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Happy MLK jr Day

2012-01-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

Had the day off from work. No compliants here, I felt like I needed a break after the last few weeks. I decided to go skiing today which quickly turned to a bike ride after realizing how nice it was outside. I headed down to Wrightstown and felt so good. I decided to ride all the way to Kaukauna. The sun was gently wapping me in the face thru the hazy January sky. It was a good day for a ride. The headwind was a little tougher than I thought it'd be but it wasn't bad. Toes and fingers started getting really cold. FYI if your toes go completely numb just get off and walk for 2 minutes. They perk right up. Got some good saddle time and more importantly outside enjoying the spring like weather. I have no complaints about the winter so far. I would like to ski more but, I haven't had to shovel much. Took the skiis up to Marquette last week for work and I might do so again next week. Lately just been spending more time with my Family. More than I would usually but, things have been a blessing in disguise. I have really enjoyed some of my visits. So what do you do if a Muskrat crosses the road in front of you? Take pictures of course! Thought those things hibernated? Hope life is treating everyone well.

Stump Farm Duathalon

2011-10-31T17:37:00.000-07:00

This the Third year of this event and every year it seems to get a little bigger. It serves as a fundraiser for the local cross county ski club. It also has a little bit for everyone as there is also 5k run and a 10 mile run. The 5k run to start the duathalon is mostly flat with some pretty steep kickers in there. It follows a part of The Maples skiing loop. It just serves a warmup and some burning in your legs before you start the bike portion. It took me 22:30 for the run and felt ok at the Transition. For me it always seems to take a few minutes to sort out how hard I can push the peddles after the run. My legs just want to take it easy for awhile. Eventually I convinced them to start moving and started catching people. The nice thing about a Duathalon is even if a runner kicks your butt in the run, you will almost always catch them on the bike. Especially a mountain bike race where I know the trails pretty well. I managed to catch 3 or 4 people before the first section of singletrack. For some reason I went into the singletrack and just felt like I was on fire. Carving the corners better than I usually do. It was a good thing too because my legs really didn't have the power today. I was ok but, I was passed by at least two elite guys and I knew I wasn't going to be pulling them back In. The first lap went well and I was feeling ok starting the second lap. By about the middle of the second lap I was getting tired and my low back was almost shot. I rode with a guy to the last section of the singletrack and jumped into it just before him. i was able to ride away from him in the twisty stuff after that but, didn't get much of a gap. I kept pushing it in the the corners trying to increase my lead. I noticed that another rider had caught the guy I had passed and they both were about 75yards back. The very last section of singletrack had some wide sweeping turns I couldn't really make any time there, so the gap stayed the same. I knew as soon as I got out of the single track I had to go as hard as I could. It was about a mile to the finish and I went as fast as I thought I could maintain. I looked back and the new guy was catching me. I just put my head down and kept pounding. I got on the finishing straight and the guy was getting closer and closer. There was a short hill the finish line was on and I just stood up on the peddles and cranked as hard as I could. I felt like I was going turtle speed. I crossed the line and he came flying by me. I beat him by 5 feet or so, whatever .5 seconds is. I literally had gray lines at the corner of my eyes. That was the hardest I went on a bike this year. So I ended up with 6th place overall and 2nd in my age group. Pretty happy with the result since there was some pretty tough competition there. Won a sweet Bottle of Maple syrup and enjoyed a great post race baked potato. Results are here. So thats it for bike races this year. Next up is the Turkey Trot and off season cross training. My Teammate Tyson Schwiesow did great taking 2nd in the Team Division with his Daughter. Results for them are here. Some other Members of Bike Hub/Specialized were off doing Cross Races in other parts of the State. Shoemaker continued his domination of the Cat 4s with back to back races wins. Good luck to everyone doing the Iceman. See ya outside...

End of Season Shout Out

2011-10-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

As my Season winds down, I just wanted to say Thank you to the Bike Hub/Specialized sponsors. The Bike Hub for all the Parts when I break my stuff. And especially Tom for being the best Mechanic in Wisconsin. Specialized for all the great parts that help me go fast and not crash. Tower Clock Eye Center for giving 20/20 vision. I visited them this season and the hooked me up with LASIK in September. Other than a little discomfort the first day, I think it was the best decision I ever made. Dr. Matt Thompson was very Professional and gave me all the facts to make my decision. The camp duathalon is coming up on Oct. 30th and that is probably the last bike race of the year for me. Lastly I have to say thanks to Don for putting on another great season of WORS. See ya outside...

Sheboygan

2011-10-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Fun race fun singeltrack. Lost my chain on the third lap. Broke the quicklink. Vogels and I had a draw on our blizzard bet.

Holy Schnikes! WORs #11 Bear Paw

2011-09-26T19:03:00.001-07:00

Wow that was my muddiest race ever. It rained pretty much all night getting the course into perfect condition for a mudbath. Cold wasn't a factor during the race even though it rained the whole time. I trashed my legs jogging the day before so I wasn't expecting much from this race. Sure enough I managed to be dead last up the start climb. Things started going better and I picked off a few people in the first doubletrack. Felt real confident in the singletrack with my Specialized Captains mounted front and rear. I was glad I had them too. Eventually things got so muddy I just started running the steep parts. I passed quite a few people that way the first lap. But after that my body started giving out and I started getting caught. The third lap was so bad I couldn't even keep a straight line on the doubletrack. Just got sucked all over the place. Managed to lay it down twice. Its so fun to just slide on your side and not be able to stop yourself. It was still fun and I love this race course. They really stepped up the course with some new singletrack. This is a Legit mtb race. Better than racing on mowed grass any day. My daughter also came and did her first official kids race. She did great and avoided two crashes. Just glad to share the things I care about with the people I care about. Hopefully I can get body to start enjoying jogging trying to get ready for this. Other than that hope to see everybody at Sheboygan. Looking forward to refreshments afterwards thats for sure. See ya outside...

Cheq 40 2011

2011-09-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

Well the 29th addition of this race is in the books. And I feel like I still have some unfinished business. I stayed in a cabin with with a mixed squad of Performa and Bike Hub riders and a few others. We got up to HAyward around noon on friday and prerode the finish before picking up our numbers. We had an awesome Ziti pasta feed the night before and headed to bed. We got up at 4:20 and went and staged our bikes. We had decent position around 250 riders back. We then chilled out before getting ready for the 10am start. The race started before the cannon went off which was a little anticlimactic, but funny. It was pretty mellow down Hayward's main street. Then it started getting faster, it was a little hairy going onto 77 but I was following Shoemaker in the gutter so it worked alright. Going up 77 was fast I was almost spun out in 1x9 but managed to keep up with Vogels and Shoemaker. By Rosies Field I was getting gassed and I let them ride away from me. Preferring to ride my own race. I had a fairly uneventful first half of the race. I was just trying to take care of myself and save my legs for after fire tower. I saw a water bottle get dislodged in go flying 10' into the air on one descent. I saw at least 3 tandem crashes. One of the in that huge Martels mudhole. They seemed to think it was funny though. Somebody crashed in front of me in the Lake Helane sand trap and i had to go into the pickers. My leg looked a little like Hoogerland's after that. I caught Shoemaker right before Firetower he said he was cramping. I made it up Firetower, but Shoe passed me back. I popped another gel and got ready to hammer to the finish. I was feeling pretty good. The guy around mile 28 said I came thru 161st which made me pretty happy. On the second rocky descent after fire tower I heard a loud ping and then my rear end got squishy. Flat! Crap! Oh well first flat in awhile. Got off and hit it with my CO2. Found the hole and flipped the bike to seal it with my stans. It sealed right up and away I went. Lost about 50 spots and the tire was still pretty low. The worst part was as soon as I got off my bike my legs locked right up. I went from feeling great to being barely able to pedal. And that was at the start of last part of the Berkie. Happiness was seeing the end of the Berkie. The rear tire was still low so I took it easy on all the corners so I didn't roll the bead. I ended up 360th. Not super happy with that but congrats to everybody who raced. Vogels won the Blizzard bet finishing 191. Kurt Schwiesow finished 62ish and Justin Piontek finished 33rd with a mechanical issue. We topped the day off with a visit to the original Famous Daves BBQ and a fire. See ya outside...

Troutman 50k Road Race

2011-07-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today was the Troutman Festival in Kewaunee. It is a bunch of diffrent races including a duathalon but, I did the Road Race. The race started at 730 so it was eat breakfast and hit the road this morning. So after registering and warming up we lined up for the start. The guy did the countdown but, I didn't hear any GOOOOOOOOOOOO. We headed out nice and mellow and chatted for the first couple of miles. We hit the first longer hill and dropped most of group. After that it was just a group of ten for rest of the race. It was me, Jeremy, Nate, Q, Jeff, Joe, Seth, Andy, Mitch and Erik from Marinette. We rode pretty sedately for most of the race with some hard efforts thrown in on the hills. Basically every hill we hit we would just hammer up and see if anybody got dropped. Around mile 15 there were some bigger rollers and Mitch, Andy and Seth managed to get a gap. Somehow we had just enough juice to nail them back. At the same time 2 guys got dropped. Things got pretty slow again and those 2 guys caught back on about 5 miles later. Then Andy attacked again and we all had to chase for a little while. Things were all back together then Q and Erik went on a little flyer about 5 miles to go with Erik. We caught them with about a mile to go. Then we headed up the little hill at the end. It was very steep in the beginning and I hammered up it at the front. Then it leveled out a little and I had to recover. Seth, Mitch Joe and, Andy headed up the road and I stayed with Jeff, Q and Jeremy. Q jumped with about 300 yards to go and I followed then Jeremy went around me. Then I just sat up. My goal was to finish with the lead group and have fun and, I managed both. SO it ended up Mitch, Andy, Seth, Joe, Jeff, Jeremy, Q then me. The way it played out, there were 3 guys everyone knew could win the race. The rest of us just watched them and tried to stay with them on the hills. So nobody wanted to work to hard and we ended up with a 21.3mph average. I think I did my fair share of work. Kinda wished I would of gone with Q near the end but, if 3 guys had gone they may have chased harder. In the end it was a fun little race which are kinda lacking in the Green Bay area. Next for me is Camrock. See ya outside...

Race Report: 3 Hours of the Northern Kettles

2011-05-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

I headed down to The WEMs race with my fellow The Bike Hub/Specialized rider Jesse Shoemaker. We were looking for a little challenge and some new trails. $30 entry fee and it was time to get ready. A little warm up and it was time for the race meeting. We set our bikes at the top of a medium sized hill and walked down to the start line. It was a Le Mans style start and we had to run up a gravel road to our bikes. I keep surprising myself with my running ability on these starts. By the time we got to the top of the hill I was in 3rd place. I jumped on my bike and started trying to recover as I spun down the hill. After the hill we went back thru the start/finish area and immediately in to single track. I was in 4th place behind John Lirette, Nathan Guerra and Glenn Krist. Jesse Shoemaker was right behind me. We were hammering pretty hard and Glenn kept putting little gaps on me and I kept waiting for Jesse to catch us. Eventually the pace slowed down some and Glenn and I started riding together. I was feeling good and decided I would ride with him for awhile. Second lap about a mile in Shoe caught us I decided it was time to pass Glenn. Shoe passed him too and the three of us rode together for awhile. Then I screwed up in a slow rocky corner and had to dismount. I was pushing a little too hard. I hammered again and caught Glenn and passed him and rode with Shoe for the rest of the second lap. About 3 miles into the the 3rd lap I hit my front wheel on a rock turned it sideways and endoed. Hard! I slapped my left palm on a rock and bruised it pretty good. Plus some scrapes on my leg and a bent seat. And I derailed. Glenn came by, are you alright? Grunt and nod. And I'm riding again. Hammer time. Caught Glenn again. This time I said I'm not even worthy to pass you. He said, well you keep getting up. Go ahead. So I passed him and tried to catch Shoe again. I caught a glimpse of him before the finish but, wasn't that close. Then right before the end Greg Krieger caught me as I was getting held up by some lap traffic. So I had to put in a little squirt of speed to keep my 4th place. Gotta say the trails there were awesome. The rocks were everywhere but my full suspension made it easy. I only did 3 laps. Nathan Guerra managed to go out and hammer in a 4th lap under the time cut. I won a cup which was fine with me. Shoe still owes me a $10 bill tho. :)

Boom goes the...

2011-05-25T19:12:00.001-07:00

http://tosh.comedycentral.com/video-clips/web-redemption---boom-goes-the-dynamite?xrs=share_copy Tosh.0Tuesdays 10pm / 9cWeb Redemption - Boom Goes the Dynamite

Tosh.0	Tuesdays 10pm / 9c
Web Redemption - Boom Goes the Dynamite
<a target='_blank' style='color:#96deff; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://

Crystal Lake its a Classic

2011-05-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

My family and I loaded up our boat and headed up to our cabin friday afternoon. Luckily it happens to be only 30 minutes away from Camp Tesomas. I drove over Saturday around noon to preride. I noted the dark clouds but, headed out anyway. Not 2 minutes in and it started raining hard. With a small block tire on the rear it made for a interesting ride. I'm glad I prerode though. There were some significant course changes. The outhouse detour was interesting? So I cleaned up my bike and heade back to the cabin. I got a good nights sleep listening to the rain. Sunday morning was relaxing with a walk in the woods and cleaning up the cabin. Went fishing with my daughters and helped my oldest catch a bluegill. Heading to the race I was kinda confident I had a good nervous energy. I forgot my bottles so my Teammate Shoemaker was nice enough to bring me two. Also thanks to Justin Piontek's Dad Butch for getting me some gatorade in the Bottles. So Don said go and we went. I had bad placing on the start (no callup). But, I usually have a good start so I ended up about 10th after the first corner. I worked my way up to 6th by the end of the gravel. I wish I had worked a little harder tho so I could have been first into the singletrack. The leadout wasn't that hard. After hitting the singletrack I was on the rivet the entire first lap. Chasing the leaders, I passed one guy and he passed me back. I knew I was going ok because I was passing quite a few people. It didn't start raining on me til the end of the 3rd lap. By that time I was happy for it. So I ended up right where I started 6th place. I got 11th overall in comp. Which is my best result so far. Though there are smaller fields up nort. I think I could have ridden slightly harder on the second lap. All in all it was a good race and a great weekend. Really looking forward to Wausau. See ya there...

Great Hub Ride

2011-05-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

Picture of our Cabin in the woods.

This was near the end of my ride.

Big smile getting close to home with tired legs and a hungry belly. I was working in town so I decided to hit the Bike Hub ride Tonight. I tried to leave home by 5:00 so I could ride there. I left about 6 minutes late and it turned into about a 10 minute TT down the trail to make it on time. Everybody had already left so I had to keep going but, I caught them before the Roundabout in De Pere. So I was already tired at the start of the ride? I hung out near the back and rested for awhile. There were about 30 guys. Pretty good turnout. No Rebecca though? So no real suprises after that. It was a fast ride. Shoe flated in Wrightstown so I waited. Ended up with 50.5 miles in jusy under 3 hours. Getting the boat ready tomorrow. Then its time to go up to Sugar Camp for the Weekend. See everyone at the Race Sunday.

Stump Farm 30

2011-05-14T18:35:00.001-07:00

Today I went to race out at the Reforestration camp. Its the home course gotta race it right? I was contemplating racing the 60 miler but over 5 hours on the bike in the rain didn't interest me. If it had been drier I might have? The camp is really wet this year. So entire sections of the course were closed off. It was pretty low turnout probably due to the rain. It was a Le Mans style start. The bikes were set up about 100 yards down the trail. The lady from Trike to Bikes said go and we took off running. It seemed slow so I started sprinting. I was the first to reach my bike but, by the time I got there I was tired I couldn't jump on it. I just kept running with it for a little while. I got on the long leadout and realized I was way over my LT. So I pushed it a little and tried to recover at the same time. I was second on the leadout and caught the leader but, then 2 guys squeaked by me right before the singletrack. I rode with one of them for the first singletrack. Then he another guy rode away from on the next section of double. SO I was in 4th while riding with Vogels and another guy. We 3 rode together until the quad hills. I was feeling better and started to ride a little faster. I got a gap on the 2 of them and kept riding. I saw Vogels a little later and he said he broke his shoe. So I learned a new Tactic, attack when your Oppent breaks his $300 shoe. He probably would have beaten me if his shoe hadn't broken. SO after that I rode solo for the second lap until the middle of the third. Two guys caught me toward the end of the third lap. It was disappointing but, I didn't have anything to chase them with. I finished 6th and managed to not to freeze to death. The high today was 47 and it started drizzling at the start of my 2nd lap. Definitely need to clean my bike. Those quad hills are easier backwards. The race course was ok. The shouldn't have inclued the really wt section near the end. There were other options. Results will be here.
Good job to the other guys on The Bike Hub/Specialized. I know Jesse Shoemaker finished 2nd in the 60 miler. Not sure where Jesse Sharpe finished. Good job to Tyler and Ben Welnak they were both riding strong today.

I went to Iola and all I got was Frostbite

2011-05-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

It was a good day. I had more fun seeing people I hadn't seen in a while, then I had racing though. Really looking forward to the next race to see how I do. I took my wheels in to get trued up today. So hopefully no more brrp noises as I climb out of the saddle. I have a few more things I need to do to my bike. Hopefully I can get that all out of the way by the weekend. Surprisingly I felt good in the singletrack. I'm sure I was slow. But I felt good and didn't have too many problems in the singletrack. See ya...

Weekend in Review

2011-04-10T19:15:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. That big snow storm screwed up everything about spring. I can happily say the snow is gone now. We had mid 70s and huge thunderstorms with tornadoson sunday. Thursday I managed to snag my new Team kitfrom Mr. Shoemaker in time to make the Bike Hub ride. That was a fun 33 mile ride with a good group of guys. Friday was a rest day for me. Saturday morning I rode with the TT flyers. We did a leisurely route down to Wrightstown. I ended up with about 42 miles. It was a cold morning once we got out to the country. Sunday I drove down to Madison for the Great Dane crit. I raced the cat 5s first. Felt pretty good, took it easy during the race. Wasn't even sure if it was the last lap when we took the final corner. When the others started sprinting I went too. I ended up 4th but probably could have done better but, I got squeezed into the gutter. It was fun though. About 40 minutes later I did the Masters 4/5. I kept it pretty mellow till the second half of that race. I tried to start a break but, I didn't have the legs. By the last lap I was cooked and just sat up after the last corner. Finished 19th in that race. It was a good day for Racing. Hot and I got sun burnt. I brought my kids and my dad down to watch and my brother met us there. After the race we went tto the Madison zoo and had some fun. It was a good day. Mountain biking next weekend? See ya outside...

2011-03-19T19:35:00.000-07:00

I rode the Titletown bike tour/WNR route today. Good news the sprint signs are still there. For those of you keeping track at home, the score was me 4 nobody else 0. I rode the green route. +1 if you look close in the picture you can see a pail for collecting maple syrup on the large tree. See ya outside...

Riding Outside

2011-03-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

This what I have been staring at for the last 3 months or so.

Luckily I was able to get outside and look at this today. I did a easy pace on a hilly loop near my house. It was a little windy but, nice to be outside.

I took the road bike off the trainer today for the first time since november. If you look close in the picture, I rode the rubber off the tire. Thats a piece of it on the trainer. I have been riding on the inner casing for a couple of weeks. Felt good to get outside. I'll probably ride tomorrow afternoon too. I'm not sure about sunday. It may be a washout? See ya outside...

Just Another Boy on the FRT/More Rad

2011-03-10T20:25:00.000-08:00

Mandatory J-vog head shot.

The Bike Hub where all the cool cats be.

So I decided to do my annual first trip down the the Fox River Trail today. As usual it was way to early to ride the trail. I was pleasantly surprised to find the first part plowed in Green Bay. After that it was all hard work on my relatively skinny 2" MTB tires (I am too cheap to buy a pugsley). After making it about a half mile the snow got deeper and the trail disappeared so I walked for awhile. Then I took the road down to the Boat launch by the Bike Hub. I then was able to ride the trail down to De pere. Though there were tough spots there also. I crossed the bridge at De Pere and headed back home. The snow really wasn't that deep. If we get the upper 40s next week with some rain it might be passable on a MTB by next weekend. It was nice to get outside.

It turns out Daniel Tosh is a huge Rad fan.

Tosh.0
Tags: Tosh.0 Videos,Daniel Tosh,Web Redemption

Here is his latest tribute video. Enjoy! Check out Cru Jones. Don't forget to sign the Rad petiton on the Tosh.o page.

Bike Fitting and New Parts

2011-02-27T18:33:00.000-08:00

I somewhat recently went down to the Bike Hub and recieved a very professional bike fitting from Rebecca Cleveland. I wasn't having any issues I just wanted to make sure everything was correct before I started putting in lots of miles. And it turns out I have pretty good mechanics. The price was reasonable and they set up my road bike too. This last weekend I went and bought a pair of Captain tires and a new Saddle. I also finally had them order a Q-rotor chainring. Hopefully the snow will start melting soon so I can start enjoying the new parts on my bike. I am however taking some satisfaction in the destruction I am inflicting on my trainer tire. First Great Dane is only 6 weeks away. See ya outside...

2011-02-13T16:05:00.001-08:00

Yep.

Longtail or Bust!

2011-02-12T14:16:00.000-08:00

I finally made it today. I think this morning was the nicest day of the year so far. I left home to brilliant sunshine and temps in the teens warming into the 20s. A brisk south wind pushed me towards my destination. I didn't warm many layers and still was sweating quite a bit. I looked it up online and it was 6 miles one way as the crow flies. But, Duck creek zigs and zags so I know it was longer than that. The snow on the bay was so wind swept and compacted the skis barely bit in at all. The ice was mostly flat and smooth except out by long tail you can see there was a large pressure ridge. An Ice fisherman on duck creek said the Ice was 30" thick. Not long after that I was passed by a minivan. I thought "you don't see that out at the Reforestation camp". So all in all a good morning. I think I got sunburnt. Will I make it outside tomorrow???

A YBS Kinda day

2011-02-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

Kinda a Blah winters day for me. I hung out witht the girls in the morning. They were nice enough to let me do about a half hour of yoga in the morning followed by an hour on the bike. Then a trip to the library to let them have some fun and pick out some books. Then nap time for the youngest(and for me too). When the wife cam home I went skiing out to the bay. I tried to make it to Longtail but, ran out of time. We had some plans. I know some people got out on the roads today. Hopefully I can do that soon. See ya outside.

Youtube Yoga

2011-01-31T19:07:00.000-08:00

Here are some Youtube videos I have been doing at home if I don't have time to go to class. Or if I have to hang out with the girls. If you want to look for your own yoga videos goto Youtube and search for Yoga. It Helps if you edit search and select the over 20 minutes duration. Unless you only want to do one pose.
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These First two videos are set in Costa Rica and are very enjoyable.
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The instructions are clear and easy to follow. Even though I dislike them for being right on the ocean in Costa Rica. Did I say that out loud? Think its time to go some place warmish.

This one is a little amateurish but does a decent job. Nice view of mountains in back ground.

Watch this one if you want to see a crazy beard. If you can speak Hindi it would probably help too.

2 Sets of Skis 1 set of Poles?

2011-01-19T14:56:00.001-08:00

I joined a small groups of guys for the weekly tuesday night ski at the camp. They usually head out around 7pm. I will not name any names to protect the innocent. But, someone forgot their poles. They were going to attempt to classic ski without poles. So I said they could have one of my poles and I would have the other. It wasn't as bad as it sounds but, after a hour I started getting a little tired. It was like normal skiing but, with more core and you had to really push with that arm. Did the Birches to Maples loop in 1:30. See ya outside.

Duck Creek Riding

2011-01-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

Went for a nice ride on duck creek this afternoon. Rode up to Pamperin park then turned around and rode out to Green Bay. The light fluffy snow gave just enough grip without getting to deep and making it hard. I rode on my old 26" race bike with 2" tires and had no problems. I did wipe out once I got out to the glare ice on the bay. But, that was pretty low speed. I think the 4 wheelers and the snowmobilers thought I was nuts. Going skiing during the packer game. I perfer to listen to the game anyway. Hope your winter is going as well as mine. ">

Shoveling as Cross Training for the OCD cyclist

2011-01-05T18:12:00.001-08:00

With the recent snow fall that I needed to shovel, I really didn't have time to do some core work. So I decided to see if shoveling was considered a workout. And score! It is. Now I gotta go finish cleaning up.

Full JS article here.

Cross-training with a shovel
By Tom Held
Dec. 6, 2007 |(1) Comments

I skipped the gym yesterday figuring I had secured plenty of strength and aerobic work shoveling the sidewalk and digging out a car, again.

But I wasn't quite sure which muscles I was strengthening and how I could make the work payoff on the cross-country ski trails.

John Burns, a Milwaukee-area physical therapist with a strong background in martial arts and movement sciences, gave me some answers.

As I suspected from the soreness in my shoulders and torso, "shoveling snow is a whole-body resistance workout." In particular, it strengthens the glutes, quads and adductors, along with the transverse abdominus, back extensors and obliques, Burns said. Biceps and wrist flexors also factor into the lifting and throwing.

As in most work outs, proper technique is essential to maximizing the pay off.

Burns, 53, suggests a 10- to 20-minute warm up that includes more than a cup of coffee, to warm the body's core temperature and increase flexibility. (I wonder if grinding the beans and pouring water might help fill that suggested element).

Once you have the shovel in hand, the proper start position is similar to a martial arts ready position. As Burns described: "positioning your dominant arm/leg to the rear and your non-dominant arm/leg forward to take advantage of the years of using your dominant side for lifting everything from suitcases to small children."

You can alternate sides to make the workout more symmetrical.

If the snow is particularly heavy (remember Sunday morning) take the snow off in layers, duplicating the standard gym approach: reps and sets.

"To actually remove the snow - no matter what the consistency - remember this martial arts adage: 'Steal the power from the earth, direct it with your core, and express the power through your arms.'

"This basically means - lift the snow with your legs - not your back! On each and every lift, flex at the knees and not at your waist, then lift the snow from the legs up. This is similar to a compound squat which provides resistance to the whole body. As you flex at the knees, you lengthen your quads and glutes to pre-load them to contract when you lift the snow with your whole body.

"Once you have the shovel positioned in the snow at the depth you can lift (over and over again for the duration) lock your elbows in a flexed position. This locked position will require strength of the biceps as well as a counter force provided by the triceps (just as you should use these muscles in a locked position when poling while cross-country skiing before the poling motion follow-through).

Now, before you lift, engage your core (transverse abdominus muscles) by exhaling as you lift the snow - like a martial artist does when they punch or kick. You can also use the martial artist's vocal cry or "Kia!" on each and every exhale or lift to really maximize your core directed power - but your neighbors may find this a bit strange especially very early in the morning.

Finish the lift and removal by rotating your center of gravity in the direction of where you want the snow to fall. This core-directed rotation of your center of gravity is the key to engaging the whole-body through the core and not relying on isolated muscle groups such as using just your arms or back.

The follow through consists of synchronizing the core-directed rotation from the legs up through the arms. This is accomplished by contracting the muscles of the legs (quads, adductors, and glutes), the muscles of the core (transverse abdominus and obliques), and then the arms (biceps).

"By utilizing these proper body mechanics, this "cross training" workout can enhance your power endurance for any other winter workout or sports activity."

For a bit more on Burns' strength training advice, check out this story from Silent Sports Magazine.

The Pleasure and the Pain

2011-01-01T12:30:00.001-08:00

Well another new years day ride is in the books. The pleasure was the ride and stopping for coffee, the pain was getting your face wind burnt and getting hit with flying debris. I think I dressed the best for this one. I was pretty comfortable except I should have brought a face mask. Bike Hub/Spesh was well represented with I and Justin Piontek attending. Justins whole family came along too. It was fun but, the winds out the south/west really hurt! At times it was a slow motion suffer fest into the wind. After making it to De Pere we stopped at a Coffee shop to warm up. Then it was a rather fast roll up broadway over to Lambeau Field. After all we were with the Titletown Flyers. After the mandatory pictures it was a few hard miles into the wind back to He-Nis-Ra park. I think the wind shifted from the south to the west during our ride? It was fun and the roads were perfect. Very little Ice to be seen. Have to do it some more. SO whats next? The PLAN starts Tuesday for me. Not much will change. I will be doing more skiing and yoga. But, I will start riding two times a week. To start getting into biking shape. I need to get more cycling videos to watch for entertainment. Though I don't mind watching TV. Also when I broke out the old WOR horse today I really broke it! The fork gave up the ghost during the ride and stuck me in a Aero position. Also the front brakes started rubbing and I had to release them. It was all good tho. The plan for that bike is to make it a rigid single speed. Piontek showed me a single speed is plenty fast today. The first picture is of my cycling studio. Hopefully I spend some good hours there this spring. I am looking forward to this new year. I hope you are too.

Skiing on Duck creek

2010-12-25T20:02:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-12T17:36:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-12-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

Kinda jonesing for some white stuff.

New Team

2010-12-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

Friday Night

2010-11-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-10-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-12T05:33:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-06-02T16:07:00.001-07:00

YEP!

Wausau

2010-05-31T16:30:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-26T04:58:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-10T18:49:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

New House.
Old House.
Thanks Buddy.

Last week

2010-04-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-10T18:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-04T17:21:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

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)

2010-03-21T17:12:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-14T17:12:00.001-07:00

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)

2010-03-13T18:41:00.001-08:00

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

2010-03-07T16:38:00.001-08:00

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?

2010-03-06T19:06:00.001-08:00

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

2010-02-12T18:24:00.000-08:00

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.

Spin Class Monday

2010-02-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

Not quite as interesting as Red head monday. Still have to do something on monday. I went and did a hour or so spin class monday night with the usual crowd. Thought I was going to puke because I ate too much. Still felt better by the end and redlined it for 30 seconds at the finish. Not the highest I've ever seen but, close. Its amazingly easy to max out on a spin bike. I think it has something to do with the big flywheel. Could be the temp too but, I had a fan right on me. Rest tonite then core and bike tomorrow? We'll see.

Guess I am out There now

2010-02-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

Well here is a picture of me wearing a Performa Jersey. So I guess I am official now. I asked them to allow me to join since I trained with them more anyway. They Let me join saying something about adding "speed". Not sure how I can help them there. I'd just like to say thanks for allowing me to join guys and gals. Hopefully we'll have some good times this year. At the same time I'd like to say thanks to Hauser. He helped me get into this sport and for that I am greatful. Cycling is not a easy sport to get into when you just get off your coach and start riding, without having any friends that also ride. He must be sick of people calling and asking how to join the team. Well I hope everyone has a good season.
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2009 year in Review

2010-02-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

Is it too late to have a year in Review? Here it is anyway. I was reading my goals for last season and realized I met one of them. My goals for last season were to win a sport mtb race, finish in the top 250 at cheq 40 and, move up to cat 4 on the road. Well I did not win a WORS sport race but, I came close. I finsihed 4th once and had a couple of top tens including a 6th 4 weeks after breaking my hand. I finished 234th at cheq 40 and was the 225th male. And I didn't move up to cat 4 because, I just didn't have time to do enough races. Though I probably only have to do 3 or 4 more now. High point of the season was probably the cheq 40 or maybe getting killed by Cole House on a training ride in the spring. Gummi bears and coke, I'm just sayin. Low point in the season was calling my wife and telling her I broke my hand. Yes honey I am a idiot. Close second was flatting out of Rhinelander while in lead group of race and feeling good. Stewed all the way home and then went and did hill repeats in the rain to vent. Suprisingly my top tens just made me feel bad because, I wanted to win so bad. Hardest races were whitefish bay with J-vog and the Subaru cup because it was so hot. Best non racing part of the season was getting my new bike, the top fuel. Well thats making me look foward to 2010. Time to ride the trainer.

Keepin it "FUN"

2010-02-03T19:11:00.001-08:00

Went back to the work and the gym today. Both went well. Starting to lift about 40% and ride 60%. Saw a couple of kids trying to put up 500# on the leg press and thought I'd give it a try. Lifted it a couple times and managed to set it down without slamming. I'm not sharing this to brag. This is just kinda of my mindset this build period. If we're not doing this sport for fun, why are we doing it? So I hope everyone else is having fun whatever they are doing this season. I figure the time I spend in the gym only lasts a little while so why not enjoy it. And be excited to ride outside when it warms up above freezing. On the positive side I seem to be getting more flexible, so the time in the gym isn't a complete waste. Maybe I'll try yoga next year. Probably have more on this later. And now a little pick me up.
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Mini Vacation

2010-02-01T06:49:00.000-08:00

Ok quick update on life. I felt bad on saturday, headache and sore throat on saturday. Probably a hangover from the sixty seconds of pain. So I took the day off and rested. Sunday we were leaving for the dells so I had to hurry my workout. I arrived at the Y right at 9. Quick lifting session, almost running between stations. Then hour long ride on trainer. With 2 min commercial intervals thrown in. Bottom line best workout this year. I guess I did quality over quantity. Downside is I only did 8 hours last week. After that workout the family and I drove to the dells. The kalahari is amazing go here if you have never been. Do it. I plan on soaking in the hot tub and having a few more cold ones. At least january is over one month closer to summer. The wife got one picture of me on the flow rider. Guess you can call that some cross training. Back to work and the gym tomorrow.

Still Lifting

2010-01-30T07:02:00.001-08:00

So not much has changed since testing. I am still lifting a few hours a week. But, am transitioning to riding the bike more and more. Which I planned on doing anyways. Skiing is out since there is no snow. So its either been ride the trainer at home, lift and ride at the Y or, do a spin class or two. I plan on finishing the week with ten hours or so. After riding tommorrow morning we are leaving for the Kalahari in the Wisconsin Dells. After eating supper last night I went to the Bike Hub to order new shoes and a helmet. I never had a nice pair of mtb shoes and I cracked my helmet on a tree at Bairds last year. So whilst there I was introduced to the ">Schwinn Airdyne Challenge. A truly amazing piece of equipment. The results were 1 minute, 30 cals burned and, 1 mile traveled. Which is obviously impossible. I might try it again, you know when I feel like hurting myself. Its kinda like cutting yourself but, more painful and with more critism. I think that was my favorite part, the heckling. I think it took me a good ten minutes to recover. Hopefully it warms up outside soon. Can't wait to see Wrightstown again. See ya outside.

First Test

2010-01-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

I performed my first wattage test of the season today. Effort was good, bike was good, HR was good, power was not good. Lets just say I had the power of a untrained poodle. Not sure what this says about my weight lifting program. On the plus side this was my third or fourth ride since the beginning of november. So there is room to improve. Oh and my lungs hurt. Get some.

Rad Refrence on Tosh.O

2010-01-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know Rad is only the best 80's cycling movie. Thanks for clueing me in Luke. So I had to smile when there was a Rad refrence in a otherwise gay clip from Tosh.O. If you want to skip ahead its around the 3 minute mark. Enjoy.Web Reunion - Crystal Light Dancers

Tosh.0

www.comedycentral.com

Web Redemption

2 Girls, 1 Cup Reaction

Demi Moore Picture

Rest Week

2010-01-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

Ok rest week what to do? Seem to have some upper knee pain this week. Think I banged it on tuesday? So I have just been iceing and pounding the ibuprofen. I think if I take friday off also I should be back to normal. Its kinda boring not going to the gym. So what to do lets take apart the squeaky bottom bracket! Half an hour later many dirty rags and greasy hands its back together. Though now I'm wondering if I should have cleaned the bearings themselves? Like this guy. They don't seem super smooth anymore. Maybe I'll order some new cups? We'll see. They have plenty of miles on them already. On the plus side my bottom bracket area is probably the cleanest its been since new. Starting to get the itch to start riding again. I think my training plan is keeping me motivated. So probably ski this weekend for sure. And if I feel really good I will test. If not I will test on monday. As you can see by the picture now I can say I have one fast part on my bike. See you outside.
Quick update. I also rotated my handlebars down so I could ride in the "drops" a little easier. I also raise my seat slightly. Something I tried on my other bikes last fall. Light spinning for half hour and then stretched. Get some sleep and see how I feel in morning.

The Off Season Part 3

2010-01-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

Just finished my last max strength workout. Thank god. That was hard. Finished up with 460# on the leg press, 130# on the seated row and, 110# on the standing row. I might have been able to do 480# on the leg press but, I figured why push my luck. I finished with 7 reps at 460 which means my max must be around 540#. None of which means anything if it doesn't make me faster on the bike. It definitely took all my muscles to get that weight up so hopefully I recruited a few more muscle fibers. My next plan is to do muscular endurance lifting with 40-60 reps at a much lower weight. I plan on combining this with more biking and less skiing and elliptical. By the end of February I should be just biking. I am pretty happy with how my off season is going so far. I don't have the time to train like this guy or that guy. Not without getting a divorce and paying for a lot of therapy for my kids. But, they have different goals then I do. I am pretty happy being in comp. If I could move up to expert it would be cool but, I'm just not that fast. Right now I plan on doing 9 to 10 hours a week with a max of 13 or 14. That's all I can fit in. By the time summer rolls around I might be doing the time crunched cyclist plan. It all depends on how busy we get. Whatever you end up doing with your season, I hope you have fun. I am going skiing Saturday morning early at the camp and maybe I'll hit the trainer later in the day. Not sure about Sunday though kinda want to ride to wrightstown. But, not if the roads are wet. We'll see how things look. Next week is a rest week so hopefully I don't screw up my diet. The weight loss is going good. I do want to stuff my face at my work party next Friday though. Oh yeah I put my self portrait up because I'm told thats what all the cool cats do. See ya outside.

Junior X better watch out!

2010-01-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

Myles riding the Rollers No Handed.

New Decade Same as the Old Decade

2010-01-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

I hope not. The Ohs Ohs sucked. Went for a little ride with the guys on New Years. Sixteen Miles in 1:34. Pretty slow but, we picked it up the last half mile or so, had the old legs burning. Lifted on wednesday nite and skied 1:30 on thursday. So I was kinda worn out. The Picture is stolen from Shaun. I 'm the one with my arms in the air. Sorry I think I had too much coffee. Went well with the below zero windchills. Lifted again on Saturday. Hit 420# on the Leg Press. It is hard but, I should be able to hit 460# in a couple of weeks. I don't know if I am really building any strength or just using leg strength I already had. I didn't do any intervals on the elliptical and feel pretty good right now. I have found stretching right after working out really works well for me. Something about the muscles being warm maybe? Sunday I will be skiing with The Shoe at The Camp. I plan on doing at least 2 hours there. Then time to go home and watch The Pack play. My old neck injury kinda flared up again while I was lifting. I think I slept on it wrong last night and it didn't like me doing seated rows. I think I need to throw away my second pillow. I mean really why do we need to sleep with our necks bent at a 45 degree angle? Babies don't complain with no pillow. So why do we need one as adults? Probably just habit I guess. I am going to sign up for a spin class at the Y on mondays. That should start getting my legs ready to switch over to mostly biking toward the end of Febuary. I also reserved a hotel room for my family at the Kalahari in the Dells. Place is huge I love it there. Go if you haven't ever been there. I am going at the end of January. See ya outside.

The Off Season Part 2

2009-12-20T13:34:00.001-08:00

Well I have four weeks of lifting in already. This week I got in a pretty solid ten hours of training. With four hours of lifting, three on the elliptical and, three on skiing. Next weeks plan is to start the maximum strength phase of lifting. I have to admit to being a little nervous about it. Never having lifted before last year. I am really happy I don't seem to have lost any strength from last year. I never tried leg pressing more than 300 pounds. And now I should be aiming for more than 450 really. Oh well I guess I will find out how I do. I just have to stay positive and make sure I don't hurt myself. Maybe I will surprise myself. I am glad the ski trails are open finally. I managed three hours of skiing last weekend at the camp. It was just amazing out there after the big snow. So the plan is weight lifting followed by elliptical at the Y. Then on the off days skiing at the camp or Perkins park across from house. I don't lift during the summer because I have a physical job. My thoughts are that work is enough to maintain my strength during the season. So far everything seems to bear that out. I seemed to have started right where I left off last year. The only thing that I may try to work on during the summer are my abs. Guess you just can't have strong enough stomach muscles. Maybe if you could crack a walnut with your bellybutton, you could give them a rest? Oh and just so I don't get sued the picture is from the Training Bible by Friel. Buy it if you are just starting or are stuck in a rut. It will make you fast if you are MOTIVATED. Hope you get what you want for the Holidays.

Are you doing the New Years day ride?

2009-12-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

Because certain people said I didn't update enough. :)

Little Pick You UP

2009-12-06T16:15:00.000-08:00

Get Some go again
by Henry Rollins Band

Trailer Surfing

2009-11-30T17:22:00.000-08:00

The Off Season

2009-11-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

Well I just enjoyed a restful week off. I usually take this week off for deer hunting and to spend time with the family. I did not see a deer in the woods even though I spent quite a bit of time sitting. I did however manage to get drunk 4 nights in a row and closed the bars on 2 of those nights. So I guess I accomplished something. On Wednesday I had finally recovered enough to get to the Y. Decided to start weight lifting again. I hadn't lifted in 9 months or so. It wasn't that bad. I started easy but, discovered I hadn't lost any strength really over that last year. Which was nice I can start right where I left off. I was sore but, I managed to lift and do the elliptical for at least an hour on Wednesday, Thursday and, Saturday. The one thing I am going to do different this year is, I plan on doing maximum strength workouts this year. Last year was first year lifting and I took it fairly easy. Hopefully I can build more explosive strength in my legs. I also am using barbells in my hands for the step up instead of the barbell on the shoulders. Its just faster when the gym is busy. I'm not sure if I can keep doing it, my hands are weak. I tried doing dip downs instead of step ups and realized I was just asking to hurt my knee. So the game plan is to lift into February and start mixing riding in toward the end. For now I am cross training on the elliptical machines at the Y. They feel comfortable and give a good workout. I usually do some intervals on them after lifting. Not sure why. Well what ever you do this winter remember to ">

For the Troops

2009-11-11T19:31:00.000-08:00

Not a politcal statement.

Reforestration Camp Duathalon race report

2009-11-07T16:54:00.000-08:00

This was a fun race to do. The weather was beautiful. 70 degrees and sunny in November? It was warmer than ur race here in August. Also the first race I have done with a MP3 player. That was nice some tunes while I tore it up. I thought this would be a good course for me and it was. I am not a runner but, I managed to finish the 5k in 23 minutes. I started out fast and had to back it down a little after the first 2k. I was averging 194 HR and hitting 196 on the hills. Still not many people passed me on the run. So I must be getting faster. I averged 192 HR for the run. I averaged a more normal 182 HR for the bike portion. This still left me a huge hole to try and make up. I sat down changed my shoes and grabbed my camelbak and jumped on the TOP FUEL. Immediately I started passing people that passed me in the run. By the time I hit the first signletrack I passed about 10 people. Later on in the singletrack I caught 2 faster guys. I got too excited trying to catch them and wiped out. I still managed to catch by the next doubletrack and hammer past them. I was really pushing hard the whole way. My legs started to cramp about half way thru the first lap but, I just spun the cramps out every time it happened. I saw Dan thats on the Flyers with me, at the start of the second lap but, it took me half a lap to catch him. I really had to hurt myself to get in front of him before a section of singletrack. That was halfway thru the second lap and we rode together till the end of the singletrack and then I got a gap and took it to the finish. So I finished 3rd overall which was also 3rd in my age group. Out of about 58? I should have had 4th but Ben Neubauer had a mechanical while leading the race. The race was fun and well set up with live music and great free food. The cheering was loud and and appreciated. I only wish they had time splits for the run and bike. I must have had close to the fastest bike split in the race. I never saw the guys who finished ahead of me, they finished the run before I did. They beat me fair and square though. I managed to lose one of my ergon bar end grips during the race. I had adjusted them before and must not have tightened that one enough. I was going back to where it fell off and a nice couple gave it to me. Big Thank You. I also won a good jar of salsa which I already ate some of. Before the race I managed to take Family down to the playground by the Zoo. I think the kids enjoyed it. It was some nice down time before the race. Hopefully I can find some pics later...

More Zombie Wasting

2009-10-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.hairclub.com/zombiegame/

Can you make it to the Mansion?

Fastest in January stir crazy by march.

2009-10-31T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well it finally happened. The rain forced me inside and onto the trainer. Had a solid 45 minute run outside then I jumped on the trainer for another hour and 45. Felt good afterward. Would be nice to still be outside though. I'll probably try to go to the Y tonite. Then I want to squeeze in a Road ride Sunday before the big game. Its supposed to be 45 anyway plenty warm. Well so far Christi and I have not caught swine flu even though both of the kids are sick. The both have had very high fevers. Up to 104 degrees. I just keep washing my hands. Are your knuckles supposed to be bleeding? I am really looking forward to the Duathalon at the camp. I just have to get thru this next week without getting sick. Then hopefully a little turkey cross on Thanksgiving. So I can have a good appettite. Because, lets face it we all just ride bikes so we can eat lots. Right?

Schwag and Watch out for those Jetts

2009-10-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

Good times at the WORS banquet last night. Didn't win any big prizes but, I did get a nice womens purple fleece. I was able to trade that at the WORS table for a nice set of Bibs. Cause you can't have enough cycling clothes. I was not one of the lucky ones who got some Jett clothing. All I can say is watch out for those jetts.

Yyyyyyyyy. M. C. A.

2009-10-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

So first trip back to the Y in about six months. Since early april I think. It went well did another brick. Guess what? I can walk the next day. This running stuff isn't that bad. I'll still get k

illed at my Duathalon. At best I'm running about a 8 minute mile. Oh well just have to make some time up on the bike. Kinda bummed about working out indoors but, you gotta do it to stay in shape. I figure I'll probably only have about 1 day each month to ride outside in Dec, Jan and, Feb. My house is now a recovery ward as Paige has the Flu. Hopefully I am not throwing up at work next week. Because, I have to go to Minoqua for three days. Just have to keep washing hands and getting lots of sleep. I did not do the Rat race last night. Not sure if anyone showed its been so crappy. I will do another brick tomorrow tho. Maybe I'll go for a longer one. I'll probably have to burn off the calories from the WORS banquet tonight. Glad another crazy week at work is over. Working 45 hours and only getting 40 gets old after a while. On the bright side the work is getting closer to home. Not having to drive 2 hours to work would be nice. See you tonite if your going to Stevens Point.

Boo Zoo and Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

The Family and I went to the New Zoo for some quality time with the animals and CANDY. We went on friday night. Paige went in her princess costume and Alana went as a little lion. Christi went as her normal beautiful self and I wore my usual ugly mug. We had some fun and we got some candy. We should we paid enough to get in. After having some fun with the sheep and Forrest the cow we jumped on the inflatable pirate ship and bouncy castle for a while. Then we headed home to eat Candy. Saturday we carved some pumpkins and boiled another one for pumpkin pie. Yum. It was also my Birfday so I did absolutely nothing in the morning. I would have gone for a bike ride but, I did my very first brick ever. Bike/run. I did that on friday and could hardly walk on saturday. I am getting ready for this. So then saturday we went to my friends Scott and Lorra's house warming party. We brought along 2 bottles of apple pie and I think a good time was had by all. Except Lorra was pissed when I burned one of her pumpkins. Sorry Lorra.

Boygan Race Report

2009-10-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

What a fun race. It was a blast to go to sheboygan and compete in my second comp race. I used to think sheboygan was a technical course until I raced bear paw the previous race. The new Top Fuel might have had something to do with too. So the race started out pretty typical. The starts in Comp are faster than in sport. So I just hung toward the back on the start and tried not to get in peoples way. The leaders were flying and I felt like I got boxed in by a few slower people. Then when we got to the first single track, Dead stop. Kinda figured something like that would happen before the race. I think I heard there was a crash in the top 10? Oh well not like I expected to do well. So first lap went well. Climbed the izer got the 5 spot. Second lap stuck behind 2 females in first section of single track. Couldn't get by till the road. By that time 5 other guys had caught up to me again. Jump to early out of single track and realize I'm going to run right into this chick. Slam on brakes and Hes down. Crap now I have to pass all these people again. Second lap went well otherwise. Climbed the izer again but, no more money. Third lap was going great just kept reeling more people in. Especially on the road portion, I was flying up that thing. Got to the crick crossing and spun out on the bank. Had to get off and run. Then I tore bibs wide open while jumping back on. Showing off my pasty white man flesh. Climbed the izer again, popped up front wheel at top. Kept going though. Fourth lap I caught a guy I recognized from bear paw. I had stopped when I heard a elite was coming through at bear paw and 2 comp guys went by then. Didn't know at the time but, I had been in 3rd place. So this was the guy that took 3rd. So I yelled at him on the course, he probably thought I was crazy. Passed him by and never looked back. Fourth time up the izer I got to the top. Popped front tire up brought it down and fell over. Just didn't have the power after almost 2 hours. Sped off to the finish, tried to catch 1 more guy but, couldn't quite. Final results 25th overall 3rd in age. I am really looking forward to next year especially the camp and wausau which suit my riding style. Plus I need to get the Top Fuel set up for me. I never even adjusted the shocks. Just went and rode. I have to say that bike is a ROCKET ship. Felt so confident on that bike it was crazy. Just pick your line and go. What roots? What rocks? I didn't do the log jump because my front tire was low. It had around 20 psi in it. At one point I hit a rock and felt the rim hit hard. So after that I babied it in the corners and jumps. Or it could be I'm a wimp.

First Post

2009-10-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

This my first Blog hope it dosn't suck. Like this guys day...