So I Wanna Try Something Different

Okay so earlier this year (February) I purchased a Kona Cross bike due to the fact that the ride would be best suited for a bike like that on roads in my area.  Some of you may not like this and I get it, but I am going to do some Cyclocross races this fall/winter.  It's been something I've been thinking about for a while now and with the re-kindled relationship I have with running on grass and dirt, I think this will be right up my alley.

Had my first practice on Wednesday with Ben Koenig, Casey Hildebrandt, Matt Block and Justin Braathen.  The touture on the hot laps was the most fun in a long time.

I will of course still race my mountain bike, but I need to mix it up.

July Is Here and I Think My Legs Are To

July started off with a bang (no pun intended of course) I was really looking forward to the Thunderdown 10 Hour Solo and rightfully so considering this was a home race for me.  This course is hard enough to eliminate any advantage you think you have as the Underdown and Bill himself has mysterious ways of inflicting pain upon those who dare to take his or her opponents to war at his homestead.  I made the threat of ripping apart the course and Mr. Underdown didn't take too kindly to my first shot fired at his direction.  He made me pay unleashing insects, taking the chain off my crank, turning open trails into a virtual oven, and this would leave me and my battered soul for dead, but I wouldn't let it end that way and despite my stomach distress and other pain that I care not to mention, I felt the reward of sticking it out and Bill gave me that last push of energy to finish a final strong 3/4 of lap 3 to finish the race in 3rd place.  No growler would be in the cards for me this year but the taste of redeye's finest brew was well worth the punishment that the Underdown had bestowed upon me. 


Wait.....there's more....Thunderdown was July 2nd I would again be called upon to toe the line on Independence Day for a 5K run beatdown as part of Tomahawk's annual Pow-Wow Days celebration and I wasn't sure what to expect here since I haven't devoted any time to running since just before the WEMS opener at the Stump Farm so no running since mid April...I was to die out there for sure with the heat index close to 100 again, but I abandoned all fear cause in the end it was only going to be a run of less than a half hour or so "I can ride a bike for over 24 hours I should be able to survive a 5K with no problem"  Is what I said to myself as I was heading to the start line ready to take off with over 350 starters.  I along with an old teammate of mine from back on the Tomahawk Cross Country Team used old tactics to quickly make our way to the chase group of around 20 people where he clearly had the legs that day and I was happy to maintain visual contact for the duration and finished with a time of 21:32 and 26th overall out of 340 finishers.  I would then circle back and jog backwards on the course to locate my two cousins and uncle who were running the 10K in which I would run with each one to the finish line until all have crossed.  I would need a couple of days to recover after that sequence of training.

Not less than a week later I would start to get a feel for this whole bikepacking thing.  I loaded up my Kona Jake and Ergon BD1 pack and headed for Minocqua and more specifically The Minocqua Brewing Company.  I thoroughly enjoyed riding the hiawatha-bearskin trails for the 80 mile out and back journey loaded up with around 20lbs of random gear.

This week and going foward my heart will race and I will dream in anticipation for the biggest journey into the darkness of the pain cave I will face this season.   It's about two weeks away and I am slowly transitioning over to full on Wausau24 mode. I am already thinking about how to break my laps down to get the number of laps I need or feel will need to be competitive.  I spend time telling myself that I am in a place where I can be a legitimate threat for the podium barring the unknown.  I constantly think through my nutrition and where I went wrong last year and how to improve upon it based on weather, terrain, competition and other variables.  There are so many things to consider when going into a 24 hour solo race besides just riding your bike till your racing heart pumps battery acid, for example: Battery life and charging, Pace, Setting up for the run, when to pick up lights and eat, how many calories are going in, weather, pit area location, support, battery charging (yes, I mentioned this twice), list goes on....  So as of today 7/15/2011 I grow more and more excited to roll out onto the course for the first of many laps and will continue to dream/daydream of descending down trail #1 and crossing over redbud road again after the midnight hour to be greeted by the superfans and music so loud it gives you goose bumps each and every time you pass by.

This is no time for excuses or to forget the lessons that the ghost of Bill Underdown has taught me.  I will be victorious in some sense of the word, victory and accomplishment is based upon the goals you set for yourself along with your faith in yourself and knowing that there are much larger forces watching over you and at times protecting you from yourself, I will live and die by that very sword on race day.  Oh and a little extra motivation never hurts either and how just a single comment can give you that extra push with about 2 weeks to go.  I am ready for 25 hours of pain probably more so than years past.  As Tim Wilcox would say.....GET SOME!!

What are you doing this weekend?

Day 1 of Skyrider Build - Tear Down

If only it were always that easy.....

First step was to disassemble it down to the frame and try not to ingest heaping servings of rust. The crank, wheels, and frame had large amounts of surface rust on it. Oh how there is a silver lining....I found a solution in the form of aluminum foil and coke which allowed me to remove the rust from chrome, the crank looks like the new and the sidewalls of the wheels look nicely polishedl but in need of a good truing. The best part is all but the seatpost collar was attached bike should only need a chain, tires and tubes, and some additional hardware like a saddle to make it right. Paint will need to be done to prevent tetanus shots from being a requirement upon riding this.

 (Can you tell which side got the coke/foil treatment?)

 (Before)

(After)

Lessons learned so far: rusted screws threaded onto rusted bolts call for a dremmel tool.  You will give yourself a headache if you think wd-40 and a socket/wrench is going to loosen it for you.

In case you were wondering what happend with my chicago schwinn varsity.  There is some welding and cutting going on right now....I did not appreciate the kickstand being part of the frame.  I also just recently accquired a Schwinn Continental (so i've been told) for $5 Can't wait to pick that up also I have a unidentified tandem from either the late 50's or early 60's.

That is all for now.

12 Hours of Northern Kettles

"The only way around is through"
~ Robert Frost

The quote above can sometimes be equally as dangerous as it is
inspirational. Allow me to explain.

Friday comes around and I am feeling light, had a good pre-ride, dinner
was excellent, bike was in working order and I was ready to rawwwkk. No
issues on the horizon....just yet.

Saturday morning comes, pit area is set up, I along with the rest of the
12 hour crazies zipped up and chamois'd up our super hero costumes and
took to the course. Race started off with a short run up a tubbing hill
and back down into the first section of singletrack. I took it really
easy but kept the others in eye sight and settled in behind Rich and Ty

sliding around on the slick rocks from the dampness left over from
Friday night's rain shower. It was clear myself along with Ty selected
wrong tires for the first two laps but conditions improved dramatically
by lap 3. Speaking of lap 3, that's when things began to go terribly
wrong. I started feeling a tight feeling in my knee and in turn I found
it hard to get up the climbs and that turned into a sharp pain. Then on
lap 4 I was having issues with descending. Lap 5 I started getting the
pain on the flats and really couldn't put any power down on the 6th and
would be final lap of the day. Typically I would normally find a way
through as that is usually the only way as the quote would suggest but,
I couldn't fight my way through this one....not this time....not like I
did at 12 hours of pitchblack where I only had 4 laps to go as I was
only 6 out of 12 hours into the race. I had to waive the white flag and
listen to my body if I wanted any shot of doing well at the wausau24
solo this year.

Sure, yeah, I was disappointed, dejected, and frustrated that I left
running because of this very same issue and has tracked me down again to
unleash a brutal attack on this bike racing hobby of mine. Despite
feeling great and poised to start backing down on lap times I physically
could not do a thing about it.

Next steps....re-do the fit. Sometimes we all have to undergo some
change in our lives everything from Work, life, and even physical
changes will happen it's just a matter of when and how you deal with
them. There is a great quote that gets me past all of this and reads
"The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese"
from the book Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson helped me realize
that the quicker I let go of my current fit, current injury, and other
issues the sooner I will find a new solution and move on and enjoy my
cheese (bike racing) once again.

Wausau Big Ring Classic? Sure I'll be there, but that could change
depending how I am feeling and I approach it from a weatherman's
prospective. I am predicting I'll be fine for the big ring, but there
is a 30% chance of nope. Should certainly be a go for the Southern
Kettles WEMS race though. Sunny skies ahead!

1960's AMF Roadmaster Skyrider Project

Okay, So a relative found this and another relic rotting away in barn (who hasn't heard that before).  This happens to be a 1960's AMF Roadmaster Skyrider (womens).  This will be a resoration project which I had started earlier last night.  My goal is to keep it as original as possible and only replace parts missing or inoperable.  Stay Tuned for updates!

The Wisconsin Abyss Shows Signs of Spring and Then....

I woke up on race day!

The Abyss otherwise known as spring in Wisconsin has taken its toll on the author, racer, dad, trainer, or whatever my codename is for the week, but over the last month I've received a little help from a pretty well known racer here along the 44th parallel and the help was muchly appreciated and certainly needed so thank you Scott!!  My rides have become more thought out and with a purpose, but most importantly fun.  I am going into the first WEMS Race of the year optimistic that I will ride consistently, but the racer in me has a lot voices in the back of my mind not allowing me to forget the events of last fall that will be hard to ignore once I get to the start line.  Some thoughts are good, those are the ones you want to keep to ensure a good positive attitude others need some correcting and there is only one way to correct those thoughts and that's by bringing the Metal!

Now to the boring bike geek stuff....I am carefully plotting my Maxxis tire selection.  Since Ben and Amy  Welnak were in town I knew  it was going to rain, now the question is how much?  The course is pretty sandy and fights away water pretty well....to a point and in certain areas not so much.  The Ikons are more agressive in tread pattern than the Aspens, but the Cross Marks are right up there.  Another option would be a cross between the Ikon on the back and the Ignitor on the front.....choices....choices, but I stuck with the Ikons and was I suprised how well they handled the wet conditions  Also, the Salsa has seen some changes from my friends at the Hayes Group.  Answer Carbon riser bar and Manitou's new Tower Pro 29er fork will help lighten the bike up some while giving me a little more support in the cockpit.  Nutrition is arriving by the box full.  I will be chewing up on some Honey Stinger Fruit Smoothie Gummies and Gels when needed along with my 100 miler mix I created with the help of Infinit Nutrition.

Friday afternoon bike shakedown took place,  followed by a lovely dinner and entertainment provided by BikeHub/Specialized's very own JShoe!!!!  Saturday it was game on at the WEMS Opener StumpFarm 100.
I started off faster than I normally would to see what I had, but I knew right away that my legs felt really heavy so I basically let Schotz go and tried taking it easy for the rest of the first lap, which turned into 7 more just like it.  I couldn't get anything going until about half way through lap 9 I started feeling a little lighter on my feet so I gave it a shot and kinda glad I did as I closed a pretty large gap between rich lytle and myself, but made a really bad choice in lines towards the end that slowed me down enough to close the door.  It did feel good to go that hard though....I just don't think my body was ready for that effort for every lap yet this season.  It's always fun to go in to a race every so often with no expectations but to ride consistent laps and have fun (which can be tough when it's cold and rainy like it was).  Plus the sooner I got done the sooner I got my mint oreo blizzard.

A special thanks to Nacho at Sprocketz for tubes and the tire tool, thank god I didn't need either, but Sprocketz has my back if I did.