Racing (If that's what I call what I am doing out there)

Now that everyone had a chance to hear the word about the bird (see previous post) I gotta say Life has funny ways of messing with you. First I go to California and do the Sea Biscuit Sand Classic in which I flat and crash myself out after a strong leadout. I then have work schedule changes that limit my weekly riding time to half of what I've done last year to this point. Then comes the weather. Green Bay WEMS looked promising up till about two days prior the weather channel changed their tune and from there we would have rain. I got off on a bad foot forgetting my camelback on the first lap, having the wrong camelback on the 2nd lap and along with chain suck issues from a old drivetrain that the budget wouldn't allow for upgrade I was forced to "riding in the dog" for about 2 hours which left my legs lifeless and would not recover no matter how easy I took it. I called it a day and would live to fight another day.

Next up was the 12 hours of Northern Kettles and I was feeling better than green bay but let it get to my head as I went out like a bat out of hell which if you know my style I started the opposite of the norm for me and burnt my first match early on in the first friggin lap. I recovered much quicker this time due to my illness being put away finally, but stomach issues forced me off the bike after each of the following two laps. Of course once again the rain gods decided it was time to wash the riders off the course and more chainsuck and bigring riding was on tap once again and was doing okay, but as I was gearing up to make a push for my final lap I crashed hard and came in about 5 minutes later than I wanted to be. Now I am at the breaking point. I can't get my legs the correct amount of work they desperately need, the weather has been piss poor each and every weekend, but there is still hope. Hope that the new drivetrain thanks to SRAM and some new chainrings should clear up the mechanical situation. Hope that the switch back to the old nutrition plan will keep my stomach in check. Finally, I hope that a good race at WORS Rhinelander event with good weather for once and of course a great group of friends will be all that I need to keep it going all the way to 24 hours of 9-mile.

At this point of the year I get so busy with trying to train, race, rest and repeat that I don't take the time to say thanks to the people that support the habit and most importantly my wife and friends deserve it the most. They all give me the appropriate amount of shit for doing what I do and never allow me to get lazy. Also, Bryan and Clint at EVOMO for contributing to this two wheel addiction plus wearing the EVOMO gear certainly helps me continue to bring the ruckus out there. The guys at Titec for some coolest go fast goodies, Jeff at Ergon for some sweet green grips and their packs that make commuting look cool and easy on the back, the Simbree snacks are awesome, motortabs tasting like Koolaid makes me happy to have a drink that doesn't taste like your typical endurance drinks. Fluid to ensure I recover well from riding that heavy redline ss for 5 hours or more at a time. Brave soldier friction zone for the keeping the undercarriage in check if in the rain. I would also like to give a shout out to Hayes Disc Brakes for creating the stroker....the guys from performa turned me on to these and despite the rain, mud, and thank god no snow they simply work and my hands do not tire unlike other brakes I've used in the past over the course of 12 hours in a race. Easy to adjust, set up, etc just simply awesome gear. Actionwipes came to the rescue at the right time early on this season cleaning up the mess I was in during the mudfest that ensued in the northern kettles.

The road to 24...oops I mean 12 hours of 9-mile starts....now!
June 1st WORS Rhinelander

June 7th WORS Wausau

June 13th WEMS John Muir - Whitewater-ish

June 27th WEMS Metro Challenge- Milwaukee

July 4th Pow-Wow Days 5k (that's a run in case ur wondering) Tomahawk

July 11th WEMS Levis 100 - Neilsville

July 25-26 12 Hours of 9-mile (a beer costume bring I will)

Lengthy...yes. Informative...maybe. I did manage to kill some time and continue onward with my business plan....watch out trump!

News!

In todays headlines you may have not yet heard

back in the saddle

Monday I was feeling a little scratch in my throat and all I could think was "oh shit now I got the swine flu" I assured myself it wasn't in fact I had everybody telling me to get it checked out but never fear all I have is a cold...yuck!.  This was my week now to have a little training camp since this severely gave me little chance for trans iowa (Congrats goes to Tim Ek by the way for a 2nd place finish).  Wednesday I had planned to do 6 hours at the camp in green bay and had every intention on doing so.  I did 3 full laps by myself and then Josh B rolled up so I did a lap with him and couple of his co-workers.  Nate and wrong turn neubauer along with paul from team performa pulled up as well.  At this point I was completely thrashed with the sickness creeping in and rockin the 32x16 for almost 5 hours already.  So when they took off I got dropped.  Total time was about 5:45.

I rested the following three days to see if I can shake this cold and today I finally got out to standing rocks.  Again, I was rockin the 32x16 singlespeed and again I did 5:40 minutes of riding but much less mileage as it was much more challenging than the camp.  I really have to take my hat of to guys like the lalondes and constatine rolling a singlespeed requires much more than pedaling circles, keeping rhythm, and the additional muscle groups that are recruited.  

All in all I am feeling pretty good about going into the first wems race of the year.  Last year I wasn't anywhere near ready and it showed as I spent a total of an hour in the pits.  Some good competition should be a great test for the early season legs, but the big question will be will my stupid cold be gone?