Ragnarok

My initial reaction that my postcard was not drawn from the bag was pretty ugly. I got over it and decided the best thing to do would be to do what I could to help support the race. Chris and I got to talking and made a tentative plan to head over there on bikes, get some solid miles in, have some fun and also support the race.

Three of us left Rochester at 5:30 Friday afternoon on what turned out to be an awesome ride. I was pleased to see that all my Almanzo kit had shown up earlier in the day- very happy with the fit/finish of this years stuff and absolutely love the light jacket. Weather was as good as it gets (even a slight tail wind) and the pace seemed to work for all of us. We started down highway 63, but with each subsequent turn we got further and further into the beautiful back road county and away from heavy traffic. 50 miles and 2.5 hrs later we rolled into Red Wing and headed straight to Fiesta Mexicana for some refueling, then caribou and finally a bit of a tour of downtown. Then the group retired to my parent's place to watch Leno and Craig Ferguson with a bottle of Darkness. It was as good a ride as I've ever been on.

About four hours later my alarm was going off and it was time to head down to Bev's for a breakfast of Biscuits and Gravy or Chorizo with eggs and potatos. The chorizo would stay with me for at least the next 4 hrs, but I did my best not to let it hold me back (my failing rear wheel would do enough of that). We were able to watch the start of the race, follow the racers over Lehrbach "pass" and then we took off for some Hills Dr., some rogue offroading in Frontenac State Park, town line sprints to both signs in Lake City and then a huge elevation gain back to the top of the bluff to the location from which we would set up shop to watch the race.

Photos (thanks Jony- I forgot my camera)-

We spent about 7 hours there beside the road cheering people on and offering our style of support- "beer, wine, coke, salami, brie, water, cigarettes"???. I hope we made some of the racer's days a little bit easier. I have a feeling we had the most fun of anyone involved. Maybe even more fun than if I'd been able to race.

I made it home around 8 pm with hopes of still getting out for the Revengeance ride to Millville Sunday am. I knew I'd have to rebuild my bike in order to do so. By the end of the ride Saturday I felt like I was dragging a sled and the rim was wobbling at least 2" from center. I unbolted the axle, pulled the wheel out of the dropouts and the guts of the hub slid right out to the drive side. I was still pretty buzzed. I took about a 10 second look at it and put it out of sight and out of mind. I did wind up getting the bike converted over to regular gears (attack gripshift with xtr/ultegra derailleurs similar to my 29er) but missed the group ride anyways, I was just too tired. I'm pretty scared to look into the situation with the nexus hub at this point- but would love to be able to use it for next winter as well.

Got in my first dirt singletrack ride of the year today! Eastwood is in surprisingly great shape. Thinking maybe I'll try to make it to Decorah on Sunday (racing Durand Sunday).

cars and house

Little bit different post here!

I've been getting my rides in over the last week, but the focus has definitely been on house and car stuff. I figured I'd share what I've been up to.

We decided that my old Tahoe was just that. It was time to replace it with something nicer and more likely to be reliable for the longterm. We also wanted a little bit better gas mileage. I wound up purchasing a Toyota Sequoia limited. Went with one on the cheaper end of what they sell for used and right away had to put a little bit of money into making it nice. Added 20" Toyota chrome wheels with summer tires (I'll paint the stock rims for winter use). The factory cd player was broken so added a Pioneer avh-2300dvd source unit which gives me a little more control equalizer wise and allows dvd/ipod/pandora etc. to play and has a 5.8" touch screen. I will be adding a small subwoofer and installing a back-up camera sometime in the next few months to finish that up. It also had a "tick" from a cracked exhaust manifold so we added JBA Cat4ward headers. Obviously the headers also meant that the rest of the exhaust system had to be replaced... so rounded that out with a stainless magnaflow muffler that I had laying around and dual pipes- Can't do that without a new high-flow air filer, so did that too. It's actually still real quiet, but you can defitely feel the power improvement. Feels the same as if you cut 300 or 400 lbs of weight from the vehicle. Those changes should also increase the mpg a bit due to increased efficiency.

Here is a picture-

If you are interested in the Tahoe I'm looking for offers over $3000. It has 215k miles and drives very well. Likely has hundreds of thousands of miles left in it, these things last forever.

Continuing on the car things- I have more or less been neglecting my "fun" car and just letting it sit in the garage. The C43 needed a new battery and a couple other small things done in order to be driveable. Sadly, the front brake rotors alone are $500 a piece... small things can add up fast on that thing! Anyways, I figured if I was going to "hold" it and have it take space in the garage I may as well use it. Changed the oil, battery, drained the gas etc. and got her running. Wow is it ever fun to drive too! Got to thinking a bit and decided I may as well combine my two favorite hobbies. Luckily I was able to find this stock Mercedes roof rack and Bicycle Sports helped to round it out with matching wheel holders and wind fairing. For those who haven't seen it before (I haven't mentioned it much in this space) this car is a 1999 C43 AMG. I've added a custom side-mount Eaton mp90 supercharger, air-water intercooler system, tons of gauges, some custom tuning software that lets me do some stuff with it via laptop and a ton of nice stereo equipment. It makes somewhere between 400-420hp and a bit more tq. Doesn't have a lot of traction, but will still do 0-100 in about 10 seconds. Next step is to isntall the massive 14" drilled rotors that showed up last week- before then I had better stay away from the 175 mph gearing limited top speed.

Picture-

We are working on making our house nice too. Plan is for laminate flooring upstairs and new carpet down below. While we are making those changes we will also throw new paint on many of the walls, clean/redo/seal the grout on our ceramic tile, redo the floor in one of our bathrooms. Thankfully, my parent's came down yesterday and helped. We were able to tear out the upstairs carpet, install new dog control gates, clean the upstairs grout, tear down the old dog enclosure that we don't use, etc. etc., and of course make a whole bunch of plans for more things. Now I just need to figure out how to get all the junk out of my garage so the C43 can go back in.

Along with the house work I've also been trying to simplify my life and get rid of some extra posessions (this is not mean to be ironic with respect to the "extra" car as mentioned above). I've sold my large air compressor, car dollies, lawnmower, extra bike racks etc. on craigslist and still have many other items awaiting a buyer.

Perhaps you are in need of a 10 year old wakeboard, some air tools, 26" rim brake wheels, a flat bar Kona Jake the Snake or a 1988 Shasta Travel Trailer?

seriously, Jake the Snake is set up 2x9 and I'd sell for less than $400... you know you want it!

You can add this sweet trailer for another $3500, it's perfect for a 4 man team at a 24 hr race, and it weighs just 4500 lbs.

Hope you had a good weekend

I Quit

On Saturday I quit.

I left the group and became "mr. 83" (out of 106), "mr. 9000 ft" (out of 1000), "mr. laying on the couch watching basketball" (rather than eating yesterdays pizza at Casey's). On my way back to Shockey's house, riding alone, I contemplated the finances of quitting cycling. I figured the value of each of my bikes, the savings on travel, what it would feel like to spend my days drinking and eating. I thought about Laura and the dogs, all the time I don't spend with them in order to race. I considered the effects of riding on my health; is endurance riding good or bad in that respect? I decided it was probably killing me slowly.

I was ready to pack up and go home and be done with it all. I showered for what felt like an hour, turning my thoughts over and over in my head. What had happened to me the last two weeks? I knew that my problems were partly due to a bad bike setup and a bad decision to leave my Jandd frame bag at home and to wear a backpack. My back was cramping and tight to the point of forcing me to quit. Regardless I felt so bad that I didn't think it could all be blamed on my bike, however convenient that might be.

Since that road race I had won in Hills I had taken a rest week then raced on Saturday. A race that went so poorly that I actually got off my bike during the first lap and started walking to my car. I'd known that there was something wrong with THAT (even though I had come back to get 3rd in the 4/5s that day) and taken ANOTHER rest week. Now here I was again, quitting. Was this just not fun anymore? Was I burnt out? Was I sick? What the fuck was going on?

I knew I couldn't just leave- my friends would be back soon and I'd look like a fool. I watched basketball.

We went to The Oaks for dinner and drinks. There was some sort of an "Upper Iowa NASCAR Racing Banquet" going on. We had a great time, too good of a time considering the 65 mile ride planned for Sunday morning. I didn't care, I was still looking for an excuse to skip it. We made it back to Shockey's much too late.

In the morning we got breakfast and then suited up for another day of riding. No backpack, no cx bike today. I rode the commuter with everything I needed in pockets.

Everything was different. The weather was beautiful, I was riding with friends, I was comfortable. I became stronger with each mile. By the end I felt almost normal. I was able to push, felt ready for the future.


I think I learned something about the importance of bike setup- but maybe it was more about being humble. I had taken for granted that I could ride the, very difficult, 106 mile route without "trying". I should have had my frame bag, I should have adjusted the fit of the bike after cyclocross season for more comfort, I should have changed to a wider range cassette for the almost constant climbs. I shouldn't have ridden 50 miles the afternoon before. I shouldn't have slept so little during the week. I'd set myself up to fail because I thought I was too strong to fail. Lesson learned. Looking back now I realize I'd likely just caught a bit of a cold, had a bad weekend last week and then made a bunch of mistakes leading into this century.

I also learned something about friends- Saturday night and the Sunday ride redeemed everything. Thank you! By Sunday night I was looking to ride more- went for a cruiser ride through the city as the sun set. Rode my bike to work today, likely hitting the road for a long ride Wednesday morning.





In less emotional news-

They upgraded me to Cat 4, so I'll be able to compete as a 4 at the Durand and Sogn Valley road races.


As a reward for reading this far (I know I wouldn't have)- I'm going to let you know that the picture that made my blog pg13 has now been put back up... scroll down if you missed it before. I take no blame if you are disappointed, you probably will be as it's not that great nor all that offensive.

First road race experience and thoughts- I'm a cat 5 roadie

I was in a couple races here and have no pictures- someone took at least 30 pictures of my during the races, if I find those pictures I'll add them later.




The last two weekends I raced in the first two legs of the Iowa Spring Classic series. These were my first experience with road racing and I was nervous going in. I knew I'd have new competition, new rules, new situations etc. and experienced the fear of the unknown. That fear was also mixed with excitement. I've always been interested in road racing, it just didn't initially seem as inviting/fun to get into as mountain biking. Regardless, now is the time to start.

About the Iowa Spring Classic races

From their own Facebook-

"Grassroots racing, $15 entry fee, no late fee, on-site registration! Very simple and no limbo mumbo jumbo."

more-

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=270563394023



These races lived up to my expectations and then some. $15 for a sanctioned race (more on the importance or lack thereof of this later) with volunteers at all corners, good people, nice prizes and some cash payouts to almost all classes seems awful fair! It's obvious that the organizers, and all the riders too, are out there because they love cycling. Both courses were enjoyable and had unique challenges/conditions which had the potential for making good racing.

Race 1 (Colfax)-

Absolutely no clue what to expect. Lots of nerves. Figured I might get crushed, felt pressure because a lot of my friends (who have never been in a road race) sneer about the "cat 5" roadie and how slow they are. Didn't really want to have to explain they weren't all that slow. Also thought to myself that whether they like it or not THEY too are cat 5 roadies until they make themselves something else through racing. I've experienced enough in athletics to know that it's never easy to win and sometimes even harder to win when you are expected to do so. I also knew that knowing nothing about my competition wouldn't help. Mostly I just wanted to get this "first" over with, learn something and be able to better prepare myself for later races.

Pulled the Viner CX bike out of the car and decided on the Real Design wheels with the 32c IRD tires. Had the Zipps with but in a strange way my nerves made me want to leave them in the car. I figured I'd rather not get my ass kicked by a bunch of 4s and 5s while riding on $$$ wheels. That shows my state of mind basically right before the race. Pretty fucked up huh? It isn't so much that the wheels would actually be faster or slower (both are pretty aero and the RD wheels are lighter) it was just that I was thinking like a pansy.

During my warm up I realized the cassette was skipping and that I'd gotten two identical cassettes mixed up (one lightly used and one trashed). I would have to switch to the Zipp at least in the rear.

Race started and pace was easy. Stuck in third or fourth wheel, idling, for the first 2 or 3 miles. First hill came and I got antsy. Eight or ten solid pedal strokes and I was off. It was the nerves that made me do it and as the hill unfolded under me I started to rethink. There were 2 or 3 turns as we climbed up and up. I wasn't working real hard, but I was vaguely aware that only one other rider was really right with me. I was thinking that this was EXACTLY what everyone had warned me not to do in my first race. I'd spent a couple hours the night before tossing and turning then researching online. All the articles and forum posts all agreed and they all basically said "dont' do what you're doing right now".

The one rider beside me started to pull away a bit as we crested the top of the hill. I looked back and realized the field was strung out pretty good, but there were 4 or 5 guys near behind me. I let the lead rider go, I would head the advice of many and ride in the group.

The group was slow. I rode the next lap with the group, resting. While climbing the same large hill I realized I had made a mistake by falling back to the group. If I wanted to win I'd have to give chase alone. I rode the rest of the race solo and wound up a few minutes behind that lone rider and at least 3 or 4 minutes clear of third place within the Cat 4/5 field. I also caught the 1/2/3 race at the end of my 3rd lap and finished a few minutes in front of them (of course they were only on lap 3 of 6 when I caught them).

I'd lost to only one rider (who was a cat 4 fwiw) and was feeling pretty good. However, as I packed up and headed home I started to feel worse and worse about the experience. There was a pit in my stomache. I'd ridden like a wimp. Was the guy who beat me that much stronger than I, or did I lose the race by listening to the voices in my head instead of just riding?

Race 2 (Hills)-

This route wasn't all gravel so I brought my Look 585 as well as the Vigor Cross. There were quite a few new faces this weekend and a larger field, but guessed that the same rider from last weekend would be strong once again. At Colfax he had ridden a regular road bike and I figured that even if it were slower overall I'd have a better chance of beating him if our bikes had similar strengths and weaknesses. I didn't want to let him get away somewhere on pavement just because of his bike. I wanted to beat him pretty bad for beating me the week before. Probably more so because I was angry about beating myself the week before... No nerves this week. Legs felt good too, despite the long ride Thursday and the cumulative hours piling up since my last rest week (prior to CIRREM).

Start was a long downhill into the wind, a turn with a crosswind and two rollers then a turn directly into the wind with two sharp rollers. I went all out up the two sharp rollers. It was just the two of us from there on out. We were out of site of the field quickly and working our way through the masters guys and a few of the people who had been dropped from the lead in the 1/2/3 race. We worked together well for the first two laps. It was somewhat new to work with someone in a situation where I really wanted to beat them too (usually in 'gravel grinder' races, though the goal is the same, they are so long that I don't spend much time worrying about how to beat those around me). I noticed he was weak in the crosswind and on the one loose patch of gravel. I started planning how I could get away. Then I started questioning IF I could get away. Then planning how to get away again- I was willing to take a risk. Was a tenth of a second from putting the hammer down for most of the last lap. Kept myself from really doing so until a downhill with a cross wind with about a mile left. Hit it hard and it worked. 100-150 yard gap by the top of the next hill! He either hadn't expected an attack there or just wan't comfortable enough with the wind/speed. I made it to the finish with my gap.

After my cool-down ride I got to watch the finish of the 1/2/3 race. A few of my new friends from the lead pack at CIRREM were right in there! It was fun to watch. I'd hoped to learn something, but what I saw looked just like any town line sprint back home with velo-rochester or Trevor. I wished I would have been a part of it, or had the chance to be dropped somewhere out on the road by those guys.


Thoughts-

In theory I need 10 starts to move up to being a "4". I would then need to earn a bunch of points or else meet another minimum start requirement. I've got 4 road races on my schedule this year with the possiblity of 6, maybe 7 if I forgo rest weeks I have planned in May and August.

I'm hoping that the larger races on my schedule- Durand and Sogn Valley are more competitive in the 4/5 race. I know they are still quite short distance wise. Fast or not, I know I'm ready for "full" length road races. In fact, I'd probably be better in a cat 1 length race than in some mini-sprint. It certainly makes no sense that I should be doing road races that are shorter time wise than my XC mountain bike races.

I had a great time at these races, but if road racing is ever going to be something I do more than just before the big gravel races and mountain bike races start It's going to have to be longer races with more competitive riders. It's pretty much the suck that theoretically it would be something like 3 years before I'd even be a Cat 3 unless I'm willing to forgo something else in my schedule. Seems like someone at USA Cycling should rethink these rules.

In the meantime I intend to train some more and then race at Durand. I hope there are a bunch of people there in the 4/5 race who give me trouble, kick my ass, push me around. I need to get my ass kicked. If things go halfway decent at them I'll ask my local rep if I can upgrade then.

thoughts II-

Some who read this will think I've lost touch and I'm in dangerous water here... Talking about categories and aero wheels and all sorts of non-necessary bullshit. I say it's all two sides of the same coin. I love it all. The steel single speed mountain bike crowd isn't any cooler from an outside perspective than the roadies on carbon bikes. It's all two sides of the same coin. I'm caught up in this right now because I want to experience it all. I will have to work my way up some (and get faster too) in order to really experience what road racing is about. I love riding my bike and love competition. Until I'm far better than I am at any discipline currently I will push toward getting better equally at any and all discipline that looks like it might be fun. Why the hell not? You've missed the point if you are somehow against road racing yet consider yourself a cyclist, you know who you are...

For now- big ride with Meiser, Cody larson and who knows who else (read- I'm going to be the anchor, in the negative sense!) this weekend. Follow that with a rest week on the way into the STD ride with Shockey and then a bit of a break until Durand. Can't wait for the season to get going!

My first road group ride

An early photo of my riding with my Dad's bike


It was Spring of 2008 that I purchased a 2003 S-Works E5 road bike off of the classifieds on a twin cities car forum. Prior to that the only road bike I'd ever ridden was my Dad's 1960s Legnano- interestingly although not relevent to me at the time equipped with nuovo record and some of the first ever Phil Wood hubs. I rode it a few times that summer, never venturing further than 20 or 30 miles. August of 2008 a few co-workers and I planned a trip to do some mountain biking, camping and hiking. I pulled the trigger on a new mountain bike at that time- my 1996 Marin was stock, fit me poorly due to a 130mm stem, and sort of falling apart at that point in time. Not long after that trip I decided I wanted to become a "cyclist" for lack of better things to do here in Rochester. Mountain biking seemed the most fun and accessable option. I participated in the Halloween race at Hillside and then at the Cold Bear Series races at Hillside over the winter. I was slow! I had a great time and I was hooked. I kept riding all winter, even indoors on a trainer and on the exercise bike at the gym. I read a few books about how to train and how to eat, but didn't take any related action.

The first weekend in March of 2009 (almost exactly 2 years ago as I write this) rolled around and I decided to join a local road group ride. As we were leaving town my chain broke. I was able to fix it, and cover myself in grease, but that ride was done for me. I was disappointed, but motivated to get my road bike back going ASAP. I figured there would be no substitute to riding it when it came to preparing for the upcoming season of races. I tracked down some tools, my recently purchased Big Blue Park Tools book and a new cassette/chain. While I was at the bike shop I heard there was another group ride the next morning as well. I'd be there!

Of course the Saturday group ride had been a huge group of riders with varying abilities. As a RASC ride it had a no drop policy and a group for almost any pace. Little did I know that the Sunday ride was not quite the same thing...

Looking back on it now I should have seen it coming. We left from Dunn Bros. South and down circle drive to 8 then up the hill. The pace felt insanely high, we were climbing at 15 or 16 mph and my lungs were screaming. Keep in mind that I'd never even been in a paceline so I also had a bit of learning to do there, all while climbing out of town faster than I'd ever gone. I hung on. I rotated through and followed the lead of the other rides. I had no clue where we were, where we were going or when we'd be back to town. I was working so hard I couldn't speak, my motor skills were so low due to the exertion that I couldn't even get my water bottle from it's cage. I couldn't believe how fast the group descended. After ~35 miles I just couldn't keep up with the group on a small hill. Dan Gaz came back for me and helped me catch back on. It happened again on the next hill. I thought about quitting the ride and finding my own way in. Two more excruciating climbs, embarassment!, but now I could see the water towers and knew I was close. I felt real fucking alive spinning back into the Dunn Bros parking lot (I'm pg13 now remember?). I can't imagine what the other riders thought, I think they let me ride with them because I was willing to try. I certainly had no business there. It must have taken me an hour to pick my way the 5 or 6 miles back to my house.

I didn't ride with that same group again for another year, but I sure as hell kept riding.

CIRREM metric gravel grinder ride report and review

CIRREM was even better than expected!

All the other Rochesterites backed out so I wound up taking the Mini Cooper and leaving fairly late in the night Friday. Stopped when I got tired and filled up on Applebee's then made a bed in the back of the car. Turns out it is possible for a 5'11" tall human to stretch out in a Mini Cooper if they do things just right! I'm not going to give away any secrets here though...

Woke up around 8 on Saturday and had a breakfast of XXX Vitamin water and Chia "fresca". I eyed the wonderful spread set up at the Cumming Tap, but knew eating any of it would come back to haunt me.


CIRREM EXPERIENCE-


Thanks Jed and Kent for putting this thing together. The Cumming tap is a perfect start/finish (other than the spring across the only "busy" road the riders see all day), and all the details that go into the race are excellent. Providing food before the race, at the checkpoint and after the race is awesome. It's also convenient to finish somewhere with excellent beer on tap. The course is great. Lots of rolling hills on secluded gravel roads. It's very similar in feel to the area between Spring Valley and Decorah which I consider some of the best gravel riding I've experienced.

The thing that really sets this race apart though is the riders. 101 people showed up this year despite the "crappy" weather (snow and colder than expected isn't ideal). Everyone was friendly. Not too many cycling events I've been to where you can go in only knowing a couple people and leave with a new nickname and a couple handfulls worth of new friends... especially not when you're the jerk who fell and took out a bunch of innocent bystanders. This is what will keep me coming back to race/ride in Iowa.

Wish I had some pictures of all the awesome prizes and giveaways or of the after party in general, great stuff!




RACE REPORT-

The temperature was colder than expected overnight- hovering around 14. The weather report had called for 18 and a high later in the day around 28 or 30. I had 700x42 Specialized Borough CX Pros on my Viner- figuring that the biggest potential issue would be sloppy/wet gravel and wanting to float on top rather than sink. At the last minute before leaving home I'd thrown in my IRD Crossfires just in case it seemed that traction would be more important than glide. For some reason I didn't even consider swapping them out, even after I noticed it was a bit slick on the road in front of the Cumming Tap. In retrospect I have no idea what I was thinking, but I think I was thinking that I wanted the faster roll of the semi-slicks (this would eventually be my undoing). I'm sure if the race had been on pavement the combination of my semi-slick tires and "aero" wheels would have given me an almost unfair advantage. The race wasn't on pavement, it was on gravel roads with 3-5" of snow over them and then somewhere between 3 and 10 sets of car tracks through that.

The race started and I was happily comfortable with the pace up front. Felt good too! It wasn't long ago that I would have been struggling just to keep up at the beginning of a race like this. I noticed it slicker than I'd expected and began to spend a lot of time at the front to minimize the chance of someone falling in front of me and maximize my visibility of the good lines. My sunglasses became covered with freezing rain and I could hardly see anything- but my bike felt good. Eventually I had to pull the Sunglasses off for better visibility (wow had I ever left them on too long- I could see great after removing them).

There were a few mini-attacks etc., but nothing major. Then at mile 26 or so we came to a long downhill. I was out on the far left of the road, noticed there was a car coming and almost immediately went into a 2 wheel drift back across the road to the right. I was off the brakes the whole time, but had caught a bit of a ridge from where a few cars had driven and once both wheels weren't tracking I knew I was in trouble. After crossin the road in slow motion, I laid it down and 4 or 5 other bikes followed me. I felt terrible about taking people out. Luckily no one was seriously hurt, although I've been taking a lot of Advil and ice ever since.

The group waited for us all to catch back on at the bottom of the hill, thanks! However, when I got to the next uphill I realized that I had knocked my shifting enough out of wack that I would have to get off again and mess around. By the time I got going again I was surely 3-4 minutes back.

It was a long road back to the front (now a group of 8-10?) but I eventually got there. Three or four miles later someone told me that the next climb was long and winding. At that point I felt pretty shaky going downhill and I knew I had to make the best of the uphills. I put in a solid, albeit careful due to the 18 miles left, effort and there were only 4 of us in sight at the top. We crested the next uphill with just three. Then we started hitting some longer downhills with lots of snow on them and one guy flew by me on the way down then the whole group pulled away from my scared ass more and more on each subsequent hill.

I tried to pull them back in after it got flatter, but I'd burned too many matches catching up the last time to chase down a group again. I was happy to notice that I didn't have any back pain despite spending a lot of time in the drops. Eventually I got a bit lost, but finished under 4 hrs and feeling happy overall. Might have been different if I'd swapped tires (or just not fallen and shaken my confidence). Overall though, I am very happy to have rode as strongly as I did at this point in the year.

Congratulations to all that finished- particularly Guitar Ted... he stuck it out despite having frozen feet with a lot of mileage left to go. As always it's the guys who are out there the longest who are the most impressive. I know I didn't feel like riding any longer than I did!

Next up is the Iowa Spring Classic Race this Saturday.

what not to ride when racing on snow

what you may regret leaving in your car while racing on snow

learning to skate ski at wolverine village first ever cross country, birkie training

I'm sorry, this is going to be a bunch of words with no pictures once again...

Just finished the first part of my "year" or "season" this year. This year I started riding December 1st of last year, if you know what I mean. I've mostly just been commuting. In fact, I've only missed a couple days. No empirical evidence or anything like that, but I like the idea of more shorter rides all the time rather than 2 or 3 long ones per week. Makes some sense that the long rides are more likely to make me sick and no more beneficial. I may have taken that idea a bit to the extreme, but I've been keeping it light and having fun.

Next up I'm going to increase the hours a bit while the temperature rises. It's conveniently about 10 more weeks to the beginning of May (half way there). Come May I plan to be starting to feel pretty organized. May and June are what it's all about for me right now. My schedule is shaping up to look very very similar to last year, something I said before I wouldn't do... but when I said that I was only thinking about my performance. I had a great time last year and this is all about THAT, so why not do it all again. Hopefully do it all a bit better too. Also, I'm not stupid and I've plans to tweak a few things in order to better prepare myself for the challenges of the wide range/mix of races I want to do. The big change from last year will be that I'll be doing some road racing over the next 10 weeks. Yes, I said road racing. I bought the bike, paid my $30 for my license, 4 races on the my schedule, start in two weeks, wish me luck!

picture stolen from google- is of the wolverine xc trails, so almost legit









I made it up to the wonderful Wolverine Village again this weekend (wolverinevillage.com if you're interested). I'd called Bob a couple of weeks ago about my bike touring trip this June, making sure I could mail myself some stuff so I could resupply at his lodge. While on the phone he convinced me that I should come up and learn to skate ski. I figured it might be fun and the chance to get world class instruction, lodging, terrain and conditions just 5 hrs from home doesn't come along all that often. For what it's worth, my Dad used to be Bob's Alpine coach and Bob still refers to him as coach even 30+ years later. Seems an odd thing to say, but it's nothing new either- Dad's got an almost cult-like following amongst his athletes. Anyways, after a short career as a "pro" skier Bob switched almost solely to cross country and had some very very good results as an athlete and as a coach. It was going to be an honor to learn from him. For good measure I also convinced Dad to come up, hit Indianhead with me in the mornings and do whatever else (we'd end up going on a long night hike with a messed up map, never finding our destination... saving some snowboarders from a huge towing bill with our ingenuity after they tried to drive their civic in 2' of snow, and learning about turn of the century Lake Superior Gillnet Tugs after seeing on in the Black River Harbor).

One time in 7th grade I'd gone classical xc skiing. This was my first time skate skiing. Bob showed me how to get into the bindings, told me he wouldn't watch me until "later", and took off to find good snow. We made about 40 laps of the same 100 yard section. Each time he would give me something to think about/watch about his technique. Always he would go in the front and not watch me, in order to let me find my own feeling without extra pressure. After that first 45 minutes we went up and down a 150 yard hill about ten times. At that point he watched me ski about 3 steps and told me I needed to better synchronize poles and skis (I could have told him that...). The key would be to plan the poles as I set my ski down to glide. We worked on that for the remainder of 2 hrs.

Day two immediately felt a lot better- conditions were incredible (groomed, soft, fast) and I was right away able to get good balanced glides and better coordination with my arms. I think I surprised him with my progress. We ended up skiing all the Wolverine Village trails after another focused 30 minutes of practice. Throughout the whole trail system he always had something for me to focus on. I think I got better every 5 minutes. It was pretty exhilarating... until we got about 3 km from the lodge and my arms just died (I actually can't lift them over my head as I write this).

Bob is learning Spanish. This means that he gave most of my lesson in both Spanish and English, first with the Spanish for him? then a translation for me. Kept me on my toes. Funny part is that it actually led to him falling. I just finished the book "Born to Run" and a researcher referenced in there found a huge link between running/balance and language learning (the roots of language in our evolutionary history). When Bob couldn't think of the right word in Spanish and fell over it pretty much confirmed that link for me, no more research necessary.

After the first day Bob had decided I didn't look "right" with my purple flannel on, so he gave me a really nice wolverine village jacket and hat to wear. Also, the equipment I had borrowed was all real good, top of the line, Atomic stuff. I'd joked with my Dad about how funny I would look with all the gear and no clue what I was doing... but we'd also both agreed that having none of the gear and not knowing what I was doing would have been just as bad... I didn't really care either way. About half way through the main loop we hit the bottom of a long uphill and paused for a bit of instruction before continuing on. Right as the trail really kicked up some guy caught up to us in full xc "kit". I immediately moved over to let him pass, but he didn't want to. 300 feet? of climbing later Bob stopped at the top to give some more instruction and the "racer guy" stopped to talk to us. He asked if we'd raced the day before... Bob said "no, we were taking it easy, just getting ready for next week (meaning birkie)". He asked me about my skis, and after a 10 second pause while I tried to figure out how to explain the situation, Bob said, "he loves them". He probably should have explained it was my 2nd day ever on xc skis and taken some glory for being a decent coach... but this was a lot funnier if you ask me.

I'm thinking about heading back up in three weeks for more... whether or not that works out I'll be up a few times earlier in the year next year and hopefully skiing around here some a couple times a week.

anybody know how this thing works?

So, I got a few email complaints that you now had to click a disclaimer in order to enter my blog. Assumed it was because of the, not even at all naked, girl pushing the car... which was then removed. Now, a day later, the disclaimer still pops up?

I feel like I'm posting on RASC (where the Dickiescramble.blogspot.com address turned into thingyiescramble.blogspot.com and a link to nowhere). Was it that picture? Is the rest of my content to blame? what the heck is going on? Are the republicans in charge of congress so against bikes that they've decided to "pg13" any bike related content? Maybe it was all that talk about "hipsters" and "bike commuting".

I'm off to Ironwood for the weekend to relax at the rustic "Wolverine Village"- not a lot of internet for me until Monday.

trans upper peninsula bike tour route, June trip

more information here click this-

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=627424

brief synopsis- a large chunk of my route for spring has been made for me. It's very close to my initial plans. Freaking awesome!

Gear has come together for this thing too. Only thing left really is to see how it goes trying to get it all on my bike. Then figure out what sort of cooking setup I may want to bring.

Unbelievably pumped for something so far out!

near death ride

Beautiful, warm weather continues! Felt like a higher intensity workout once again. Crazy Courtney had given me a free burrito card last time I was in Chipotle and it's not fun riding hard without going fast. Decided north Chipotle on the pink bike would be the ticket (it has 28s on it rather than the studs on the Kona). Pace, cadence, breathing were all up. Felt awesome to get out in the warmth and dream about summer. Can't remember getting the legs spinning over 100 rpms so much since cyclocross. Ninety minutes later, and covered in road grime, came back into town from the north and wound my way through the traffic to Chipotle.

After lunch I basically only had enough time, 45 minutes or so, to head down to work and change. I would head down the frontage road, cross at 19th street and then take side streets down to the bike paths and on in.

I crossed under the bridge to IBM and approached a long, gradual left hand turn. A car came by, Nissan Maxima, and something felt off. It buried itself into the turn, almost struck the outside curb before overcorrecting back across the road. Totally out of control, tires and engine screaming, it spun, righted itself and breached the slushy drift lining the road. Slush flew everywhere as the car lurched through, only to shoot forward even further almost to IBM's fence. I dismounted and walked through the slush and mud to the car to find two young women. Each done up in a sort of "hippy chic" motif, complete with creative piercings, low-cut shirts and skirts. They looked at me with absolute embarassment.

Eventually I helped them push their car back onto the road and get out of there. I wish I would have asked them if they almost hit me or if they passed by me "normally", but then lost control because they were checking me out. I think it was the latter, I just don't remember then being real close to me... and if they had swerved around me then why would they have missed the apex of their turn to the OUTSIDE back in my direction.

Vanity aside, the power of the car was incredible. Out of control like that and thrashing along the road like an animal it was easy to appreciate the power at hand, easy to imagine the forces involved and what they could do to me. After they went on their way I reflected on the experience. I think I was hoping to have a feeling of ecstacy or euphoria at my near death experience, but it never came. I even tried to fake it for a moment, as that sometimes seems to be the way to conjure up my expected emotions. I left with the same feeling that I'd get from seeing a bear or a wolf in the woods; initial shock, but in the end just a bit of excitement and wonder once things settled in.




sort of like this, but I ended up doing the pushing...

valentines day

from the top of the G. Semlow Memorial Hill


Well, Valentines Day is here and it has gotten warm the last few days. We were able to get in a greatly successful Dickie Scramble Saturday before everything went to slush (write-up will be on the blog for the race soon). The warm weather and the hard effort Saturday meant that yesterday was bike work day once again. Got everything ready to go for spring, or at least ready to continue being useable in winter (the chain on the kona was REALLY rusty and REALLY REALLY "stretched").

Got up early today to get some riding in before Laura woke up. Seemed fitting to ride the pink bike on Valentines day. One repeat of the George Semlow Memorial Hill for each woman I've loved, or something close to that...

It was fun. Next is lunch and work.

Dickie Scramble Prep.

No clue how big the turnout will be for this thing, but I'm trying to run it like I'd want it done if I were a participant.

That means a course that is tough, but friendly enough for mountain bike tires (hopefully without penalizing the stray pugsley) and enough organization on my part that no one notices my lack of organization. Sounds easy right?

I got out and scouted a bit yesterday and rode the first 2/3 of the course today. Todays conditions were awesome almost throughout the trail (I'll post a picture or two) I've made some changes that I think will be for the better based on conditions. Tomorrow I will ride this new modified course in it's entirety and see how it goes. I'll likely also start from home which will double the distance. I'd be surprised if I don't wind up in metric territory, and with a bunch of it on snow.

Friday I'll be pulling for cold overnight temperatures and a bit of a delay in this pending warm-up. I'll also be out with my lights double checking things and marking a couple of tricky spots on the course.

Hope people are ready for a TOUGH 28 or 30 miles.

Dickie Scramble

who: anyone

what: 25 mile ride from the Rochester trailhead of the Douglas Trail to Pine Island and back. Hot beverages, good cookies and hopefully some warmth will be available in Pine Island. The "full pull" will be out and back, but rides will be available from Pine Island back to Rochester for those who prefer that distance (this is meant to be fun).

where: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/douglas/index.html This trail gets a lot of use and should be rideable for anyone on a mountain bike although Pugsleys are more than welcome. We will stay off the snowmobile only parts of the trail and yield to snowmobiles and all other traffic throughout.

why: I enjoy riding the trail and think this will be fun. I would also like to raise awareness for my wonderful girlfriend's Southern Minnesota Rescued Animal Coalition. I will ask her to write up a bit more about this, but here is some basic information-- http://www.kttc.com/Global/link.asp?L=462903 We will accept donations with every cent going directly to the coalition efforts. Anything will be helpful, send on what you are comfortable with, a paypal link will be proved ASAP.

when: February 12th. Start at 10am.

registration: email speshysilence@gmail.com if you want in. I'm not expecting a huge turnout for this inaugural race so it will really help me out if you RSVP as early as possible so far as planning goes. I've got a few volunteers lined up and want to make sure I keep our efforts in line with the numbers. Of course, if you don't RSVP I'll still be more than happy to see you on the 5th. I'd rather not ride alone (even if I've convinced Laura to sit in Pine Island with Hot Chocolate and Cookies for me).

classes: I don't care how you get from place to place... heck, RUN or snowshoe if you want to. That said, I anticipate giving prizes to an open winner, a singlespeed winner, hopefully a women's winner, DFL, and the finisher who rides the narrowest tires.

after party: First stop will be Buffalo Wild Wings. I expect that most people will be done some time between 12:30 and 2. So, we will likely be at B-dubs around 2. Some of us will continue on riding from there and we will likely hit up a few other Rochester area establishments. All are welcome.



more info and some tips/tricks


http://dickiescramble.blogspot.com

What the Almanzo means to me

Two years ago this spring I saw an article in "Exposed Magazine" about the Almanzo 100 race. At that point in my life I had never ridden 100 miles, the race was only a few weeks away, but I was inspired. I found contact information for Chris and sent an email pleading to be allowed to ride. Race day came up quick! The 2nd half of the race was incredibly hard, but I kept my head down, literally, and battled my way back to town into that horrible wind. It was a great experience.

It was also free. At the time I didn't think too much about that- I was too busy just being excited about bike racing. Since that 2009 Almanzo I've been in 40 or 50 more official cycling events. None of them have been any more fun or provided anything beyond the experience of the Almanzo. Many of them have cost $40-70. I didn't mind paying, but I've thought a lot about it. Where was that money going? Is it right that any individual should make a profit from running amateur bike races? A good bit of that money has gone towards things that were absolutely necessary, but too much of it has not. I appreciate the importance of insurance, licensing, venue fees etc., and that they cannot always be avoided. That said, cycling should be affordable to everyone. More importantly, it CAN be affordable to everyone.

All it will take is for more individuals to step up and organize free races. The Almanzo this year will have over 500 people take the line. If just 1/10 of them get inspired, go home, and create something of their own we'd really have something. We would have an entire race season of free races. I believe this can happen. I will purchase and wear the Almanzo kit because I believe this can happen. I will wear this kit in every race I do this year with the belief that doing so can make a difference.

There are some limitations of this model when it comes to Mountain bike races (insurance and fees for using venues may make totally "free" impossible), but the entry fees could certainly be radically reduced. The Sandwich 50 is another local race and an example of this. They've got the entry fee down to a $20 club membership which is used to cover insurance costs and still leaves money leftover to go towards trail improvements.

I don't believe that the free races can or should ever take over the place of the higher level sanctioned races. Nor do I think they will pose any threat to those types of races. I was 100% happy to pay my $30 or $40 a race at Jinglecross. It was awesome to race the same course as Olympians and Tour de France riders. I do not think it is inconsistent to push for more free races while also enjoying racing Jinglecross and the like. I will certainly continue to support USA Cycling by purchasing yearly licenses. I may even donate some extra money toward youth development programs.

Along those lines, as the "free riding" thing keeps growing WE will all be able to choose how to spend our extra funds. We will be able to allocate them appropriately in order to build more trails, support youth cycling, educate people about the environment or animal causes, to cure breast cancer, or whatever suits each of us. Maybe the Almanzo can change the world.

Looking forward to wearing my new colors!

http://almanzo100.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011-jerseybib-shorts.html

I am not green

Green

I'm not green. I eat food, our food supply isn't remotely green. Even if you only shop Trader Mings and avoid meat. The cost of my daily meals is extreme when measured in natural resources and environment impact. I live in a house much too large for two people, even two people who need a lot of space... I heat that house to 69 degrees all winter. My dogs eat mostly meat. I read somewhere that a 90 lb dog requires more petro a year than driving the 12,000 miles a year the average american drives their SUV. My 3 dogs alone probably burn up enough gas a day just to lay around and exist than I would towing my camper to every race I do this year. I don't really care, I love the dogs.

I recently calculated that my inefficient ass gets slightly worse gas mileage than the mini cooper. Seriously, assuming that I eat the typical american diet (and who am I to argue otherwise) the 1000-1200 extra calories I burn each day on my commute require more fossil fuels than would be utilized in driving the mini cooper. In fact, I'm closer to the Tahoe than I am the Mini.

Cheap

I'm not cheap. I pay for that food, it costs me a lot. Most of my budget that doesn't go towards that, too large, house or those, too many, dogs goes towards feeding my ass. I have XTR and Dura-ace bike parts. I have a carbon road bike. The bars on that bike alone retail for over $400. I commute on a bike many people would love to have as their race bike. It has carbon bars/stem, a thomson post etc. etc. all kinds of unecessary crap. I think that crap makes me more likely to ride it (in fact, it does! and my knee doesn't hurt) but the more I ride it the less "green" I really am and the more money I spend. It's easy to justify it- I've got 770 miles on the Nokians I bought this fall for $95. That is 12 cents a mile. 700 miles on the nexus 7 speed hub I paid $125 for already built into a wheel, 17 cents there. In fact, I can tell myself the entire bike, through all it's iterations since I purchased it this spring, has only cost me about 11 cents a mile. So what? In the end biking costs me and the world/environment more than driving would.


I'm sick of people thinking that I ride because I'm cheap or green. I'd like to be better at both, but I'm smart enough to know that my biking habit isn't helping a whole lot.

I'm sick of people who think they are cheap and green just because they bike.

I'm loving it how more and more people in Rochester seem to accept that I ride without questioning why. I've been here for four years and commuted most of the time. I feel like over the last year things have really changed for the better. It's pretty awesome. Every week this winter it seems I get fewer weird looks. Life is good!


Why do I ride?

It gives me a purpose and it makes me happy. I make extra laps through downtown Rochester just to see the beauty of the lights almost every night. Here are some crappy pictures.














I hope you ride for some of the same reasons. I hope you think about the actual costs (and benefits) of your riding. If you are riding to be cheap or green, make sure you are. If you are riding because you love riding, good. If you are riding because it is keeping you sane and saving your soul, even better.