Skiing on Duck creek

Merry Christmas everyone! I am pretty sure my kids are officialy spoiled. I think we have 6 zhu-zhu pets and a whole village for them to live in now. Earlier this week I decided to go skiing on duck creek to the bay. I was waiting till the snowmobiles were on it before I risked it. After struggling thru the deep snow behind my house and, finding a place to get down the bank I was off. I went up to Pamperin park and turned around and headed all the way out to the bay. I broke trail the whole way and it took 2:45 hours round trip. I was tired. My wife had to work today (christmas). So I waited until she got home and then skied out to the bay. I just skiied in snowmobile grooves and made much better time. It only took 1:45 this time round trip. It was almost like skiing in grooves but, you had to look for tracks to follow. I'm no expert but, it loooked like you could skate ski on the middle. It was around 20' wide of pretty smooth packed down snow. Its a fun place to ski and its a change of pace from the camp. Thats the pulliam power plant from the bay. And the other picture is of Long Tail looking north. See ya outside.

Be Careful what you wish for!

Well one of the best blizzards I've seen in awhile came thru and dumped plenty of snow. I went skiing this evening around my neighborhood. The first picture is of duck creek behind my house. I'm hoping to get some skiing on it once it firms up better. See ya outside.

Where is the Rest of it?

Kinda jonesing for some white stuff.

New Team

Friday Night

I needed to start planning for the upcoming season so I went down to the Bike Hub to get started. I brought a 6 pack of this and left with a set of these and a appointment for this. The skis a re more of a cruiser/backcountry ski. I am not going to do the berkie and I wanted a ski I could break trail with. I'll probably have more on that later when we get snow/really cold weather. I also brought my road bike in for a professional tune up. New cables, guides, cassette, bar tape and maybe chainrings. We'll see how the bearings look. I wouldn't mind a set of ceramic bearings. A new road bike is not in the cards. I probably will ride my '06 for at least a few more years. Also I will not be getting this. Unless Fast Mark wants to give me his hint hint. :) I probably will be buying this for my mtb. Thats probably all I will buy this winter. After the Bike Hub I felt like I had to do something. So I went and worked out at the Y for about a hour and a half. Little Yoga on FITtv today and I feel pretty good. Just waiting for it to snow...

Thoughts on Yoga.... Continued

Coupla pictures of where I am taking a class and the teachers there.

So why Yoga? Last year I felt kinda like a piece of metal that was cooled to quickly. Strong yet brittle. This was brought on by years of work/excercise with little to no stretching. I was always kinda interested in it just to improve my flexibilty. After jumping into racing with no prep I was very sore last fall. So when I recieved a invite I jumped at it.

What are the benifits of Yoga? I was just interested in touching my toes. But, it turns out yoga is good for other things. It is good at stress relief. You work your core even when you are sitting still. You practice breath control. You gain more body awareness. Your body feels more flexible after just a few minutes of class. You find out you can stand on your head. The levitation while meditating is cool too. J/K

I gotta tell you I did not expect to head stands my first class. So far its fun but, after I feel like throwing up. I don't get that with the shoulder stand though. I guess I would call it a core class where you stretch and practice breathing all at the same time. Some of the poses are hard but, you control how hard you make them. So far I like the class and probably take some more. I don't know if it will help in a race or not. But, I think it will make your core very strong which helps you go faster.

Couple of other thoughts. I realized most of the stretches I have been taught/ read about in magazines have some basis in yoga. Which makes sense since yoga is 2000 years old and modern sports medicine is only about 50 years old. Also at least in the beginner class I am taking the remind/show you how best to position your body during the poses. For example the reminded us to not arch our back to much when doing bridges because just a inch one way uses more back muscles which doesn't strengthen you core. Strengthening the core is the whole point of the class for me. Strong core=pushing harder on the pedals=faster lap times=less injury.

Time to start planning for next year. I am not going to lift like last year. I felt like it was somewhat a waste of time. "The only way to get fast on a bike is to ride your bike." -Rebecca Cleveland I think. Plus I know with my job I am keeping my leg strength up. See Ya Outside.
Oh yeah.
Namaste.

Reforestration Rambles...

I woke up Saturday morning and thought what to do? TV said rain was coming, better ride early if at all. So I decided to go out to the camp. I got out there by 830. Evidently other people had the same idea as me. There were at least 8 cars by the trail entrance. Today was all about just riding and thinking about life. Thought I would think about the last year since the season is over. Evidently I didn't have much to think of since I pretty much just rode. The only conclusion I came up with is. No matter how much work you put in front of yourself, you will get through it if you keep on plugging away at it. I've pretty much been relaxing since we moved into the new house. Just trying to enjoy it and spend time with my family. I can't make up for not doing much with them this summer but, we've been having fun together. Someone asked me how I found time to ride with a family. The only answer I have is you make time. You either ride early or late or at nap time. Otherwise you realize your 25 pounds overweight and your not happy. So today at the camp I ran into the duathalon organizers from the Ashwaubenon Nordic Ski Team. The said the course is the same as last year. Except you lap thru because they have chip timing this year. They said they moved it up a week this year so they didn't overlap with the Iceman. If anyone has time I suggest they do this race. It was a seriously fun race for me. Other than that, the newest issue of Bicycling has some diffrent stretches I hadn't tried before. They made my back feel better. Its probably sore because I hadn't stretched in about 4 months. A lot of things go out the window when your building a house. :) Going to blow up my new excercise ball when I get home from Family night at the Y.
See Ya outside.

Wigwam Wipeout

Sorry about the late blog post. Tired after the race and busy week at work. I think we stayed at the park till 530 watching the awards and enjoying some oktober "fest".
The race was fun, I still had bronchitis for the race. I don't know if that helped much but, I felt faster during the race. I Pre rode on saturday and enjoyed the course changes. I was suprised by how dry the course was after our biblical summer. The equalizer felt easier except at the top it was very loose. I didn't get a very good spot on the start so I just hung back and rode with the guys around me. I had a good couple of laps just kinda staying where I was at not really passing many people. Than I took a curve just before the roots of evil and wiped out on the loose dust on hardpack. BAM down I go on my chest and belly with my face in the dirt. I sat up and tried to catch my breath half stunned. I got a good 6" scratch on my stomach to show for it and a bruised shoulder. What happened? I think I just slid out on the loose dust. This happened to me 3 times during the race. I have been riding the XR1 bontys all season and noticed the same thing early this summer. The only thing the seem to be good for is tacky soil conditions. I think I am done with these tires except maybe for cheq 40. It could just be my lack of skills too but, its time for new tires. Other than that got back on and finished the race. Only rode the equalizer once. I had to keep putting a foot down right at the very top. It was a fun day and I didn't mind the scrape. I am motivated to start training for next season right now. I'm not going to though. Hopefully I see you at the duathalon at camp.

Bear Paw Breakdown

Headed up to Bear Paw last weekend to see some friendly faces and hopefully be more competive. I have managed to ride a little bit more lately. So I was hopeful for the race. I prerode on Saturday and felt good. I had a little cough so I only did 1 lap. Then I went to Family night at the Y with my Kids and sat in the Hot tub. Best race prep ever. Sunday I had a good long warm up on the road mostly with J-Vog. Relaxed till Don said Gooo. Then I hit it. Had a good start, like I have been this year. It seems like I have lost any power. And I stayed in the top ten till the bottom of the long descent. By that time my lungs were burning. From the cold? More likely just lost quite a bit of aerobic capcity over the summer. So it took the rest of the 1st lap to recover. The second lap I felt great. I zoomed up the hill and motored thru most of the second lap. The third lap I felt great up the hil and then the legs lost the power. Kinda sad for that short of a race. I think the consensus on Bear Paw is that it is a tough but very fun race. I would rather race their twice then do Kewaskum once. I am looking forward to Sheboygan and hope to do a little better there. The new house is wonderful and I live a lot closer to AMS hill. Hill repeats=fun. Hoping to do the duathalon at the camp. Don't think I will do any cyclocross races just because most are a long way away. Looking forward to getting my road bike pimped by the Bike Hub this winter. See Ya outside.

Reforestration Ramble

Quick update. Life has been busy. Between working out of town quite a bit. And then working 12 to 14 hour days on the house. The good news is everything should be pretty much done this weekend. We move in the 3rd so happpy days are here again. So that m eant for the race today, I literally haven't touched a bike since the short track at the Subaru cup. I don't what made me think I could jump into a Comp race after not riding but, I did. I knew on the leadout I was in trouble. I couldn't hold any wheels in front of me and I was already with the slower guys. I just switched to survival mode and put it into a pace I thought I could hold for 3 laps. Which ended up being about 3 hours and 10 minutes. Yep that means I was DEAD last. Hopefully it makes me a better person for the experience. I didn't quit. Hopefully I can ride more soon. After the race I went with most of the Performa crew and had some drinks at Townline. With cheese curds, best recovery food ever. God I love riding my bike.

Wednesday Short Track "Race" Report

I think we had nine people show up for the weekly throwdown at the Camp. It must not be that tough because one guy was even competing on a singlespeed. We did the usual full lap of the singletrack then went back to the lot for refills. Then we went back and did a practice lap of the pink loop you can see on map. Had to move a small tree. Then Swede drew the finish line and we were all set to "race". Shoe told me to call it so I looked around and yelled GO. I got the jump on everybody and lead themto the base of the big hill. Then I kinda got swarmed and had to work to hold wheels. The first lap was fast and I thought I was getting dropped but, I managed to get back on. The rest of the laps on the straightaway were kinda sedate. No one waanted to work it seemed. So we all coasted down the gradual hill. I was at the back most of the race which was kinda hard because of the yo-yo effect. Everyone slows down then sprints to catch back up. SO I moved up on the last two laps. I pulled a little on the second to last and then the last lap I tried to be the first down the hill into the hard lefthand corner. Swede decided he was going to sprint me for the top of that hill. I pretty much blew up right then. I managed to hold his wheel after the corner mostly because I took a better line then him. After that I knew I would be slow up the big hill and I fell from second to last. After that it was just try to hold wheels to the finish. Swede and Tyson ended up sprinting for the win with Swede taking it by a half wheel. J-Vog and shoe were right there too. I was about 20 bike lengths back by then. It was a good night. I think we almost had spectators at one point. Maybe next week we switch it up and go backwards? It definitely gets you ready to race. See ya outside... At Nordic Mtn?

Bad Night

I was looking forward to riding Kewaskum. I had a nice easy ride at the camp yesterday. Just concentrated on being smooth on the singletrack. I got home and started to feel weird. By bed time I was seriously sick and I was up all night shivering and sweating. Felt better today but, kinda weak so I pulled the plug on the race. Hopefully get some good rides in this week though.

Not Much New

I went and got a nice ride in the rain last night. I knew it was going to rain I just wanted to ride. Rode to the new paved end of the FRT. Nothing super special just goes farther now. Where it crosses the East river is kinda peacful. That was my first ride since Wausau which is pathetic. But, thats my life this year just busy. Did a couple of nice hard efforts to remind the legs what they are in for sunday. Thursday I put the meter and panel on my house. I also installed 2 receptacles beneath the panel for temp power. Which is kinda standard. There was about 6" of water in my basement and it started raining, so it wasn't really fun. But, we threw some boards down and I had a ladder so I didn't get too wet. I'd show some pictures but, we wrapped the panel in plastic to keep it dry. So there isn't much to see. Next up, I think they are back filling around the foundation on monday. The carpenters are going to start putting in the floor trusses and laying down the decking tuesday I believe. My builder is guessing framing will be done around july 1st. With the roof to go on right afterwards. Which means I will start doing the electrical rough in about the same time. Luckily I am not doing the roof. I would have but, the subdivision requires a 8/12 pitch which is steeper than I want to work on. I'll have more pictures once it dries out more. SO what will happen sunday? I have no idea. We'll see how my legs respond to the lack of riding. Its not like its the first time this season either. I really wanted to race last weekend at the camp. Especially since its the home course. It looks like it was a pretty fun event. Well I had a relaxing weekend and it looked like the race was muddy. My bike was washed down and cleaned up really well after wausau, so I'm glad it didn't get muddy. Looks like low 70's and muggy for tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't rain. I wouldn't really mind if it did though. I am looking forward to Nordic mountain coming up too. It sounds like it will be the first real chance to see the MTB pros in wisconsin in like 10 years. SO for today easy ride some where on my MTB. See ya outside...

Got Hole?

YEP!

Wausau

Is it still the Big Ring Classic if you don't have a big ring? This was a seriously fun race. I prerode saturday with Jesse, Jeremy, Nate and Justin. Then it was back to Green Bay to hydrate for Sunday. With forceasts calling for temps in the upper 80s and a heat index of upper 90s it seemed like a good idea. I wasn't sure how I would do, I spent Friday Afternoon cutting down trees and clearing brush from lot. So my legs were sore. Sunday morning did the swim and hot tub combo and started feeling better. Got out there in time to start seeing how dusty conditions were in the sport race. Warmed up and tried stay zen at the start line. I didn't get a good spot at the start but, with such a long leadout it didn't matter. No one seemed to want to go to fast on the leadout so I moved up to about 10th and sat in. On the first big hill I moved up to 4th and after the wood chips I moved up to 2nd in my wave. Was doing ok in the singletrack until I bounced my wheel wrong and stopped. Boom 10 guys go buy including j-vog. Jump back in and start chasing like normal. Seemed to be doing ok on the climbs just have to work on my over the top effort. Tried to ride with other people but, for the most part I was busy passing people. I rode with the leaders from the 35+ wave for a while on lap 2 until I screwed up in the singletrack again. I didn't even put a foot down on the third lap. In hindsight I should have prerode more. I can learn singletrack but I have never been a natural at it. So I finished 15th overall and 5th in my age group. I am pretty happy with the results and I caught all but 2 of the guys that passed me. On a day that hot its probably the best I could have done. Want to say a big Thank You to my team mates for the cheering, the bullhorn and, the handups. Seriously whoever put my bottles in the cooler deserves many beers. When I got the first cool one on lap 2 I was in heaven. Congrats to the rest of my Team Mates on their great finishes too. Hope for clouds at Kewauskum. See ya outside...

Crystal Lake/Rabid Porcupin Attack/Low Water/Short Track Hurts/Lazy Weekend/Camelbak Issues

So very belated update. The Rhinelander Race went very well for me. I felt good during the leadout just tried to follow wheels and not blow up on the leadout. I started moving up after the first curves and sat around 10th climbing the hill. The nice thing was I knew I could have gone to the front if I wanted. In hindsight I should have because we started catching traffic at the hill. Did a nice pass on the super fast flowy section after the hills. Wish I had been first into the singletrack so I could use my superior single track Blocking skills. Rhinelander is awesome because there are so many easy places to pass. This was the most passing I had ever done during a race. efinitely helped the confidence. End of the firsst lap I was hammering so hard I almost hit the yellow tape across the doubletrack guiding us into the fresh cut single. Guess I should look up more? Fried my low back on the doubletrack lapping through but, I moved up quite a few spots. Caught one of Schiewsows and rode with him for a while. Got over excited at the end of the last lap and wiped out on the wood bridge. I got lucky and didn't get any splinter though. I was happy with my effort. As you can see by the pictures i also got charged by a angry porcupine. Had to slam the door in his face. He then got stuck between the screen and the door. There were quills everywhere. It was his fault for eating our deck and waking me up at midnight. The water was super low. The boat was almost hanging from the dock. The drought up there is really starting to show. So nice weekend. After that I didn't ride much. Did the wednesday ride at the camp. Which Shoe managed to subvert into a Short Track race. It was fun, the soil was so dry my tires weren't hooking up and I wiped out on a corner. Barrel roll with face plant. Got back up and started chasing. Caught the other Jesse after he hit a pole. Kept pushing and caught Tyson right before the end. Glad I kept pushing even after I couldn't see anybody. Good workout, if you want to max your HR. Didn't do much the rest of the rest of the week. Three trips up dickinson rd on Sunday. I think that must be the longest hill in our area? Takes me about 8 minutes to the #4400 mailbox. Rode my bike to the Bike Hub last night to have Tom look at the rear Hub. Disassembled the whole wheel and decided to order the new free hub. Trek kinda sucks with their warranty, they think nobody ever sells their bikes? It definitely is a design issue. The wheel is in good shape otherwise. Saw the Shoe last night rollerblading with his other of significinze. It was a nice night to ride on the trail. And I got to introduce the Top Fuel into the ways of a bike Path Ninja. Tonight if its dry I am going to Wausau to preride. Thats if I had remembered my cycling apperal. Sigh, with so much going on its hard to remember everything. Its too bad it was perfectly sunny over in wausau today. So I realized that my camelbak was actually forcing my head down while riding. And I was straining my neck to keep my head up. Has anyone else had this problem? Its too bad I like the camelback. I probably will be looking for some handups at wausau instead. See ya outside...

Funny Noises

So anyone who has ridden with me lately knows. My MTB has been making some loud clicking/pinging noises lately. As it turns out it was the pawls on the rear hub not releasing properly and slipping occasionaly. This was correctly diagnosed by the wonderful and friendly staff at the Bike Hub. So after figuring out how to take apart a press fit free Hub I cleaned and it up and relubed it with some new stuff. Hopefully that takes care of the problem. Had a nice weekend of riding. Saturday was out at the camp for some WEMS practice. Remember the race is only 5 monhts away! The sucky part about that is several groups of people came all the way from Minnesota thinking there was a race. Sunday was Hill Climbs out at scrays. Tried a new Route out. Old Martin to Sportsman, it took me about 6 minutes to climb. Dickinson road is still the best though. Sorry about the blurry photos my phone isn't good with close ups. Hopefully that solved the problem. See ya outside.

Iola...Sigh

Another beautiful sunday to ride my bike. And, another great event put together by the Don. I started the day with a few hopes of sucess but, these were quickly dashed after the first lap. I felt fine on the climbs, I just felt like I couldn't recover after them. I think this was mostly due to being off the bike for 2 weeks. It will be interesting to see how I do in the coming weeks if I can get more/any saddle time. It was still a fun and challenging course. I was standing in the start chute next to Bryan Frazier and remarked I was going to have to race my way in to shape. I guess he was right but, it is definitely painful. Well however my day went it was still better than this guys. Hopefully you'll see me outside training.

Confessions of a Bike Path Ninja

I love the Fox River Trail. Its just a nice peaceful picturesque place to ride your bike. It's a good place to people watch and avoid inatantive walkers. Plus it was exactly 20 miles to the end of the pavement and back so I could usually do that around 1 hour. Because sometimes thats all you have to ride. As an added bonus The Bike Hub and their friendly staff is right on the trail. Also for me it leads towards Scrays Hill. But, this year I haven't been on it once. Life has been so hectic I just didn't have time. Last year I was riding it before the snow drifts were gone. Well I changed that tonight and it was good. It was quite windy so not many people were out. Perfect conditions for some 4x2 intervals. I hadn't been on my bike for 11 days so it was perfect for getting my legs ready for Iola. I think I can finally relax for a few weeks anyway. The Home Depots are done, so hopefully I can get beat up on a few more group rides now. See ya at Iola?

Move Complete

New House.
Old House.
Thanks Buddy.

Last week

Been Busy. Still in the process of moving. Getting close to being done though. Still working on Home Depots at night. Thats going to end soon also. Tuesday did 2x25min intervals above a tempo pace. Wednesday did the Wednesday night ride. Pretty fast group showed up. Saw some faces I hadn't seen in a year or more. It was a fun ride. Felt competitive the whole time. Definitely wasn't the fastest person there but, thats ok. Learned I still can't sprint to save my life. Maybe I should get chased by dogs more? :) Sorry Steve about the last hills. I should have waited for you when I was off the back too. Went and visited my lot after the ride and felt good about the world. Thursday worked all day. Friday went to Bairds with the old Shoe and rode for about a hour and a half. It was some good times. Had clearance issues with the cleats on my new shoes. It was the first time I actually could not unclip. So I fell over 3 or 4 times. I think I have it fixed now. Still a chicken with the bridges. Just have to go there solo and make friends with them I guess. Sunday I met Shoe and Piontek at the Camp for some fast singletrack action. We also hooked up with Myles Beach for the third lap. It was kinda cool but, the speeds were high. It was near race pace for me in the singletrack. It was a good chance for me to practice my cornering and trying to stay on some ones wheel in the singletrack. Not sure how long we were there maybe 2 and a half hours? My HR monitor is broken need to fix it. This week rest and maybe another wednesday ride? Myles is looking fast this year watch him clean up the Junior X. Just sayin... See ya outside.

Singletrack with the Flyers and More Dirtervals

After spending the morning with the family I went out to the Camp to dial in my bike for the race season. When I got there the Flyers were just getting ready to go ride. They had just put 3 hours in fixing the trails. Which I forgot about completely. Sorry. So I paid for my annual liscense and rode the trails with those guys. We did a nice lap on the singletrack which felt great. After that I went and did 3x20min with 10min recovery between. A little above tempo pace 172-180bpm for me. Another spin around the doubletrack. It was a nice day to ride out there and the camp dried out quickly from all the rain and snow. Probably hit the road tomorrow morning, maybe bairds next week. These Home depots I am working on are screwing up my mondays and thursdays. The moneys nice tho. See ya outside.

Another Cyclist Down

Article

Kinda a sad subject I know. But, its just a reminder to tell your family you love them every day. In a way our sport sucks. I don't know any other where a car can hit you out of nowhere, while you are following all the rules. I hope this guy gets some serious jail time. It sounds like he owns a bar. Shouldn't he know better? Our state is way to lenient on drunken drivers. I'll be the first to admit that I have driven drunk myself. But, I learned from my mistakes. The state needs to learn too. This guy should get 10 years in prison minimum. And lose his drivers licence for life. If they prove he was drunk. We live in a state where a state assemblyman doesn't get thrown out after 3 drunk drivings in one year. I'm all for having a good time however you want. But, hurting innocent strangers deserves major jail time. Stay safe out there.

Dirtervals

Weekend update: Went for the Bike Hub ride on thursday. That was a fun fast ride lots of people who showed up. I would guess close to 50 people? It was nice to see if I could still ride up at the front. Took some good pulls and felt good. Friday I vegged because, after the Bike hub ride I had to work from 8 till 12:30. Then the wife worked and I had no time to ride. Saturday, I spent all day moving about half our stuff. Thanks for the help Erik but, you still owe me at least 4 more moves. Three more weeks then we have to get out. So sunday afternoon I went out to That Place North of Green Bay to do 3x20min intervals. I like to do them on the double track loop. I don't know if they have the same quality as on the trainer or a flat stretch of road but, I like to get out in the woods. It is as dry as bone. Like mid summer dry. Like don't drop a match or Smokey will kick your ass dry. So after I finished the intervals I hit some of the singletrack. That was fun too. Almost ran over that guy in the photos. Some him at the last minute and swerved. He was pissed after I carefully moved him off the trail with a stick. Don't know what he is, garter? Couldn't find any pics that matched him on the internet. If any of the 2 people that read this know, drop me a line. There were a lot of people riding out there but, I'm not sure if it is "officially" open. Didn't make the LBL ride because of the moving but, it sounded fun. See ya outside.

Week in Review

I ran into the Big Dog while unloading my ladder at Home Depot Thursday night. I had a small project there to take down and put back up 7 lights in their toilet display. This was a little bit different than what I usually do on the job but, was a nice change of pace. It was nice to get some money back from big orange. I must have spent 10k there over the last 8 years of home ownership. I did some lite spinning for ten minutes last night after work. Otherwise I have not touched my bikes since Sunday. Which is fine it was a slightly stressful, highly monotonous and, very tiring work week for me. The plan is to spin this morning, take a nap and test this afternoon. Only thing that might hold me back is a stiff neck. Plan is to ride Bairds Saturday. Noonish? Have to get my Bike back together. Many Thanks to The Bike Hub for their help in ordering parts for the 1x9 setup. Have to borrow shock pump and learn how to set up my bike. I noticed my rear shock was bttomed after riding Bairds last week.
Ride.

Longest Ride (So Far)

Met up with some Flyers at the usual spot. 10 oclock rollout ended up being 10:15 or so but, whatever. Kept nice pace crossing 29 and over a nice hilly course. Felt good to climb some hills. Didn't sprint for anything, really wanted to though. I knew I was going to put some good miles in. After stop at Hr-nis-ra and eating we set off for Kaukauna. My first trip this year. Other than than a 5 mile stretch due west into the wind it wasn't bad. Not sure if I took my fair share of pulls but, I wanted to make sure I would make it home. Stopped for some of the best French toast I've ever eaten. Whilst at the cafe I found out our home sold. Cool. Only two weeks. Rode with the Swede and the Shoe till De Pere. Then soloed down Broadway thru the ghetto to my home. I finished with 82.5 miles and 4:45 in the saddle. Kinda wished I had used some butt butter. My longest ride ever. Not sure if I want to do that again anytime soon. We'll see. Now things get interesting...

Bairds Creek is Good... Yeah

I met up with the Shoe and Seth Lenss near the 43 overpass Thursday around 5. I had heard the trails were rideable. Seth and I did a lap on the west side while waiting for Jesse. We thought things were bad over there. So we thought we try the high ground on the east side. It was even muddier back in the trees. Most hills were unrideable by me anyways. Seth didn't seem to be having any troubles. Hope I didn't hold him up to much. I still suck. It was a good time. The only dry spot was the big switchback hill right next to 43 on the west side of the highway. That was actually fun to ride. It was nice to get on a mountain bike again. Did pretty well out there except for the hill climbs. Which I will blame on the wet leaves, mud, not being able to clip in because of mud and, dry type tires. So for thursday it was around 1:30 for time. Tuesday I did 55 minutes of fast spinning. Wednesday 6x6 intervals just below LT for an hour 40min. This weekend I don't know? Sunday doesn't look that bad. Might try to get a long ride in. See ya outside. Buy my house.

Sunday

Schindel said ride so I was there. Where were you? Wenzlik, Shoe, Schindel and I rolled out a little after 9. We did the regular flyer route with a detour to Flintville thrown in. Got chased by some dogs on the cul-de-sac climb. By the time we crossed 29 the jackets were unzipped. It was a beautiful morning. We climbed AMS hill and zipped back across 29. I rode to HE-nis-ra and by the time we got to the park I had to book it back home to shower and meet our real estate agent before the open house. Finished with 2.5hours and some sore legs. After that we hit some open houses and visited with our builder? again. Then it was time for Chuck e Cheeses. We had a birthday girl to take there. That was more tiring then riding I think. Time to put kids to bed and then maybe spin for another hour or so. It twas a good day.

Race Ready (almost)

Still battaling a little bug. But, was feeling better today. So after doing a few things this morning and a little nap it was time to hit the trainer. I put in a hour 30 or so with 50 minutes at Tempo pace. After showering and feeding the kids it was time to bolt a few parts onto the bike. Did that and washed it up nice too. Degreased the chain and reoiled it with finish line dry teflon. I love this stuff it lubricates well but, doesn't attract a lot of dirt. It is also easy to clean off. So the race machine is almost ready for the season. I just need to order this chainkeeper. So hopefully I can get that in the next week or so. I'll have to pull the crank arms off again but, oh well. Practice makes perfect. I weiged it when I was done and still wet it weighed 23.4 #s. There really isn't anything else I want to do to the bike. Maybe if I had a some money to burn I would put this on. Or this. But, I don't so I'll have to make do. Now I have to figure out how to set up the suspension and work on getting faster. If its nice sunday morning I might try to get out early and ride. Maybe meet some Flyers at He-nis-ra. We'll see how I feel.

Sunday

Sunday was our first open house. Which means get out! So decided to do Wrightstown via the long way. Which includes some nice long hills. They seemed friendly enough at first. But, by the time I got to wrightstown I was having breathing difficulties. Which is not fun, lots of phlegm and trying to catch breath. I found out later there was a air quality advisory in place. Not sure if this was cause or lots of dry air on back to back days? I've felt like this before a little but always when I got home, not in the middle of the ride. So I had some raisin boxes and tried to feel better afte heading north. Nothing doing. It turned into a recovery ride for last 45 minutes or so. Legs are all right and I feel better now after eating. Finished with 3hr 15min. Not bad average hr 149 considering. Hope this makes me faster because that sucked. Guess I should beware when I think I feel fantastic about 45 minutes in. That gives me 5.5 hours for the weekend or so. No idea how many miles. Lets call it 90 for the heck of it. Someone please buy my house.

Where Have I Been?

These two photos are taken about three weeks apart. Well the wife dropped a bombshell on me about 5 weeks ago. She decided she didn't like the Green Bay schools and wanted to move to Howard. After thinking it over I was fine with moving. But, OMG I had a lot of work I had to finish to get the house sale worthy. Mostly it was stuff I had been putting off and living with. The biggest project was finishing the downstairs bathroom and plastering the garage. SO starting three weeks ago. Thats ALL I did was work on the house when I wasn't working. I was putting in 80 hour weeks easy. But, we got it all done. I put the finishing touches on today. I think I have 5 minutes of touch up paint tomorrow and we are done. Which is good because tomorrow is our first open house. I think this is the cleanest our house has ever been. I also found out that I need way less sleep then I thought I did. Though I those weeks kinda seem like a blur to me now. Time to quit thinking about house and start getting fast. So today I went for a ride with some of the Team. We went to wrightstown by way of some hills. Finished with 40miles or so. Averaged 156hr or so, the plan called for me to do tempo ride so I was at the front for my fair share. Tomorrow calls for three hours so I may go back there solo if the weather is ok. Went to the the bike shop on friday and order some more parts for my new mtb. Had to get it set up for 1x9 or change the name of my blog. Well for sure see you outside now. Enjoy it while you can.

Good Day

Realized I hadn't had eggs in a few months so I made myself a Omlete for Breakfast.
Then I went out to the camp and skied for two hours. The trails were perfect. The sun was shining. It couldn't get much better. It was so warm I almost took off my jacket by the end. Did beginner to oaks to maples. Watched a movie with the family and then finished with the 30 minuts of spinning. It was a good day.