Happy New Year!

Our little drummer boy bringing in the New Year. It also wouldn't be the same without Bettina's Danish tradition of Dinner for One. I think you should have a few drinks to truly enjoy It!!

Merry Christmas

We took Lucas to see Santa at Santa's Magical Kingdom. This place was pretty incredible.
We have attended the Bethany Lutheran Church in Webster Groves the last couple of years. The Danish club host its Christmas party here every year and outside of our house its the closest Bettina gets to a Danish Christmas. The church has a nice atmosphere with a strong Danish background. We always have family over for Christmas Eve for a nice dinner and man do Jeg elsker Danske mad!

What do I got.

So it started out like this, I got a single speed at the beginning of the month. The perfect thing about a single speed is you don't have to do anything but ride it. I took the single speed to the chubb for a nice triple in 20 degree weather. 37 miles later and I realized why people love riding single speeds. For myself I love riding because its pretty much the only time I can relax and only think about one thing instead of twenty different things. Riding a single speed makes riding bikes that much easier. The next weekend I was wanting to see how the single speed would treat me at Berryman. Things started off great I got there just before the sun came up and actually used the stella 200 for the first couple of miles. The first loop went good and only having one gear didn't hurt to bad at least not as bad as chubb. The second loop went really good, I actually finished faster than I did the first loop. With the Berryman being about 23 miles for the loop it was kind of weird not seeing one other person on the trail the whole time and that is kind of a shame for this great trail.

Yesterday was cool getting back to the Big ride with Jim, well kind of anyway. With all of the riding that I have gotten in this month I was pretty much ready for a break. In Jim's mind that doesn't exist and with him having his brand new Scott addict he was ready to ride. So of course i was buying into it! I could go into detail about how bad this ride hurt and how the road was eating our bikes with every peddle stroke or at one point climbing a hill at 85 miles when I heard my bike telling me I was embarrassing it and could I please give it to somebody that knows how to ride! does your bike ever talk to you! Lucky for me Jim was feeling as bad as me so I wasn't holding him up to much. As bad as this ride was it still got my brain were it needed to be by the time it was done. So within the last 4 weeks I managed to do the Trifecta, tripple chubb, Double Berryman and two Big rides along with the usual during the week stuff. So I guess when I ask myself what do I got, I got nothing.

4:48

I couldn't resist building Lucas his first skateboard ramp, brings back a lot of memories when I was young. The hard part was trying to keep him from bomb dropping off of the 4' stepladder.

With me and Jim there is hard and harder and since nobody else was going on the big ride (aka the Washington state park ride, the Dave Pratt ride) with us I knew it was going to be a fast one. It has been a long time since its just been the two of us on this ride. We made it out to the park in under 3hrs and that is 58 miles in. We have never done that before. My fastest solo effort on this course was 4 53 and Jim's was about 40 seconds faster and that was last spring in pretty much perfect conditions. So we finished up the ride at 4 48 and pretty much stomped or best time together, I don't think we had ever been under 5hrs. Still cant believe how good I felt especially after doing the West County Trifecta ride on Wednesday with Mitch and Jeremy. We did Chubb, Greensfelder and Castlewood all by Mountain bike from Mitch's house, very fun ride. I guess it was all of the turkey I ate on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun with the family, we went out to my parents house and as everybody does we ate way to much but you just got to do that sometimes.

really good short film.

For some its only about the ride! Check it out. This is Dave's blog.

Winter suffering.

Two rides added to one post. The first ride was the usual Wed. night ride. Back to using lights again which was cool, the L and M worked perfect on the bars for the road. Me and Jim do what we always do and hammer each other to no end. We did call it truths at close to the top of Rice rd. That was a good thing considering I was pretty much chewing on my heart. Jim was mentioning that Mr Pratt was getting some lights, very nice. I have a great feeling the winter night rides or going to get real tough!

After a few weeks of Mountain biking on the weekends the Sunday ride was back on. A little over a year ago Jim introduced this ride to me, and Dave Pratt introduced it to him. This ride has a pretty good amount of climbing, some really good fast sections, steep climbs, long climbs pretty much everything you can think of which is what makes this ride so special and O yeah the scenery is great also. Dave did a heck of a job putting this route together and I cant wait to suffer through another winter with these guys. Today's ride was no exception Jim invited Steve Frierdich down to ride with us, One thing is for sure he loves suffering as much as us and that is a good thing. Today's ride already topped last winters best and that was with a pretty good head wind. I wish I had the stats off of the garmin for this ride but I had a few problems with the garmin so hopefully I will have it fixed by the next ride..

Middle Fork

So Me Mitch Greg and Jim decided to do the Middle Fork section of the Ozark Trail today. I think the biggest thing we didn't expect was the 30 degree start, no big deal I got the feeling back in my hands within a couple of hours. We were not out to hammer each other but to just get in a nice late fall ride. And other than a couple of crashes and one really big crash that Mitch got on video with his new helmet cam, the ride went great. We had to turn back about 4 miles from the end because of a pretty deep creek crossing, which wasn't worth getting or feet wet then having to cross it again on the way back. I am pretty stoked on this trail and could only imagine how fast it would be without all of the leaves. Mitch should have some pretty killer footage of the trail, I will post a link when he gets it edited..
stats for the ride.

Halloween.

Lucas in his custom made Halloween costume. I am not sure but I think he was going to try and scalp me!

This Halloween was pretty awesome. We went to Jim's house for a party and took Lucas around his neighborhood to go trick or treating. Lucas was pretty much wind sprinting from house to house, he definitely had a blast.. good times!

Berryman Epic 08

This race was super fun, I really had no idea what it was going to be like. Back in May when I registered for it I figured I would be lucky to still be racing with what I already had planned, but figured if I was registered I would have to do it. After the Burnin at the Bluff race I was thinking this race was going to be more of a ride than a race for me. Well two weeks is plenty of time to recover so when I picked up Jim Vandeven at 5 am Sunday morning I had some super motivation going on.

Sitting on the start line with guys like Eric Pirtle, Brad Huff, Chris Ploch just to name a few was going to make this race a fast one. The race started out with a neutral start until we got to a long gravel climb then we were off. Nothing to crazy fast like I expected. There was some passing here and there as we were going up the gravel road and the pace was picking up a little bit. It wasn't long and we were flying down some pretty cool single track with I think Brad Huff leading the way. Eric was on my wheel and it wasn't long before I let him by, it was a lot more fun following him down the hills than being in front of him. Before I knew it we were at the first checkpoint.

From the first checkpoint to the second was pretty fun, I was riding in a group with Chris, Mike Best, Clayton Bell from Arkansas and Matt Keeven not to far off of my wheel for most of that lap. At some point Brad Huff had gotten a flat. I was stoked to get to the second checkpoint was feeling pretty warm so I wanted to get rid of my jacket. Chris pretty much went through and never stopped. Mike and Matt were getting water bottles so I decided to make it quick and lost the jacket and jammed. Leaving the Berryman campground I headed down the dirt road, when I came to a split in the road I saw the arrows pointing left, I didn't see the trail just thought I was supposed to stay left on the road. It didn't take long to figure out my mistake. I made it back to the trail that was perfectly marked and started trying to make up lost time. My heart rate at this point was averaging 169 and I was worried about putting my self to deep into the hurt zone. At this point I had no idea how many people had passed me when I went the wrong way. The first person that I came up to was my road riding buddy Jim, This was cool he was riding pretty strong. At this point I probably should of just stuck with Jim but I decided to go up a head. I passed Jeremy and made my way up to Richard Maycheck (sp). I am thinking this was probably around the 30 mile mark. I was starting to hurt pretty good from the hard efforts of trying to make up for lost time. Making it to the next checkpoint just barely ahead of Jim, I was going to wait for him but he was taking to long to fill his water bottles and Rich was taking off. This was a long gravel road section with a paved road section that led to a pretty big climb back up to the Berryman Campground. So as hard as it seemed me and Rich were riding I never could get on his wheel and Jim was coming on strong. Going up the steep climb I did what I could but Jim and Rich got a way from me a little. Going through the Berryman Checkpoint I was focused on making it back on to there wheel and it wasn't long before I caught back up to Jim who was hurting a little. Me and Jim ended up riding the rest of the miles together and by the time we reached gravel road section he was teasing me just like he does on the road by letting me get within ten feet or so and then hammering it again. We never did see Rich again, he ended up finishing a couple of minutes up on us. Finishing up the last race of the year was awesome, I owe it to Jim for helping me build such a killer base with all of the Big rides last winter. There is no way I could of felt this strong this late in the year without it. And to Mitch for all of the great summer rides and races. Congrats Mitch for a huge sixth place finish!!! And to Chris for a huge win.. Me I will take top 10 any day with the amount of talent at this race. Congrats to everyone that finished this race. And a huge thanks to all of the people that made this race happen.

Stats for the race. The highest average I have had for a 5hr plus ride since using a hrt rate monitor and the funny thing is I didnt turn it off as soon as the race was done. I will post results when I get them...

check this out.

This would be awesome, The Breck Epic Mtb stage race.

12hr Burnin at the Bluff

10 was the only thing on my mind for this race. last year I did 9 laps on this pretty tough 13 mile loop course. I needed to shave off about 49 minutes from my time last year to be able to go out for a 10th lap. Chris could of done it a couple of years ago but they wouldn't let him go back out, nobody other than him has ever been close. So figuring it up pretty easy you need to average 1hr and 20 minutes per lap including pit stops to get the big 10.

This race is amazing, with everybody pretty much showing up the day before to camp and check in it creates a awesome atmosphere. Mitch got us a really good campsite close to the start/finish so it made things much easier. Most of us arrived late Friday and it didn't take long to get everything set up and go for a pre ride. The pre ride went awesome got to try out the new lights that John got me on last minute notice thanks big John.

The race started out great, they didnt make us run too far and before I knew it we were flying down some sweet single track. I knew Zach and Mitch were probably not too far behind but wasn't to concerned about it, I mean after all we still had 12hrs of racing to go. The first lap went by quick I remember last year finishing up the first lap and being about half dead. This year the first couple of laps were gone with a blink and things were going too good. The times I had written down on the board for where I wanted to be after each lap were right on. Usually when my races are going good I pretty much blank out everything around, when I used to train by myself all of the time I never had a problem when I felt real good to push to the point of no return, I still wonder how I made it back from a few rides. As I get more comfortable with racing I am getting more to the point of that, If I feel good I got to go for it and that is where this race was going. I knew I needed a perfect race to get what I really wanted and if I couldn't I would probably need Mitch or Zach to get me to the end. When I look back at the Mohican 24 it was Mitch that got me through that one when I pushed too hard through the first 10hrs or so.

So laps 3 and 4 were about the same as the first two, I had slowed down a little on each lap to get closer to the 1hr 20 mark and felt comfortable with eating and staying hydrated. I had switched to the full suspension bike by now, I wanted to ride the hard tail for the first half of the race but on lap 3 I got a small hole in the bottom of the tire so I switched after that lap.

Finishing up on the 5th lap I was only a minute behind where I wanted to be and other than loosing a water bottle on that lap and getting a little dehydrated I still felt really good. In every long race I usually have one really tough lap, the one were your body tries to tell you you shouldn't be doing this. Lap 6th would be the one, I wasn't too concerned about it I have been here plenty of times before and knew I would work through it. I was happy to get this lap done, after looking at the times on the board I was about 1 minutes off of where I wanted to be and still had to get some food and water bottles. I am usually not a fan of setting goals in a 12hr race, What has always worked best for me is usually to go out hard on the first lap then set a really comfortable pace and then if I have anything late in the day to pick it up a little. I knew I would need a lot more than that to get in 10 laps so when I was off of my pace after the 6th lap one half of my brain was telling me it was impossible and the other half as usual was telling me anything is possible as long as you just keep moving forward.

I was hoping the 7th lap was going to bring some better legs but by the time I reached the first big climb about the only thing that was moving at any kind of speed was my brain! My hrt rate was really down and my mph average was even lower. darkness was coming but not quick enough. I milked that lap out for all it was worth and was trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to do 2 more! At this point I was wondering were Zach and Mitch were. I knew Mitch had some really bad Mechanical early on and at one point someone had said I was about 20 minutes up on Zach. When my race is going really good I give little thought to where everybody is at and just keep the pedals turning. But by now with how slow my 7th lap was and how bad I felt I was just thinking how cool it would be to have someone to ride with. Going out on the 8th lap was cool I rode with one of the seagel guys for a bit and that helped big. I had been having really bad cramps for about 3 laps but was blocking them out of my mind. I remember the first year I did this race it was just a goal to do 8 laps and I think it took me like 14hrs. Thinking about that gave me a lot of motivation to keep going on. It wasn't too far before the beach area when Zach caught up to me, more than he knows that was kind of a refreshing site. Zach was definitely stoked and he should be, he was about to be leading the race. I remember him saying we should ride this thing together but how I was feeling at the time and wasn't planning on it getting better anytime soon I told him to go. The thing is with these long races when your feeling good this late in a race you got to take advantage of every chance you have and so he was gone. I been on that side of the fence before and its a great feeling.

Finishing up the 8th lap was good. I was only 5 minutes down. Jim and Keith were at the pits trying to get me pumped up. This would of been awesome had I felt at all like racing. But I was pretty done and the only thing I wanted to do was finish one more lap. going in to the last lap I was starting to feel a little better, hung onto a few wheels at times and was starting to enjoy the rest of this race. Never did put much thought into catching Zach and was still figuring that Mitch would catch up but had no clue after his mech. how the rest of his day had went. So when I reached the dam I did what I had done every other year I have done this race, I took a break looked at the stars and thought about how much hell I put myself through to get to this point and wonder if its worth it, the answer is always simple.

The first 7 laps of the race, only got part of the 8th when the Garmin went dead.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/user/dwayneg was bummed a little for not getting to 10 but that was a long shot anyway still stoked on finishing another 12hr. solo

Results from the race, http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=991101&perclass=1

Lucas playing hockey

Super Fly vs HI FI 29er

John from CYCLEWERX mentioned the full suspension Gary Fisher HI FI 29er early last month. I thought it would be cool to compare the two to see if one would be faster than the other. I thought for sure the Super Fly would be way faster. After getting in two laps on each at council bluff last Sunday the Super Fly felt faster, but after downloading all of the info from the Garmin I definitely conserved more energy on the full suspension. I made it out to Chubb today and new the only way to solve this problem would be to ride the place I know best, with all of the times I have ridden this place I would know for sure if there were any spots that the full suspension would be slower than the hard tail. Long story short I had one of my fastest high water route chubb rides yet. Both of these bikes or amazing and I will still definitely use the hard tail for the shorter races but it would be hard not to use the full suspension for the long stuff. Other than a few trees down and a big hole in the trail just past the tracks the trail was in pretty good shape. ride on!

Arthur at the Park

If you can turn this into this, you know you have done good.

We went to Arthur at the park in Forest park on Saturday. Other than the lines being really long it was a lot of fun. Its amazing the feelings you get out of a simple smile. Happiness comes in different forms, Saturday it was seeing how happy Lucas was sitting on Curious Georges lap, Sunday it was 4 laps at Council Bluffs including a early morning night lap to get ready for the 12hr in a couple of weeks.

24hrs of Mohican

This race was tough, from the time we left on Friday til we got there it rained, it down poured when we arrived. After we talked to the promoter asking what the trails would be like and he said its Mountain biking, I was thinking he took it the wrong way. I mean we didn't just drive from STL in the rain to hang out in our tents. So me Mitch and Chad were stoked, we got the tents and everything set up between the rain drops and were off to Pizza hut for some serious food. By the time we got back it was time to go to bed. I don't think sleep was a problem for any of us.

When we woke up it was still raining a little, Mitch did up some killer bagels for us for breakfast. I stacked up what I thought would be the perfect amount of energy for the next 24hrs. Getting everything ready for a 24 isn't easy we spent a good part of the morning getting everything ready. I went for a little ride on the trail and figured out pretty quick that the trail is mostly rocky and rooty with pretty much no mud build up on the bike. I had a good feeling this place was going to rock. O yeah I almost forgot about Mitch's crud catcher he maid for us before the race that was helping big time!

The race meeting went well and we decided we would ride the first lap together. The run is always a pain in the butt but luckily it went quick and we were off into some killer single track, I am still amazed at how many people were walking the first little climb because there were a lot more bigger climbs to come so I find out later. The first lap was good we passed a lot of people and got the course dialed in. With the first lap out of the way and the field pretty spread out it was cool to just cruise the course. The only thing I noticed that would become a big issue later was the humidity and the effort you had to put out to get up some of the climbs.

The first half of the race went by quick, at some point I had a lap lead over Chip Meek but he made it up pretty quick while I took a little nap and tried to deal with some stomach problems. Mitch was pacing himself good and riding very strong. Chad had some early issues with a tire, and a small dear that kicked him pretty good, it was to early to be hallucinating so I was buying his story!! Anyway he seemed to still be having a good time. Through the night was fun but could of been a lot more fun if I could of got rid of the stomach problems. never could really eat much and at this point soaked three jerseys from sweating, weird stuff.. Me and Mitch rode some killer night laps together hard to believe we were riding some of the technical stuff just as fast as we were in the day time.

Coming in off of one of the night laps around 4am my light went dead not a big deal I was on the last little down hill back to the campground, but the stomach issues were still there and my motivation had been gone for some time now, that doesn't happen to often and pretty much never happens on the bike. If I remember right Mitch was there and we decided to sleep and wait for the sun to come up before going out on another lap. I think Chad was there but don't remember! Well the sun finally came up and it was nice to not have to use lights. The rest of the laps went good, Me and Mitch ended up riding a bunch of laps together which helped me out big time. You cant complain when you take second in a tough race like this, Mitch took a super strong third and I was stoked to make it through another 24. Looking back on it I stayed hydrated enough but wasn't taking in enough calories. In a 24 hr race one little thing can change everything, and everything changes everything!! This place is and was a great place to do a 24hr race, good food great showers and a super tough course. what else could you possibly ask for!

Greensfelder race.

This race went great. Last year I did 12 laps in 3hrs and had enough time to do another but with the rain set in I chose not to. This year the goal was to do 13. Brad and Zach were there and ready to race and I knew these guys were going to be tough. My strategy in a race is always to try and set a good pace and stay consistent. In this race that kind of went out the window off of the start line. Took the hrt rate to about 175 and kept it there for probably the whole first lap. The warm up lap helped big time, all of my lines were pretty dialed in and everything felt great. The first lap I got a little bit of a lead but not as much as I wanted so I went out on the second lap with the same effort as the first. This is never a good idea in a endurance race and I figured i would pay for it later. Later never really came and I ended up just having enough time to do 13 laps. Brad and Zach were never that far behind I dont think they missed the cut off time by much, great race guys.. Cant complain when a race goes this good. It was awesome having my Father in law and the rest of the family there cheering me on on every lap thanks big guys!!. stats from the race.

simple motivation

What motivates you! This has been beating in my head for a while and has given me the conclusion that for every reason I have to give up there is ten more not to! Ride on...

Fun stuff!

Its amazing how busy you can get, I got in like 55hrs or something at work this week. I hate passing up money more than a bike ride and when its there you have to take it. Worked 13hrs yesterday, I like to think of it as endurance working! Building houses is like a giant 3D puzzle there is nothing real hard about it once you understand how it goes together. Picture of the garage header and the trusses for the second floor. This picture is of a second story walkway overlooking the great room. This house is going to be pretty sweet... Anyway as for as riding goes just been doing the usual stuff to get ready for this .

Wed. on a Thursday

The usual Wednesday ride got rained out so we went out on Thursday. The guys at
The happiest place on earth hooked me up with some new sram stuff for the road bike, pretty awesome stuff. I could say this was just another normal ride but with Jim that doesn't exist, there is either hard rides or really hard rides! This one kind of fit between the two, Ron split early and the rain came. Ended up getting pretty wet but still another great ride. I am still amazed at how well I felt after all of the riding last weekend. I am thinking of something pretty big coming up!!

2 ways to hell. Landahl 12hr, Cape 3hr

Rapture in Misery 12hr solo

Thought it would be something fun to try. Do the 12hr race Saturday heartland mtb race series. Then do the 3hr race Sunday August 17, 2008 - Cape Race, Cape Girardeau, MO. The biggest issue was the 12hr race ended at midnight and the Cape race started at 9am. Also the 340 miles between the two! So I packed up Friday night and left early Saturday Morning for the 4hr drive to Landahl. The idea for the 12 was to keep the heart rate in the 140s, keep a comfortable pace, stay hydrated and try and save something for Sundays race. The 12hr race went perfect, no mechanical which on this technical course is awesome. Took a good few minutes between each lap to eat and drink even though I disappointed the guys next to me ringing the bells cheering everybody on! (you guys rock) The first 5hrs went by really fast, had no idea were I was as far as placing goes, for all I knew I could of been in dead last and didn't give much thought to it.

I am thinking it was going into the Sixth lap when I found out I was in third overall only a minute back from second. This was cool but what was even better is I had a really good average speed and was keeping the heart rate exactly were I wanted it to be. Going into the seventh lap most of the six hr racers were finishing up. Getting towards the end I saw The Itch... up ahead, riding super strong and finishing his race up in style, great job Zach, and also killer performance to Matt Keeven for dominating the 6hr race. Pretty much from this point on I felt great had the course dialed and was getting stoked on some night riding. The night was good but I haven't ridden on the mtb at night since the Bluff 12hr race last year so it took me a little bit to get used to again. Amazingly before I knew it I had 10 laps done in a little over 10hrs, way faster than i thought that would happen. Going into the 11th lap I knew this would be my last lap, at least if I really wanted to be driving back and racing the next day. The guys at the desk said second place wasn't that far ahead but Cameron was pretty much gone. Talked to Chad for a bit then went back out for a nice last lap. Finished up the race feeling way better than I ever have at any previous 12hr races. The biggest thing I noticed from the results is how close me and Graham were at times, would love to hear how his race went. The kid rode amazingly strong for what I think was his first 12hr!

Finishing up the race I got everything packed up pretty quick and got some seriously cool north face stuff from the heartland guys. The heartland crew put on a perfect race as usual! The only thing that would make this race better is if they would add a 24hr race for next year!!

The drive was tough but not as bad as I thought it would be. It was close to 1am by the time I hit the highway, spent to much time in the Mc Ds drive through for a crap burger, at least the shake was awesome. Did the rest stop thing for about an hour. Made it home by 5 30, unpacked all of the stuff i didn't need and got the truck a little organized for the wife and kid to go down to the Cape race with me. By the time I made it in and got a shower and was thinking of taking a nap, I figured out the little guy snagged my side of the bed so it was off to the couch. That lasted about 5 minutes when my wife's alarm went off and we were up and eating breakfast and packing up all of the necessities for bringing a family to a mtb race. So at this point it had been 25hrs since I left for Landahl and I was back on the road driving down to Cape, I think my wife would of rather been driving and don't worry she drove us home! But on the way down I needed to make some good time, wanted to get there and check over the bike again and spin the legs a little bit.

The start of the race I did what I usually do off of the start, go as hard as I can. With Andy Gibbs, Brad Brown, and Mitch just out of the picture at the race, all three of these guys really fast.I knew it was going to be fun to see how long I could last on this very fast course. Stuck with Brad for the first 1 1/2 laps and then he was gone. I rode the hardest pace I could for the first 3 laps, and then just set a pace I thought I could hold for the rest of the race. In the end a big Congrats goes to Brad who beat up on all of us pretty good, And to Mitch also who was coming off of the Moonlight ramble and being up all night too stuck second place solid beating me by 2 minutes. Between trying to catch Mitch and stay ahead of Andy I think I fought for third place more than I have for any race I have ever won. Great times!! Thanks to John of Cyclewerx for putting on another great race on a super fun course...
Thanks Dustin of Cyclewerx for the massive burrito!

coming around one of the last corners to the finish... Up for most of 30hrs at this point and still feeling good.

Stuck in my head!

The Colorado Trail Race. It usually doesnt take long to get hooked on something usually to the point of obsessing a little bit over it. I first heard about this race last year, and love the self supported idea. One of the reasons for going to Colorado and doing the Breckinridge race was to see how I would feel just riding there. http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=436927

After following it this year it is defenitely something I would love to start training for.

Johnson Shut-ins State Park

http://www.mostateparks.com/jshutins.htm

Daddy can I climb up that rock?

Let go, I can do it!

Dude check me out, I am almost there...
We made it.

another Wednesday...

Finally getting back into the Wednesday night rides with Mr Jim Vandeven and crew. Last nights ride was mellow compared to last week. Last week I hit a all time high 190 on the heart monitor. We hammered the first 15 miles as usual to the covered bridge to meet up with Dave and Ron. Past that its right back up Old Lemay then up Wedde rd down and back up Old Lemay going back to Covered bridge and then out past hwy A for some more hills. usually once me and Jim top out over a climb we will back off and wait for Ron and Dave, It seemed like every time they would catch up they would attack, so game on! This pretty much went on all night, me and Jim attacked each other on every climb all the way home, pretty much towards the end it was all Jim though even on the last climb up to my house. Anyway back to last night, last night was pretty easy for the most part. Jim was going easy to get ready for the race this weekend. Jim actually take a day off never happen, but he did behave and not pull any crazy attacks. For myself having a little bit of fun attacking the crap out of Ron on Wedde rd from pretty much the bottom. Had to be the fastest I have ever climbed that road and actually felt great doing it! The ride was pretty much just a average pace ride for the 3hrs we were out. The rest of the next week will be getting ready for some races coming up, not totally sure what I am going to do but hopefully its got a lot of miles involved!!!!

Breck. 100

I have heard of 8 to 10 mile climbs, wondered what it would be like to climb them. over the past couple of years I have learned to love climbing, maybe more of an obsession with them. I had heard of the breck. race a couple of years ago but thought it would be imposable to do because of the whole acclimation thing. After doing the 24 last year and all of the miles I got in through the winter I figured at the very least it was worth a try. So before I knew it I was waking up at 4 in the morning looking out to some killer mountains that I would be climbing in a few hours. Race day mornings or all about the same, loads of energy and well loads of energy. other than waking up at about 2am with a major headache from the altitude? Things were off to a good start. Me and Mitch rode the bikes from the room over to the staging area at Carter Park. The most mellow pre race I have ever been at, most likely because it was not even 6 in the morning yet!! So before I knew it we were off. The first climb was pretty fun, you could see racers up around the switchbacks ahead of you and down below you. (very cool) Finishing out the climb we turned onto some single track. I guess the altitude was hitting me pretty good because I was having a hard time staying straight, Fun stuff!! The downhill off of wheeler pass was just killer. Still wished I could of hit it as hard as I normally would but between being pretty light headed and worrying about doing something stupid like tearing a sidewall I just road it very conservative. The first lap went by so fast. Highlights from the first loop, crossing my first snowfield and sinking up to my knee, again very cool stuff..

The second loop was a little tough. I always felt good on the bike and had it set in my mind that I wouldn't push anything above a 159 hrt rate on any climb. I did better than usual on drinking but never did have much of a appetite which caught up with me a little on the third loop. Anyway the second loop I was riding a lot by myself checking out some killer views and not really paying much attention to anything. I kind of felt like I was in a dream. This loop had pretty much everything you could think of. Big climbs fast downhills, technical stuff, loose stuff, a nice hike a bike section. The only real tough thing on this loop was I had a hard time staying on course. Missed a few arrows my own fault and stopped and waited for some racers to show up on a few other turns to make sure I was going the right way. This loop didn't go by as quick as the first loop and it felt like I had a ton of racers pass me. I was trying to keep a pace to finish in 12hrs. Before the race I had no idea how this race was going to go, how the altitude would affect me, basically you name it I thought about it. So going into this race I was just hoping to finish, dreaming of 11hrs hoping for 12. Finishing up on the second loop I felt confident that I could finish the race as long as I didn't have any major problems, and that was considering that I thought it was 2 30 when it was only 1 30 probably a polish thing thinking that the garmin would change from STL time to Breck. time on its own.....

Going into the third loop was cool. The legs were feeling better than they had on the second loop and other than the stomach feeling a little weird I was having fun. I new the third loop had a long climb up and over Boreas pass but past that my brain was filled up long ago with just trying to remember everything for the first and second loop. This was one of those climbs that just kept going. I remember at one point asking a person walking up the road how much farther to the top. Oh yeah its not that far, oh you mean the very top, the verrrrrry top! So when I got to the gravel road I thought I was getting close (not) I ended up stopping to get something to eat, I have only a few times ever stopped on a climb and took a break. The good thing is I ate pretty good, better than the rest of the day. So I got the wheels rolling made it to the top and hit the aid station and topped off the bottles. This was the part that I made the biggest mistake of the race. When I was going down the other side of Boreas Pass I am guessing that there were some bikers (non racers) standing in front of the arrow to go down the single track. Heck at this point in the race I couldn't remember what I was supposed to be riding on, all I knew is I had to go down the mountain and get to Como so I could come back up and over the Pass to finish the race. So long story short I went at least 3 miles down the mountain turned around and road back up to the top to get on the single track. Pretty much the single track went fast, was unsure until I came out to the road that I was even going the right way so seeing the aid station got me pretty stoked. From there I hammered the 8 mile climb up to the pass in about 50 minutes. ( probably should not of done that) I felt great going up but not so good going down. Luckily we got to turn off of the dirt road on to some cool single track. There was a another guy with me that was hurting pretty good also, so I stopped and asked him if he needed anything. He was pretty much cooked so other than just wanting this thing to be done he was good. Myself I was craving caffeine, so I offered some to the other guy, he was good so I ate the whole thing. It was just what I needed to finish up the rest of the downhill back to Carter park. The cool thing was I ran into Mitch somewhere on that downhill and got to ride back with him to the finish. If I could do it all over again I would of figured out a way for me and Mitch to of rode the whole thing together. Maybe next year!

Finishing this race was for me was the biggest accomplishment yet. total time 12.47 I had 107 miles in at the top of Boreas Pass when the battery went dead in the garmin. other than a few mistakes the race went perfect. and thank god no mechanical or flats!! Thanks big again to Mitch and Michael for making it a more than perfect trip. there is so much more I could say about that but this post is waaay to long already......

Mitch's awesome write up! Colorado

We made it! What a trip. Michael, Dwayne and I with Dan Libby for a few days had a picture perfect trip in the mountains with the help of Jim and Judy. It started after an all night drive with almost no sleep by first picking up Michael in Denver Friday morning. Breakfast and picking up supplies and we were soon in Breckenridge at 9600'. Little time to settle in and go for a 3 mile ride with over 1000' of climbing. Tough to get much sleep that night.

Dwayne woke up first at 4am bouncing all over the crowded room like he was on crack, we couldn't stop laughing. I soon rose to nervously get ready for our 6am start (total sleep in the last two days, about 6 hours). 5:15 and we were off, riding to the staging area with everything we hoped we would need for the next 14 hours.The race began with a slow ride to the gravel road that led to Wheeler Pass. As soon as we got to the dirt it was on and we began our 7 mile, 2900' climb, 1:35 for me, a lot less for D and a ton of others. A killer downhill with a near death experience at the bottom made it worth it. The next 5 miles was a downhill bike path and we had a serious advantage with the typically over geared 44 X 11, 29" wheeled bikes, dropping all the 26" bikes. The remaining miles were beautiful but really tough, climbing another 1200' to finish the 30+ mile loop in a little over 3:35, six minutes behind Dwayne. The second loop did me in. Tons of climbing (not my thing), an intense sun and a lack of acclimation made any steep climb nearly impossible. My heart rate would remain low, legs were weak but still fresh and my breathing out of control. I had to walk a lot and stop a lot. I would let everything go any chance I could going down. I rode with Michael and Dan for a bunch of it, although Dan was just hangin out with us. We thought we were almost finished when we began a long ass gravel road climb with about 1000' of climbing. Before that I was thinking about finishing the race, after I was done. We finished at 2:30. Dwayne was over an hour ahead by this time. He took over 5 1/2 hours to do the last loop with a little bad luck. He missed a turn and added a bunch of miles and a fair amount of climbing. He said I made the right call, the last loop was hard. He finished in 12:47, I'd probably still be out there right now. I had about 8900' climbing we figured Dwayne had well over 14000'!

The next morning we drove to the base of the first descent and rode(walked) up to Wheeler pass the opposite direction of the race, another 2650' of climbing in about 3 1/2 miles topping out above 12400 feet! We looked around, took pictures and cruised to the bottom. Both Dwayne and I felt better climbing that morning than we had all through the race. I had a close call with Dwayne on my heals but pulled it out with some fan fair, only he knows just how close! At the bottom both Michael and Dan avoided the section I almost died on the day before. It was a series of big drops with bad spacing and we were going crazy fast in the race so I had no choice but to hang on and I made it. Dan went back to Denver and we made our way to Jimmer's.

J&J then took us out for a fast 13 mile ride that was a blast. Some BBQ and we were off to bed.Monday morning, day 4, ride 5, Monarch Crest. We shuttled to the top of Monarch Pass after leaving Judy's Jeep at the bottom. I won't go into detail but the Crest, Silver Creek and Rainbow trail is a must. You climb to way above tree line and ride there for a long time, ride scree fields(rock slide remains), fast stuff, technical stuff, flowy stuff and everything in between. Jimmer-4 flats. Dwayne-2 flats. Michael-2 flats. Me-1 flat. Add em up, NINE. Oh, Judy-no flats! We used every tube we had and still had a blast. Crossed 3 snow fields but no bad weather. I would do it again tomorrow. 35 miles with 2700' climbing, 6200' descending.

Michael, Dwayne and I drove north a little to the Mount Elbert section of the Colorado Trail the next day. A two mile climb took us to some of the most beautiful single track you will ever see, I'll leave it at that. We got to see a male and female Moose reasonably close, a rarity. 12 1/2 miles with 2200' climbing. Dan met us the next morning after sadly parting with Jim and Judy to ride the Kenosha Pass to Georgia Pass section of the CT. As soon as we started the thunder began as did the rain and lightning. We retreated at 3 1/2 miles in and rode back to a dry parking lot, Oh well.

After driving back to Denver, spending a nice evening with Dan's family and staying the night, the next morning Michael caught his flight back to camp and Dwayne and I rode every trail Mount Falcon had to offer. As dusty, hot and dry as could be, we loved every minute of it. Another 13+ miles and 2600' of climbing. Topping out at 7800' we noticed easier breathing.

Dwayne and I had hoped to ride Landahl on our way home but woke up this morning to a rain soaked parking lot in KC. Got home early and surprised the kids. Thanks to Jim and Judy, it couldn't have been more perfect! Thanks to Dan and his family. Thanks to Michael and Sherri for the use of the van. Thanks to Michael and Dwayne for making every minute fun. Thanks to all our families for letting us go! Mitch

I could not have said it better my self. climbing for me in the mountains was awesome, it made me realize how much more I love going up! Following Mitch on some of the downhills was totally crazy!! As for as the race I think sometimes we have to question how far we should go and I think its easy to know when its enough. Mitch found his limit for this day and did the right thing by stopping and recovering. When I was on my way down from the last mountain Mitch had met me about half way up to see if I needed anything. He had recovered quick and was ready to ride again. If it wouldn't of been for the time cut off I thing he probably would of went and finished the race. Everyday of this trip Mitch and Michael were always ready to ride. For me the race was

awesome and maybe I will actually do a write up of my own....

nothing but smiles!

Just got back today from Colorado and me Mitch and Michael had a incredible
trip ended up riding
over 200 miles and a little over 30,000 ft of climbing. The race went great other
than adding a few extra miles and don't think I ever quit smiling the whole week.
I will do a better write up and add some pics later when I get some sleep!

We did this trail on the first loop, the town of Breckenridge is in the background. this is one climb I will probably never forget, especially since we did it Sunday morning also!

The 5 counties ride.

Had this idea for a super loop some time back and Mitch had the same idea. I had planned on using the big ride loop from my house and wanted to use some of the big west county hills. Mitch set up a perfect route for us finishing up at my house. with the big Breck 100 race a couple of weeks away it became the perfect set up ride for us.



We picked the perfect day and everything went great. with no real hard efforts we just wanted to keep a good pace. Thanks Big for the ride Mitch Colorado is going to be awesome! would love to add another 30 miles and a few more really big hills to this ride. http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view.do?episodePk.pkValue=6182314

After finishing up the ride took the family down to Bobs place for some great food and fireworks, wish everyday could be this much fun!

Lucas eating chocomud!

This was some serious funny stuff. He picked up some dirt off of the ground

and said it was chocolate and started eating it. He claims the rocks or chicken

nuggets luckily they are to hard to eat!!

Matson Race

This was one of those races that you do because you love riding. Last year I did 10 laps and was wanting to beat my time, but with the rain yesterday that was not going to happen. So the game plan was just ride smart no flats or crashes and keep a good pace . I still managed to get 9 laps in 3hrs and 6 min. average hrt rate for the race 155. total elevation gain was a little over 4000ft. I pretty much rode all of the climbs in granny seated because if I stood I would just spin out. A few of the sections became hike a bike, but all in all most of the course was ridable. Finished up with no flats or crashes and the legs feeling better than they do on most training rides.



thanks again to all the guys that take the time to put on the race, prep the course, deal with the rain, etc. etc. you guys rock!

first time

This is the first time I have ever built one of these. The bridge will have more slope once the ropes stretch a little. pretty fun stuff.

CW race

Just another fun race, 37 miles in a little over 3 hrs averaged 11.5. still had good legs after all of the miles in Arkansas.

Syllamos Revenge

Welcome to Arkansas...

Thursday morning we packed up the camper and bikes and headed to Arkansas for the Syllamos revenge. Thursday was perfect, nice weather, trails were dry. So we got in some good biking and hiking.

Friday morning brought us some nice big storms and a couple of inches of rain, luckily Lucas brought a nice supply of toys for us to play with while we waited out the storm.

Saturday morning I woke up completely jazzed and ready to race. Me and Chris did the big climb to warm up, this climb is so much fun! I think I missed pretty much the racers meeting, there was no way I could sit still for that, my legs and brain were saying go time!! So luckily enough before I knew it we were hauling ass down the road. I had only one thought in my mind and that was a set time I wanted to beat and I was ready to do whatever it took to get it done. I knew the average I needed, what HR to maintain, and pretty much pre-road most of the course on Thursday and Friday. The simple thing is though, what makes this course so much fun is as much as you go there to race first priority should be to finish. This place can eat you and your bike real quick if you let it.

The start was perfect, got up front as quick as possible, hit the climb hard. Last year Eric and Chris was right there with me and ended up following them into the single track. This year there was nobody close, kind of freaked me out a bit. I headed into the single track riding a comfortable pace, keeping the HR rate in check everything was going perfect. I have to admit being out front was kind of nice, I was picking good lines taking my time through some of the rocky sections that I would normally bomb down and staying pretty smooth.

At just a little over an hour into the race I guess I hit a pretty sharp rock because my tire went to the rim before I could even think about trying to get the Stan's to seal it. I will keep this short co2 wasn't totally full so I had to use a pump to finish it off, when I pulled the pump off the stem, the stem came with it, bad luck! Things didn't get much better, wiped out both the tubes I had pretty quick and was thinking man I don't really want to walk the next 38 miles or so to finish. I am still amazed at how much most people wanted to help, and it didn't take to long for somebody to come by with a extra tube, I have the first two peoples faces in my head that helped me but for the life of me cant remember your names, sorry I just hope you know how much I appreciate it. At one of the flats I couldn't get my pump to work and none other than one of the Seagal boys hooked me up, I don't think I was ever so stoked to see that tire fill up.

So I was off again, made it about halfway around the green loop when I flatted again. This one bummed me out I thought for sure I would be walking back. Sat down on a rock watching people go by. Pete Goode came by and asked if I needed help. I told him I needed a tube and a pump, which it is one thing to give up a tube in a race like this let alone hang around while I use your pump he also let me use his c02 very cool dude, I owe you big because that is what finally got me to the finish. I think I was more motivated than ever at this point, I never quit worrying about flatting again but I also never quit racing either. I put every bit of effort into this race that I had trying to make up time when I could and still keep air in the tires! Didn't finish in the time I wanted to but man I am just stoked I finished. This race will always be my favorite place to race because of all the challenges it brings.

In the end the single speed guys dominated this race with Matt Keeven leading the way, congrats to you guys. Chris was enjoying flats almost as much as me, and Robert had a whole lot of problems going on with his bike but both still finished. great job to Mark and Scott also for finishing this one.


souvenirs!! hope I never see this many flats in a race again.





My support crew...

SuperFly

6 months ago John at Cyclewerx told me about the Gary Fisher superfly, A week ago I went down to his shop to pick it up. I usually have all the patience in the world and waiting for this bike to come in wasn't a big deal, but the muddy trails have been bumming me out. Chubb would of been my first choice as always for this bike or any. but unless a miracle has happened lately I am sure most of the bottoms or still trashed. So Castlewood is always a good choice, met up with Mitch and Tom and a little later Ralph and his gang. This was a perfect first ride for this bike. This thing handles freaky fast and makes me feel like I am climbing on my road bike. BIG thanks again to Cyclewerx for making it easy to get a bike that seems very hard to get.

Me and Lucas have been working on his playground set and a new patio and some fun other stuff for the last couple of weeks. Lucas trying out the new swing...

Usual ride

Just another big ride, one that I felt like I could of rode forever. Sometimes it is good to enjoy the surroundings within your own mind by yourself. Something different about suffering alone. The pure pleasure of heaven and hell enjoyed by my own obsession, why is it that we limit ourselves to this very freedom. If you could do 2 miles then why would you only do 1, unfortunately time is my own enemy. http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/5341750 I think the elevation is off some, had a flat 2 miles from the house kind of sucked but cant complain only the second one since Oct. of last year. This is a very beautiful loop. thinking of adding in the Covered bridge ride with it soon. Then perhaps the super loop!

great day

Took a few days off after the race on Saturday. Which is what I normally do after a race, but this time it was tough. Landahl is such a blast to ride and my brain has been buzzing every since. But I stuck to my routine, last night got back on the spin bike to get ready for this evenings ride. This ride worked out good made it home from work at a decent time and road with the wife and kido to the park. While they stayed and played on the swings I headed out to meet Jim. Congrats to Jim on finishing second place at the Hillsboro road race on Saturday. We headed out to the basic loop, kept the pace high and the legs felt 100% recovered. Man I love riding my bike! But what I love more than that is the smile on my family's face when i get home...

6hr Landahl

So I went to the 6hr race at Landahl because first I love the trails there and second because why do a 3hr race when there is a good chance of rain when you can race on a perfectly dry course for 6. This race was a blast, I will never complain about mechanicals or usually mention it to much because I think its part of racing, but it made things very interesting in this race.





The race started off like any normal cross country expert race, but not normal for what I thought would be for 6. I was digging it though, and was easily keeping the heart rate in check. It was hard to figure out off of the start who was in what category and I recognized a lot of fast people including Matt Gersib http://dirtstories.blogspot.com/ from the 24 and also 6hr winner from last year.





The first lap went great ended up coming through right behind a fast dude from Colorado who was there training for the NUE series coming up. Had no idea were I was at that point as far as placing probably 3rd in the 6hr solo class. the second lap was going smooth, the new salsa was awesome and just a very smooth bike to ride for the technical stuff. Some how though about a 1/4 of the way into the third lap I managed to get a stick jambed in my rear cassette and stuck my derailleur into my spokes, not good. seemed like half the racers went by me and everybody was just flying! I did manage to get it some what straightened out but couldn't get it to shift right, fought with that thing the whole lap. not a big deal when I made it back one of the guys working the race, terrible with names. tried to help me fix it. worked good for part of the next lap then for some reason I was basically stuck with the small cog in back middle up front the only way the thing would not jump around on the cassette. So much more impressed with single speed guys now cause that lap hurt!





Coming through on the end of the fourth lap it was a given I had to switch bikes, should of had the other one ready to go but didn't want to jinx myself. So by the time I switched the tires, seat bag, pump, # plate etc. etc. and with screwing with the derailleur for the lap before, I new I had lost a lot of time. After getting back on the fisher it was kind of weird, I think the salsa is a way sweeter ride but I think I get more power out of the fisher. cant wait to get more rides on both of these to compare times.





Everything was back to normal just trying to keep a hard pace make up as much time as I could and try not to loose any to anybody behind me. road with Doug Long for a bit, I hate to say it like this but his riding ability and speed on the technical stuff for his age is amazing.





Going into the second to last lap, matt Gersib was making up good time on me and kind of thinking maybe he was lapping me, I was sure he passed me when i had the der. problem. After chatting with him for a bit he pretty much took off. I was kind of in a recovery lap and was wanting to have a fast last lap. I did manage to catch back up to him at the end of that lap going into the last lap. we did compare some miles, I was lost on what lap I was on so that didn't help things. anyway I had it figured we were on the same lap. So when Matt let me pass on the first big climb I pretty much road as hard as i possible could to get a gap on him, It seemed like I would get a head a bit and then you would be right there again, dude you made me ride harder than I ever had that deep into a race. Way more intensity went into that lap then the first by a long shot!! Because of that I managed to come back within 1 minute of first place in age group. and third overall down by I think 10 minutes from Cam Kirkpatrick http://www.rasmussenbikeshop.blogspot.com/ a seriously fast older dude. The heartland guys put on a perfect race, manage to get in 9 laps counting the warm up lap. lots of great mountain biking for one day! The best part is even when little things go wrong things can still turn out great if you can just stay focused on moving forward!






Just a little bit of carnage... that's a whole other story, very funny one...

Lost Valley race, All I wanted to do at this race was go as hard as I could for as long as I could. All the big rides I did all winter and there was a lot of them, I kept the average heart rate below 135. So now the race season is here it was time to see if all the training was worth it. I had no problem pushing the average up to 164 for 3 hrs 15 minutes. At the beginning of the year I was thinking about racing cross country again but man I just love the long races. Endurance more than anything is about finishing and In a 3hr race so many things can go wrong, go out to hard, not hard enough, flat tear a side wall and have to run the rest of the race, don't eat enough, cramps you name it it can happen and probably will at some point I guess. put those things out of your head and your asking for trouble think about them to much and your go crazy. Sometimes I do a little of both bust mostly I just spin the peddles at a pace I think I can hold for the time needed. This race went perfect for myself and having the garmin made it really cool averaged over 14mph. and felt so much stronger than last year at this time. Hopefully things will stay dry for the 6hr next weekend if not probably do council bluff race or maybe both who knows!!

Vertical Century

So I wanted something big to work on this year. pretty basic 5280 ft is a mile. 528,000 ft of ascending is 100 miles straight up. Trying to do it in the least amount of miles possible, hopefully by Christmas.... other than that looking forward to the local stuff and some big out of town races.

another year

last weekend did a double chubb on Saturday, enjoyed the ride with Bob its not often I get a chance to ride with the DRJ guys. Sunday was the big loop from the house, there is so many options for this ride, I think by late spring we will have the super loop planned out just need more daylight for it. There has to be a point when your legs say it is enough. I will find it, and then do more!

What a way to start the new year, Wed. and Thurs. worked out in the cold all day, I guess I got sick from it cause Saturday I think half of my brains came out of my nose. But with the temps going to hit 70 for Sunday I didn't want to miss the big ride. good thing is as much as my legs felt like jelly for the first 15 miles to the meeting spot for Dave. Jim had mentioned that we were averaging 18+ guess that's why the legs felt like jelly! So once we meet Dave the ride is usually toned down a bit, okay not really. But the fun doesn't start until we get to the park. there is a pretty good climb in the park then we drop down to cross this old bridge. At 58 miles in, the hill in the background is the perfect spot to attack on. Jim usually gets it rolling and I do what I can to hang on. Some very hard efforts from here to De Soto that are sure to make you hurt. Other than the stomach still felling a little weird by the end of the ride the rest of me felt great. Cure for the common cold, drink lots of caffeine and go do a 100 miles. and to end a almost perfect weekend played in the sandbox with Lucas and BBQ up some stuff, in a tee shirt, in January that will probably never happen again......