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!!!