Velorochester Training Camp and Race, Long

Time for some math. I have a cabin in Cable, WI. There is a super fun race the weekend of May 16/17th and sweet trails to ride after. There is also a fairly lame MN series race course that weekend. Add it up and you get much of the Velo team headed up to Cable for the weekend for racing, riding, and smack talking.

There were definitely 2 mini teams at camp this year. The young 'n dumb crowd (Myself, Matt Kurke, Mark Carey, Jason Wenk, and Chris Fisher), and the old 'n wise crowd (Gary Gross, Mark Barlow, and Chuck Sorenson).


The Race-CORC (Cable Off-Road Classic)
Friday night most of us got a ride in. Saturday morning was chilly. With temps not even hitting 40 degrees, the youth of the team rolled out for the 5 mile warm up to Lakewoods lodge. Once there I separated myself and did everything I could do to warm up the body. My legs were telling me that it was not to be a good day. The cold I have been fighting the last week was making it's presence known as well.

The national anthem ends and Gary Crandel calls out 3 seconds to start. We assumed he meant 30 seconds until the gun fired right after. I was standing next to my bike so I hopped on and played catch up. Through the rock lake single track and back out on the road I found myself right near or at the front. TJ Woodruff took off hard and shortly later a guy that I would find out is Dan Schuetz took off as well with no one chasing. There was a group of 15 or so, but I could only pick out a few riders while we rolled along at high speed; Matt Kurke (VR teammate), Chris Fisher (VR teammate), Sam Oftedahl (Super nice guy), and Hollywood (Party On!). Matt, Hollywood, and I were doing the bulk of the work, with me coughing a lot from my cold. I started to get annoyed that after awhile I found myself on the front more and more without help, so I tried little surges, not attacks, to break up the group and soften others for later in the race. I figured I would fade at some point and Matt and Chris could take advantage of my work.

The speeds were very fast, the temp still wasn't above 40, and we were rolling straight through the abundant amount of puddles. Needless to say there were some very cold and wet feet out there!

Luckily I had ridden the 4 wheeler trail we were on at the time and knew we were about to turn on to the Esker's single track. I rolled into the corner first and kept the pace up. Hollywood was behind me and I knew his fully rigid 29'er couldn't motor through the rough stuff like my Hi Fi, so I layed on the gas. Out of the Esker I found myself off the front of the group with Matt and Sam. Some chain suck on a hill and they had a small gap on me. I was now rolling in 5th and pleased as punch with my standing on the course.

The Ojibwe trail was next, tight and twisty single track. Right before that I could see Matt catch and pass Dan who had been away for awhile. For several miles I rode with the mindset of keeping Sam, the 2008 MN state series champ, in my sights. Shortly before the end of the trail Sam got by Dan as well and Matt was getting harder to see. I too got behind Dan and I think he was really suffering on the trail with his small wheeled hardtail. I lost some time getting around him, and I thought Sam and Matt were gone for good.

The last 5 miles are wide open and when I popped out I saw Sam was not far up. Now Sam has amazing power to weight, but I have not seen his numbers on the bathroom scale since I was 12. On the flats I can look like the tough guy. I caught him quickly and he let me know that he was content sitting on for a long while. Now Sam could be holding a large Labrador Retriever and I would still throw up bigger numbers when weighed, so I was not worried about him for the sprint. That, and I know a guy like Sam is way to nice to let me do the bulk of the work only to come by at the end.

I layed on the gas in hopes of catching Matt (who I only assumed could also out kick Sam in the sprint), and holding off Dan. No disrespect to Sam, because on a course like Afton he could be eating a sub, texting his Dad, and still pull away from me easily on the climbs. We all have our strengths. I could see TJ a ways up on Matt as well. Matt's gap started to come down and it looked possible, until he saw me back there and dug deep to open it up again. The last little bit I slowed down knowing that my Matt was gone for good and Dan was not catching us. Sam impressed me a lot by offering to lead me out and I came by him for 3rd place. I forgot to thank him afterwards so hopefully he reads this. Truly a classy guy.

This is the best placing I have ever done in a larger race so I was stoked! Third place and just in the money! I also beat some very strong guys and was only 90 seconds back of a well seasoned pro. Full results here.

Saturday Night Ride
The young'ns got out that night for a fun night ride on the Ojibwe. Super fun singletrack is only made better in the dark.




Sunday

On our way to singletrack bliss.


Sunday was spent riding for close to 4 hours in the Rock Lake system. We ran into the old guys and got a picture.



There is a new section of singletrack being built at Rock Lake that we rode by accident on Sunday. We hit again Sunday and stopped a wild rock chute. This is a good sized chute with some small drops and all rock. It is intimidating.

We decided to do a quick instructional video. This is Matt Kurke demonstrating how not to ride this section. Don't worry, Matt was wearing a helmet so there was no chance of injury. Sorry, but you'll have to tilt your head as I can't figure out how to turn the video.



And this is Jason Wenk showing proper form. (May want to watch the volume if watching in public.)



Then we came home. Lots of riding on our legs and big smiles.

BTW.

Things that are making me think.

This guy makes me think.

Why is it that I am opt to ride my bike at stupid long lengths, but look for the closest parking spot at Target?

I saw a sticker on a washroom mirror about employees having to wash their hands. Why is the sticker there? If they are at the sink where they can see the sticker, then they probably are washing their hands. The sticker should be above the urinal to remind the morons to wash up after doing their business.

Why are so many mountain bikers so infatuated with beer? Yeah, you may like to drink it and yeah, it makes your girlfriend look better, but it is just a drink. Why couldn't people get just as excited to go home and have a glass of milk?

How will my body do at the 12 Hours of the Northern Kettles?

Looks like I may not be racing the Iowa 24 hour race and instead tackling 24 Hours at Afton.

I saw a guy stop his car in the middle of a busy parking lot for 20 seconds so he could watch a good looking girl put groceries in the trunk in her car. I wanted to punch the guy for being such a toolbag.

Why does NPR have a membership drive 6 months of the year? They get corporate money, government money, and public money. Private radio stations are jealous of the technology that NPR is able to spend money on. I say open it up to commercials and let the free market take hold.

Why does NPR say they are unbiased when they are not? I have heard several news reports on liberal topics that only show the liberal side. They will interview several people that support their view. The tone of the questions are something like, "Why do we not have tougher gun laws yet?". My favorite was, "How can you be in the republican party and support gay marriage? They are so vile.". For the record I consider myself more of an independent. The handling of Bill O'reilly and Al Franken a couple of years back is a classic example as well.

I need to start "training" again. Lately all I have wanted to do is goof off on my Hi Fi, easily my favorite bike I have ever ridden.

The neighbor's dogs are annoying. They'll bark and bark at my dog while she chews on sticks in the back yard.

I hope I finally found the trick to get grass to grow in my front yard.

It finally happened. Someone got yelled at by their boss for reading my blog (see comments on previous post). I feel like I accomplished something with that.

How much does your company pay you a year while you are surfing blogs?

I hate corn.

How I failed at TI, by Charly Tri

A little background. This race is 320 miles of Iowa gravel. Self supported, 34 hour cutoff, 3 checkpoints.

Prerace:
I made the 4 hour drive down to Middle of Nowhere, IA with J-No and B.D. in the afternoon with time to spare before the prerace meeting. We stopped at "Dashboard Subs" to chow down before hand as we still had an hour left. Luckily, we had that long as I almost was able to clean them out of saltines while we waited for our subs. Meeting was cool, and then it was to the hotel with plans of waking up at 2am for the 4am start. As luck would have it I woke at 12:30am to use the restroom and could not get back to sleep, so I went to the lobby and watched the last half of Underworld with the desk clerk. Wake up time arrives, we eat, get dressed, and roll to the start at an unholy hour.

Race:
I had 3 goals with this race, but the first needed to be done to accomplish the second and then the third. The first goal was just to finish. Our cemetery start seemed a little fast as we rolled through the Iowa countryside in the dark. Dawn would arrive and there would be 20 left in the front group of the 50 starters. Everything was fine until mile 30 when I flatted the front tire. Dang it, I knew I should have topped off the tires with air. Well, got that changed and passed fellow rider Tim Ek in the same situation on my quest for the front group.

Final instructions before the start. Your handsome writer is on the left in the yellow jacket. Photo thanks to Katy, more here.

Mile 40 is the first check point and where we pick up our second set of directions. I rolled into town a 1/4 mile behind the lead group, got into the checkpoint, got my directions, and rolled onwards quickly. It seemed many where taking it easy there as only 3 of us pulled out together. That would soon become 6 as we tried to figure out the directions out of town and then 4 as the pace went up some.

Rolling into a "B" road at mile 53 I was riding with Charlie Farrow, John Gorilla, and Charlie Parsons (Yeah, 3 Charlies) in the front group. That is when "it" happened. The only possible explanation figured out so far is that I caught a corn stalk, yes a corn stalk, in the rear wheel and it won a battle with my rear deraileur. With my rear deraileur in 2 pieces I set out on making a single speed so I could still ride and finish.

The 39X20 combo seemed the best for chain tension so I rolled on with that. Only problem was the chain would not stay in one gear for more then a couple of seconds. It would drop to the smaller harder gears where there was not enough chain wrap to keep it from skipping over the teeth, or it would shift into the larger easier gears where the chain tension was EXTREMELY tight. Tight to the point it would groan heavily with each RPM. After messing around to try to get a workable gear I set out riding and listening to the groan of each pedal stroke, as it would stay in that gear. Well, I had a 9 speed chain tool with a 10 speed chain and the pin would not fully engage the back plate, so it only took a 1/4 mile for that to blow up. That was it. My race was done before it really got good.


I can count 3 things missing, how many can you find?

Postrace:
I headed North back to the start in Williamsburg very slowly. I had to walk most uphills as I could not put pressure on the chain without it skipping, coast down the downhills, and deal with a skipping, constantly shifting chain on the flats that broke again several times. Every 1/2 mile I would have to hop off the bike, remove the wheel, and place the chain back on a cog so that there was not so much chain tension from a large cog. There was about 40 miles of this very slow progress until a local gave me a lift the last 5 into town. I started off for the car that was still a couple of miles away when my chain broke one more time. I just walked it in from there. TI you won.
Congrats to everyone that finished, there are some great stories to be heard from those riders.

Transiowa, I have a score to settle, you better watch your ass next year.

This video was courtesy of George Vargas, 10th place finisher of Transiowa. Link to his site with other videos of other events can be found here. I can be found at 1:36 with my busted bike.

Maybe you should have read this at home when you are off the clock?

Pics

Upon inspection it looks like a stick got in the spokes and helped to rip the derailleur off. No idea how that could have happened. We were on a "b" road, there was not a tree for at least a city block in any direction, there was no problem with the chainand I was not shifting. It just went BAM! No warning.

TI short version.

Start at 4am.
Flat tire at 30 miles.
-Chase back, catch back on at checkpoint at mile 40.
-Four of us off the front from there(including Charlie Farrow and Gorilla?)
-About mile 53 rear derailleur explodes and dangles by the cable.
-Seriously, we were just riding along, I was not shifting at the time.
-Spend a looooonnnngggg time trying to get my bike working single speed, but it refuses to stay in gear for more than 5 revolutions. Chain jams, have to remove the wheel.
-Splice the chain, add links, splice the chain, try try try to get it going.
-No possible way to get the bike working.
-Limp back very slowly to the start.
-Call the family, Dad decides to come pick me up (came down with friends).
-I am know in MN again hanging with the family including Sam from Maine!
-Brian D. had to drop as well. J-No is still riding strong at mile 150 last I heard.
-Iowa is boring. Wish the course was more like Ragnarok. May not be back next year for that reason.
-Ride strong Charlie and J-No, ride strong.

Later

Are you interested in the audio updates during Transiowa? A link can be found here, http://g-tedproductions.blogspot.com/. The race starts at 4am Saturday morning. Yes, 4 am. If all goes well I hope to finish in about 24 hours.

Yeah, yeah you wish me luck. Thanks.

TI (again)

Farrow's contract with the Devil must have expired because I am headed to Iowa.

You, you should head to the copier and make those copies for work.

I am like B. Rabbit in 8 mile.

Well, looks like there is a good chance that Transiowa is a go for me still, but I'll find out more this afternoon. Just got done talking to my Mother the RN about my pain below the skin, see previous post. It seems to follow a vein in my skull, but has no visual oddities. Her thought based on professional and personnel experience is that I might have Shingles. That will not stop me attempting Transiowa, but the symptoms of tiredness, headaches, some abdominal pain, and the type of pain match what I have had the last 10 days. The rashes have not started yet. Not ideal TI prep.

This reminds me of B. Rabbit in 8 Mile(warning: link has vulgarity). He had everything going against him for his freestyle rap battle against Poppa Doc (I am a master of rapping as well); he was white, a bum, lived in a trailer with his mom, his boy Future was an Uncle Tom, his dumb friend Cheddar did shoot himself with his own gun, he did get jumped by Poppa Doc's chumps, Ray did have "relations" with his girl, but he was still standing up to the "Free World".

I am B. Rabbit. TI is my Poppa Doc. Now I have to show up and battle.

BTW

Transiowa?

Tick tock, tick tock, I wait.

My Grandmother has been sick for a long time and passed away last night. A sad event, but expected. Here are some pictures from a visit about 2 months ago. I had just seen her last week at her nursing home. Good ol' Grandma.


If the funeral is this weekend then it is no Transiowa for me, no question.
Now I wait to here if I am still going to Iowa, tick tock, tick tock.

Ego restored.

Just finished cleaning the bike. It took 2 washes to get the mud off from this weekend's race (which smelled just like cow dung). Also, I solved the case of the chain/spokes love making. On one of the running sections I must have banged the rear derailuer and bent the hanger on a tree or rock. That explains the chain into the spokes and the bad shifting afterwards. To summarize, it was not my mechanical ineptitude, it was my bike pushing incompetence.

This is the second case I solved this week. First one was the case of the missing beets.

BTW

Happy Tuesday.

What should I ask for speaking fees now that I made it into the Star Tribune? Clinton gets something like $100,000. I bet I could beat him on a bike, so maybe $150,000? Would have been nice to see a picture of myself, but while they were snapping pics at the front, I was changing a flat at the back.

Tick, tock. Transiowa this weekend. Anxious. Last minute prep. Second guess this, triple guess that. Tick, tock.

Trying to figure out what the pain is just below the skin that started near the temple and is now approaching the top of my head. No marks or swelling, just a pain that is making it's way around my head. Webmd is no help.

I need to lace up the XR1's for the first time and rip around at Eastwood.

Abi is doing well.

The 69'er hardtail is getting wrapped up for it's trip to Louisiana.

Your boss is watching.

Decorah TT

This is a fantastic race every year. This year the rain the day before and morning of was sure to make this year's time trials interesting. Set to start about 90 minutes after the first rider I was hoping that any mud on the course would get pushed out or packed down. Kuske and I had a chance to talk to the first several riders finishing and they said that the course was actually in good shape and they were able to make it up almost every hill on their single speeds. Their bikes and bodies were fairly clean as well.

Well, 100 meters in I quickly realized that this was a different course than earlier. The mud had started to solidify and gave it a sticky, flingy, slow quality. The trails were really chewed up from so many people before pushing through sections that were at one time rideable. I rode as much as I could, but some sections were completely impassable by bike now. There were many sections that I was riding (slowly because of the sticky mud) that had no sign tire tracks in front of me, just chewed up foot prints. Almost halfway through I threw my chain in to the spokes. After at least a minute of swearing, pulling, yanking, and tugging I was finally able to get the chain out and get going again. Ten minutes later it would do the same thing, but only took about 30 seconds to get out that time. Maybe I didn't get that damn set screw right (which would shock this mechanic), but I am sick of the SRAM chain that is on there. Shimano links will make that whole system shift smoother, faster, and quieter. Not saying it is the chains fault, but anything to take some blame off myself.

Well, I was hoping to go for a top 5 finish. I felt strong and rode well, but my chain problems and the mud convinced me that I was well outside the top ten. Luckily, I still pulled out a ninth place at 51 minutes and some odd seconds. I was very happy with that and happy that my legs had "good sensations". The bike and body were covered in mud, a far different picture then those first finishers I saw.

The top 5 were littered with guys from the first 30 starters. Strong guys indeed, but I wish I had preregistered and was starting near them. A well deserved win goes to Josh Shively from LaCrosse. My former manager from Smith's Cycling and Fitness crushed the field by 3 minutes to come in at 44 minutes. He was rocking a single speed Gary Fisher Rig with 1/2 ratio for gearing. Tough indeed and you could not find a nicer guy. Kuske took 7th, 2 minutes in front of me and other local Trevor Olson rocked out a 6th place.

The Paragon was awesome and except for the chain (probably my fault) was a fantastic bike. Did I mention that I love this bike? I do have to say I tried the Bontrager Mud X tires. Kuske and I had fantastic experiences from these tires in the race. There are hands down the only reason I did as well as I did with the mud that I encountered. They are a must have if you are getting mixed up in the mud. Absolutely, amazing condition specific tire. Ran them at under 20psi and got them to air up tubeless with a pump. No air leakage. Awesome.

Now here it comes. Wait for it, wait for it....

BTW

Gonna hang with the Iowegians

Next stop on the Charly Tri midwestern tour. This has always been one of my favorite races (raced it 7 or 8 times) of the year and I have been disappointed by not being able to attend for a long while. Fun course, fun crowds, great organisors, and big food spread after! Then the week after is this.

Those trails have changed a lot since I rode them last several years ago. I got to witness that after trashing around down there for a couple of hours the day after the Rök w/Kuske (a favorite for the win if you ask me). Yeah I did. It wasn't too bad except for the steeper climbs, but I was definitely hurting some. The double header left me a little tired for a couple of days. What does not kill you....


Sometimes, we all need a nap.
BTW

Lengthy

My Ragnarok 105, the long version.

More pics to come when available.

Prerace:

I was fighting a cold leading to the race. Saturday morning I woke at 4:30am feeling like poo. Headache, sniffles, very tired from little sleep the night before. Took off from the house at 5:30am, STRONG coffee in hand, and with a stop in Zumbro Falls planned (the halfway point and where we would pick up our second set of directions). Dropped off a gallon jug of water and went to Red Wing to register. Crappy radio did not help how I was feeling, but then I started playing around with the CD changer that has sat used for months. Soon, I was jamming to some old school gangsta rap from Eazy-E (warning: lots of vulgarity) and feeling like an O.G.. Signed in, met the organisers, got the bike ready, chatted with fellow riders, and figured out what to wear. The valve on my front wheel was acting goofy, but seemed to be fine after I messed with it.

Race:

The Start, tale of woe, 105 miles to go: The start was conversational until Chris Skogen got to the front and drilled it. We all lined up behind and followed. Four miles into it we were about to start the first climb when I realized that I had almost no air left in the front tire thanks to a faulty valve. I sprinted clear of the group and pulled over to attempt my own Nascar pit stop. My original goal for the race was to try for a top placing. That had now changed. Now I wanted to work my tail off and see if I could make contact with the front group again, knowing full well it would hurt me the rest of the race. This was now a day for a super hard training effort. So off I went at a full on TT pace. Up the first hill, down the back, up the second hill, down the again, and onward to the third hill. During this time I was full on the gas, passing lots of riders, forearms on the tops of the bars whenever possible to go aero, out of breath, burning a lot of matches; ie. hurting. Up the third climb of the day I caught back onto the group after about 8 miles of chasing. We then went down a super sketchy minimum maintenance downhill that would have been tricky on a mountain bike. I struggled to get the body to drop down from 5th to 4th gear. It either wanted to keep going hard or super easy.

Back with the front, worked over: Well the legs were hurting. I tried to eye up those in the group that was about 12 strong. I am not good with identifying riders, but I knew that I needed to keep an eye on Charlie Farrow, Heath Weisbrod, Tim Ek, David Pramann, Larry Sauber, Brandt Elson, and local Jim Palmer based on how they were riding. We would continue on with some riders starting to fall off the back, Tim flatting, and about 3 riders sprinting for the remaining KOM points. I spent my time trying to recover from my earlier effort.

Leading the front group a few miles before the halfway point. Pic taken from here.


Halfway point, getting in a flow, 55miles to go: This was a race. It is never good to lose time, so I had my strategy going in to get our second half of notes and stocking up on supplies. Rolling towards Zumbro Falls with about 7 others, I removed my camelback and almost fully took off the cap. I rolled up to the checkpoint quickly so I could grab my notes early and not wait behind others. Grabbed my stashed jug, filled up the camelback, stashed the arm warmers and empty gel flasks, reloaded the directions in the map case, and off I went. It seemed only Charlie Farrow was quicker with the transition and the others were still messing around. Charlie waited up for me and we started out our own 2 man TT; 30 second pulls, look back for riders, and hope not to see anyone.

Second half, a good way to end a race: We could see 2 riders way back at one point before we descended into Millville. We kept up our TT action and built on what we hoped was the race winning break. Twenty five miles into the second half, I thought that Charlie may be struggling a little. This was confirmed when I had a 20 foot gap at the top of a medium sized hill. We were high up at that point and had a full on headwind. Despite not wanting to solo it for what would be roughly 30 miles, there were perfect conditions to escape. So instead of waiting up I stayed on the gas, hoping to build a gap. It worked. Rolling through Lake City I could not see Charlie. A wrong turn (completely my fault) saw me lose a couple of minutes leaving Lake City, but still ahead. That last 30 miles were spent going as fast as I could considering my previous efforts and all of the climbing. I was very worried about another flat as I only had a patch kit left, and no tube. Steep uphill sections were starting to really hurt, but I could manage fine on everything else. With 10 miles left I rolled past Deb Carson's house and got to yell out to her as she enjoyed the day out on her porch. I knew the area was extremely hilly still and figured there was at least 1 big climb left, probably 2. Sure enough with 5 to go I could see the second climb. The route had one last kick in the pants left, and the last 150 meters of that climb were very, very steep. I had not touched the one bottle I had all day, so I dumped it at the bottom of the climb to get me that extra 1/4 of a second over the rise. No doubt many would walk on that last section. Down the next hill and into Red Wing I rolled. Anyone in town at that time would have seen a smiling idiot rolling by on his way to Colville Park for the win.

The equipment, cause you asked:
This year I am riding for the 29er Crew (and Velorochester still) on Gary Fisher bikes. So the for the race I chose my Gary Fisher cyclocross bike. I have people try to tell me that this is actually a Trek XO-2 with the downtube poorly relabeled as a Gary Fisher. Not sure where they get that from as you can clearly see in the pictures it is obviously not relabeled. Either way, both bikes are awesome. The Bontrager parts throughout worked top notch and those Race X-lite wheels stayed true from the day I built the bike. Front gearing was a 39/53 combo. Rear was a custom tuned 12-30 cassette. Rubber for the day was the Michelin Jet tire. Though it is labeled as a 30c, it measures as wide as everyone else's 35c tire. Rolls very fast. The one caveat with that tire is that is has little traction, so those without much experience (like off road riding) may lose traction some when standing on climbs and certain corners. I had no problems.







Hope to have more pics as they become available.

Notes:
-Took in about 1800 calories only from EFS shot gel.
-Drank roughly 100-120 ounces of water.
-Finished in 6 hours and 6 minutes.
-Average of about 17.2 mph (that is with flat repair and course deviation)
-So far I have not gotten sicker, which is not what I expected.
-Yeah, and you should work now.

Ragnarok 105

Very quick summary. More to come.

Felt like crap this morning.
Start was fast.
Flatted 1 mile into it.
Chased back.
About six of us roll into the half point.
Hooked up with Charlie Farrow out of the halfpoint.
Gapped the rest of the field.
Thirty miles to go gapped Charlie.
Soloed the rest of the way for the win.

2 days in a row?

Just going to type random crap...

I am sick. Zicom, vitamins, water; all down the gullet. Healthy for this weekend?

Last year, I thought about trying to upgrade to semi-pro. Do I deserve it? I would argue no, but I had some results in enduro races that may have made the difference. Only reason for me to upgrade would so I could say I was semi pro, no other reason. Well, this year USA Cycling changed the categories and all semi pros got upgraded to pro. That would have been funny to say I was pro, but then people would expect something of me at races. I would only disappoint.

LOCKED IN.

Another pic of the hard tail for this year.

Some pet peeves:
-People that are too lazy to put their shopping carts in the corral in the parking lot. It is four feet away, walk your butt the distance.
-Cigarette smoke. I don't care if you smoke, I just don't want to breath it in.
-Buying bred dogs when so many great dogs are put to sleep each day in pounds.
-When people don't confront obvious problems.
-When racers yell at others because someone held them up for 2 additional seconds. Dude, chill out. Your sponsor will still give you 10% off your next purchase no matter how you finish and you are a mid pack sport rider that will never see a paycheck from racing.
-When people listen to the media. Because of them this recession is far worse off (my opinion). Why? All the talk about now is how we are all broke and have to cut back or die. They are there to get ratings and the best way to do that is scare tactics.
-People that physically or sexually abuse another living creature. I have never punched someone in the face, but could easily break that streak with someone like that.
-People that own several dogs, that sit in a kennel outside all year.
-You getting paid to work when most of your time is spent surfing blogs.

I CUP

Long time no bloggy. New post, in sections.

Going on the Rag:
My first race is this weekend. The Ragnarok should be interesting as in the fact it is 105 miles of gravel. I am confident of my ability to finish it, but curious as how I stack up physically. This is significantly different in physical demand and strategy compared to my experiences in 12 hour races.

Getting Dirty:
I have been out on one of my Paragon now a couple of times (the working man's Superfly). First was a group road ride and then off road a few times. I still have to transform the Rig from winter beater to single speed beast. Also, the Hi-Fi is in need of some loving to get that fully functional as well. Just too busy. So far, I LOVE THIS BIKE, no fooling.



Training:
Going well, feeling strong. In fact, the strongest I have ever felt for this time of year. How I feel and how I race could be 2 very different things.

Review- Rhythm Pro Wheels:
I thought I would post up a review of the wheels I am running this year. At only 60 grams heavier than the Race X-Lites(1800 grams total), my Rhythm Pros are the bizzle my nizzle. I tried these wheels out on a 26 inch bike and it made it ride so much better that I decided to roll them on my big wheels. A 28mm instead of 24mm wide rim allows me to run 10 psi lower tire pressure without tire squirm and give the tire more volume ( I am running around 20 psi now). The bearings are probably the smoothest I have ever felt. They could go on for days. Super easy to set up tubeless with just a pump. The first couple of rides I would keep letting air out until I could feel the rim make contact with the ground. Add a couple of psi and it is go time. I notice NO additional weight, but immense ride performance gain. Better traction, nice and stiff, fast acceleration, and the ability to forget about the smaller undulations in the trail when riding, especially standing, make these wheels my all time favorite. In fact, I am not converting my Fox shock to 100mm because I feel I don't need it anymore. I can not say enough good things about converting to the wider rim. I have ridden lighter wheels, and would never go back, too much lost in ride quality.

These wheels make me faster.



Sick:
The wife is sick, baby is sick, and I am hoping I don't get it. I have a race this weekend remember?

The Office:
I was at the cabin enjoying the Northwoods Thursday thru Monday. I missed The Office, but we watched both episodes last night. I understand the need to develop a storyline for the ongoing shows, but I wish they would concentrate on making it funny again. One word to describe the last several shows, disappointing.

Work:
You should get back to it.

Riding TI style. Lot-o-pics.

Invite went out, 2 others accepted. The goal, to Wabasha and back on the hilliest route that could be done on gravel. Just trying to be all that I can be for the Ragnarok and TI. We'd pass by Millville, Theilman, and Dumfries on our way. BD, J-No, and myself arrive at the prescribed time of 5am despite it being only 24 degrees and roll out,.. BD had a hard time breathing in the cold weather and turned back at Millville, leaving J-No and I to carry the torch. We would climb and descend into valleys over and over again. Leaving our legs tired and our body heat fluctuating from the constant change in speed and effort. It is easy to forget to eat and drink on rides at this temp, and we both full victim to that. All in all a great ride, fantastic training, and a fun time. Now just to put the riding to use.

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The Garmin stayed off as it did not charge overnight, but was there to make sure that we did not get lost (we brought no maps). Thanks to Google Earth, I was able to pull up elevation on our climbs.
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Some stats:
Start temp was 24 degrees.
Turn around temp was 23 degrees.
Ending temp was 34 degrees.
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4 climbs between 400 and 450 vertical feet.
3 climbs between 350 and 400 vertical feet.
Several climbs of over 100 feet.

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Start time 5:00am
End time noon.
Actual ride time about 6.5 hours.

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Total calories consumed, 1500.
Total calories that should have been consumed, about 2000.
Total water consumed, about 90 ounces.
Total water that should have been consumed, about 150.

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Total distance a hair over 90 miles.


Some pics.

About to descend into Millville.

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Then there were 2.

Cresting the top of the hardest climb of the day into the sun rising. This climb was close to 450 feet, and incredibly steep the entire way. I could not sit for more than a couple rpms in my lowest gear, 39-27, on this climb. Stand, stand, stand.

They always hype up these roads in the races, so we gobbled those up as well.

When the riding gets tough, J-No gets rolling.

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A brief shortcut to our next hill had us on 4 wheeler trails...

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...and bushwacking our way through brush only to hop some streams.

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Coming out of our one stop at Wabasha I saw this. At this point it is close to 8:30 in the morning and we have been rolling for 45 miles.

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Saw this jackass.

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Bobcat tracks?

Another climb of 400+ ft.

So that was that. Good times.

BTW.

O.M.G.

Warning: Insanely Cute Link

Non-Bike Frustrations

Alright, so we had 2 units in our rentals getting new tenants. Lots of work needed this week in a rush. So I was up late many nights taking care of this:

Unit #1, One bedroom (+ den), Basement Apartment:
Filthy!! Black toilet (was white), a layer of scum on the floors, and lots of painting needed. The fridge had some type of very thick dark substance that had oozed from the freezer, all through the fridge, covering the seals, and the floor- looked gross, smelled worse. After a couple of hours, 409, and bleach the fridge was done. The floors (all tile) took a couple of cleanings to look good again. Toilet was actually pretty easy with the industrial ZEP bowl cleaner we had.

Unit #2, Three bedroom, Otherside of our twinplex:
We live on one side of a twinplex and rent out he other. The tenant did a good job of cleaning except for getting her dog's hair off of the floor. My list of chores here though included replacing a sink bowl that had been shattered some how, minor painting, steaming carpets (Becky actually did this), and resanding the hardwood floors (needed to be done for a long while, and takes a long time to do).

This was all to be done while working around staying home with Abi, teaching 4 indoor cycling classes, and trying to get my riding in. Needless to say I did not get my full "hours" in, but got pretty close. Sleep was in short supply, but after 11 hours of nappy time Saturday night I feel good again.

The kick in the pants? Both tenants said they wanted to move in ASAP. Well, after working my tail off late into the night to get it ready, the tenant for unit #2 said, "oh, I guess we are going to move in Friday". I could have gotten so much more sleep and not been so worn out, but that is life. Arghhhhh. Both had signed leases to move in about April 1st, but then pleaded to move in early (while paying the prorated rent).

Now, I am chilled, drinking coffee, and watching my daughter sleep in her swing. You? You are reading blogs, wasting time, and avoiding work. Maybe you should get off the internet for awhile.

Useless update.

Just arrived back from the land of cheese last night. Abi wanted to see her Mom's side of the family.

Got my first true road ride in. Did my best to redline it with those that can hammer on the "drop the doc" ride out of Dousman, WI. Got to meet and then work with fellow mountain biker Nathan Guerra (5th overall in WORS). Together we tried our best to hurt those that claim the road as their stomping grounds. Gotta say, I was not hating how hard I could push it for this time of the year. Nathan and I would extend the ride by ourselves, hold hands, and talk about our feelings afterwards. He is a good guy to know.

What else, what else? Ummmmm, weather is supposed to be in the 60's today. Abi, Nina, and I plan on rocking the Bob stroller this afternoon. The trails might be rideable this weekend. Gotta get the taxes done today. Need to pick up a printer. Groceries have to be gotten. Are you bored yet? It's your own fault for reading this waste on work time, so BTW.

Other thing

Guess who is in the Ragnarok 105 now?

A lot of begging, bribes, and sob stories go a long way. I honestly had missed the cutoff for the postcards because I was to preoccupied with my new child. Been trying to contact them for a long time, finally got through. I was signed up last year, but had to DNS because of a knee injury.

Looks like a stacked field. Ready to ride?

BTW

I am cooler than I thought.

I am cleaning the house and I knew the best stage of Paris-Nice is on. Got the laptop to pull up streaming video, then plugged that into the TV. Poof, I am watching bike racing

BTW

Velonews again?

Looks like I made Velonews...again.
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Velonews Race Feature
Tri Takes Heated Classics Win



By Darryl Philbin







Paris-Nice, Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Gent-Wevelgem, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège are often what comes to mind when spring classics are mentioned. Riders can make or break their season with good results here. We caught up with Charly Tri after an astonishing win in another spring classic.
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Velonews: Charly, how do you feel?
Charly Tri: I am tired. I have been riding a lot.
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VN: So I am guessing this win was a shock.
CT: Oh yeah. I was actually not planning on racing much less doing well, but a teammate encoraged me. I couldn't be happier with the result.
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VN: Tell us a little about you latest victory.
CT: Well, it was the first group road ride I went on this year. There was about a group of 8 that had been shrunk to 7 by the finish; the world famous Salem Corners Town Sign. Two riders started to ramp the speed early and I just wanted to test my legs. I launched with a long distance left to the line. I accomplished my goal of surprise and got a gap. I was able to hold that gap despite a hard charge for the riders behind. I had good sensations for the finish.
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VN: You say this without mentioning your unusual ride.
CT: Yeah, I was rolling the big wheels.
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VN: The big wheels?
CT: I was rocking out one of my Gary Fisher 29'ers.
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VN: That seems unusual for a road ride.
CT: Well, we have been doing a lot of testing. It seems that 29'er's ability to crush it is not limited to the dirt. That, combined with a studded front tire gave me loads of confidence for the sprint.
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VN: A studded front tire?
CT: Yeah Darryl, you got a problem with your hearing? There are big lugs on there to chop up the air. My goal is to make as much "dirty air" behind me so that others have a hard time drafting. That is why I was more upright then the others as well. It is all about creating dirty air.
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VN: Wow, never heard that one. So your schedule this year is not focused on the road, and we suspect we may not see you there much of the year. Assuming a heads up sprint, how do you think you would fare against the likes of Boonen and Cavendish.
CT: Well, let's put it this way. Until they start riding a real bike, they better not race against me. Just like the guy who got second at this race. I think his name was Kuske or something.
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With that Charly went back home to watch his daughter, but we were able to get a picture of his race winning ride.

Some tech highlights:
Frame: Gary Fisher Rig, but with gears. Charly kept mum on why.
Rear wheel: Lower level bontrager hub with a cheapy rim. "It was a recovered tacoed wheel", says Charly. "I am surprised it is not destroyed yet".
Front tire: Nokian Studded tire. Designed to chop up the air to make it dirty. Charly's theory is that the dirtier the air is behind him, the harder it is to draft.
Yellow No Name housing: Charly says that was a key as well. It is so cracked and corroded that he was afraid to take it out of the smallest cog for the sprint. It takes him a good 30 seconds to get it to shift in the back.





_______________________________________

BTW

Pictures

Riding the trainer together. Oh, and you looked.


Yup, still got the original Jo Mama jersey circa 1996. Nothing like making up a team and then proclaiming you are on the midwest regional squad. The hands? They are "gang letters", M and W (for Mid West). I was not the only one rolling around in this jersey. Gotta have teammates.

All stars gotta have a number on the back, right? Note the pins still on from some race.

And welcome Lilah Kurke into the world. Regionally, we are trying to breed the next generation to take over for the Luna Chix. Abi's training is much farther along though.

So this week is a "rest" week. My body thanks me. My sore throat thanks me. My wife thanks me. Now, hurry up and read those other blogs before the boss sees you.

Another Garage Sale

Prices include shipping to lower 48 states. No shipping? Then you'll get a better price. charlytri at yahoo dot com

I have a Cannondale Road Tandem with about 500 miles on it from 2001. I have to get it out of the garage, dust it off, take pics, and price it. I think it is a md/sm. E-mail if interested.

EDIT: THE CASSETTE, DER, AND SHIFTERS HAVE BEEN SOLD.
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Bontrager Race Lite Seatpost. 27.2mmX400mm. 5mm setback. $40





New, never mounted Continental Mountain King Tire with Supersonic casing. 26X2.2. I believe the weight was about 475 grams. $40

Bontrager XXX lite riser bar. 630mm wide. Some use. Small scratching where the brake mounted. $90

Trek 2008 69'er geared hardtail. $1,050.

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Frame, size 17.5"Alpha Red Aluminum w/internally and externally relieved head tube, hydroformed top tube, bi-axial down tube, wishbone seat stay, hydroformed chainstays, forged and relieved disc ready dropouts Some scratches on non drive side down tube from transporting, see pic.

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Front Suspension, Fox F29 100RL w/air pressure, rebound, lockout, alloy steerer, 100mm, 51mm offset
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Wheels, Bontrager Race; 29" front, 26" rear, Tubeless

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Tires, Maxxis Ignitor 29X2.1" front, Bontrager ACX 26x2.2" rear; 120tpi, folding Some wear on the rear, both set up tubeless

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Shifters, Shimano Deore LX, 9 speed

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Front, DerailleurShimano Deore LX

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Rear, DerailleurShimano Deore XT Low Normal

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Crank, Shimano FC-M543-SK, 44/32/22, Hollowtech arms, integrated pipe spindle Brand Spanking New

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Cassette, SRAM PG970 11-34, 9 speed Brand Spanking New

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Pedals, n/a

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Saddle, Bontrager Race Lite, superlight hollow cromoly rails Brand Spanking New

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Seat PostBontrager Race Lite Brand Spanking New

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HandlebarsTitec Pluto 1.0 Carbon Bar, superlight
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Grips, Bontrager Race Lite Brand Spanking New
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Stem, Bontrager Race X-Lite, 7 degree, 31.8mm, 110mm

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Headset, Cane Creek ZS-2 w/cartridge bearings, sealed

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BrakesetAvid Juicy 5, hydraulic disc, 160mm front (optional 185mm), 160mm rear rotor

B. T. W.

Hey there

Too lazy to double post.

I jacked up my wrist/finger/hip after sliding out on some black ice. Nice swelling and large bruise. Pretty sure nothing is broken. Got sick at the same time so took sometime off the bike.

Rant#1
Went shopping yesterday. I hit up Sam's club. It was busy, but damn! All those fat people just hone in on any samples. I seriously had to ask 4 people to move just so I could get by one stand. Once they see a sign of food they put their blinders on to everything else going on around them. Not sure what they were serving, but I am sure it was deep fried.

Rant #2
I have watched the TV show "The Office" way too many times. TBS is rerunning older shows, but here is the rub. They edit out a second here and there in order to put in more commercials. It is sad when I know every line in the show.

Rant #3
There are way too many cool races I want to do this year, primarily this fall.

Later, now back to work.