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...