Transmission works again.

Memorial day weekend.

-Got work done at one duplex
-Rode on the Lanesboro trail with "she who carrys the child".
-Had an impromptu bonfire at the house.
-Got in some other fun rides. One with Dab Man (Jon Finoff) and one with Tri Guy.
-Got the lawn ready to hopefully be green and lush.
-Got the garden ready and flowers planted.
-Hardly touched the "to do" list.



Anywho, my baby's momma is expanding daily and she is officially 6 months along. We are trying to get things ready to go soon here. She is still working out, but running is being phased out and swimming/elliptical are being phased in. Speaking of working out, I finally feel like my fifth gear works again (first time this year). After 2 CC races and 2 local mtb TT's, the legs are kicking strong again. Last night's mtb TT felt good and I finally feel like I have caught up in my fitness from the debacle that was my knee injury.
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That is it for now, get back to work.

There is hope for our society.

Guess what very pregnant woman that I live with used to stand up at NKOTB concerts screaming her love for Joey?

8=0, the Kuske mantra for VR training camp

It came, it went, it rocked; the First Annual Velorochester Training Camp at the cabin. The goal for the weekend was to ride, race, and get ball'n up in the Cable, WI area. Also, this would also give me a chance to explore the trails up there for the first time.

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Friday

Tri-Guy (Mark Carey), Kuske (Matt Kurke), and I meet up with Chris SL (Chris Fisher) and Sam-o (Sam Oftedahl, a guest member for the weekend) We decide to take off for a shake down ride before it got dark. We took off from the cabin and up the Esker trail (starts at the cabin). By the end of the trail, rain starts in. When we get on Spider Lake Road the wind is howling. A large falling pine tree almost stops the weekend short for many of us (you should have hard the thing crack). The weather calms when we get back and KC (Brendan Moore), Wenkster (Jason Wenk), and Dot Com (Paul Hanson, guest member) show up. Antics raged as the campfire burns.

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Saturday

Someone gets everyone up at 6am to see the black bear in the field across the road. We get up, Kuske makes some flapjacks, and we roll out to the race. The cabin was perfectly situated between the start and the finish so we lessened our carbon footprint by riding to and fro. The training camp does well with Dot Com winning, KC in 3rd, Sam-o in 4th, Chris SL in 7th, and Kuske in 12th. Wenkster, Tri-Guy and I all had problems during the race. Wenkster felt like poo. I managed to stack it hard while riding behind Kuske down a fireroad halfway through and then run out of water for 8 miles. Tri-guy broke a chain and ran, yes he did run, 3 miles until getting it fixed. Kuske's burgers and munchin on Dot Com's pork made our bellys happy after the race. Tri-guy goes for a trail run afterwards and ends up hurting his hand, taking him out of the ride that night and the next day. The night ride planned for Saturday ends before it starts because of weather (and KC and Dot Com's sad puppy dog faces).

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Sunday

Breakfast at the Cable Cafe saw KC signing the Fat Tire poster (check it out hanging behind their counter). Tri-Guy goes fishing while the rest of us head out again on the Esker trail. From there we did the Objibwe, and headed over on dirt roads for the Rock Lake trail. FUN, FUN, FUN trails!! We came back on the road where the headwind and speed were high. Almost a 4 hour ride that had all of us smiling and satisfied (that's what she said). We cleaned up the cabin and headed out.

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Notes:

-Tri-Guy's hand is now very stiff and full of blood.

-Wenkster and Dot Com are not "officially" a couple, but we are happy for them both anyways.

-Top Chris SL can dig out a fire pit with a snow shovel.

-The cabin is a blast and open to rent for your own adventures.

-Pictures courtesy of Kuske.

-You need to get back to work.

Good morning

I gotta pack and such for this weekend, but needless to say the Cabin is about to get invaded by a bunch of mountain bikers.

Anyways, anybody catch The Office? As not to say to much; someone is gone, someone is pregnant, a couple got engaged, there is a new office love match, someone went to jail, someone is thought to be mentally handicapped, someone cheated on their partner, someone got promoted, and Darryl broke out his sweet synthesizer. All in all a decent episode.

Did I mention I got to feel the baby kick last night? Hopefully, the baby is mine and Becky did not go to a sperm bank (The Office reference).

Get back to work.

First race of the year.

Mother's day marked the first race of the year for me and pretty much the first hard effort. After taking care of my "I heart Mom" duties on Friday night I was clear for me time on the bike. The last month has seen me off the bike a lot (I like to say I was tapering). First, I had to let the knee recover which ended up taking over 2 weeks because I was impatient, and then a cold took out almost all riding for another 1 1/2 weeks. I came into this race well rested and thanks to my inability to restrain my hand to mouth actions during that time, a few pounds heavier. Needless to say, I was just hoping to get some intensity in and not embarrass myself too much.

I was in the second row at the MNSCS Expert start. A little small talk and making fun of others and their bikes as to get the upper mental edge was the game I was playing as my fun would end seconds later. Off we started, and I ended up soft pedaling for the first 70 feet as I was stuck behind some single speeder. A couple of corners and a small hill before the water tower bend saw me move up several spots in the prologue. I held back at the start as I knew I could easily blow up, but still hit the singletrack in 7th position behind Hollywood with a group of 4 just seconds up on us. I was feeling really good at that point and made a pass, to which Sam Oftedahl (Erik's brother) passed me. I held his wheel until the my internal power regulator prematurely started to turn down the dial. And that is what happened the rest of the race. I could not sustain a good power output as the dial kept getting turned down despite never feeling redlined. I steadily made my way backwards, and 1 hour and 41 minutes later, ended 26th for the day. Last year I was 13th and a couple of minutes faster. Now I just to get some time on my bike at high intensity to build on the base miles in the legs.

Picture courtesy of Ryan Isaacs off of the MNSCS page.

Some race notes:

-The course was dry and fast except for the mudhole that sucked in more than one front wheel. The rain the night before was shown who the boss is by the MORC race organizers.

-My bike is awesome. I love the way that things rides.

-There were several more team members out there from Velorochester this year which was great! Old Man Barlow took his age group in citizen, "Killer Calves" Moore took second overall in Expert, and Top Chris SL followed him in 8th. It is cool to see others rocking out some top places.

-It was good to get a race in the legs. The body feels like it woke back up and knows that it is time to get to some serious riding.

-Doug Swanson would have won by more had he put a 26" rear wheel on, but he had read the article and did not want to give it any acknowledgement by doing as such.

-Matt Kurke. No notes, just mentioning his name.

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Some Non-race notes:

-My baby's momma is getting the kicks going on from the growth in her tummy. That is pretty sweet.

-The first ever Velorochester training camp is this next weekend. One thing is for sure, we will not be measuring saddle set backs. We are too cool for that.

-I have got a lot of painting to do today before the new tenant moves in this weekend.

-Rochester Cycling and Fitness is busy these days.

-You need to get back to work.

I made Velonews, kinda.

I was interviewed for this news article for a new feature in Velonews and was able to get a sneak peak before it gets published:

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Big Wheelie Rolling



By Toby Flenderson



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In a time where light weight seems to rule the course there is one rider that takes advantage of the new technology despite possible weight gain. Four years ago mountain bike racer Charly Tri remained ahead of the curve by joining and and then leading the 29" wheel revolution. "It just rides so much better. Better traction, a smoother ride, who wouldn't want that?", Charly explains.
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It took several years, but top pros are now hearing Charly's calls. The results speak for themselves and now 29" wheels can be found all over. Professional Gary Fisher rider Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski had been one of those with his eye on Charly and his exploits on his big wheels. "I wouldn't say that Charly had any influence on my bike choice," a tight lipped JHK responded, "I mean, I may read his blog. Ok, sure, he made have had a large affect on my bike choice.". Doug Swanson was a pro mountain bike racer from MN that heard Charly's call, "He just seemed to make so much sense. He has convinced me to race on a Gary Fisher Superfly this year. I can only hope to get the same benefits on it that Jo Mama, a nickname of Charly's on the MN circuit, has reaped".
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Well, Charly has a new trick up his sleeve this year. "Yeah, I am riding the Trek 69'er bikes for 2008. I just found that I got almost all of the benefits of the 29'er but better acceleration and handling with the 26" rear wheel," exclaimed an excited Charly. "To me, I just want to ride the best and I am lucky that I get to". Charly will be tackling the first MN race this weekend aboard his 69'er hardtail. As Charly says, "I truly believe this will be a faster bike, but I don't think my fitness will be there. I had to take a lot of time off to let me knee heal from a crash, and then I get sick. Frankly, it may be a very tough first race for me. I know I can't use the bike as an excuse though!!".
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Both JHK and Doug Swanson were both approached about Charly's new bike choice for this year. We caught up with JHK at a Velonews photoshoot. After hearing the news of the 69'ers making it into Charly's stable a normally mellow JHK turned very upset. At first he was silent, but you could see his eyes water up, and then he unexpectedly through his carbon fiber Superfly 20 feet. After screaming several expletives, he locked himself in a dressing room where he could be heard crying.
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Note:the information in the next paragraph is being relayed to you despite my lawyer's objections.
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Our experience notifying Doug Swanson (or defendant #1 as he will be referred to soon in court) was dramatically different. It took us awhile to convince Doug that his 29'er was now "not good enough" for Charly's remarkable talent. When Swanson realized could be riding at a deficit the interview turned ugly quickly. He first started yelling, "Do you know who I am? I hold the fastest time at Chequamgon! I win road races at will! He can't do this to me! Do you know who I am?". Doug then got right into this reporter's face. He took his index finger, and while poking me in the chest, he demanded that Charly not be able to ride his new found secret. It was then that I noticed that Dan, his brother, was on all fours behind me. With a large push from Doug I was on the ground. Doug and Dan then both hopped on their 29'ers and repeatedly rode over me. Later, they would claim they not could distinguish the fact that they they were riding over my limp body because their big wheels smooth out the ride so much. My pleas for help were only met with yelps of ,"Grandstay mafia rules".
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As you can see, riders are very picky and emotional when it comes to choosing their bikes. I saw the look of fear, anger, and sadness from top racing professionals when they realized that their bike may not be the best out there. With endurance races at the top of his racing schedule, Chary is excited to start the season. It is with baited breath that the world waits to see what "Jo Mama" can conquer on his 69'er this year.
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Blogger's note: I may have made all of this up, maybe.