Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Pretty darn hard to have more fun than riding Lowe's Creek with four PUGS. It really dials in your handling skills! The energy it takes to turn out 11 miles of single track on one of these beasts borders on ridiculous.

tis the season

Now that the Christmas holidays are behind us, it is time to get down to work and dial in the training for the 2010 season. I am signed on for another year with power training guru TJ Woodruff, which should be fun in a painful kind of way. My training plan will be geared towards the BC, 7-day stage race, which is held the last week of June. 24 hours of Nine Mile, Dakota 50, Cheq Fat Tire, Ore 2 Shore, a few WORS races and a few road races are also on the books. Most of the training will be done on the trainer until the roads clear, except for PUG night at Lowe's Creek (feel free to join in).

Going to start things off on a good note with a week long training camp in Tucson the second week of January. I have a race scheduled the first Saturday of the trip then a few road and mtb rides and of course a trip to the top of Mt. Lemon. The trip will be a nice way to split up the winter and allow me to stay focused till spring when Jim and I will be ramping things up with some killer weekend training rides on the cold, sloppy roads South of Mondovi.

Gave my legs a little Christmas present after everyone went to bed. Had to make sure I remembered how to spin the pedals. Race form is a ways off, but the legs seem to still have a little Diesel power left. I will try to get some power files from the training rides posted on a regular basis along with some video from the Pug rides. Thanks for tuning in and happy holidays!

Tough Times

Blood Bank

Things aren't going so great right now. My father had a heart attack on Sunday night. My mom called me at 3:30 in the morning and I got in the truck and headed 4 hours down to Saint Luke's in Milwaukee. At one point his blood pressure dropped to 50 / 40, which is really, really bad. We are thankful to be in the care of the best heart doctors in the state. He is currently listed as critical, but stable. His heart is being assisted by a balloon pump and a bunch of meds. My sister and I gave blood as a way to give back. It was a first for me and it felt good to do something for someone else. Reading Lance's book "it's not about the bike" for some type of hope and motivation.

Any thoughts?

This or.........

This???
One of these steeds will be added to the 2010 stable, but the decision is harder than I thought. Anyone have any thoughts?

Crazy Bright

Finally received my two new Pro1200 lights. It is amazing what 2400 lumens looks like in the woods. They are every bit as bright as a halogen car head light.

My official training for the 2010 BC Bike race started this week. TJ has things starting off pretty mellow with 5 hours on the trainer and 7 hours outside. 8 months is a long time to work towards a single goal, but the training will definitely make the race a lot more enjoyable. I'm headed down to Tucson for a week long training camp with TJ the second week of January to break up the winter riding. It should be a good time as we kick the week off with a MTB race in Phoenix.

Holloween ride with Chad Sova

The one and only Chad Sova. He may be fast like a pro, but his kit needs some serious work. Chad, Jim, Matt and I had a great night ride at Lowe's Creek followed up with a stop at his girlfriend's friend's apartment.

He better stick to biking, she pretty much kicked his a$$ at the table.

We also had the opportunity to watch the "single ladies" perform live. Thanks Chad, it wouldn't have been possible without you.

'Nough Said

3 rides in 3 weeks!

Hoosier riding

Southern Indiana has, with out question the fastest flowing single track I have ever ridden. Pictures never do trails justice, but I took some anyways. Rumor is there are more than 80 miles of trails in this immediate area. I highly recommend it to anyone traveling to the Indianapolis area.

Brown County state park has plenty of elevation to work with, which surprised me given it is in Indiana (1,500 feet of ascent in a 14 mile loop). A few climbs required 4 full size switch backs to get to the top. The vistas were pretty amazing.

This pretty much sums up the end of my tour guide. He got the last laugh as I decided to hit a new section by my self and ended up tumbling down a 60' ravine.

The trail builders did a nice job of mixing in rock gardens and bridges.

Cool coverage bridge leading in and out of the park.

Game over

With the few last pedal strokes of the Cheq 40 last weekend, my 2009 racing season grew to a close. In retrospect, I achieved my ultimate goal of improving my finish in the 09’ 28 mile Ore 2 Shore. TJ and I worked together for 9 months with the goal in mind and I was able to garner a 9th place finish (thanks coach). A winter worth of structured trainer time mixed in with some snow riding on the Surly Pugs with Jim and Craig had my early season fitness pretty dialed in. I entered my first cat 5 road race this spring and finished 4th, which I was pretty happy with considering my lack of experience. Our four man team “Pink Steel” got it done in the sport class at 24 hours of 9 mile with a 2nd place podium finish. Although the racing was very satisfying, my most memorable experience of the summer was volunteering as Race Director for the Eau Claire Fire Cracker. There are so many hard working people behind the scenes that you really can’t get a real appreciation for the race unless you are part of it. The countless compliments from the fans and racers defiantly made it a journey worth taking.
The next few weeks are going to be spent having fun on the bike with no training agenda in mind. 2010 holds some pretty lofty aspirations for me and is going to require me to push my focus, discipline and commitment to new limits.

First and foremost will be a training plan that gets me prepared for the BC 7 day mountain bike stage race in July of 2010. Jim and I are signed up as a two man team and neither one of us wants to let the other down. My training will be based around power, which I am finally fully set up with (5 power taps; 2 mountain bike, 2 road and 1 for the Surly Pug along with a Garmin 705 to keep track of everything). Additionally this is the winter that I have to get to a true race weight. I am not sure if 180 pounds is in my future, but it is safe to say that my current weight of 220 lbs isn’t going to get it done on the bike in 2010.

Off to Indianapolis for a week with the in-laws. Taking the road bike and the fully to get a taste of the local action. From what I hear and read it should be some pretty fun stuff. Thanks for checking in.

Basement time

Haven't been on the trainer since March and it wasn't a huge surprise that it still sucks.
At least Timber stuck with me for the ride.

Pug Power

Sweet rear wheel for the Pug.

Take a closer look. Even sweeter with the MTB 2.4 Power Tap hub. This might be a one of a kind. Not in a hurry for winter, but certainly curious on the power readings when Jim, Craig and I rip up some snowmobile trials with the 3 pugs.

Now I just need to figure out the video quality and we'll be all set for some sweet footage.

You probably do not have the Flash Player installed for your browser or the video files are misplaced on the server!

2 x 40 minute tempo

Got out tonight on the MTB for some sweet tempo riding. Completed 2 intervals at 40 minutes each with an average power of 310 watts for each. Dan joined in with his road bike, which helped pass the time. It looks like the week will come in around 14 hours with plenty of Tempo work. Next week is a recovery week, which closes with a 20 minute power test on Sat. Hope everyone has been enjoying the daylight as much as possible. It was pitch black on the trail tonight at 8:30.

For those that haven't been exposed

Whack Job (part 1)

After missing a much needed Sat and SunDAY training ride, I somehow talked myself into going on a solo night ride Sunday evening. It was around 7:30 p.m. and the Moab light was charged, the jersey was filled with pop tarts, Roctane Goo packs and 100 oz of CytoMax and I was off. I really wanted to get my 4 x 20 tempo drills in so I headed West on the Red Cedar Trail and got to work. It was light out for the first two, but started getting dark fast. Right as I finished the second one, I was going over the river on the big steel bridge, which was a nice place for some recovery. That's when the siting took place. 10-15 college gals and guys, playing Frisbee in the water --NAKED--. Right when you think you've seen it all. I collected my thoughts and finished the reaming drills only to find myself 1.5 hours from home. When it was all said and done, the mtb depreciated by 70 miles and 4 hours. The whole world changes once the sun goes down.

Odd man out

The front tire on the road bike needs to be replaced so the 29er HT MTB was called upon for the Wed group ride. Stayed with the lead group for the first 16 miles, but the legs started feel the effects of last night's 2 hour ride and I got gapped and there was no way of bridging back up. A couple of the guys fell back to help out and I managed to hang on to the 33 mile marker. Then the pace line was formed and I completely fell apart. Rode solo for a few miles when Jim came past, offered a wheel and dropped me going 20mph. Suffered the rest of the way in and called it a night. All in all it was an great workout. Check out the Garmin file here.

Ore 2 Shore

The extended weekend couldn't have turned out any better. Jim and I packed up the truck Thursday night and headed up to Michigan for our 4th running of the Ore 2 Shore. We have it better than most as we get to stay with Jim's parent's on the water just 15 minutes from the start of the race. Mid Friday morning we headed out to pre-ride the start of the 28 mile and 48 mile courses. I have been training hard and got a little nervous when the legs didn't respond on the initial hills, so we called it good at about an hour and headed back to camp. Jim's mom put on the usual killer pasta feed for us Friday night (thanks!!!) and it was off to bed before 9 pm. Peanut Butter Bagel and a bowl of granola cereal at 6:00 a.m. and we were ready for some racing. I didn't apply for a preferred start so I had to stage my bike and forgo the warm up, which left me sitting about 100 bikes back. The gun was fired and we were ripping down the 2.5 mile paved roll out. Anything can happen with a pack of 866 mountain bikes going 30mph down the road, so I lowered my head and sprinted to 3-5 wheel to avoid any potential crashes. Took the turn into the woods a little wide and slightly on the safe side sitting 10. Mixed it up with a solid group of 5 and we chased until the last aid station. My strongest opponent reached for a water hand-up in the sand and I attacked. The gap was set and they kept me honest chasing hard on every section. I stayed on the gas and was able to catch the number 9 guy with a mile or so to go. I sat on his wheel as he slowed to conserve energy and we were set for a full on sprint finish. The legs felt awesome so I made the first move. You could here the XOs' slamming down to the smallest gear as we reached 30 mph. I had just enough in the tank to finish a strong 9th overall and 2nd in my age group. It was a lot of fun and I was able to achieve a year-long goal. Check out the Garmin file here. Congrats to Jim for another successful run at the Hard Rock (he did way better than he will ever let on)

My very own little rock man!

God's country

Easy street

This is one of my favorite recovery rides even though there is a little more climbing than desired. It is close enough to town, but very little traffic, nice pavement and the best scenery in the county. The best part of recovery riding is you actually get to enjoy the sights without going cross-eyed. Starting to dial it back a little in anticipation for the Ore 2 Shore (congrats to Jim C for being awarded a preferred start - he had a really solid race last year and deserves the acknowledgement)

Chad Solva sighting

Got one last sandy / gravel training day in prior to the Ore 2 Shore. Met up with Chad Solva and headed out to Butler Lanes for 35 miles of epic single track, double track and NO track. The sand was relentless in its' pursuit of sucking every last ounce of energy out of our legs. All in all it turned out to be a great workout and a bunch of fun riding with Chad.

You know the terrain is tough when the average speed is 12.7 mph and your norm power is 267 watts.

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.

Trail day, the video

The quality isn't the best but you can get somewhat of an idea of the new section with the berms and the new rock garden. I was walking with the regular digital camera on the video setting, so it is a little shaky.

Trail Day

Had a great day trail building with the gang at Lowe's Creek. We got an unbelievable amount of work done. The new section has 5 berms and flows nicely into the new rock garden. Comp and Elite will run the new section for the race.

No air bags needed

Came across this car at the store after my ride tonight. It reminded me of one of those puzzles where you search for obscure objects in a chaotic picture. Can you find........

Game over

Got dropped on tonight's group ride. End of story.

odd man out

Headed down to Sheboygan for the father's day weekend. Hooked up with the breakfast group for an early Sat morning ride. I only had room for one bike in the truck so the hard tail 29er got packed. put a few extra psi in the tires and let knobbies roll with the roadies. The ride was fun and I was able to stay with the group for the entire 40+ miles. It was nice to be back home on the old country roads (Dano, where were you today?)


Sunday was going to be a few hours in the woods checking out the local trails, but I opted for cross training with a chainsaw. Something to be said for those that actually work for a living. My entire body was cashed by the end of the day.

Dad's plan was to cut a little and then pull the branch over and away from the house with the tractor. I had my doubts and when it went I couldn't control my reaction. It was pretty funny after the fact.

Hope everyone had as nice of father's day as I did. Thanks for the good chow mom.

Blood, Sweat and Rocks

80 degrees and humid made for an interesting night in the woods with Craig, Jim and Mike. I was pretty shelled after a big Tuesday and Wed, but it was worth the pain to check out the gang negotiating some tricky rocks.

Jim rolling the 29er

Here I come, but it doesn't appear I'll make this one clean. 29er's are nice, but certainly not magical.


Craig putting the finishing touches on the rocky climb. Pictures don't do the technicality of the garden justice.


Like area 51, this location is temporally top secret

Mike's war paint!

a little rain never killed anyone

Got out on Tuesday with Jim for 2.5 hours in some warm June rain showers. Started off in Lowes Creek, but by the second lap it got pretty nasty so we headed out to the pavement. At least the bike got cleaned.

I bet Jim $1.00 that I could make the climb. 5 feet into it, my back tire sunk 4" in to the mud and I took a mud bath. Somehow Jim found the line and the strength to get to the top while laughing the whole way. Just my luck.

Bike bath

I don't know what it is, but I love riding in anything but normal conditions.

Snapshot of my legs after the Wed group ride! Oh, I guess these are Lance's. Mr. Olympia would be proud.

super secret training grounds

Rewind to the Big Ring Classic. Race started with a little bad luck when I bobbled a pedal and found myself in dead last place. Knowing there was 27 miles of racing, I paced myself and used the three laps to pass as many riders as possible. Looking back I should have buried myself and fought for a better position going into the woods. Regardless, I moved up 20 spots over Rhinelander and 40 spots over Iola. Finished mid pack about 10 back from where I am capable of finishing, but happy non-the-less.

Monday after the Race TJ had me down for 3 hours of endurance overload followed by another 8 hours throughout the rest of the week. 13 hours in all.

Sunday I met up with Jim and did our own Eau Claire version of the La Ruta de los Conquistadores.....although a bit shorter at 3 hours.

The ride started out with 5 miles of RR ties. The full suspension 29er did the job.

A car beat Jim to the kill. He has the worse fear of snakes of anyone I have ever met. I paid the price the rest of the ride as he was amped up on adrenaline and whatever else propels his phobia. He once dropped one of his buddies for teasing him with a snake. I knew better.

Hike a bikes. Sometime trails, sometime not. Can't beat the scenery.

Sand climbs are always good training for the Ore 2 Shore! I think knowing there is pavement 10 feet to the left makes it just a little harder.

All and all it was a fun day on the secret trails, but I bonked really early on and had to rely on Jim's towing service to get back to the house. We made a stop at a gas station and I almost climbed all the way in a pizza fridge to cool down.