MRT to the MCT

Thanksgiving I rode out to my parents house using the MRT trails to the chain of rocks bridge then connecting to the MCT trail. I rode a good part of the MCT trails before heading over to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner. Lucas and Bettina decided to drive and Lucas was very happy to beat me there, these days everything is about winning with him. Holidays are always fun.

Monster and the Ozark trail.

Me and John's conversation on building and biking. John makes me laugh!

A little behind.

Lucas had another great Halloween. Bettina did a great job on making Lucas his Halloween costume. Next year should be fun, Lucas wants to be Spongebob. Time goes by to fast!

BT Epic was crazy sick!

Man O Man was this race awesome even with some pretty nasty conditions! Felt better than I ever had and the only thing that really hurt was my jaws from smiling to much. Good stuff! Very stoked with Jim taking 5th. its going to be a ton of fun training with him on the MTB this winter. Lot of cool people with great attitudes at this race, definitely one to put on your calender next year. Biggest of thanks to Scott the Promoter for the huge payout!!! Results. I will definitely do a full write up in a few days. Also big thanks Jim for the motivation coming through the Berryman campground and all of the work you and the others did on getting this trail race ready!

Pre BT epic was sick.

Me and the other half of the Dynamic Duo as John would put it did a pre ride of the BT epic course earlier this week. All I can say is this course is awesome and has a little bit of something for everyone. So after riding these trails all winter and most of the summer I shouldn't have any issues with getting off trail like last year, although going out to hard is probably going to be a problem as with the competition that is showing up for this race. Its going to be awesome to finally get to race against some guys that I have been wanting to race against for a while. Two things to remember for the race, keep your air in your tires and your heart in your chest and all should be good, other than that if I ain't blown by the top of the first climb I am doing something wrong!

Who knew?

Hi! This is Bettina, Dwayne's boss :-)

Ok, so pretty much all Dwayne writes about on this blog is all his macho stuff that he does. His bikeriding, and his love for power tools. But who really knows about his OTHER hobbies? Well, I thought I would show you (I'm so lucky to know his password for his blog).

As you are well aware we went to Denmark recently for my brother's wedding. The day before the wedding we all pitched in to get the reception place looking sweet (like Dwayne would put it). Now there was things to be done where Dwayne could have voluntiered to use his big muscles, but what does he decide to do instead? This ---

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He wants to make flower arrangements.... Look how gentle he is with them. Not so much man over him anymore...

And look how proud he looks too :-)

So if you or anyone you know needs any flower arrangements, you know who to call!!!

Council Bluff race 09

I cant believe its been a week already since the race. This week went by as fast as the race did, its good to be busy. I finally had a really good CB race, first time that I finished not feeling totally destroyed. The single speed worked great for almost 5 laps. I was hoping to get 9 laps on it and would of loved 8. Finishing up the 5th lap I should of went to the geared bike but couldn't do it. I paid for it on the 6th lap with some pretty good leg cramps. Not a big deal I went to the geared bike for my 7th lap and got hooked in with one of the guys on a team, that was fun. I think we rode most of the whole lap together and I finished up with my fastest ride time laps of the race even fighting off cramps. Did you know that chewing endurolytes makes cramps go away faster, good stuff! 8th lap was great. I have always suffered greatly on the 8th lap in this race and never really got to enjoy the night laps. This year it was awesome. Scott from Cyclewerx had finished up his 6hr race and gave me a hand getting my lights ready and pushed me off with a good vibe. I was pushing a little trying to catch Mitch but I was pretty sure he was already gone, which he was! Going into the 9th lap was fun but I was getting tired. So no more hard efforts I just rode. Probably the funnest part of the race was catching up with Matt O. He was taking a break along side the trail. Matt was in happy land. I love happy land been there a lot of times. I was going to ride with him to finish the race but figured I better get going because I wasn't sure how close Zach was. So I finished up the race feeling way better than last year and a little faster time than last year. I stuck to my goal way better this year than years past and didn't fall off of it until the middle of the sixth lap which was mostly because of the single speed. I wish I would of had one easier gear but lucky I had the geared bike are I wouldn't of finished the race. Big congrats to Mitch for winning his first 12hr solo race and to Matt Oachs for finishing 7 laps on this tough course. Thanks to Mesa for putting on one of the funnest races of the year.

CB 09

Pretty stoked about the 12hr Council Bluff race this year. I didn't get to do any 12hr races yet with doing so many shorter races. Although unlike other years this year I have gotten in plenty of pre riding on the course. After the conditions of the CB race last spring I don't think it could ever be that bad, and it really wasn't that bad after all of the snow melted and you got used to not having any brakes!! Besides it has to rain before every MTB race this year. Looking forward to getting to ride my bike for 12hrs STOKED!! Another person that is a little more excited than I am is my buddy Jim. He picks up his brand new GF SuperFly tomorrow just in time for the CB race. The Superfly will make a big difference over his 27 pound f/s he was riding. Its cool having Jim hooked on the mountain bike again.

9 yrs...

Me and Bettina have been married for 9 years today. I can still remember when we were dating and we were trying to figure out how we could be together. Spending a year apart when she went back to Denmark was tough but I think it made us realize how much we really loved each other. I still wonder what we did with all of that free time before Lucas. Its amazing how much you can love some one but I don't think I ever realized how much until we made our family complete with Lucas. 9 years is a long time but nothing compared to a life time that I would like to share with you. Remember the last words I wrote to you before we were going to spend that year apart, for a time are a life time. I think we are on our way to a life time.. Thanks for a great 9 years, Happy anniversary sweetie cakes!!

Greensfelder race 09

More pics of the race.

3 years of doing this race on this course and 3 wins in the Marathon, Endurance class. The course was ran the same way as the 3 previous years so for myself it is fun to compare times of each year. You always want to know if your getting faster are slower. Of course there are always other things that come into play and I will usually analyze everything. I think I will always miss racing the other side of the course but this side flows better and you can pretty much ride it in the rain without any real problems thanks to Gorc. This race started off like any other race, fun and fast. I expected Jim Van Deven and Doug Davis to be on my wheel from the start but they got stuck behind a few people. I hit the first and second lap pretty hard and didn't see anybody close at the top of the gravel climb. Found out later that Doug flatted and Jeremy was breaking in his new 29er which wasn't going to good. Put it on cruise control for the next bunch of laps just trying to stay under the 15 minute a lap pace. Caught up with Jim on lap 9 he was trying to recover from a serious bonk. Bad luck for him, he is usually hammering me into the ground at the 3hr mark on the BIG ride. I was stoked that he kept going and finished the race. At some point my zipper on my bag came open and all my stuff fell out. Recovered most of it except my Co2 inflator, if you found one would love to get it back. Anyway that probably cost me from making it out on a 13lap. Last year I barely made it and still did 13 in 3hrs 14 min 45sec. Brad and Zach were pushing me the whole way last year, they only missed the cut off by a few minutes. So anyway got in 12 laps in 3hrs and 41 seconds. Avg. speed 10.7 Avg. hrt rate 160 about 8 beats lower than last year. After the Sac race back in July I know what I can do late in a race just didn't have nobody knocking on my door to want to get it done! That race sealed the deal for the series. Thanks to Bob and Drj for putting on a great race on one of my favorite courses. Its hard to believe I have raced at Greensfelder every year since I started racing in 2003.

Tuesday me and Jim did our 3hr loop. It was nice to get back to chasing his wheel! Its hard to beleive we are already using are lights. That ride hurt worse than the race...

The Future. Dwayne Custom House INC.

I love building houses, decks, room additions you name it. Now I have the freedom to do more of what you want and more of what I love! Link here.

The Lucas.

These pictures of Lucas just make me laugh!

CB blue ribbon special.

Rich put on a great race. I wasn't to sure about racing the backside of Castlewood but it was a lot of fun and brought back a lot of memories of when I first started riding. It was probably one of the most mellow races I have had. Mitch and the rest of the local endurance guys were still pretty tired from the 6hr race the weekend before and I was still tired from our vacation. The race started off slow to the first climb. Picked it up a little and got a good lead. Nothing much changed the rest of the race, just rode. I got a flat on the 5th are 6th lap that maybe cost me 4 minutes. Picked up the pace some after that just to make up for lost time. Going into the last lap I realized that if I pushed it I could make the cut off and do another lap. For the first time in a 3hr race that I can remember I didn't go after making the cut off to do another lap. . Yep it was a mellow race! Finished in First place, Rich hooked us up with a awesome payout for the marathon class, thanks big! Ended up with a hrt rate in the 150s and a little over 36 miles avg speed 12.1. One of these days I will get the garmin to upload again. Looking forward to Burnin at the Bluff 12hr!

Flying.

We were not sure how Lucas would do this time flying. Last time we went to Denmark he was kind of a handfull but he also had to sit in my lap the whole time. This time he was great. We left for Hamburg airport at 3 30am, 8 30pm St Louis time and didnt reach our door step until 6 30pm the next day. He slept some but not much. It didnt take long after we got home and he told Mom he wanted to go to bed, for anybody that has a 4yr old you know that never happens!

Thumbs up for another great trip!

The North Sea.

We had spent a day last week over by the North sea. Me and Johan discovered a bike path with a small sign. The small sign was a simple little sign that showed a nice bike path that reaches all the way around the North Sea. I asked my father in law what he thought. Its funny because this is how it starts. With Johan I dont think he ever thinks anything is impossable just maybe tough in finding the time to do it. He already has some good ideas on the best way to accomplish this. With his experience in long distance riding. Finished the Paris Brest Paris twice, the first time in 2003 which is what got me interested in endurance racing to begin with. I think its a must, a great long term goal. It would be at least 3 are 4yrs down the road anyway but that is what I love about the endurance stuff, your always finding new ways to push yourself farther. Links. The North Sea The main link. The North Sea cycle route. This would be awesome!

Great weekend.

This last weekend was great in so many ways. The biggest reason we came here this time was to attend Bettina's brother Andreas wedding. It was truly special in so many ways. Once we get back home and Bettina uploads all of the pics than I will do a better write up. For now I will just do a little recap of the weekend. Friday we went to This town to help set up for the reception. The place was pretty amazing, you could see the sea from the windows of the reception hall and from our hotel room and the beach was right across the street. Me and Bettina's Dad stayed with Bettina's brother Friday night and spent Saturday morning helping him get ready for the wedding, are basically just to pass the time. That was very cool to be a part of and very special to see. The calmness that Andreas showed was a true sign of how much he was ready for his wedding. The wedding was very sweet and the reception was like nothing I have ever been at before. Bettina and her brothers speach went perfect and was very heartfelt and I am so proud of her for making it through it with only a few tears. I am not sure what time we made it to bed but I remember a little conversation about how neat it would be to go swimming in the morning, I would be thinking it was mostly alchohol talk but with me and Johan if its said its probably getting done. Well me, Bettina's dad and Ula made it for the swim. It didnt last long, COLD! But it was fun. Me and Johan's bike ride back to Løgumkloster later that day wasnt near the fun but still good. I remember asking him at one point if he had some toothpicks to keep our eyes open and that maybe it would of been better to of wore our swim suits home with all of the rain we were riding through. Lucky for us we had a headwind all the way home to. When we were finishing up the ride we both looked at each other with a smile, maybe it was that with any ride they are all great rides, or maybe it was just that we were simply finishing up one truly special weekend.

A nice place.

We have been enjoying some nice days, a lot of great food and good family times. A little history of Løgumkloster. Here. One of the best things about being here is how easy it is to get around by bike. Enjoyed a good ride with my Father in law yesterday. There is nothing like seeing the countryside from the comfort of a bicycle. Good times.

Whats up.

After the CW race it was re build time. Decided to work the Spanish lake race which was awesome, first time I ever worked a race. With the way the Midwest fattire series works it is kind of a must if your going to try and do all of the races and felt it would be selfish not to. It was awesome watching everybody suffer, made me really miss racing. It was a good experience to see the race from a promoters point of view and a heck of a lot of fun to help out, cant wait to do it again some time. Since then I have been putting some good miles back on the bike to get ready for the rest of the season. This last weekends big ride went great. Jim got some of his friends to come down and I knew this one was going to hurt. Jim was already talking world record before we ever really got rolling. I missed the last time they had a good group and that time they did the ride in 4 25 are something with 8 guys. Today it would be faster. Although myself I dropped off with about 5 miles to go and was stoked to of lasted that long. Felt super good. Jim said they made it back in 4hrs and 20 minutes. I ended up only about 3 minutes back, thought it would of been a lot more. This hurt way more than the solo effort I did back in May. A lot of really good things going on right now, will be posting up some good stuff in the near future.

Castlewood race 09

Going into the Castlewood race I didn't know what to expect. With doing the 24hr race the weekend before I thought at the very least this race was going to hurt a lot! And it did just not in the usual way. I didn't do much all week, I did ride the day after the 24 to spin the legs out, not much spinning with pulling Lucas on the back of the trail a bike and Bettina attacking us on the climb up to the house. Tuesday was the hurt day.. The rest of the week I was on the trainer and the power output was were it would normally be going into a race which was good considering I was going in to another race. Bettina and Lucas wanted to come along and cheer me on so that was awesome. Usually I will get to the race early enough to do a lap of the course but I decided to skip any decent warm up and the plan was to go easy on the first lap anyway to see how the body felt. Jim my training buddy was taking a break from the road to give the mountain bike a try. The last time I raced against Jim on the mountain bike he beat up on me pretty good, BT epic. So I did have that rolling around in my head. So here is the deal I pretty much hate the part were you line up for the race, once they say go all is always good and its somewhere in that part right before you start that all the plans I have for the first lap go out the window. So they say go and we go. I think it was Mike Barro that led us off of the start and I couldn't help but to go around him going into the Single track that led to a really long climb. Plans change pretty quick and before I knew it I was doing what I always do and that is going as hard as I can. Should of warmed up, the legs were pretty jelly at the top of the first climb and that hasn't happened in a race all year. I came through the first lap pretty fast and was already thinking it would be a 7 lap race. Settled into a good pace and everything was going great. A couple of laps flew by pretty quick and before I knew it I was on the 4th lap. Going up the first climb on this lap I had a slow leak so I stopped and hit it with some Co 2 all seemed good so I kept it rolling. Going up the second long climb (love trail) the slow leak was back so I hit it again with some C0 2. The leak got worst so I decided to put a tube in it. After the Rhett's run race a couple of months ago I have practiced a ton on changing flats. Got it down to under 4 minutes which is great for me. Well as bad luck would have it my stupid tubeless stem wouldn't come unscrewed. I did get after about a minute and all was not lost until my Co 2 jammed and I had to pump it by hand. Still pretty stoked that I got it changed but the damage was done Jeremy Bradshaw had came by some time in the middle of my flat. Finishing up that lap Jim had said that Jeremy had about 4 minutes on me. Pushed a little and as much as the body felt great the knee didn't, still kept a good pace just not enough to match Jeremy's. Very stoked on getting second especially after doing the 24 the week before. Stoked on Jeremy winning especially after he missed the start!! Big thanks to Bob and DRJ for putting this one on, always one of my favorite races.

Results. will get the garmin link up as soon as I can get the freakin thing to upload to Garmin connect.

24hrs of nine mile.

How many miles does it take to put a smile on your face, how many more to make it dissapear? 24hrs of nine mile seemed to be the perfect race to try and get 200 miles. At least that was one of my goals. The other was to ride the same gear on the SS the whole race. After all some one had said that it would be bad karma to change during the race. Its amazing that a year ago I had no real thoughts about riding a single speed at all. I picked up a rig from John in November and started putting in some serious miles on it. After racing the Single speed at Syllamos revenge just because of the conditions, all I could think of racing was the SS. I finally got enough confidence to race it at St Joe, I didn't know how it would work out in a shorter 3hr endurance race but it all went great. I knew at that point I wanted to do something big. If it wouldn't of been for Granny gear being so expensive for the Solo open class I probably would of raced gears but hey the SS class was about 200 dollars cheaper and I was just looking for a reason to race it again anyway. So me and Mitch arrived at 9 mile forest in good enough time to set up camp get a awesome pre ride in and have dinner and relax for the next days pain fest! I think I slept better than I ever have that night especially in a tent. I was pretty mellow race day morning and wanted to stay that away. Usually I am bouncing off the walls and would rather take that approach just because I enjoy it and also love caffeine but for this race I wanted to save every amount of energy for the race and mostly for the middle of the night laps. The race started off with a Le mans style start, I DON'T LIKE TO RUN!! It went fine other than when I got to the bike racks I couldn't find my bike. Once I found my bike me and Mitch were together ready to shred some single track, red light! We were stopped at the first sign of single track waiting our turn to enter the single track behind at least 100 other racers making me regret that I ever put any effort into the run. So we got into a pretty good flow considering and things were moving along pretty good when I dropped my chain. It didn't take but 30 seconds and I was rolling again but I guess 50 racers had gone by and Mitch was out of sight. Its hard to believe that I never had a chance to ride with Mitch again the rest of the race. Once the first lap was out of the way the trails opened up, for a 14 plus mile loop it was amazing how many racers you were always passing are getting passed by. It seemed I was around the same group of guys the whole race. Being self supported got tiring going into the night my brain didn't want to think anymore. Trying to remember how much battery life was left for my lights, eating food remembering to get new bottles and putting that stuff on the chain, that one didn't happen very often! I didn't even bother to change clothes just put on a jacket at night. The night is always good everything changes the course seems different laps come and go and if your me what your really thinking is how can I get a pizza delivered here, pizza hut pan supreme would do the trick! man just sit there right along the trail and stuff your face. Anyway no such luck, I stuck with nutty butters, kids cliff bars a banana Mitch's famous can chicken noodle soup. If he didn't cook it I would just eat it out of the can cold, actually I think what was left in the pot was pretty cold. So anyway the night was going pretty quick and I had finally figured out were I was as far as placing. The scorekeeper had said I was in 4Th SS and the 3 guys ahead of me were not looking as fresh as me which was a good feeling. I was pretty dead set at this point to keep doing what I had for the whole race up to now, just to keep the peddles turning. At some point I had passed Mark it seemed like we must of passed each other a dozen times through the 24hrs. At the time Mark was sitting in third but I had no real idea how far first and second were up and didn't really want to know. I was already pretty stoked that I was going to get well over 200 miles in and that was my goal. The last 3 laps went by pretty fast. I finished up at 23hrs 50 minutes I had time to do another lap and if Mitch would of wanted to I would of done it, my knee was hurting pretty bad so I was pretty stoked when we decided to be done. I think the hardest part out of everything had nothing to do with the race it was trying to get our pit broke down, imagine not having any hand strength and not being able to bend over. It was weird I was fine when I was riding but once the race was over everything just kind of quit working, trying to palm my tent into the bag just had to be funny to watch. Me and Mitch stuck around for the awards and then headed out. I couldn't tell you how long of a drive it was other than I didn't get home until about 1am Monday morning. Still made it to work by 8am. Learned a lot at this one and other than a few small things everything went pretty great.

Results.

I love cake!

My wife made a cake for one of her friends at work and I got her to make me a little cake. I used all of the left over icing for my cake, man I love cake and what would cake be without a lot of icing.

Would of loved to of got my hands on this one, great job on the cake sweetie!!

The south loop.

I finally got to do the South loop that Jim and Dave have been talking about for a couple of years. Its normally a during the week ride, on the weekends we do the big ride which uses part of this route but takes us all the way down to Valles Mines and over to Washington state park. Dave has set up most all of the loops down here and the one thing I like about that is he never leaves out the big climbs, found a new favorite hill. We did that ride on Thursday didn't do much this weekend the big 24 is coming up. Getting to ride at 2 am listening to Pink Floyd unable to feel my hands its going to be awesome!!! Garmin link for the South loop.

Sac river race.

Pain and suffering is two words that seek attention to detail. In this case it was the last 3 miles of the race. When your in a race and you been by yourself for a while it doesn't matter what place your in you always think somebody is going to catch you, at least I do. Ghost racers have been chasing me as long as I have been racing, you know what I mean. The start of the race went good, got a good lead into the single track and just tried to stay smooth. This course was tight and twisty with some rocky rooty sections and lots of thorns. There were not to many good places to hammer unless you wanted to burn yourself for later. I pushed it pretty good on the first lap to get a solid lead and then settled into a good pace for the next three laps. Getting to the end of the 4th lap the cross country leaders came through. Jumping on there wheel was fun until I jammed up my chain. Chris came by chasing them down and I went after him for a little fun. I lost sight of Chris once we hit the single track going into my last lap. I was holding a faster pace on this lap then the 3 previous and having a good time. I guess about half way through the last lap a racer came up on me pretty quick and for some reason I was thinking he was in my class. I should of known better heck he came up on me quicker than the leaders of the cross country race. So when he wanted by I let him and jumped on his wheel for a bit then attacked him. It wasn't long and I was feeling pretty blown so I let him by. I was still pretty convinced that he was in my class so I kept on his wheel the best I could. I am still not sure how either one of us didn't flat and am pretty stoked at this guys riding ability. Long of the short he wasn't in my class and had peddle issues at the start of his race and was just making up lost time. Thanks for the ride Aaron hope I didn't interfere with your race. So for me the last 3 miles was a race within a race, I was almost a minute faster on my last lap than my first! Kept the HR above 180 for the last 3 are so miles. Pretty stoked that I could go that hard at the end of a 3hr race. Thanks to all the people that made this race happen, great course, good food and lots of shwag.

Results. Garmin link.

Rammstein.

Listen, get stoked, go ride!

Berryman Pre BT Epic ride.

I love big rides and I am loving the SS. So it only made since to want to do a 24hr on the SS. Saturday's ride was some training for that. I did a little pre ride of Berryman then the plan was to meet up with Mitch, Greg, Todd and John at the Bass river resort. Which is the start of the BT epic race. The pre ride of Berryman went great other than a flat and a lot of cobwebs, I had spiders crawling around in my helmet when i got done, cool stuff! Made it over to Bass river resort in about perfect timing. Everybody was pretty much ready to go. I remembered a lot more of the race course than I thought I would and the trail seemed to be in really good shape. Only real issue was the heat which was about 95 plus degrees. Lucky for us there is some creek crossings to cool off in. We ran into the trail monster crew making the trail that much more enjoyable for us. It was hot riding the bikes I couldn't imagine hiking, pretty hardcore stuff. We ended up doing about 38 miles of the course, we left out the Ozark trail section down towards Hazel creek. Awesome ride guys!

St Joe race.

Back in 2003 I did my second beginner race at this place. I have not done a race here since then but remembered it was a fun place to ride. Mr Grumke was putting this race on, it was race #6 of the Midwest fattire series. I am still very impressed with how much he did with this trail. After pre riding the course a week prior and having a hard time following the course ( some of it was missing and you were blindly going through the woods following just arrows) I wasn't sure what to think. Mr Grumke had his reasons and when it was all said and done he put together one awesome course. By race day the course was fast and dry and I was still trying to figure out if I wanted to ride the SS are not. So with the hot conditions it was a given that I would be more efficient on the SS. The Marathon class had the usual suspects with Mitch hiding out in the back thinking the easier you go out the better chance you have making it to the end of the race. It worked out great for him taking a nice spot on the podium. The race started out really good for me with the SS. I didn't know what to expect on the first lap but everything went perfect. I got out front from the start and had all my lines pretty dialed in. The heat was a big factor for the whole race and I am glad I am finally learning how to pace myself a little better, stayed as hydrated as I could and got in 5 laps which was my goal. Zach snuck in 5 laps also and didn't finish to far behind me for second place, great job man. Missed Jason at this race, I think he would of loved this course. Also owe him a congrats on getting the State jersey from the Rhett's run race! Results. Garmin link. from St Joe race.

Great Father's Day and a great Birthday.

This one was awesome other than the hot temps!! Took the family to St Joe park for the mountain bike race that I was doing. I was pretty worried about them getting over heated but figured that they could go swimming in the lake if they got too hot. Found out later that the water smelled really bad so they never went. I should of figured that out because every time I came through on a lap they were there cheering me on. Good stuff. St Joe park I think is mostly used for motorcycles and 4 wheelers and they have a big area for them that Lucas got to check out, he was pretty stoked. The race took up most of the day but when we finally made it home we grilled up some pork steaks, hamburgers and of course some hot dogs, favorite after race food. My wife and Lucas made me a really cool present have to show some pics on that later and she made me my favorite Danish Birthday cake. Also Big Happy Birthday to Mitch got some of that Birthday cake for you next time we hook up. I will do a race report later. Hope everybody had a great Father's day!

Tour Divide race.

Here is the home page. You can follow it here, pretty cool stuff.

Happiness.

Finding happiness is like finding yourself. You don't find happiness, you make happiness. You choose happiness. Self-actualization is a process of discovering who you are, who you want to be and paving the way to happiness by doing what brings YOU the most meaning and contentment to your life over the long run. Lucas doing what he loves to do!

Rhetts Run.

The two weeks leading up to this race I have had my best road rides and was feeling better than I ever had on the mountain bike. Other than missing the SS after switching to gears for this race everything was pretty set. Me and Nick headed out early enough on Sunday morning to make sure and have enough time to get a pre ride in. I had raced here before but its been about 3 years. The course is pretty tight and twisty single track about 4.5 miles long. Lucky enough for us we had the pleasure of getting a good rain shower before the race to make things nice and slick. I don't know what we would do with out rain! It was nice to see so many familiar faces lining up in the Marathon class. Good stuff. The race started off a little slower than usual but with the wet rocks and roots there was no way I was wanting to go any faster. Nate took the whole shot which was fine with me considering this was his home course. The dude is smooth he was hooking us up with all the good lines and got us through the first lap pretty fast. Going into the second lap Nate let me lead with Jason Stiger and Jeff Winkler following closely. Thought it would be perfect to start picking up the pace. I know Jason is used to going out harder and I know Jeff is super fast so I thought at the very least we could put some good time into everybody else. Things were going great and then pop the front tire went flat without any chance of Stan's sealing it. Got the tube changed out pretty quick when I went to use the Co2 the whole end of it was gone? Lucky enough a racer had one for me to use and I was back in the race without to much time lost. I didn't get to far when I flatted in the rear, I always carry two tubes for this reason but today I forgot to put one in my saddle bag. After a few racers had offered me tubes I finally took one, I hate to mess other racers race up to help me but very appreciated!! So I was back in the race. Finishing up the second lap I saw Jeff not to far back and it gave me some good motivation to try and stay ahead of him. I couldn't believe I lost 22 minutes or so from flats, pathetic! Going into the third lap I think I was trying to hit it to hard and flatted again through one of the rocky sections. When I looked up Chad was there with a flat also. Neither one of us had any more tubes and I was pretty certain that air was not going to stay in my tires today. I had mentioned to Chad that we could walk the rest of the course over the next two hours get our three laps in and not dnf. And o yea watch some kick ass mountain bike racing. It was a ton of fun watching the cross country expert racers battle it out along with the marathon guys. It was cool to see everybody suffering so bad and still enjoying it, it was cool to get a different perspective of the race from a spectators point of view. It has been a long time since I have watched a race from the sidelines. Still amazed at how many people wanted to help us out, I think that's why I love mountain biking so much. In the end me and Chad still had some good fun with a sprint for the finish. I will definitely prepare a little different in the future. All good motivation comes out of everything!

Descendents

This group was one of my favorites back in High School. I saw them a few times back in the late 80s brings back some good memories. Listen. Hard to believe its been over 20yrs already.

Sick!

Check it out...

The original plan for today was to do 120 but we had a ton of stuff to do around the house and I didn't want to waste half a day riding. Didn't do the usual stuff to get ready for a really hard effort and wasn't planning on it. I got out the door at 6: 15 and the plan was to be home before noon. I guess some of the best rides come the easiest. I didn't go out to crazy hard and the legs warmed up great. I had put out a pretty good effort on Thursday and did about a hour on the SS on Friday and didn't know how I would do if I tried to go fast. Well the avg was a little lower than normal at the 15 mile point and that usually sets the pace. Things went good from there the avg kept going up. I made it to the bridge in 2: 51 was averaging 19, skipped the gas station. I was planning on getting water in De Soto but at that point I was dead set on not stopping. Once you get past De Soto there is two pretty big climbs left and I figured those would get me. I got them, never lost anything off of the average. I was pushing the heart rate up as the ride went on and it felt great had no problem pushing the red for the last 15 miles or so. Fastest solo big ride aka the Dave Pratt ride, aka the Washington park ride yet.. I finished it so fast we had enough time to go to Lowe's and back before noon! good stuff. 4:41 total time 19avg 7000ft climbing 89 miles. Garmin link. So we finished off the rest of the weekend with getting most of the landscaping done, the side of the house waterproofed the shop fully cleaned out and organized, the new water heater put in and the water line ran to the new fridge thanks for your help J cant believe we finally have a ice maker! Lucas carried all of the old landscaping blocks and put them under the deck all by himself, their must of been 50 of them. For his hard work we finally bought him a real tool belt and hammer he has been asking for, he was stoked. I will be stoked as long as I can keep him away from the cars!

Pretty stoked at all of the pics my wife took while we were at the Syllamo race. I never thought I would get her to sit in the woods for a couple of hours taking pictures of mtb'ers. here is a link if anybody has not had a chance to check them out. Pics from the green loop. Pics from the start. Email refsgaard78@hotmail.com if your interested in the full edited version.

Another cool pic my wife took near the bottom of Blanchard springs caverns.

Syllamo 09

We left out for AR. Wednesday night. This is by far one of our favorite places to camp. Lucky for me they have one of my favorite races at this place also. Actually I found this place because of the race and have been bringing the family ever since. Either way its just an awesome place. Good times with the family, good riding with friends and one heck of a great race.
Full race report here. Race results, garmin link.
My awesome support crew.

Stoked!

I love this place!!

Lucas earning his keep.

Lucas loves to help me build stuff. So when I finally got around to adding a door off of the back of my garage he was ready to help.

I had to redo a few of the steps to make it work for the door. The door will come in handy for keeping an eye on Lucas when he is playing in the back yard and for those early morning bike rides. He would always wake up when the garage door would open and that ain't a good thing when mom is trying to sleep in! On a side note the Castlewood race is postponed so me and Jim are going to do the Big ride tomorrow. Only one week left to Syllamo.

Getting there..

I finally got Lucas to let me take is training wheels off of his bike. Usually when I would ask him it was maybe tomorrow. He is getting the hang of it pretty quick and is already wanting to do some tricks.

Bone Bender = bad mud. T de T = good mud.

Me and Mitch were looking for a good road trip so when they put the reschedule date of the Bone Bender as the same weekend as the T de T we were set. Greg was in and even offered to drive, all I had to do was show up at Mitch's house at 5am. On the way up there it poured buckets and I was thinking how much I love mud. If you say it enough maybe you will love mud. It slowed us down but didn't stop us from racing. At the Bone Bender it was the bad mud, The kind that turns your race machine into a slow moving tank. The race started off with a Le Mans run, lucky for me they didn't make us run very far. Okay lucky for everyone cause what they didn't tell us is that we would have plenty of it later! Anyway after getting to the bikes I made it up to the front pretty quick going into the single track in maybe second or third. That was probably the luckiest thing I did. I was riding the Bonty XR 1. They didn't give me much traction but they weren't holding any mud either. I guess about half way through the single speed guy passed me and I passed the guy that was leading. He had flatted and not soon after I flatted. I was getting better traction with the flat than when it had air in it so I kept riding it, at the time I thought we were closer to the end but still had probably half of lap left. So I finished up the first lap in pretty decent time. The awesome Bone Bender crew helped me switch wheels and fixed my flat while I was out on the next lap, cool stuff. Here is the tripped out part going into the next lap it wasn't long and I was already lapping people. I think the trail gods were pissed off and decided to lock the trail down. The stuff I was riding on the first lap was now unrideable, the mud stuck to everything. Most of the second lap was a hike a bike and unfortunately most of the racers were still stuck out there in it on there first lap. I still think of how lucky me and a few others were that we made it through our first lap with out any major mud issues. Going into the third lap I was already focused on it being a hike a bike. It was amazing how trashed the trail was and I definitely felt bad for the promoters. The trail was a little better on the third lap and by the fourth lap everything was pretty rideable again. I think by the time I hit the fourth lap I was already thinking about Sundays race and not trying to destroy myself any more than I already had. At least we were riding again. So the race finished up better than it started at least up until it ended. Once it was over the cleaning begun, normally I would throw the bike in the truck and save the cleaning for another day. But with the Tour de Tick race the next day I had to get it cleaned up and hope nothing was to trashed to keep me from racing the next day. So me Mitch and Greg got everything cleaned up loaded up and headed out for some food and a hotel. Applebees was the choice. Bad choice worst pasta we ever had. You know its bad when you get your appetizer 5 minutes after you finish your meal and actually have to convince the waiter you still want it!! We were hungry..

Results from the race. 1st place 6hr solo male, second place overall. Garmin link. Pretty stoked at everybody that did this race, Big thanks to the promoters for still letting us race when they should of cancelled even if it would of been last minute and we all would of been hacked off. And a big thank you to the neutral support guy that helped me change my tire and fixed my flat that was cool.

So before we knew it me Mitch and Greg were lining up at the Tour de Tick race. I always think I am going to go out a little easy and pace myself, that never happens. Not long after the start I barely snuck into the single track in the lead. I had a guy on my wheels and couldn't shake him for nothing. It didn't take me long and I was wondering who he was so I asked. Jason Stiger was the man. He was real close to me at the Council bluff race for a few laps and I already knew he was pretty fast. So I thought it would be better for him to lead and just see how long I could hang on. Jason took over and hammered my legs into the ground pretty good. At times I was so close to dropping off and it took a lot to stay with him in the first hour. After that things settled down a bit and became a really fun ride. We chatted a lot and he kept a good pace for us. Finishing up the fourth lap we had slowed down a little more than I was wanting to and was thinking Mitch could be gaining on us. When we came through I asked Todd how Mitch was doing and he said he was gaining time on us. What I didn't know is that Mitch had a flat going into the first lap and was not a threat to us but was still having a good race. If I would of known this I would not of had a problem with riding Jasons wheel to the end. So when Todd said Mitch was gaining on us the racer mode kicked in. I was hoping Jason would stick on my wheel and we could put some time back into him. Jason put in a super effort for over half of the race and I felt bad when he dropped off. Once I was off the front I pretty much rode as hard as I could just to see what I had left from both days of racing. The legs felt better as the day went on and I kept the nutrition dialed. good stuff. Results. Garmin link. The T de T guys put on a great race on a very fun course, the trail was very rideable even with all of the rain. Sorry we trashed your car Greg but thanks for driving. Perfect muddy weekend of racing.

Big ride Saturday

Jim had it planned out a couple of weeks ago to do a big road ride from his house. His brother was coming in from Chicago with some of the guys from his old team. Its a amazing story with his brother. Last December he got hit by a car and was in a induced coma for about 4 days with a pretty bad head injury and in the hospital for I think a couple of weeks. All turned out well and its amazing he is already riding strong again. Okay so here is the bummer, last week Jim broke his collar bone at the Tilles park crit. He has been looking forward to riding with his brother since the accident and has been riding stronger than ever. So with Jim out he asked me to take the guys out on our normal route. I invited Mitch down to ride with us and he brought Jeremy and Greg. Mr Pratt the master designer of this route and Ron hooked up with us at the Falls. (usual meeting spot for those guys) We started off pretty fast, which is just how Jim usually does it. We hammered it pretty good to the falls, about 15 miles in. We hooked up with Dave and Ron and kept the pace rolling. We got to Washington state park which is at about 56 miles in pretty decent time. There is a gas station just outside the park for water and of course some Monster! There is two big climbs out of the park and this cool bridge that you have to cross to get to the second big climb.

Usually after these two big climbs everybody is starting to hurt a little. We still kept the pace rolling all the way to De Soto heck I don't think we slowed up much until we got to Strupp rd. a pretty beast of a climb. The funny thing was one of the guys was questioning whether are not Greg would make it through the whole ride. Greg was the one biting at my heels on a couple of the last big climbs coming home. Greg you are doing a 24 with us this year! So the ride went great, Steve rode strong considering everything he has been through since December. I still cant believe he is riding. The ride went perfect, no flats and everybody rode super strong. great day of riding!

The Zoo and Forest park.

My wife thought it would be fun to go to the zoo on Saturday and I thought it would be fun to bring the bikes and do some riding in Forest park afterwards. After a couple of hours in the Zoo we decided it was time for lunch. We ate lunch in front of the Art Museum. After chill in out for a bit we got in a good bike ride. Its pretty cool they have a lot of bike trails in the park to ride on. We did a loop around the outside. Bettina stopped a few times for some good pics. Lucas never complained at all about the ride. It was cool to see the Highway being rebuilt and I think Lucas would of rather of watched that than going to the zoo!
What a perfect day...

Council bluff race 09

First off, I love it when a promoter says were racing rain are shine. What about some snow too! It was awesome, when it was done! Me and the Masher talked before the race and I think we were both thinking the same thing pace and nutrition were going to be the key. We both knew it was probably going to be a 3 lap race unless something went wrong. Doing 3 laps in these conditions was easily going to be a 4hr plus race. Cold temps at the start made it hard to figure out what to wear. My only mistake was wearing the shoe covers, my feet got wet pretty quick from the deep creek crossings and the shoe covers just weighed me down. Everything else went awesome. The race started off pretty mellow. The first downhill was a blast and it didn't take long to get a gap on everybody. Mitch finally got around some slower racers and made quick work to catch up to me. I stuck on Mitch's wheel for a while. That was fun. I think by the time I got to the first big climb (the wall) I was by myself. I was keeping a good pace through the first lap no real hard efforts until I got to the climb to go up to the campground. As I started the climb I noticed another marathon racer closing in. I put in probably to hard of a effort on that climb. Coming out on to the road I was greeted by motivation! Thanks for riding along with me for a bit, it got my head back to were it needed to be, ready to snap some wrists! Going into the second lap was good I new I would get a third lap as long as the bike held up. Nutrition was dialed, biggest thing I worked on this winter. Never felt tired but never felt fast either. Hitting the ( wall of a climb) on the second lap was now a hike a bike. About mid way up looking back Mr Sager was at the bottom. I was thinking this is turning into being a really good race. I was wanting to up the pace but didn't want to burn myself for the last lap, done that way to many times before. So I stuck to the plan. Getting to the campground climb at the end of the second lap I was figuring at some point I would see Mr Sager again. I never did. Going out onto the third lap was great. I was using the Bonty XDX which isn't the lightest tires but were doing the trick. I used them all winter on the SS without any problems and had full confidence they would get me through the race as long as I rode some what clean. I couldn't imagine having to change a flat in these conditions. At some point Chris came by me. I was wondering how long it would take before the Cross country racers started catching me. I thought it would be cool to stick on his wheel, that lasted about a minute dude was on a mission. Crossing that big creek leading up to the wall Mr Breslin came flying by me, dude was on a mission too! This was cool. On this climb it was no longer a mountain bike race it was a running race. It was awesome watching these two battle so hard up that climb. Congrats Chris on the win!! I finished out the rest of the race just keeping a good pace. Mitch finished up a little behind me for a strong second. It was awesome having a big field in the marathon class again. Pretty stoked at all the people that came out and did this race. And the promotors that took the time to set up the course in this mess and have to go back after the race and take it back down, that had to be fun! Results. Garmin link.

Council Bluff.

The second race of the Midwest Fat tire series is coming up on Sunday and me and Nick had the same thing in mind. So we headed down there yesterday after work for some recon. I have ridden the trail a ton of times counter clockwise but not to much clockwise so I wanted to get a feel for it. Other than a couple of flats between me and Nick everything went great. We even got in about a hour of night riding. Maybe we will be lucky enough to have a little snow on the ground to race in, that would be sweet!! I have a feeling this one is going to hurt real bad.

Me and Lucas showing what little abs is all about.

Lost Valley race.

I'm not sure what I was thinking here, but I guess it was pretty funny. So anyway the race went a lot better than I thought it would. With 31 marathon racers at the start and a pretty stacked field at that. I was thinking it was going to be a really tough race which it was! I stayed off of the caffeine more than usual before the race. which left me pretty mellow. The good news is Hammer makes a new caffe latte perpetium with caffeine!! So I figured I would be good to go not long into the race. and for back up I had the pocket rocket, don't ask. This stuff will make you feel like superman for about 5 seconds than your done! But I do enjoy its company. So the plan was to stick with the pack for the first lap then figure it out from there. Jay led us out which was nice, when I came around him Dave came around me leading us into the downhill. We hit the climb pretty fast and I figured why not keep it rolling. When I topped out I figured Dave was on my wheel. I had a little gap and figured I would keep a good pace until everybody caught up. By the time I hit the single track I was still alone and thinking this isn't a good thing but at this point I wasn't thinking about slowing up either. I figured I would push as hard as I could on all of the normal stuff and conserve energy on everything else. When I got into the single track on the second lap I pretty much drifted into my own world. Thoughts of all the sunrise laps I did at Berryman were getting me stoked. This song was kicking in my head. The laps started flying by, at times I would wonder were everybody was and if they were enjoying the pain as much as I was. I think at the beginning of a race you start out worrying about how you will finish. The thing I love most about endurance racing is by the time you really get rolling into the race you just focus on finishing strong and or just finishing. Its amazing how many things could go wrong in a 3hr race and I think your lucky if everything goes perfect. A lot of respect goes out to all of the people who raced, especially my buddy Nick. With only a hand full of good rides in this year after taking a few years off came out to race the marathon class. I don't think it matters how many laps you do, one thing is for sure we all suffer the same. Laps 4 and 5 for me were tough I wanted to save a little for the last lap but didn't want to give up any time either. I think it was going into the 4th lap when I was passing the sport racers, Thanks big for letting me get by so easy on the single track! Lap 6 was cool I rode it harder than I probably should of but was feeling really good. I think I did like a 35 minute last lap, pretty stoked on that. It was awesome seeing Mitch out so early in the year tearing it up! And good to see all of the usual suspects in the Marathon class again. Here are the results, Here are the stats.

Big thanks goes out to the Gorc guys for the new single track, good stuff. And to Mesa for putting on a great race, the payout was incredible and not at all expected.

Don't ask!!!

What do you do.

So far we are 2 for 2 with cancelled races. At least the Bone Bender will be rescheduled for next month. I had full intentions of riding something big and was wondering what to do. Some others had the same thing in mind. Me Mitch and Greg had already planned on riding something on the Ozark trail. A short conversation with Mike Best about the Berryman to Council bluff connector and there plans on camping and I was thinking we should all just hook up and ride. So me and Mitch got it worked out and I decided to give Chris a call figured he would definitely want in on this. Mike, Doug Davis, Nate Means and Jason ? were planning on meeting us for the ride at 10am. The idea was to get there early enough to do the Berryman first. I had just got the 1x9 HIFi fully set up and was dying to get a ride in on it. I got started about 15 minutes later than what I wanted but still was out on the trail to see the sun come up. The Berryman loop went perfect. I got back, ate changed clothes and headed back out with everybody else. The Ozark trail was great, we made it down to the Council Bluff connector in good time but not enough time to do the CB loop. Next time we will have to leave a car down there with food and Lights. Its pretty easy to say that everybody got out this ride what they wanted. Good times! The Berryman loop. The connector trail out and back. Thanks for the food you guys hooked me up with after the ride.

5 five 5

Get up at 5am with 5hrs of sleep to go ride for 5+hrs of Berryman. The 5hrs of sleep wasn't planned just worked out that a way. Getting up at 5am is the usual especially if I want to be on the trail by 6 or so. Doing a double Berryman in between 5 and 5 1/2hrs isn't to tough if everything goes good. So the first lap went great I had the super fly out for the first time since last Oct. I did good on trying to keep a even pace. With the warm temps it was easy to want to go real fast. I was hoping to get the first lap done in under 2.5hrs was pretty much right there. The second lap was just to get some good miles in to get ready for The Bone Bender next weekend. I didn't want to do any real hard efforts other than the normal with all of the climbing on this trail. Things were flying along as usual when I ran into the first set of horses. I don't have any problem with horses on the trails it is just a bummer to have to stop and wait for them to come through and that is only from a training perspective. Once I get rolling I hate to ever have to stop until the ride is done of course for anything other than refuelling. I did run into another couple of sets of horses and had some good conversations on trail maintenance and just sharing the trail in general. I am all for it as long as everybody respects the trail and the other people on it, whether its horses, hikers or bikers. and it was cool that they were there cleaning the trail. There are always bad things you can say about the other users and I could go on and on about the things I don't like. But all in all I am just stoked to see people out having a good time. I don't know how many times I have done this trail and not seen one other person on the trail. So with all of the stopped times it pretty much killed my momentum I hate having to get the legs warmed up again. I did run into some bikers heading back towards the Berryman campground good to see other bikers on the trail.

Big group pretty cool route.

Last Sunday Jim convinced me to go ride with some of the guys from his team (Gateway cycling club). We met up with a couple of Momentum cycles guys in Arnold and then headed north to meet the rest of the guys. The ride was pretty cold off of the start in the low 20s with a pretty strong head wind. The ride was a lot of fun other than having a lot of stopped time which happens when you get a bigger group are when you have a few guys that are on a strict training program. I think it was driving Jim a little nuts, usually when its just us its go until there is no more go! And that seems to be the easiest thing for myself. We did knock down some pretty big hills along the way which was fun. I would of loved to have done Franks rd. though when I usually get up that way I always try to do it. I wont complain by the time it was all done I got a lot of good intensity in. Figured out during the ride that I was riding with Dave Cummings a guy I did some skateboarding with back in the day and if I remember correctly he was pretty dang good. Would love to hook up with these guys more often. Here is the Garmin link from the ride.

The Big 4.

Lucas is turning 4 on Monday so we had him a Birthday party today. My wife has made his Birthday cake every year so far. This year would turn out to be the biggest challenge. We finished up the cake about a hour before the guest showed up.

Lucas was pretty excited today, all he has been talking about for the last couple of months was a DS. I couldn't tell you what I was wanting when I was turning 4 but I don't think it was anything electronic. He knew more about it than we did, The babysitters kid has had one for a while. He got Mario cart with it also. It was awesome watching him play it and how excited he was. The kid is growing up so fast.

Froze Toes.

For as long as I have known Jim he has bugged me to do a road race. I promised him last year I would do one but never did. I got to busy with all of the MTB races that I did. I did tell him that if he did a Mtb race then this year I would do a road race. Froze toes was probably the worst one I could do, I love hills its pancake flat. But there is a lot of Mtb races I want to do this year and figured if I didn't do this one then I wouldn't do one.

I really had no clue to how it would be, I did a road race once back in 2004 and didn't think to much of it. I was pretty nervous once the race got started, I think I was trying to hard to stay out of everybody way instead of just riding. Jim told me before the race to make sure not to get guttered. I think I know what that means now. My goal was to stick with the pack for a lap and I wasn't to far off. I stopped after the first lap to figure out if I should go out again. a small group came through some of us went back out for the other lap. I got to pull the whole lap that was fun. Never stayed seated for that long on a ride in my life and never kept a pace that fast before either. I am amazed at how different racing on the road is compared to the Mountain bike and how strong these guys are. I look forward to trying it again sometime. This race definitely got me excited for the Mtb season to start. Results. to prove to Jim I did a road race in case he went to deep in the red to remember that I was there. Great Job Jim on getting 9Th.

The usual.

Nick enjoying some good hills from last weekend. Old Lemay at its best or worst.

This intersection represents the usual, Me and Jim have come through here more times than I could count in the last couple of years. This is at the top of the first big hill coming from the covered bridge up Old Lemay. When we go out from the house we usually go up Rice Rd then detour off and go do Wette rd then come up the Old Lemay side going towards Covered bridge. So at this point were usually suffering pretty bad.

Last night was no exception, Me Nick, Doug, Jim and his friend from Chicago went out for some fun with the lights, I love night riding! I don't think Doug enjoyed Wette rd as much knowing what was coming, but one thing I will say is he made quick work of it. Between me Jim and his friend Brian we pretty much attacked on every hill, very good stuff. Look forward to riding with Brian again. Nick did great for one of the bigger rides (with a ton of hill climbs) he has done on the road.

I didn't have the garmin last night for the stats from the ride but cool thing was UPS dropped off my new one while we were out. I was having so many problems with it lately shutting off on road rides never any problems on the MTB. I sent them a email on the problem within a week they had me a new one, GREAT customer service. very stoked! I think we ended up getting in three good hours, great riding guys.

Back in the Day!

Back in High School my obsession was skateboarding. Me and my buddy Ron would go up to this skate park in Peoria, IL after School. It was usually about a 1 1/2 hour drive in Ron's beater of a ford escort. We would usually be skating here or heading downtown STL. I remember riding the Bi state bus from Collinsville to downtown STL when I was 14, I would skate the 4 miles or so up to the bus stop to meet my friends early on Saturdays, we would skate all day then catch the last bus home, I was never late for dinner so my parents never questioned were I had been. If they would of known I probably would still be grounded!! Lot of very memorable sessions from those days. One footed ollie across a little platform.
This one was way back in the day, maybe 1985. Just learning how to do handrails. Front side rail slide down a 3 step handrail at Venice High School in IL.

Just a little video clip, I would love to get all of the old stuff re-edited out. The quality is pretty rough, sorry we didnt have much to work with back then.

Fast week.

Lucas enjoying the snow board going up hill. He would do good going down until we got going to fast and then he would bail off of the side. good workout pulling him back up the hill.

The last week has been fun, we missed the Wed. ride last week because of the 6 inches of snow. I got in a good ride on Saturday then did the normal 90 mile road ride with Jim on Sunday. It was kind of a weird start, the roads were pretty icy in spots so it was a slow go for a little while. Things picked up as they usually do and were going good until Jim got one of his two flats for the day. While Jim fixed his flat I dug out all of the rock cinders buried in my tires. No complaints at least the roads were clear of snow. The ride was a good one we suffered bad as we always do..

Tonight's ride was a solo one, Jim and Doug had stuff going on. I got out a little bit earlier than normal so the goal was to get to the top of Rice rd. before the sunset. The pic is of just near the top.

Everybody has there own idea on recovery drinks. Mine is a mix of hammer recoverite, Edy's yogurt blend (any flavor I love them all) Chocolate Soy milk. sometimes I will put a banana in and some strawberry's peanut butter is always good. Stick it in the blender and Blow it up!! I can usually consume this masterpiece in about 30 seconds. good stuff.