and I approve this message.

Second

2008-09-23T08:38:00.002-05:00

It's official -- my consistent mediocrity was good enough (barely) for second in my age group. Let the lucrative endorsement deals commence. Seriously, I'm happy to finally finish on the podium as I've been chasing that goal for the past several years and always just missed it. Also cool that Peace Coffee took the top two spots in Comp 30-34 and 35-39. Big shout outs to Kevin, Matt and Jamison for dominating all year long.

End of Mountain Bike Season

2008-09-22T09:04:00.003-05:00

Singletrack Escape was Saturday, marking the end of another MNSCS season. My number one mission was to finish this race -- any mechanicals or a DNF would kill my series standings, so I was more conservative than a McCain-Palin rally in a Texas church full of oil lobbyists. I wanted to ride just fast enough to get the points I needed to hold off Rich and Brandt. Well, I finished 7th. But, Rich won and Brandt came in 4th. D'oh! Not looking good (proving that it's much better to be progressive than conservative).

When I first tallied up the points it looked like Rich ended up second overall by ONE POINT. Then I remembered the bonus points. Ah, the bonus points. I did nine races to Rich's seven. With ten races in the series, you get 5 bonus points for each race beyond the seven that are required. Even though I had mechanicals and DNFed two races, I still get the 5 points for each one. Meaning, by my rusty math, that I ended up second overall by two points. I'll have to wait for the official results to be sure, but if it stands I'll take it. Here's what I got, somebody else check my math:

1 Kevin Supple 950
2 Chris Van Ert 899
3 Rich Omdahl 897
4 Brandt Elson 883
5 Eric LeBow 855

However it all shakes out, it fun racing with y'all for another year. Looking forward to more suffering in 2009.

Down to the Wire

2008-09-10T08:42:00.002-05:00

One race to go and I've still got a chance at Top 3 despite two DNFs. The Jail Trail is probably my least favorite trail in the series: flat, tight and twisty. Pretty much a dirt crit/time trial. We'll see how it goes. Looks like Kevin has first locked up in 35-39. Matt has first locked up in 30-35, and Jamison is in a dogfight for 2nd. It would be sweet for Peace Coffee to nab the top two spots in both age groups. If that happens, beers are on me.

Did the R&G ride last night -- 30 miles of high-speed cruise intervals. Didn't have the power I had 2 months ago, but was able to hang just fine. Put the mtb skills to work when the pavement ended and everyone else hit the brakes. Rode the 1/2 mile gravel washboard section with another crafty veteran at full-speed while the rest of the pack tiptoed through. C'mon guys, it's only dirt and rocks...

Vote

2008-09-09T14:10:00.002-05:00

It's only a primary, but it's all part of the process. You know, that process you learned about way back in school. Democr-something? Go vote.

Annual fall burnout

2008-09-08T08:31:00.003-05:00

Really struggling to find motivation to train right now. I've got one mtb race left and maybe will try some cyclocross this fall, but right now the last thing I want to do is cruise intervals. I did get down to Lebanon Hills for a couple of laps on Saturday. Managed to bend my front brake rotor on a rock, but otherwise had a good ride. The new exit section is fun. The big berms remind me a little of the original trail exit from 10-15 years ago.

Chicago?

2008-09-05T09:14:00.001-05:00

75 hits on the blog from Chicago yesterday. Barack, is that you?

Laddie's Loppet (or, what a difference a week makes)

2008-09-01T17:00:00.004-05:00

This course used to give me nightmares. Came up on Saturday and prerode with Jamison. Glad I did. I took my time and rerode a few sections to get them dialed in. We ended up clearing everything, which gave me a big boost of confidence for Sunday. Everyone talks about the "Lakeside Drops" (see above), but there are many, many spots on the course that are way more difficult. But, none of those spots is 10 inches from the lake, where if anyone crashes, they go into the drink.

Race day hit with temps in the high 80's and wicked humidity. My plan was to not go out too strong at the start and then try to bring it on the last lap. Well, I should have gone faster, because it got really, really jammed up in the first section of singletrack. I had to get off and run several times due to people in front of me falling (not a complaint, just an observation, I ate it right in front of someone later on). This really broke my rhythm and spiked my heart rate. I made it through all of the drops and sketchy singletrack in one piece and came around to start Lap 2. By now the heat and humidity were really doing a number on me. I grabbed a bottle from Jen and drained most of it before I hit the singletrack. Then, I started getting the chills and feeling like a full-body cramp was coming on. I eased way off the gas and just focused on riding smoothly and getting through the race. I noticed lots of other guys were cooking as well, so I just tried to keep it going and hoped I would recover. It was pretty slow going for a while, and all the punchy climbs were just killing me. But, at about mile 4 I saw Zilla and thought I had a chance to at least keep him in sight (I need to finish higher than him for the Series Overall). Well, I was finally able to catch and pass him, but he's got mad skills on the technical stuff, especially descents, and I knew he'd be tough to shake. He was behind me on the last steep climb up to the big boulder. I didn't have enough power to clear the boulder and went down right in front of him (again, sorry about that Zilla!). I was able to get back on and I gave it everything I had from there on out. I saw the 1k to go sign and popped it in the big ring and just went for it. I didn't look back until I got within sight of the finish. There was nobody behind me, so I rolled across the line, quite happy to just finish.

Ended up 2nd in my group, which was my best MNSCS finish ever. Not sure how that happened considering how close I was to a total bonk. Peace Coffee had a pretty good day. Jamison got second in his group, Clayton smoked me for the first time all year, and Bryan just missed the Top 10 overall in his first Comp race. I think the "dream" is still alive for a top 3 overall spot for me, but I'll have to see how the results shake out and who else is still in it. Big props to everyone at Maplelag Resort for making this the coolest race every year.

"Lakeside Drop" photo from Skinnyski.com

The Derailleur and the Damage Done

2008-08-26T16:19:00.002-05:00

The good news is I only damaged one or two spokes. The XTR rear deraillieur is shot, as is the hangar. So, new XTR (not the Shadow, that thing is almost $400) derailleur, some wheel truing and brake adjusting and that should hopefully do it.

Snap (again)

2008-08-25T08:22:00.004-05:00

First WORS race. I even got a callup to the starting line as one of the points leaders for MNSCS. Cool. I got a fairly good start, but was having trouble breathing with all of the dust. I entered the first section of singletrack in the top 10-15. First lap was fast. Second lap there was a train of about 10 riders going up the singletrack climb to the rock garden. That's the first time I can recall recovering on a climb. It was so slow that it was hard to ride without falling over. Third lap I had settled in and was getting into a good rhythm. Final lap, I'm feeling good, just passed some people in the last clearing and can see teammate and age-group leader Kevin Supple about 1o yards ahead of me. Pop it in the big ring and fly towards the singletrack. Must have hit the 90 degree turn a little hot, because I hit the deck hard. Dropped my chain, took forever to get it running. Got back on and managed to catch the two guys who passed me. Get through the downhill and to the switchback climb. I shift gears and SNAP, my rear derailleur is broken. Race over, season over (I won't have enough races for series points now). To say I'm bummed is an understatement. I was riding well, feeling surprisingly well. I had a couple of minutes on Rich Omdahl, somehow managed to pass and drop Walters and had the most difficult sections behind me, with nothing but fast flowing singletrack and the finish line ahead of me. Wasn't meant to be I guess.

So, today I get to go to the shop and assess the damage. New XTR rear derailleur for sure, hopefully the XTR wheel isn't toast as well. I've got some serious trail rash and bruising on my hip, knee, and arm. And I'm pretty sure my goal of a podium spot for the series is shot. No Maplelag this weekend, since the repair bill will be $$$. Could have been worse.

(I've decided to delete my rant about a certain rider and let it go.)

White Tail Ridge

2008-08-22T16:28:00.003-05:00

"Raced" WTR last night. It's fun to ride but it's definitely not my type of course for racing. It's pretty flat and on the one or two climbs where I could make up some time there's no place to pass. Last night I got stuck behind 2-3 guys on the climb to the rock garden, then got behind someone who didn't clear the rock garden. By the time I got out to the field to pass, the next guy up was already heading into the next section of singletrack. Game over a few minutes into lap 1. Doesn't bode well for Sunday when there will be a ton of racers. That holeshot is going to hurt...

On the road again

2008-08-15T08:21:00.003-05:00

Finally able to ride again after being sick for 2 weeks. Got 40 in on Tuesday and another 40 miles last night. Finally found a decent northern route that isn't a narrow no-shoulder road, hillbilly jamboree.

Distance: 40 miles
Average Watts: 200
Average Speed: 20 mph
Calories burned: 1550

No Race

2008-08-11T09:17:00.002-05:00

This cold is an ass-kicker. I've been sick for a week with no real signs of improvement. Just mowing the lawn killed me on Saturday so I decided to not even bother thinking about racing at Buck. Went for a 45 minute spin yesterday just to get one ride in for the week and not lose too much fitness. Hope this crap goes away soon.

Cold

2008-08-06T11:55:00.003-05:00

Summer colds suck. 85 degrees and sunny outside and you can't go out and play. For two months I've been putting in some serious overtime on this catalog, and I think those 16 hour workdays have finally kicked my ass. No riding this week, hopefully I can race on Sunday. Not sure that's gonna happen.

MNSCS Standings

2008-08-03T09:00:00.003-05:00

I know it won't look this way in a few weeks, so I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

Powder Monkey

2008-07-30T23:51:00.005-05:00

This was a favorite spot for the vultures, I mean spectators. Bottom of the expert course, sick rock garden at the bottom of a pretty nasty drop. I survived it twice, and from the look on my face thoroughly enjoyed it. Dana's photos continue to kick ass.

Bike Survey

2008-07-29T14:09:00.002-05:00

Questions sent to me by Janet. Here goes...

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be?
Easy, a cyclocross rig. Road, dirt, mud, snow. Bring it on.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not?
You never have the dream bike because once you do you want the next one. That being said, my KHS Team XC is pretty fly. And the ladies love my 1972 Schwinn Stingray.

If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?
I'd start at the Slickrock Cafe after breakfast (Hungry Biker + lots of coffee), head down Main St and up towards Slickrock to Porcupine Rim. Rock the PR all the way down to the highway and follow the river back to Moab. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike ride to to do for the rest of her / his life?
I'll have to say, Yo Momma.

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrowminded.
Both. I prefer road bikes on the road and mountain bikes off road. I'm funny like that. Both have their own unique vibe, and doing both makes you appreciate the other even more. Either way, you're not on the couch or in a car, so it's all good.

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent?
No, no, and Hell No. I also do not make eye contact with or acknowledge the existence of anyone riding a R-Word.

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss?
I only run when being chased by someone trying to take my lunch money. Although I do look good in my Fishnet Speedo Junior...

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why.
Ice cream, because bikes don't give me brain freeze.

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not? Also, answer it.
If a train leaves Chicago at 9:30am traveling west at 60 mph and another train leaves Seattle at 10:30am traveling east at 50 mph, what is the name of the passenger sitting in the 3rd seat of the dining car on the eastbound train? Answer: Yo Momma.

What do you drink during the post-ride social? Beer or wine?
Water. Endurox R4. Heineken or Fat Tire Pale. Not necessarily in that order.

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do?
If I'm on the road, I sit in and draft off the bear. If I'm on the mtb I slow down to see if he really does shit in the woods.

Powder Monkey

2008-07-28T12:44:00.004-05:00

This race has destroyed my bike the last two years in a row: wheel in 2006, and a snapped rear derailleur last year. So, goal number one was to finish. This course was a beast in the Sport class, and the upgrade to Comp/Expert makes it epic. I can't think of a harder, more technical trail in Minnesota. Rocks everywhere, from babyheads to bus-sized boulders. Tight, twisty, tree-lined singletrack with lots of punchy, technical climbs. Climbs, climbing and more climbing, broken up by more climbing sections. Brutal (but in a good way).

Comp did one full expert lap, plus a half-lap. We started just up from the chalet, climbed to the top and made our way towards the bottom of Spirit Mountain (somehow climbing during the entire descent). Rode everything pretty well considering the expert sections were all new to me. I made the sketchy rock garden downhill at the bottom both laps, disappointing the spectators who were lined up waiting for carnage. Then we climbed back up to the top for what seemed like an hour. Wicked, technical uphill insanity. I made it through all but one section where the rise was so steep I didn't see anyone even attempt to ride it (walking it was a challenge). Just when I could hear traffic and see cars and thought we were at the parking lot we plunged down for more singletrack and more climbing. I was suffering like a dog, but could see some of the group leaders around me, so I figured either they were hurting just as much or I was doing okay.

Made it back to the start/finish for the final half-lap. Was doing fine until I clipped a tree with my handlebar and got launched over the bars and about 10 feet down the side of the hill. Smacked my calf and thigh on the frame, lost about 2 minutes in the process of climbing back up to the trail and got passed for 2 places. Rode with Kevin until the fireroad and then he lost me. Nice recovery, Kevin! I felt good enough to floor it near the parking lot climb but had major chainsuck which took a bit of time to fix. Got it rolling and hit the line for 5th in my group. The crash probably cost me a podium spot (missed 3rd by about 45 seconds), but considering I had to DNF the last two years, I'll take it.

Red Wing

2008-07-24T08:50:00.004-05:00

The bottom of the Quarry at Red Wing. You careen down the bluff in a narrow ravine, around and over rocks, between trees, lots of tight turns. At the bottom there's a sharp right turn with rocks to negotiate before a drop (you can get a sense of the steepness and direction change by looking at the two guys standing in the top of the photo. The trail goes right through there, then switches back where I'm riding). Big rocks cushion your fall if you miss the turn (see Dana's photos for some nasty crashes). The full-suspension has saved my bacon on more than one occasion. This is a prime example. On the hardtail, I'd have to find a line around the rocks or risk getting bounced off my line. On the KHS, I can plow right over. Thank you, technology. Thanks to Gus and Company for making this one of the best trails anywhere.

Red Wing haiku

2008-07-21T21:40:00.003-05:00

Hot humid pukey
Stupid rock must go to hell
Threw up in my mouth

Where am I ??

2008-07-21T21:18:00.002-05:00

Not too hard to guess, but do you know where I was today?
BTW, totally did not expect to find a fixie from the 1800's with wooden wheels and tubulars here. I only wish I had a camera other than the one in my phone for this bad boy. Now THAT'S retro!

Ricco not so sauve

2008-07-17T08:13:00.004-05:00

I always thought he was an arrogant jerk, and now we have confirmation. It takes a real special kind of d-bag to talk that much trash while cheating the entire time.

Red Wing

2008-07-14T08:35:00.003-05:00

Hit Memorial Bluff yesterday for a good 2 hour ride. Trails were in great shape, as usual. A few downed trees from Friday's storm, but I'm guessing those will be taken care of by race day. I've ridden here so many times I didn't really need the preride, but it's such a fun trail that it's worth the drive. I mainly worked on the Stairway to Heaven climb and the climb out of the Quarry. Got Stairway dialed, had one crap ride out of the Quarry but got it dialed so that I cleaned it 3 out of 4 times. The trick will be not getting stuck behind someone who can't ride either one during the race. That, and getting into the singletrack ahead of the traffic jam at the start. I'll be following Clayton "Holeshot" McLagan for the lead out.

Tour de France thoughts

2008-07-11T08:53:00.003-05:00

I could really care less about this year's Tour. The doping scandals were bad enough, but when you exclude the best riders and arguably the strongest team (Astana), what are we left to watch? The French haven't had a winner since Hinault and the Tour organizers have gone out of their way the past few years to stack the deck in hopes of dumbing down the race enough to give themselves a chance. They've eliminated the Team Time Trial (arguably one of the most entertaining and exciting days of the Tour) because they've had their asses handed to them. When Lance and the Disco squad dominated the mountains, they changed the route year after year to try to take away the advantage. Cancellara grabbed the Maillot Jaune in the Prologue last year and held it for far too long for French liking, so this year, no Prologue for the first time in decades. Oh yeah, no time bonuses this year either. They should rename this the Tour de Lowest Hanging Fruit.

Adding to the lack of quality on the road is the further decline of broadcasting standards by Versus. Al Troutwig used to annoy the bejeezus out of me because he clearly knew nothing about cycling but had the American sportscaster vibe, so they brought him in, presumably to appeal to Joe Sixpack sports guy. Craig Hummer is so terrible that I've become president of the Al Troutwig fan club. At least Troutwig was a broadcasting professional who knew how to speak in something other than a whiny, droning monotone for 3 hours. Hummer was barely tolerable when he was doing 3-minute interviews, how the hell did he get this gig? Next year will it be Frankie Andreu and Craig Hummer? That would be a freaking Dream Team. Secondly, I'm all for the American teams and riders, but I don't need to see the same pieces on Garmin-Chipotle and Columbia everyday. Considering there are only 4 American riders in the tour, that is a very disproportionate amount of coverage for a European event. Is there nothing interesting going on with any of the other teams? Apparently not. The most exciting thing so far in this year's Tour was Jonathan Vaughters dropping an F-Bomb on live TV while driving the team car in the TT. Finally, the media buyer at Versus must have the greatest job on the planet. All you need to do is buy one ad for Bacardi, another for Saab, slap together a Tour promo spot and your work is done for the year. It makes me want to "do the Mojito" in a Saab "that recycles exhaust into energy" right over the edge of L'Alpe d'Huez, while singing, "I'm gonna get my head straight".

I think I just took the Black Jersey for points leader in ranting.

Afton Gravelfest

2008-07-09T08:41:00.004-05:00

route map here

Had a flat before I even started riding. Hole in the tire had to be booted, first tube didn't hold air. Frantic search for another tube. Fast group leaves while I'm fixing tire. Roll out with the second group. I'm on the front pretty much the entire way down Lake Elmo, feeling ok. We roll towards Afton and the Afton Hills climb. I stand at the base of the climb to drop the hammer only to discover they have just tarred and graveled the road, and my bike slides out from under me. Luckily I didn't hit the deck, but it kind of put a damper on the climb. (Note to Afton lovers: gravel EVERYWHERE) Halfway up the fast group is on their way down, so I pull a 180 and latch on. We roll through Afton and hit the Coulee. I sit about 5th wheel, and for once I fight the urge to attack from the very start of the climb. It stays together until the first false flat, then someone attacks. I see John T move to attack him and I react. I follow John and we crush it the rest of the way up, attacking and counterattacking until we reach 50th street. First test of the day, and I got an A- (would've been A+ but John rolled by me at the very end).

Up 50th to Trading Post and more gravel. Detour out to Neal with craters and pavement the consistency of a cheese grater. Luckily, we're all experienced riders and no one makes any foolish moves. 20mph tailwind down Valley Creek to Stagecoach and I'm spinning out in my biggest gear. Super strong head/crosswind the rest of the way back, but we've got a very organized paceline of about 7-8 guys, and it's smoother than Billy Dee Williams. 350-450 watt turns on the front the rest of the way home with a few attacks at the end. Brian and I led the charge for the last few miles, trading pulls back to the parking lot. Rolled in just behind Brian for the "finish". Second and most important test of the day, not getting dropped, and I boost my GPA with another A, with extra credit for a strong finish. (It would have been great to be able to grade myself like this when I was in school.)

GREAT ride. I was hanging on for dear life after the Coulee, but recovered and found enough power to keep everyone honest. I need to find a way to translate this to mountain biking. On a road bike I can "reach deep into my suitcase of pain" as Paul Sherwin would say, but haven't been able to do the same thing on the mtb consistently. Some day...

Training

2008-07-07T10:43:00.002-05:00

Had 4 days off the bike last week. Went for a spin Thursday, felt okay. A couple of laps at Hillside on Saturday in the hot, hot heat, felt pretty good. 2 hours on the road bike yesterday in the even hotter, hot heat, not so good. I'm sure the Fat Tire Ale from Saturday night didn't help the hydration in the 90 degree heat. Just didn't have much power in the legs, especially into the wind coming home. Flatted and cooked in the sun changing the tube. 50 mile hilly hammerfest to Afton on Tuesday. Hopefully the legs make a comeback.

Snap

2008-06-30T08:03:00.002-05:00

As in: the legs have no snap.
As in: my chain just snapped.

Warming up for Mankato I could tell I just didn't have the energy for a good race. Start was poor, but passed a lot on the first climb. I tried to keep the speed up to maintain my position and was sitting top 20 after first lap. First half of Lap 2 I was just trying to recover. Then about halfway up the Staircase climb my chain seized, then it snapped. Game over. Oh well. 3-4 weeks until next race and I'm glad. I need some time to recover and train.

Mud Spanker

2008-06-24T11:19:00.006-05:00

First photo: dry trail, shades. Second photo: grease trap, and contact lenses being dried onto my corneas. I think I was telling Dana (thanks for the photos and encouragement during the race) to get a shot of me falling on my ass.

Dirt Spanker

2008-06-23T08:41:00.003-05:00

Working 10-14 hour days for the last 3 weeks then being sick the last 3 days didn't bode well for the Dirt Spanker. But, I raced anyway. Last year was super hot, this year it was cloudy, mid-70's with off and on rain. So, temperature-wise it was perfect. Trail-wise, not so much. The race starts at the bottom of the ski hill and shoots you all the way up with no warm up. A quick bomber descent then a super steep, rooty climb and you're in the singletrack. Or in this case, the grease. I had zero traction and was sliding all over the place. Every corner, root or log was an extreme effort to stay upright. Nothing like putting all your energy into staying upright instead of moving forward. The brand new trail was the worst. Several times I just about ate it. Then it started raining and it only got worse.

I was riding sideways as much as forward and I heard someone behind me and let them pass. It was Longley. D'oh! He kicked my ass pretty much every race last year and I was determined not to let it happen today without a fight. I did what I could to keep him in sight, and on the climb out at the end of the lap, I gave it some gas and passed him. One small victory for the day. Second lap went a bit better, still no trust in the tires though. Third lap I was feeling fairly good all things considered. I caught up to a Kenwood guy and used him as a rabbit. We caught up to about 3 other guys by the downhill, and I was praying that we could get around them. Instead, it was brakeville all the way down. Plan B was to sit on until the climb and go for it. All of the sudden I'm on my frigging back with my bike on top of me. My front wheel caught some grease in a corner, turned 90 degrees and launched me over the bars into the woods. I smacked the inside of both knees on the bike (I think) in the process. It was one of those deals where you don't even have time to check to see if your bike is still in one piece (or if you are in one piece), you just get on, ride and hope everything works. My knees were killing me and I just lost 3 places. I struggled up the climb one last time, survived the slip-and-slide downhill finish and was done.

4th in my age group, 23rd or something overall. Not bad considering I pretty much flipped a coin as to whether or not to race while sick. I had ice on my knees the whole drive home and still could not move by the time I went to bed. Mankato may not happen next Sunday. We'll see how mobile I am.

Props to Kevin for winning our group and 2nd overall. Jamison continues to rock. Big props to CJ for riding with the experts today (it's like his 3rd race or something ridiculous like that).

Rest Week Recap

2008-06-16T11:53:00.004-05:00

After last Sunday's Afton race, I was supposed to have a week off the bike. That lasted until Tuesday, when I put in 70 miles. I stayed off the bike again until Saturday, mostly because I felt like crap. Saturday I still felt lousy, but it was my only chance to go to Mankato and preride the course before the race. So, I packed up and headed south.

The comp/expert course has at least 2 sections that aren't in sport. I've ridden "Mad Squirrel" before, which consists of a rutted, rooty downhill with some wicked switchbacks. I hadn't ridden "Quick Release" before. Yikes. The pictures on MORC don't really do it justice. SUPER steep, with tight turns covered with roots, meaning you've got to keep your fingers off the brakes and let it roll. The bottom drops out to the base of the ski hill with a big pile of loose dirt at the bottom to get through at high speed. 4 times through this outta be fun. If somebody in front of you doesn't make it you're screwed, because I don't know that you can walk this section. I'm hoping to not be that guy. I cleaned it both times I rode it, but decided not to push my luck any further since I was the only person out riding.

Yesterday, no ride, just a long walk with the family. No ride today, hills tomorrow.

Afton, again...

2008-06-11T08:51:00.003-05:00

Rode into work yesterday morning to try to wake the legs up since I was still feeling pretty tired from Sunday's race. I'm supposed to be in a transition week, which means no riding. So what do I do? A 60+ mile ride from the Birchwood to Afton and back. See map and elevation profile here. Over 70 miles total yesterday. Ouch.

Afton

2008-06-09T08:25:00.003-05:00

Brutal. 2 hours, 11 minutes of suffering. Prologue ran us through a rim-deep bog (see 1st photo above), which bunched everyone back together right before the singletrack. Of course that meant a big traffic jam. After getting out of that mess I gave it some gas to try to get in a good position for the Bridge Loop climb, where there are always people getting caught in the wrong gear and stalling out right in front of you. Gave it some more gas up the Shady Lane climb, passing some people and tried to settle into a rhythm. Made it through the technical sections and was feeling okay. The sun came out just in time for the Manhandler/Whistler climb, and I cooked. The last technical loop was cut out because of the rain, so there was a big bomber downhill instead, leading to the start/finish. 2nd lap I was just trying to maintain my position and not blow up. All the short technical climbs were wearing me down. 3rd lap I was dying. Running out of gas and the legs were on the verge of cramping and total shutdown. Played leapfrog the entire lap with rockstar singlespeeder Ben. Don't know how the hell you can ride Afton with one gear. I granny geared Shady and Manhandler, not sure if my legs were going to function in the middle-ring. Popped it in the middle for Whistler and passed 2-3 guys, putting a nice little gap on them. Gave it what little I had left and rolled into the finish. My left leg totally cramped when I stopped to take off my timing chip (still cramping this morning). Tough race. Loving my bike more and more each time I ride it. New tires did quite well in the grease. 4th place in my age group, 21st overall.

Had our team pot luck: burgers, brats, beer. It was great to see a lot of people still hanging out at the end of the comp/expert race. This is why I joined PCR: bad-ass riders who have as much fun suffering on the bike as they do hanging out together off the bike.

Photos courtesy of Skinnyski.com

Recovery products

2008-06-05T12:01:00.002-05:00

NY Times has an interesting article on recovery products and energy drinks/food.

I think it makes sense for the average Joe who only does a short, low-intensity workout a few times a week. But, and maybe it's just a placebo effect, I can definitely tell the difference in the hours and day after an intense workout or race if I don't take Endurox right after the event. Especially if I've got another hard effort that following day. It's also much more convenient to have a bottle of R4 ready to go right after a race than it is to have an actual meal.

Or, you could use Gary's preferred recovery drink: Heineken.

Afton

2008-06-03T13:46:00.004-05:00

Hit Afton for a couple of laps Sunday afternoon. Saw quite a few others out doing top-secret training. Low 80's and sunny, pretty much like most race days there. Manhandler/Whistler was brutal, baking in the direct sun all the way up. Trail was mostly dry, except for start area and the gravel road. 2 days of potato salad and beer didn't bode well for training.

Looks like rain all week and severe weather forecast for Sunday. Good times.

Como

2008-05-30T22:13:00.003-05:00

Fun studies for another day with a better camera and morning or evening light. I could spend all day in the Japanese Garden.

Stillwater ride

2008-05-28T08:23:00.003-05:00

White Bear Withrow Partridge Norell Withrow
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Original plan was to roll with the slow group and use this as a slow burner. Of course that didn't happen. I rolled with the fast group, which consisted of more new faces than familiar ones. The first 15 miles were relatively flat, but everyone was taking flyers, trying to split things up. I knew the big climb out of Stillwater on 11 would splinter everything so I saved my matches for later.

We caught the slow group right at the base of the climb, so we had to weave our way through 20 people and up the first part of the climb. This thinned things out a bit, but the faster guys came back together before the big hill. I decided to try keeping it in the big ring and sprinting up the climb. So, I stood up and went. Stayed standing all the way to the top (that was some good pain), looked back and I had about a 100-150 meter gap. Didn't get caught until Stonebridge (stupid stop sign), but by then we had shelled all but 6 guys.

The newbies didn't quite grasp the whole rotating paceline concept. When they got to the front they would hit the gas and fly off the front, instead of keeping the same pace and letting the guy who just did all the work catch a break. After a little coaching things smoothed out and we were flying between 25-30 mph through the rollers. I took one more flyer on the final hill, staying away until the descent. Then the cat and mouse for the sprint started. I thought I was finally in a good spot, about 4th wheel with 1,000 meters to go. Then 2 guys sat up and I was in the worst position possible. If I took a short pull and sat up I'd get attacked. So, of course, I went for it with about 600 meters to go. Legs were burning, got caught at about 100 meters to go but managed to catch a wheel. Was still in it but got boxed in for about 4th place.

Overall, legs felt pretty good. If the temp ever gets above 70 I may be able to breathe and we'll see how things improve then. Hopefully no repeats of last weeks total body shutdown (I'll be working on recovery the next few days).

Max Watts: 957
Average Watts: 210 (next ride I will try to hit the interval button to get more accurate averages, excluding the warm-up and cool-down parts)
Average Speed: 22.5 mph
Distance: 40.34 miles
Calories burned: 1575

Recovery Ride

2008-05-27T09:12:00.003-05:00

New Brighton Arden Hills Vadnais Shoreview 20 mile recovery
Find more Bike Rides in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Took an easy morning spin yesterday to keep the legs alive. Turned into a harder effort coming back into the wind, but not a hammerfest. Tonight we hit the hills by Stillwater for 40 miles. Can't decide if I'm gonna sit in with the slow guys and just get some miles in or if I'm gonna do the usual race effort.

Holy close call, Batman

2008-05-25T17:46:00.004-05:00

We just missed the tornado by about 10 minutes. We were at Home Depot in Blaine and the sky was doing funky things so we headed home. By the time I turned on the tv the tornado warnings were out. Missed us by about 5 miles. Funny thing is it didn't even rain here until the second storm rolled through. Going outside now to see how much hail damage we have.

Where were the sirens? They didn't go off until the storm was well past us.

Lebanon Hills

2008-05-24T21:52:00.002-05:00

I took it easy, skipped the Afton ride, and went to Leb instead. Did two full laps plus the warm-up loop for a cool down. Cleaned the entire Tedman's Curve section for the first time, so that was nice. I rode the whole trail with a bit more confidence on the new rig. It's nice having a bike that fits and that has full-suspension. I took some lines in the xx loop I never would have dreamed of on a hardtail, and the boing-boing saved my bacon in the rocks a few times. Perfect day for riding, hopefully the energy levels return to normal soon.

Obey the recovery week

2008-05-23T08:26:00.003-05:00

I think I'm paying the price for overtraining. Yesterday morning I woke up and felt horrible. Super weak, nauseous and out of it. It took everything I had to get Owen to daycare and get back home. I crawled into bed to rest for a minute. I woke up 4-1/2 hours later. Better today, but still super tired. Hoping to ride this weekend, but will definitely take it easy.

Aw yeah

2008-05-22T16:45:00.004-05:00

I hate penalty shoot outs, it's kind of like deciding the outcome on a coin toss. But, I guess you've still got to put the ball in the back of the net. Man Utd are Premier League and Champions League champs. Awesome.
In the "This could only happen to me" department: I set the TiVo for the match and Jen and I are watching the highlights. I fast forward to the penalty shootout. Good stuff. Even though I knew what was coming it was still nerve racking to watch. Hargreaves makes his penalty kick, then the TiVo cuts out. Thank God for the internet, where I found some video from Australia posted to Youtube.