Wed group ride

Apparently C. Manthe thought it would be fun to take the big dirt-diesel and company South of Hwy 10 for a little climbing clinic. He managed to piece together a route with 2,600 feet of total elevation gain. After the first few climbs the group got chiseled down to 10 or so riders; who all seemed to be in the mood for good old fashion suffering. Ironically I was the one least interested in the suffering and probably did the most of it. I was plenty happy to get back to the flats and rollers where I was able to hold my own. Had enough juice in the tank to have some fun in the sprint with Jim and Steve. Check out the Garmin file here.

24 hours of Nine Mile

Team Pink Steel claimed second place in the Mens Sport category for the 09' 24 hours on Nine Mile. The track was super fun with its' fast open double track and tight rocky / rooty single track (check out the Garmin file from my 5th lap here). We completed 21 laps in an epic battle that found us fighting back and forth for first place. After 23 hours of racing the gap was an amazing 20 seconds. The MC was digging the drama and did a great job announcing the race as it unfolded. It was an awesome time spent with friends and all the other racers. Congratulations to the Hammer Down and Sisu teams. It was definitely some sweet racing.

Never a boring ride

Got out with Jim on Sunday to explore some new trails for Ore 2 Shore training. This one started out fine, but eventually we were going cross country through the middle of the woods. This effort ended in a a hike-a-bike up a ridiculous hill / cliff. Pretty typical of our point and ride mentality.

Not sure how this fit in to the training, but luckily I had the camera so there is no footage of me taking the deep route that lead to a full submersion. At least the water felt refreshing.

This is more like it. We rode 20ish miles on super sandy trails, which fit the goal perfectly. The terrain was similar to Michigan's beach like terrain.

Trails have been secret coded: Moab, WI

Live from Eau Claire

Now that Race Director duties are over, I'v had a little more time to mess around with the new VIO pov1.5 bike cam. It's pretty sweet, but I still have to do a lot more research on how to upload the video to the web. Check out some footage of Jim and me ripping up some sweet Lowe's Creek single track here. Coach TJ wore the camera for the Firecracker race, but I still haven't figured out how to post it. Stay tuned.

Pre-ride

Check out Jim's alternative route showing pro TJ Woodruff the new berm on Skull. I love the fact that he is always looking for a new line.

Pedal Power

The best of the best. That is a ton of horse power!

I took on the roll of Race Director not really knowing what to expect, but with Jess and Craig having a baby, it seemed like the right time to step up and give back to the sport I have grown very fond over the last few years. The race was a huge success, but pulling it off was anything but a one man show. The list of volunteers is far too long to list, but I am greatly appreciative of everyone's generosity over the holiday weekend; as well as all the support from our great sponsors. Although I ended up sacrificing my race in the spirit of keeping things on track, the end result of seeing everything go as planned was far more rewarding than any result I could have ever gotten from a personal race result.

Check out some photos of the event here

Now that the race is over it is time to start focusing on my training and goals of a solid finish at the Ore 2 Shore.