Off to see the wizard,,,

...the wonderful wizard of pain.

Attention fans

Be careful what you ask for on in the comments section of the blog. This little number with certificate will be delivered to one die hard fan of the blog. It is rumored he missed the birth of his daughter because he was checking the blog for a possible update. Again, just a rumor.


And with that, I hope to get to work tomorrow...

Afton last year VS. this year

Alright, so despite the fact he was the only reason my 24 hour race at Afton didn't go well, I am posting my support from last year (couldn't be MY fault). This is Nick, aka Curtis, aka YDB. He used to be a model. Yup, he was. That was his actual title. Sorry ladies, he is not available. He used to be in the coast guard as well. It was pretty much like Baywatch, but without Baywatch Nights. So there you go Nick, you're famous.

This is my support for this year. Meet Mark, aka ODB. He is a Father of three and is able to lift small cars. His hobbies include kicking butt as my support person at Afton and making fun of Nick (but so does everyone else). Feel free to stop by the tent and say "hi" to Mr. Barlow at the race. He doesn't bite too hard.

So that is that. Look for me to rock the Fisher bikes at the race, I hope to do them proud. Looking forward to suffering with my "Bring It On" costar.

Back to work.

So as I take it easy on the bike this way it gives me a chance to reflect on how spiritual and enlightening a 24 hour race can be on the soul. I can see within myself and find the true meaning of my existence. I am sure I will find myself while racing for 24 hours this weekend.

Just kidding. It hurts. Right around 4 hours the suckiness starts to really set in and it is just a matter of will often times. Soul, schmoul. The only enlightenment I hope to see is the sunrise Sunday morning and my name being chanted through the hills of Afton.

Oh, and I am finding out that there will be a whole bunch of good competition. I am giddy with anticipation. I just hope Dan brings plenty of Mountain Dew. You hear me Dan? Yeah, you do. Like a spider monkey, a spider monkey.

BTW

24 hours of Salsa/Afton/Buck

Alright, my phone is not letting me download pics. Wrong format or something.

Anywho, big epic showdown this weekend. Three time defending champ Dan Dittmer is back to try to claim victory at the Salsa 24 Hour Fest, formally 24 Hours of Afton, formally 24 Hours of Buck Hill. I'll be there to make sure he works hard at defending the title. No more lolly gagging for me like last year.

What there will be for other tough men? I have no idea. I just know what I can do. I am anxious for a good old fashioned Dan vs. Charly battle though. Dan is like Kirsten Dunst from"Bring It On" and I am his urban counter part Gabrielle Union. At first we'll hate each other, but then grow a mutual respect that ends in a long friendship.

Now, it is time for you to get back to work.

A blog post a day

So my loyal fan has probably missed me lately. I have a bunch of posts to catch up on, and I think I'll just work backwards.

Yesterday was the Great Hawk Chase race in Duluth. The course was fun, but I ended up with a fat DNF. I had many things not going my way that day which was fine, it happens. I was still set out to finish and see what transpired. What was happening was what occurred to me back in 24 hours of 9 mile in 2007 (and for the same reason). I could not hold down any liquids, at all. As I faded hard going into the third lap and realized I was losing more liquids then I was putting in I decided to not end my day the same as 9 mile(almost passing out on the side of the trail) as I have Afton (gasp!) next weekend. The plug was pulled, but the evacuation of contents took awhile to stop.

Just a couple of notes about the race. The registration/start area was really neat looking, with water flowing and such. The course was really fun, and I wished I was 100% and on the dually for the race. With all that though, I hope another MN race does not stop here. Parking was a nightmare. The park was well used by the neighbors so that only made it more crowded. The only viewing area to see the racers mid race was a mile up a hill (or a short walk as I was told, ha!). Had it been raining there would have only been one small shelter to hide under, but registration already was taking that up. I left frustrated as I was trying to negotiate a good spot for my wife, 2 year old (something to play with), and dog (away from the chaos of that playground) while I raced. There was none. This would be a fun place to ride, but not meant for a big race. Thanks, however, to those that made the race possible, and I hope you get spirit mountain back next year.

Oh, and a picture. The race started out with about a mile climb right away. Because I don't have a "series number" I get to line up in the back. Well, it took about 1/3 of the climb for there to be room to pass, but I was able to work my way up to about tenth before hitting the single track. Here is the back of the pack 10 seconds after the start. I believe that is me on the far left.

Picture obnoxiously stolen from Skinnyski.com, and probably taken by Jay Richards.

Oh, and expect to see a blog post a day for this week. Miss you all, and btw.

Dear Paul B.

Dear Paul B.,

It was a usual Monday at the bike shop until you called wanting to trade in your girlfriend's and your bikes. I anxiously awaited your expected arrival. When you came in later you asked for me and then I helped you grab your 2 Madone road bikes out of you 2 door older model Mercedes Kompressor. As Matt checked over the bikes in the back for value we talked about possibly a new Trek Speed Concept that these bikes could go towards. You fancied yourself quite the triathlete and proudly proclaimed your 9 hour time at Ironman WI the year before. As we talked at the counter the front door opened. You looked over for a second and back at me with a little worry in your eye. It was a fully clothed police officer.

And I, with pride and cockiness in my voice, said "Yep, he's here for you".

You see Paul, you know those bikes were stolen in Wabasha. I don't know if you did it or a friend. What you didn't know is that your victims had bought the bikes at our shop. So when you called about trading "your" bikes in I got your name and number. Then I convinced you to come in. When you walked through those doors I already knew that you were from Arkansaw, WI, ran track in high school, you were about 20 years old, and had in your possession 2 expensive probably stolen bikes. Google and being attentive to people calling can get lots of info.

Now, I don't know if people trusted you before. But when the officer told me that the cost of the bikes meant you would be charged with a felony, I figured it couldn't be good for your reputation. As I went home to enjoy my night with my daughter, you were handcuffed in the back of the police car on your way to jail. Funny how life is when you have to pay for your actions.

I guess what I am saying, Paul B., is don't steal bikes. Oh, and I found no result for you Ironman time. How could you have lied to me, I thought we had a lot of trust going on? Have fun dealing with the mess you created, you moron.

Hugs and Kisses,
Charly

Huge Garage Sale Ya'll

I have a whole bunch of stuff just taking up room in my house, but they really want to take up room in your house. I have a whole bunch of stuff, mountain and road, new and used. So peruse my goodies and figure out how much money you have left in the checking account. You can reach me at charlytri (at) yahoo dot com. Items will be removed as sold.


Well, I now added a Surly Pugs fork. I just got this used (along with another fork) and have no need for it. It is offset, 135mm spaced. It is in fantastic shape and I though it may have never been used at first. Steerer cut to 8 1/8" and star nut installed. This is perfect for those looking for a fork on the 9zero7 frame. Sweet purple color!! $60.











Basic road bars. Deda brand, 42cm width, 26.0 clamp. $5.



Shop quality Park Tool bike stand. Yes, this is what your shop mechanic uses, and for good reason. Used VERY LITTLE, but has sat in my garage for too long. New it sells for $525 (for stand AND base). Yours for $250.


Shimano R215 road shoes. Very high quality, light, stiff, carbon, size 10. Used 3 months. New they sold for about $225. Yours for $50.





So that's it for now. BTW.

3 times a wiener!

Alright, so this is my Levis 100 recap post. First to finish off where I left off before. Cable was f'ing fun. Long rides epic rides, ton of family time, and more bear encounters than I think I can list. I was within 30 yards (or closer) of black bears more times than I care for with nothing but my clothes separating me and them. Tons of fun.

So Levis in chapters with alternative ending and smack talk for WORS racers!!

Prerace
No surprise racers arrived to compete with, unfortunately. The main adversary would be the heat for everyone. Low 90's, mid 90% humidity equaled a long day and tons of DNF's. We were scheduled to race 7 laps on a revised loop that was about 15 miles long. The course had MORE climbing and was much MORE technical in nature than the year before. This is a real mountain biker's course (which is why I like it so much)! We would be riding some super narrow technical trails with 60 degree drops on one side, crazy! I would be self supported, just as were the racers I wanted to watch for (Tim Ek and Dan Dittmer). It was too hot for my darling Abi :( and thus my smoking hot wife.



Race Time
We all took off on the Leman's start. I was second to the bike and first in the singletrack. The legs were clicking over quickly and I was soon out of sight. The first lap felt good, I got my goodies in the pit, and was off for the 2nd lap without seeing anyone else yet. This would continue until I finished off the 4th lap. The heat/humidity were making things MISERABLE and I needed to cool off. While my body went into shock from the ice cold bottles I poured on myself I found out how things were going. Turns out I was 30 minutes up on 2nd (Ek) and 35 minutes on 3rd (Dittmer) after the 3rd lap. I was consistently gaining 10 minutes per lap on my rivals!

Well, the 5th and 6th lap went as well as they could with the body wearing hard from the heat. I finished up my 6th lap at 6pm with about an hour's lead on 2nd (Ek still, Dittmer dropped from the heat) and leading ALL the other 100 miler categories. I knew the WEMS races had a time cut off of 8pm and that I would be the only one who could complete the 7th lap. I decided to pack up and head home early proud off my 3rd straight victory at this tough man competition.

Wait, there's more with a surprise
ALTERNATIVE ENDING!!
So it was 7pm. I was washed up. Most of my stuff was packed in the car. I just needed to breakdown the tent and throw the bikes on the car. That is when Jason the race director informed we that 3rd place had gone out for a 7th lap (Ek stopped at 6 laps). "Why", I said, "he'll never make it back before 8pm". "Oh, no", was the reply, "we had extended the cutoff to 9pm". After several minutes of trying to figure out if he was serious I had flipped the switch from 'I'm hungry and about to get in the car to go home', to 'I am not letting this SOB sneak by me for the win'. Like Superman I jumped into my tent and quickly emerged with my sweat soaked kit on. A volunteer had grabbed bottles and gel from my car and after chugging Jason's Powerade I was off like a prom dress. I caught my now arch enemy (I am bad with names, Karl?. His last name was Bachelor) about 1/4 into the course. We talked briefly and realized that he just needed to finish out the lap to move up to second and I needed to beat him in for 1st. I would have continued with him, but fear of the unforeseen mechanical and the worry of a bonk pushed me forward. I ended up 10 minutes in front of Karl??(nice guy) for the win (again). I posted a sub 1:30 lap my last lap which is impressive considering it was close to my fastest lap. Results will be linked here when available.

Impressions
So I am the 3 time winner of the Levis 100. My goal next year is to get you WORS hotshots out there. Seriously, are you going to let some guy from MN come over and take your best race (Well LaCrosse is the bomb as well) in the series again next year? So this is my promise. I am going to goat you guys into showing up. I don't care if I have to talk smack on your precious WORS forum. I want to see guys show up that are going to make everyone crap their pants with excitement. Bring me your best WI. The Wems races are scheduled around your series, so get your butts off the couch that weekend and try to kick my 10,000 lakes loving rear end you smelly cheeseheads. See you in 2011:)

Oh, and the Superfly 100 is simply the BEST bike that I have ever ridden. No contest.

Secret Training

Time to prep for the Levis 100 coming up in a few weeks.  That means a training camp in the Northwoods at the cabin in Cable, WI.  So far I have been riding my bike a lot, avoiding drug testers, and having blood with drawn (one mosqitoo bite at a time).  In the first 2 days I have already seen 2 "men in black" (ie. bears), one while I ate my dinner on the new deck, one was about 15 feet off the trail when I rode by (we both were surprised).  After 3 fairly close bike encounters with the furry beasts I have realized that they are indeed harmless for the most part.

Rock Lake is super fun, so is the Ojibwe, and both I can ride to from homebase.  It is like riding in the Rockies without the thin air and huge elevation changes.  Not as fun was the hour I spent on a snowmobile trail exploring with the GPS and finding out that swamps are probably easier to get through during the winter. 

Today is all about the parade, 5K/10K (currently running with my wife out there), community gathering and fireworks.  This week is all about the training.  Never mind the fact that my family will be wanting me to spend time with them.  Nope, it is all about the training and I couldn't have better trails to ride on.  I'll miss the wife and daughter....

Shout out to all the commoners stuck working at the shop while I am gone.  Especially, YDB, ODB, DRex, GDB, and Curtis2.

As a reminder the cabin is open for rental at a fairly cheap rate.

Oh, and you should probably get back to work, or play.  Whatever, but just get off the computer and do something.

Hey there.

So I have been busy.  Busy enough for many posts, but too busy to post them.  Here is the super condensed version of my life lately.  Sorry I can't satisfy your voyeuristic urges more.

-Been racing a bunch.  Buck Hill on Thursday nights.  The Woolly race last weekend.  Buck hill has been going well for such a short race course that does not favor me.  I ended up with second at the Woolly after an episode of breathing troubles on the first time up the hill in the first singletrack.  TJ W. was first and Barry T. nudged Eric O. for third.  Buck tonight, weekend at Cable.

-Sadly, my very good friends, the Carey's are moving.  Mark (Triguy) is gone already and Erin will soon follow next week.  They'll be in NC for the next 2 years, and I hope they return.  They will be greatly missed.  We already have plans to go see them.

-Abi is saying more and more.  She did her first bike race (see family blog).

-I am back working at the shop.  Beats being a fisherman in the Gulf right now.

-The Fisher 29er crew is now the Trek 29er crew.  I should be sporting new duds soon.

-I have not been in an endurance race for a long time.  Transwisconsin would have been fun, but Levis call my name again. 

-I keep getting the "your into gravel races, right?" comment.  Yes I am, when there aren't mountain bike races.  There has been some shock of my arrival at some races because there were gravel events the same day.

-We have 2 Superfly 100's (17.5" and 19") and a Hi Fi pro (17.5").  Seems not many locally are interested, but maybe folks from the cities are looking?

Tri out.

On all fours.

Once again, I found myself forced to the ground, not able to breath.  Thanks to me forgetting my inhaler and the extremely high humidity at the Sunburst Showdown in WI.  I was comfortably riding about 15th and looking to move up when the climb (very humid area) the second lap had me off the bike gasping.  I continued.  After the mowed single track (very humid area), it hit again with a vengeance; dizzy, weak, almost passing out.  After many minutes I got up and limped into the finish to DNF when I got hit again.  Forced to lay in shade, on a concrete slab, gasping uncontrollably, had me wondering if things like the Arrowhead are a good idea. 

Afton Alps

(Picture stolen after maliciously hacking into Sam Bushendorf's facebook account)

So quality blogging has been lacking lately. I'll try to catch everyone up on my super amazing life, starting with the most recent events and working back. This will take several posts.

First things first. Afton Alps and the MN series. This is the antithesis of what makes a good race course for me. Total my race contained; the climbing (an enemy of mine), the heat(another enemy), spending Saturday building a 10 foot high deck, stupid mid race moves that cost me a good chunk of time, stupid gear choices that cost me a good chunk of time (read unnecessary mid race stops), and a bad start.

Now that is all well and good and I can only point at myself to blame, but I am happy with the end result. I finished just outside the top ten (12th) after hitting the top of the first climb in the mid 20's. If you knocked out the pros I would have been in the top ten, but if you knocked out enough people I would have won the race. I guess I was first place in the 30-35 male racers on Gary Fisher bikes. It was fun out there duking it out with those around me. Good times, good times.

Oh, and the Superfly 100 is simply crazy awesome. I debated about running the hardtail for the lighter weight, sure glad I didn't.

Next big race might be the WORS race in Kewaskum. I happened to do it last year and the course was lame, but I will be in the area so who knows.

My daughter is waking up, so why don't you get back to work as well.

What is the saying?

Vote early, vote often?

Seriously, if you like shared access and well built mountain bike trails click the link and offer your vote.  Thanks!

Get your ride on.

The Trek/Fisher demo van is coming to an area near you.  Get there early as it gets busy!!

 

Saturday, May 22 at the Freewheel Frolic – MNMBS Series Opener from 9:00 – 3:00

Sunday, May 23^rd at Murphy Hanrehan from 10:00 – 3:00

Monday, May 24^th at the Human Powered Trails (HPT) in La Crosse from 2:00 – 7:00

Brendan "KC" Moore will be there Sunday kissing babies and posing for pictures.  Turns out he is feeling better after the whole Sandwich 50 meltdown. 

BTW.

LISTEN

Here that? The fan has stopped spinning after all this excrement.

Hopefully more speak out....

BTW

Update.

Picture viciously stolen from www.skinnyski.com and Jay Richards.
This is from the start of the Cable Classic (me in black on far right). I was effected quite a bit with breathing problems at the beginning, and just as I was getting my power back a mechanical took me out. Damn Obama. Only because of this Brendan was able to take a convincing win.

Cable was a blast though. Sunday was capped off with a long ride through Rock Lake and Namekagon trails. More and more new trail pops up there when I ride. It is amazing and I am spoiled.

Did I mention that you can rent my cabin that sits just off the Esker trail and is my starting point for all Rock Lake/Telemark/Namekagon rides? It currently sits open for Memorial Day weekend. Just saying.

I got stuff to do, and so do you, so let's get back to work.

Bullets

I am getting packed to head out the door, but here is my blog post in bullet points.

-Raced Buck Hill last night. Despite a very hard time breathing on the first lap I came away very happy with my proximity to the lead guys.
-Take the best riding bike you have ever owned. Multiply that experience by 10. Yeah, that is what my Superfly 100 is like. Blows me away.
-Racing Cable Classic this weekend as part of a Man trip to the cabin.
-The Office last night was absolutely hilarious.
-The Child is learning things by leaps and bounds. Really, really cool.
-Baby's Momma will be missed this weekend.
-NPR says they do membership drives twice a year. I started counting this year as it seems they are always asking for money (besides the millions they get from the government). They held one in February, and one now. I am aware of your tricks NPR. Click and Clack are not getting you out of this.

BTW

Sandwich 50 Recap.

With the eyes of the world watching, we embarked on a quest to polish off almost 50 miles of singletrack out at the famous Eastwood Park. Matt "Kuske" Kurke and I were co-directors for the race and also heavy favorites. You see, Eastwood has an extremely tight course that a rider with experience on the trail has a distinct advantage. Also, Matt and I have raced against each other here many Tuesday nights and this year we have been the most evenly matched as we have ever been. Usually we are separated by a few seconds at the finish of a time trialed lap.

A prerace meeting and a Le man's start had things kicking off our day. You can see here I was answering the question, "Where is the beach?".


The second we hopped on our bikes I realized that my body was screaming loudly that it wished I had done some type of warm up. Kuske was killing it on the front and I struggled to stay on Chris "Top Chris SL" Fisher's wheel who was on Kuske's.

About 75 feet into the singletrack I managed to bang my pedal (breaking one side of it) on a stump and burp out the air in my front tire on another well placed stump. So I limped back to the feed zone, grabbed a pump, and gave chase from the back of the pack.


After the first lap (of seven) Kuske was off the front and had already put 3 1/2 minutes into me. Knowing how closely matched we are out there I knew it would be difficult to make up, but I just kept my head down and kept going, picking off spots as we worked our way up. Eventually on lap 3 the Superfly and I made our way into 2nd place. I never felt great out there and finally realized that I simply had too much food in me from the morning and I was still trying to take more in. With 2 laps left I just stopped eating and only drank. Those two laps saw Kuske have the opposite problem and he started to slow.

You can stand just about anywhere at Eastwood and see 3 different sections of trail. So with that Matt and I knew when we saw each other we had an idea of how far apart we were. Well, on the last lap it was recognized by both of us that the gap was coming down quickly. With trail running out, Matt was able to push his calorie deprived self fast enough so I couldn't catch him. After 4 hours and 10 minutes Kuske ended up taking the win by 95 seconds with myself coming in second. In a display of home field advantage, locals Jon Finnoff and Mark "Tri Guy" Carey snagged 3rd and 4th. Chris locked in 5th place for the day.


Special shout out goes to my Baby's Momma and her Rochester BFF. Together they rode 5 laps in 6 hours to take on the 3rd place prize.
Congrats to Kuske and all the other racers out there. And a special thanks to the Homeless guy on the course that shared his lunch with the racers. Also thanks to our volunteers as well!!

Now get back to work.

Sandwich 50 in 2 days.

I am out to seek and destroy anything on a bike. This will be my theme song.