Tristan Schouten

Keeping Busy

2012-02-10T13:14:00.003-06:00

I've gone just about as long as I've ever gone without much of a workout routine. Normally I would have been on the skis by now and enjoying the time off riding and getting in a good workout but with the lack of snow I haven't been able to do that. So, I haven't really been doing anything to keep myself in shape, I feel a little guilty, but it was a long season and I still haven't really finalized or thought too hard about what I want to do this spring.

So, I've been working on the cars and also decided to try a little basic woodworking. I absolutely hate rickety particle board furniture Ikea type stuff. We had some of it when we first got married but it doesn't hold up that well. I wanted a storage cubby for Ellie's growing toy stash but couldn't see buying one that would only last 3 years before the particle board fell apart. So, I found some stuff online and have been working on for a while. I thought I might do it in some hardwood and staing it, but wasn't confident enough in my ability so went with softwood and we'll just paint it. I'm pretty happy with it so far, just need to cut and attach the top. Had some leftover trim from another job so put that to good use too around the bottom

New rotors and pads in the Mazda for the summer, trying to take care of this stuff now so I don't have to think about it when I start getting serious about riding. I wish I could get away with only having one car and cut my expenses in half, it seems like one of them always needs something and I never like to take the time when I'm training to work on them but I just can't see paying someone 3x what it cost to do it myself.

2012-01-31T19:51:00.004-06:00

January is pretty much gone. It went by fast. Despite being in a relaxed mode without much on the agenda it's still hard for me to sit still and do nothing so I have been keeping at the home projects. I've painted 3 different rooms and 6 ceilings, put a new exhaust and oil pan on the Mazda, redid a bunch of lighting in the house and various other projects like that. It's a good feeling to knock out the projects I've wanted to get done but are low priority when I am on a tight schedule while training.

I haven't touched a bike in 3 weeks now but did finally get out on skis twice. The snow is disappearing fast right now so I have a feeling those might be the only two times I'll ski for at least a week looking at the weather. Maybe even for the winter. I almost wish it would be cold and snowing so I would be distracted by skiing to think about riding, but when it's close to 50 it seems like I should be riding and I want to hold off on that a while longer.

I watched the CX World Champs on Sunday and truthfully I thought it was a pretty boring race. the course seemed like it was way too narrow and selective to be a good cross race and I think more or less the race was over for most at the first corner if you weren't front row. I don't mind courses being selective but for the most part everyone was out of contention 2 minutes into the race. Neils totally dominated but not very many other guys really had a chance because it was so bottlenecked early on but I think Neils was by far the best. The US guys didn't seem to have very good races other than Trebon, I still think cross racing in Belgium is a completely different sport than cross racing in the US and based on how the best racers from the US did over there that would seem to be the case. I heard a lot of guys it was a "specialists" course but looking at the results they were pretty consistent with all other euro races so specialist or not, guys sorted out where they normally do. I think if it was really a specialists course the top 10 guys wouldn't have been the same top 10 guys you see over there all year long getting the same spots and it more or less was. It's just a different kind of racing and we don't have those kinds of courses here in the US which puts us a pretty big disadvantage when it comes down to real hardcore cross racing.

I'm putting up my Felt Edict from last year for sale. If anyone is interested you can email or comment on this blog or tschouten@gmail.com

I don't know what I'll be doing for mtn bike yet this year but for now if anyone locally would like a great new bike for the year I'd like to get rid of it.

2012-01-18T09:41:00.007-06:00

I've discovered that since buying my first house two years ago I actually enjoy most home improvement projects. It's a great distraction from riding this time of the year and mentally it has been great waking up in the morning with something other to do than ride my bike. It's also 8 degrees out right now so I am pretty happy I have no reason to be out, or in, riding my bike right now.

Our entire house has light fixtures that look like this, both bathrooms, our hallway and dining room chandeliers and most of the bedrooms. It's time to update. Updating is very easy compared to renovation.

The new.

Last year I did the upstairs bathroom floor and this year the downstairs vinyl had to go. New paint, vanity tops and fixtures also going in. I find it somewhat hard to integrate a 100 year old house with new updates because we are trying to keep the character of the original style and woodwork but I think we are doing ok at it.

Ellie was excited for the new snow we are finally getting. We've been sledding a few times and Ellie loves it. Last year she wasn't so sure but this year she was saying "nother one" before we even got to the bottom.
I'[m hoping in couple more years she still enjoys shoveling as much as she does now cause she can have the job.

Nationals

2012-01-10T20:36:00.004-06:00

What to say after a race like that. Not the kind of way I wanted to end my season. Most of the time after a bad race it's hard not to wish for a do-over but I haven't decided that yet on this one. If I knew it would change the result yeah, of course I would but December was a pretty mediocre month of racing for me and the last two weekends were just plain bad so a do-over probably wouldn't change much and so I probably don't even want one.

I haven't really dwelled on the race too much, in fact, I haven't even really looked over the results very much or looked at videos and coverage, I've seen lots of tags on facebook though and the look I have to me says I'm going about 75% right now but that's all I got. That's the way bike racing is though and basing the season on one race is something I have learned a long time ago not to do. I trained hard for the event and stayed pretty focused through the Christmas Holiday but when the body won't do what you are asking there is just nothing you can do. The mind says "more power" and the legs say "there is no more power".

Overall I am still happy with my season. I learned a lot and can take a lot into next seasons planning. It was tough to lay out a season that went into January and started in April but it's hard to look back and say I shouldn't have done this or that, I like racing and there were great experiences at all the races that I wouldn't have if I hadn't gone and racing is the best place to learn to get faster. I think to do any elite level racing there has to be a point though where you need to give up some to gain some and I might have to take a closer look at that going into next season as I consider where to spend my energy. I think another major factor in performance is travel to the race and this year was horrible in that regard. I think 3/5 races I flew to had concelled or severly delayed flights and you just can't show up to elite level races on short nights and long travel.

I think the highlights of the season were Boulder Cup where I was 5th and also Ft. Collins USGP where I was 4th. Both I had amazing days and it's those days that keep me motivated and looking towards improvement. It takes time to learn how to get those results consistently along with a slow increases in fitness levels but over time they can be attainable on a consistent bases. Looking at my early WORS results they went this way too, one weekend 3rd and the next weekend 25th. It just takes time in the sport to gain consistency at a higher level.

My sponsors were really great this year, having two Blue Norcross SL fully decked out with Dura Ace and 5 sets of Rolf Prima wheels to choose from with any option of FMB tires was awesome. Getting two sets of CycleOps powertaps for training and racing on to get that race data on will be a huge help going into next season as we look at the numbers. It was awesome having Lazer helmets again this year along with some new eyewear. The guys at Cyclocrossracing.com have been awesome with me and really done all they could to make sure I had everything I needed. It's great to have a sponsor that calls you to see how things are and if you need anything and it has been great racing with them.

Christmas

2012-01-02T14:03:00.004-06:00

I thought I was doing pretty well with my training but I sure didn't get things right last weekend in Chicago. At least I know what NOT to do before Nationals coming up in a few days. I was pretty far off on Saturday and knew it 3o seconds into the race. I have been a bit inconsistent this year and haven't been able to get it right on the first day of racing yet so I tried to mimic what I will do this coming weekend for a warmup - I will not be doing it so I did come away with that I guess. I rode by myself pretty slow for about 40 minutes and didn't care much after I knew I didn't have it. I considered stopping after 2 laps but I thought I should at least spend a little time out on the cross bike on a course if nothing else. I hadn't planned on racing Sunday and after leaving Saturday I was glad I had made that decision since I don't really have time to rebuild two bikes right now.

Doldrums

2011-12-27T18:06:00.005-06:00

I'll admit it, the last couple weeks have gone by pretty slow. I knew going into the season early on that extending it another month would be tough, but it just seems to be dragging a this point. If there had been some racing going on to keep me occupied it would have been better or being able to train somewhere where there is warmth or sunshine, but having not raced in a few weeks and being forced to train another month in WI in December just hasn't been that fun. I already train enough in the spring in miserable weather so to add another one at the end of the season too is just cruel. Maybe next year they'll move it back to a more sensable time considering there are probably only 2 riders at nationals that cared.

Luckily we have had a mild fall so far which really only means my fingers only freeze mildly everyday. I have mixed it up some with the trainer when the roads were wet but mostly I have been outside. I think my preparation has been as good as I can hope for, there isnt much time left to change it at this point. It's hard to tell this late in the season if you are better off resting or training but you can't really coast for a month leading up to Nats and think you're going to gain anything so I've tried to keep the intensity and riding at the same level despite my fading motivation. I'm starting to loose focus though and having to train for a solid month at the end of the year for one race is probably going to blow me up enough to keep me off the bike until it's warm next spring so maybe I'll just count this as my spring riding for next year and be done with it.

I will be doing at least one day of the New Years Eve Resolution CX race in Chicago this weekend. I have raced twice the weekend before nats and done well the following week, and I have raced twice the weekend before nats and not done well the following week at nats so I might try just racing once this time and see how it goes. It probably doesn't matter too much but hopefully it's just enough to get the edge back.

Christmas was a fun distraction for the weekend. We didn't have to do much traveling and that made it a lot nicer to get some workouts in around schedules. Ellie got more puzzles than I can keep up with and I get woken up every morning now to her asking me to do "puwwels"?? Not really the first thing you want to do before your morning coffee but Ellie needs no coffee to get going in the morning. "Nuhwere one nuhwere one".

USGP Bend, OR

2011-12-14T20:34:00.007-06:00

Where to start with this one. I thought I had done everything right, I even took my last 1/2 day of vacation Thursday night so when I got up at 3:30am for the 6am flight to Denver it wouldn't be a 3hr sleep night. Well, it pretty much was anyway since I don't fall asleep before 11pm anyway from being use to not going to bed until 12am but at the time I felt pretty good. 24hrs later when I finally rolled into Bend I was thinking a little different.

It started when we couldn't land in Denver for weather at 8am so we circled until we ran low on fuel. Then we flew to CO Springs to refuel but sat there for 3 hrs waiting and then finally back to Denver and landed at 12:30pm - 7.5hrs on the plane already and I was supposed to be in Portland at 10am!!! So, Brian and I suffered at DIA for 7 more hours waiting for a flight with room and finally at 7pm we departed. Landed at PDX at 9pm and started the 3hr drive over Mt. Hood. Luckily there was not bad weather there but it was still slow going since driving mtn roads at midnight while blown out isn't really fast going. Finally rolled into Bend, OR at 1:30am or 3:30am central time - 24hr day - YES!! Perfect prep for the big race.

We were still running about 12hrs behind on just about everything Saturday but we managed to get our bikes together and over to the course for a lap or two. We had a decent warmup riding towards Mt. Washington on some pretty awesome roads but the race didn't go that well for me. I was still flat and not opened up enough and not going very well, I got pushed around a lot the first lap and just felt pretty dazed out there. Finally, I ripped my tire off the rear rim right after the up-over and lost some time and spots and then just rolled it in about 18th. I used my new G3 Powertap wheel so I did collect some good data, always interesting to see cyclocross race data as there isn't that much out there.

following Johnson and Powers up the steps.

Sunday's race went way better. I was feeling good and recovered plus really opened up from day 1. I warmed up really well and then had a great first lap coming through maybe 5th at lap 1. I held about the same for about 3 laps until the race starting splitting. Ben Berden sat up about lap 4 and after watchign the race on Cyclingdirt looks like he is the one that gapped the rest of us off the lead group. That is why you don't sit back in the group but the course was very tight and turny with not many places to move around. So, I ended up racing for 5-9 and ended up 8th. Not my best result but decent considering the previouse days events. It is rather frustrating to actually plan out and take extra steps to ensure you do everything you can to prepare correctly and then have one thing go wrong and make a 7hr plane ride into a 24hr death march. I was disappointed that having the bad race Saturday took me to 11th overall and out of the top 10 for USGP but I guess that doesn't really mean too much anyway.

With 4 weeks to go till nationals now it will be interesting to see who can hold their form and what guys will do to stay in shape. I think I can do pretty well riding inside like I do all spring and I know I can gain some fitness yet doing it, it will just be interesting not racing for a few weeks before a major race. We havevn't had cold or snow really yet so one of these days it's just going to snap around here and the later it gets the better the chances of that happening in January.

USGP Bend Day 1

2011-12-12T20:18:00.005-06:00

I'll update a little more on the races later on but I did collect some interesting data on my new CycleOps G3 Powertap hub at the Saturday race in Bend this weekend. I did not have a good race at all but despite that the numbers are still pretty interesting. Wondering how different they would be for a better race. I actually rolled the tire off the rim 1/2 way through the race or I would have had the whole thing. In my defense it was the last wheel I glued and cut a few corners, guess I paid the price for that since I lost about 5-6 spots and a bit of time limping to the pits. It wasn't going that well before that anyway though. I think I have had the worst ever season in terms of flights getting cancelled, delayed, or re-routed and that was no different for this weekend. Friday was a 24hr travel day hence the bad race- more on that later on.

here is the data

This is probably the most interesting to me. 27 minutes of racing and 9 of it I was at zero watts or coasting - that is a lot! Figure if I rode the whole race I would have had close to 20 minutes at zero watts of a 60 minute race. It's just insane how many power spikes there are over 500 watts though in the file above though, has to be over 50.

Jingle Cross Day 3

2011-11-28T09:07:00.003-06:00

2011

Day 3 was hard. I'm not sure the course was any harder than day 2 but day 2 was really hard so day 3 felt like I could barely move at times. All the slow power uphill pedaling and the steep muddy run-ups really sapped my legs so yesterday they were pretty much smoked while warming up. Day 3 the only real difference was a safer decent off Mt Krumpit and a few small minor details. The mud was thicker and heavier, I thought a little more slippery too. I was running about 18psi in my tires and they hooked up awesome, completely folded over but there wasn't really anywhere to flat them so I let them rip. I couldn't believe the traction I could get out of them in the pinwheel of death, all I could hear was them purring rolled over on their side - pretty awesome.

Well, my legs were pretty smoked from the two days before. I had two decent laps and then was mostly empty after that. I could barely make it up the run-up and with 4 laps to go I wasn't sure I would be able to get up it. I was mostly riding with Troy Wells which was good, I was motivated to stay with him and battle for 6th and I knew if I came off his wheel I would suffer and slow down. I made it about until 1 to go when he gapped me on the infield by the six-pack barriers. I had trouble in that section and never cleared it well. Still, I was mostly satisfied with my weekend. The heavy riding is something I don't ride really that well in, I just don't have the straight line power for it but I thought I was better this weekend and after 3 days of stageracing maybe I'll gain some power from it for USGP in two weeks.

It was a lot of fun and I'm glad Jingle Cross has grown into a real pro race. I've landed on the podium almost every year the last 4-5 years so it was fun to make the podium at least once this weekend, it was a goal so mission accomplished mostly. It's easy to think if I had sat out Saturday like some I would have been faster on Sunday and that is most likely, but I also wouldn't have gotten a podium if I had skpped the race so it's hard to say it would be worth it. I guess it wouldn't be because I probably wouldn't have been much better on Sunday anyway.

2007?

I guess Todd Wells usually wins when I make the podium

Jingle Cross Day 2

2011-11-26T22:22:00.003-06:00

Got my first podium of the year finally. I wasn't totally expecting it looking out the window at the steady rain at 9am. It's pretty tough conditions to show up without much to stay out of the wet with, I had a total yardsale going on after the race with everything I owned laying on the ground wet or muddy. The race went really well for me. The course was pretty much the same as yesterday but very muddy and slippery. I had the FMB Super Mud tires on both bikes at about 20psi and it was like riding on velcro. I couldn't believe the traction I had. I even used my new Rolf Prima VCX aluminum tubulars and it was like having disc brakes, I could stop instantly and it was very consistent, I was really confident with the setup and could ride fast because of it.

The front group fell apart and came together several times over the first few laps until Todd finally got away from his brother after what I heard was a bad exchange where Troy got a teammates bike instead of his own. I chased and chased 20 seconds down and finally made contact with him with 2 to go. I got a small gap in the last lap and held him off and surprisingly almost came up on jones near the end. Jones has way more power in a straight line than me but I know I saw him go down at least 3 times with his tires just going out from under him and I didn't crash once unless you consider the slip n slide downhill off mt crumpit but that was just comical anyway so doesn't really count. I did hear Todd was riding it which is pretty impressisve if he was. I went the safe route and mostly slid/tripod my bike the whole way down.

Hopefully I have good legs tomorrow. Cyclocrossworld guys sat out today - can't believe they had a semi drive the whole way here with full canopys and tents at a mud race and didn't even show up to use it. I had the family station wagon in the rain and worked on my bikes for 2 hours tonight to make them work again and was able to make it - just saying.

Jingle Cross Day 1

2011-11-26T09:50:00.004-06:00

Quick update from Jingle cross day 1. I had a decent start and felt pretty good the first two laps but I could tell I wasn't opened up good and a bit stale. Chris Jones crashed on the muddy off camber and let Driscol and Johnson get a gap. I was with Well and Jones chasing for a lap but barely just hanging on. Eventually Jones got going good and dropped me and Wells at about the same time. I rode about 20ft behind Wells for a lap but was starting to feel pretty slow. Brian Matter caught me and I rode with him for a lap until I dropped my chain on the run-up and he gapped me too. At that point I was feeling really crummy and losing focus. I tried to go with Troy and Shriver when they came up on me but I had pretty much cracked at that point and just let them go. I limped in for 8th, not a great race but hopefully the legs are opened up now and feel a little better.

I is raining now so the course will be a sloppy sloppy mess by the time we get there. Ellie and Jamie brought their rubber boots but I foresee a huge mess in the Subaru by the time we get back tonight.

Looking forward to testing the FMB Super muds, today should be the day

Non Race Weekend

2011-11-21T11:12:00.004-06:00

Ellie posing with her sucker from the candy shop at Grand Traverse,

I thought it would have lasted longer.

I decided not to race at all this weekend and it is a strange feeling. Iceman and Louisville were hard weekends and I have been really tired since then. I've been getting a lot sleep but still waking up drowsy and tired. I think a lot of it has to do with the season with the colder temperatures and sun not being out much, it's been overcast and dark the last 3-4 days and that makes a big difference.

Saturday I had to work and a bunch of people recently have asked me what I actually do for work. Well, I work 2nd shift at Sartori Cheese in Plymouth, WI. I am a machine/maintenance tech and have a degree in electro-mechanical technology so me and another guy are pretty much responsible for keeping the two factories going at night. One plant makes cheese and the other plant is a packaging facility and I go back and forth between the buildings. Milk separators, pumps, motors, electrical, pneumatics, packaging machines, boilers. Lots of equipment. I've always been good with working with my hands and troubleshooting and this job is just that. Sartori mostly makes artisan cheeses and their Sarvechio Parmesan has won lots of awards and their Asiago is very good as well. I work 3-11:30pm and rotate every other Saturday which means when I am gone racing I usually have traded Saturdays with the other guy and that means when I am home for a weekend I am working Saturday for him. Basically, it means I am working Saturday night every weekend I am home this time of the year.

So, not racing Sunday and not having to be at work really makes a strange day and almost feels like vacation. I made Pizza Sunday night and Jamie and I both remarked how it feels like I had a day of vacation since I was home at night and all day long - it is very relaxing. I actually got to lay on the couch for the first time in months and watch the packer game and then spent some time in the basement with Ellie working on bikes. I think Ellie might be looking into being a maintenance tech too because she loves helping me work on bikes. I finally got the new FMB SSC Mud tires and they look like they will be awesome. I glued one set up on my regular carbon rims and one set up on my new VCX aluminum rims I just got from Rolf Prima. I wanted to try aluminum to see if it stops better than carbon so putting mud tires on them should be a good test. The aluminum wheels where only 100g heavier than the carbon so not even much difference there.

I also got a brand new G3 powertap hub from CycleOps a few weeks ago and Rolf Prima sent it back last week with a carbon rim laced to it. I just weighed it last night and it comes in at about 780g so about 50g heavier than my normal race wheels, that is amazing!

FMB Super Mud ON SALE NOW @

Cyclocrossracing.com

Use coupon code "Schouten" at checkout for additional 10% off and FREE Shipping!!

Thanks to my awesome sponsors for getting me this equipment, it really makes a huge difference having the right choices out there and I am really lucky to have them.

Louisville

2011-11-14T20:54:00.007-06:00

Photos: Cyclingdirt.com

I've felt pretty tired the last two days since Louisville USGP. Lots of driving and hard racing added up a little the last two days. Overall the weekend was ok, I had what I would consider decent races but not great. Not bad either, but not really what I was hoping for I guess. This year the course seemed to be a lot more power pedaling on grass with very little for technical or decisive areas. It was also really windy both days and the ground was hard so it was very bumpy and I'm coming to discover I don't do as well on these types of power courses versus the courses with elevation and more drafting, turning and speed changes.

I tweeted how I was a little disappointed in having to start 3rd row and that did have some to do with my racing I think. I had what I would consider bad starts both days and partly that was due to myself but also due to how I believe these courses are set up. I haven't done a USGP yet where the leadout is more than a couple hundered feet long before going straight onto the course and I think this has to change. It is great if you are front row but anything other than that and you are completely blocked off 15 seconds into the race unless you really want to start taking risky moves and putting people down. If you watch Belgian racing sometimes they are riding down the road for a minute or two before they even touch the course. This allows everyone to move around, single out and establish position going into the course. Every USGP I have done is basically a short sprint to the first corner and there is no real chance to move up from there. No one from the 2nd row has even come close to getting the "Avid Shorty Hole shot prime" which basically proves my point and that is not fair for the rest of the riders.

From here it's on to Jingle Cross in Iowa after Thanksgiving and I am looking forward to these races. The family will be coming along so I'm hoping the weather isn't too bad like some years but it will be a fun experience and Ellie hasn't been a bike race in a while. Hopefully some good training this week and enough rest and I'll be ready to go for 3 days of racing. I'm hoping to have the SSC Mud tires glued by then to test out on Mt Krumpit since that always seems to be muddy and slippery and I havn't had a perfect tire for it yet but this might be the one. I'll post some pictures when I get them on.

Iceman Experience... And Some

2011-11-07T20:49:00.005-06:00

Mountain bike season officially ended Saturday at the Iceman. If you would have asked me going into the race what I thought would have been a good result I would have said top 3 despite the entrance of some really big names and a long list of the normal top contenders. I was feeling confident with my fitness and racing after Boulder last weekend and training went well during the week. If you would have asked 10 minutes into the race how I thought I was going to finish though I would have said outside the top 20 I felt so bad. I don't know what it is lately but sometimes I am just hit or miss and Saturday I was miss. I was miss so bad early on I couldn't even move up inside the top 20 and was sure I would miss the move that seperates the top 5-6 from the rest of the race. I think partly it was due to my mtn bike not fitting like my cross bike. That is strange because I have been riding that bike quite a bit but I haven't done efforts on it and I think that really hurt me. As soon as we were going hard I felt wrong in my position - to high and forward on the bike and my legs were just hating it and I just didn't notice that subtle change while going easy pulling the burley in the weeks prior.

Anyway, I suffered probably the most I have suffered in a race all year to eventually drag myself across a couple open gaps and finally establish myself on the back of the lead train maybe 30 minutes into the race and I thought I was going to die. Anytime the race slowed or or we were climbing I was fine, but anytime we were going fast my legs felt like they had rubber bands holding them back and were just screaming at me. I have been doing motorpacing and fast cross races and so I guess the only explanation is my fit was just a little off. Maybe I was having a little off day too, or a little dehydrated from driving, but even an off day shouldn't have been that bad.

So, in the end I managed to drag myself onto the back of the race and instead of having the confidence to ride at the front I was just happy to be near the front. When the race went balastic in the last mile I managed to stay on until the last climb where the race seperated going into the finish area. My perspective changed a lot in that hour and a half race and suddenly 5th didn't seem so bad considering I wasn't sure I could do 20th early on.

I was already packed and ready to head to Cincinnati after the race finished and since I was somewhat disappointed that I hadn't ridden better I hopped in the car around 6:30 and started driving south towards Ohio. Sunday was the C1 category race there so I wanted to give a shot at some points and maybe have better legs there. I drove almost all the way there and stopped about 1:30am south of Dayton. Luckily the daylight savings ended so I got some extra sleep.

I have been doing the Cincinnati races since they starting 5-6 years ago. Mitch Graham, the promoter, has been great to me over the years. Most memorable trip was when he put me up at his moms for a few nights and she made chili and cookies for me so it has always been fun to get there for the races. I did actually have decent legs despite 900 miles of driving in the two days prior but the course was very soggy with some mud bogs and was just a pure power course with no drafting and no resting. Unfortunately that was probably the worst the conditions I could have hoped for after suffering the day before and the long drive but I still managed to hang onto a 6th there since most of the other racers were tired from racing the two prior days themselves. To be competitive at the front I would have needed great legs here and only having OK legs was not enough against the guys that generally ride in those conditions better than I do to begin with.

The hard part was being back in the car by 6pm and headed back north on I65 but I rolled through Chicago about 10:30, turned my clock back another hour and made it home by 12pm. Yeah, pretty awesome I gained 2 hours on the weekend. Now it's time to rest and recover for Louisville USGP this coming weekend. Another trip with lots of driving but anything less than 8 hours in the car is still easier than flying in my opinion.

8 lanes wide in downtown

Also, it's that time of the year to put up the hardtail mtn bike for sale - if you're interested in an awesome bike check my garage. I'd love to get rid of it locally again so shoot me an email if your interested or know someone who is.

Say What?

2011-11-01T23:43:00.004-05:00

Everyone that reads this blog should know I have an order of importance list and most of the time the blog ends up being down on the list a little bit. I left some comments on FB and Twitter after racing in Boulder last Sunday about "more to follow" so I better get a blog in before it's old news.

Sunday I did a quick trip to Boulder for the Valmont Park Boulder Cup and it was awesome. I was really nervous that it wasn't going to work out preparation wise and maybe just end up being like Ft Collins a few weeks earlier where I was just flat. But, to my surprise and relief my legs showed up even after 2 hours of airport driving and 2 hours of flying. It was a super easy day at the airport and it's days like that that make flying really easy. I shipped one bike out early in the week so I didn't have to worry about checked luggage and then I had direct flight on Frontier to Denver. I was out the door here at 6:20am and in Boulder at 9:30am mtn time. Not bad at all. I tried a new technique for warmup on Saturday because I seem to always race better on day #2 of the weekend so Saturday I rode about 3 hours total with about 45 minutes at LT between some different intervals I did. I have been feeling really good on the bike and the warmup worked perfect. I wasn't tired on sunday but my legs were open despite all the travel and that is all I needed.

The race itself went about as good as it could go for me. I only had one bike and one set of spare wheels. Luckily I shipped them too because my front mud tire kept going flat so I had to use a file tread on the front because that is all I had shipped. I was really lucky the course dried most of the day leaving only the bottom section muddy, but it was deep enough that I didn't need steering tracking, just point and shoot. I was quite amazed actually how well it did hook up though.

I made the front group after lap 1 and was feeling great. Maybe 4 laps into the race Ben Berden attacked and there was a lul in the group so I made a jump, bridged and ended up going past him to lead the lap for a while. This was a big step for me and a good confidence booster. I probably paid a bit for that effort late in the race but it was worth it.

What made my weekend though was that at one point with two laps to go I was getting gapped by an attack by Trebon and small gaps were open all around me with the other guys. Todd Wells was just coming back up to me and yelled a few times for me to close the gap. I'm thinking sure, you're wearing the national champ jersey and yelling at me to close the gap - not happening.

It's hard to tell the story without making poking at Todd but that isn't what I'm trying to do here because I was laughing about it the whole way home but he made the comment that I should cover the gap because "I hadn't raced the day before". My quick answer was " nope, but I was at work till 10pm last night" with which he replied to my surprise " Awwww, work is easy" and my reply was " I didn't think you had a day job Todd". He then went on to explain that " he's had a day job" and I'm sure he has but this was all going on with 2 to go at 5000ft and the gap wasn't getting closed.

We ended the conversation in a stalemate I think but we did regain contact. I was determined at that point to beat him though only because he accused me of basically sandbagging the big race by not racing the day prior but in my mind I was thinking no, I didn't race the day earlier but I did work 43hrs this week, flew to the race this morning, I don't have a bike in the pits and the one I am riding has 10lbs of mud on it and the last lap you took a fresh clean one from the pits, I also have a file tread on the front and it's a muddy race but it's all I have. No mechanic, no lawnchair under an awning or a trailer, no one cleaning my bike after warming up and getting full of mud, no one in the pit and I have to fly home in 3hrs and be at work tomorrow too. I Just showed up and let er rip. And I guess that is what made me so happy about getting 5th (yes I did outsprint him - probably due to working too much, and not from training too much I'll add).

I got extremely lucky that I didn't have problems but I went out to the race knowing I would have to get lucky and it worked out. What I am trying to say is what I have been saying for a while now and that is you can't think about how good others seem to have it or how easy it is for them to race without the other distractions that we all face day to day in our own worlds. You just have to deal with your personal situation and pin on your number and let it rip and pray for the best.

Cross is a unique sport and probably suits me because you don't need to train 30hrs a week to be competitive. You need to have 1 hour of everything you've got, but you don't need millions of miles of fitness to compete or I wouldn't be able to do it.

2011-10-24T20:33:00.002-05:00

Just put some stuff up for sale, check out the garage. Need a nice tubular wheelset for cross? Check it out. How about a high end Powertap SL+ wheelset?

10 Years

2011-10-23T16:16:00.005-05:00

Last night I claimed my 4th overall WORS Elite title. Huge thanks to my sponsors for their support - Mafia Racing, Felt bikes, Shimano, GU, and Rudy Project. I had the best equipment and support you could hope for and the results show it.

2001

10 years ago I claimed my first title when I was 19. I worked very hard to win the series that year and was very happy and surprised when I did it. I still have to work very hard to stay at the top and it's still a rewarding accomplishment to win against all the new faces that have come up through the seasons. Not sure I'll be able to do it but it would be fun to still be going for it in 10 more years, we'll see.

2010

Huge thanks to Don and WORS for his generosity and awesome series. Race reports, interviews, national recognition all go a long way for my sponsors and his show is the best in the country, there is nothing close anywhere.

2002

2011-10-19T21:57:00.006-05:00

Finally a chance to catch my breath at home the last week or so. Lots of recovery from the last 4 hectic weeks of travel and racing and also finally some decent training back in my legs. I was running a bit on fumes there for a while as my training going into that big block hadn't gone that well and that compounded how I was feeling at the races. Between travel, mediocre training, and marginal racing my fitness was not getting better. I managed to get through it and the last day at Ft Collins where I got 4th really got me back to where I needed to be mentally.

Then I have had the last week completely at home where I haven't raced for a weekend or two and my training has gotten back on track with good sensations and good numbers. It's interesting how motivation changes for me with how my legs are feeling. When I am riding well motivation is easy to train, but when I struggle to feel good my motivation also seems to get low and it's easy to get frustrated. This is where it's easy to crack and it takes some mental toughness to push through. Getting that 4th place really put me back on track mentally and hopefully now the good training will pay off coming up in November with the full month racing schedule there.

Two sponsors came through recently with some new product for me and that was exciting. Once I again I have gotten a couple new Lazer Genesis helmets putting me at about my max capacity for helmets in the 8-10 range. Need to get rid of a few. I love the Genesis model because I can easily wear a cap underneath it when it's cold, and it easily adjusts tight when I take the hat off. I also got another hardshell cover for over the top for when it's really raining and cold like the last few days. I used that a couple times last year racing and it was awesome.

The 2nd highlight of the week is in the works but I'll be a getting a brand new Cyclops Powertap G3 and Rolf Prima will be lacing it up on a 38 rim for racing on. I'll also be getting a new wireless hub for training on so I can do away with having to wire/unwire my 2001 prototype twice a week to race on. Every minute counts for me.

I have been extremely lucky over the years to have Cyclops support me. I got my first powertap in 2001 through a demo program because I won the WORS series that year and the powertaps were first coming out. Mine was an original prototype and it's still working perfect to this day. I've gone through 3 rims on it, but never had a problem with the hub. I can't imagine training without one anymore and I can only imagine how much harder it would be on my limited training plan to get as precise workouts that I do in the time allotted without it. The new G3 is a lighter than the previous version I have. I'll be looking to sell my Powertap SL+ on Hed Stinger 5s - check my garage page or contact me through the blog if you are interested.

Check out the interviw on CX Magazine if you haven't already, I seem to be the go to guy when it comes to working a full time job and racing interviews.

2011-10-12T00:01:00.003-05:00

Time is going quick these days. I have raced 5 or 6 weeks straight and lost track. I have flown across the country for 3 of the last 4 and usually arriving in Milwaukee on Monday with barely enough time to punch in by 3 at work that afternoon. That usually makes about a 20 hour day after racing twice and a 20 hour day on Friday leaving for the race.

That has left Tuesday - Thursday for unpacking and repacking and two days for training, if you want to call it that. Luckily, last weekend in Gloucester I seemed to have found my legs despite the long days at home and the horrible travel situations I have been in. Of my 3 weekends for flying, 2 of them had cancelled flights and one of them I lost my bikes. It was a rough start to the season but since Gloucester they have been getting better.

This last Saturday and Sunday I found myself in Ft. Collins, CO for round 3 and 4 of the USGP. My training during the week has not been ideal which means day #1 at the races I don't really know what to expect since I am not able to do some of my openers and workouts during the week that I would normally do to come into Saturday ready to rock. Last weekend in Gloucester it seemed to work out, this weekend in Ft. Collins it did not. I was flat, off balance on my bike and was just not able to get over 60% and in the mud/rain and that just equaled a horrible ride. It was actually my worst USGP since 2008 when I flew into Philly and made it to the race only 1 hour before the start and rode my bike to the start for a warmup, that is bad.

Well, cleaning bikes till 9pm in the hotel, driving around till 10pm doing laundry, eating a burrito, pizza and a blizzard from DQ while I contemplated quitting racing SAturday after the race somehow must have gotten me back in the groove because Sunday morning I woke up and stepped on the floor and knew I had good legs. Two laps on the course for warmup and it was confirmed - I was going to have a good day. Complete 180 from Saturday both physically and mentally. I had no tiredness from the day before and the legs were quick and strong. I also had the perfect tire set up with the FMB Sprint tires which hooked up so good on the dried out course it was amazing. I have never ridden file treads before but these were the ticket on the day and I am really fortunate cyclocrossracing.com hooked me up with a pair.

Long story short I made the lead group for one lap, got gapped when Jeremy and Trebon started attacking on lap 2 or 3. I rode solo for about 3-4 laps until Tim Johnson caught me. That was actually a good thing as he helped pace me a bit and gave me a rest. He really surged a lot and seemed like he was trying to drop me all over the place but I felt well within myself for all the accelerations and I was having no problems in the tricky sections staying with him. With 2 to go I seemed to gap him a bit on the climbs but 1/2 a lap later he was back. I led the last lap and expected a hard attack but it never really came. With maybe 500 meters left Tim passed me but couldn't drop me. We opened it up for the sprint and I didn't have a hard time coming around him. I am almost still in disbelief that one day I could be so bad and the next day have the best ride I have had on a national level in a long time, maybe ever, and it almost seemed easy.

I'll have about 3 good weeks now to get in some solid training and catch up around here a little bit before November kicks off with two weekends of traveling to Iceman and Louisville. Hopefully I can gain some fitness and get back to some consistent racing, although I'm not sure I would trade consistency for one bad day if there was also one really good day again. At least I know it's still in there.

2011-09-26T10:59:00.004-05:00

Photos from Michael Janikowski

The weather here in WI has not been very fall like the last two weeks, it's been more spring like with lots of overcast and rain. That is not fall in WI normally but it's about par for the year I'd say.

I started the cross sesason out last weekend by traveling to StarCrossed in Seattle, WA where my team Cyclocrossracing.com is based out of. I had never raced in Seattle before and with big cross races going along with my team being from there it was a great way to get there and see what Seattle is all about. Unfortunately some overbooked flights and lost luggage on Frontier screwed up the weekend and I suffered the raw end of the deal on little sleep, borrowed bikes and not very good races. It was a still a fun weekend despite and the guys out there really take care of me so it was good to spend some time with them even if I had to use a borrowed helmet for the races.

On to the big races and the USGP season opener in Madison. The last few years I seem to have found awesome form for these races so I was sort of expecting it to happen this year since I am basically on the same plan. That didn't happen at all and this year with the rain and muddy courses there was no hiding at all. You either had it or didn't. I knew 500ft into the race on day 1 that I didn't have it and despite giving it everything I couldn't go harder than 70% it felt like. I lost ground the whole race, couldn't ride with anyone and felt off balance in every corner. It was ugly and very frustrating as I was hoping to ride a bit better on the home course. Sunday came and so did the wind, rain, thunder, lighting, and hail.

By the time we raced at 4pm the course was well beyond destroyed with a 2-3" layer of mud and slippery slimmy corners. I had a good tire selection with the FMB Grippo XL at about 25psi, and the legs were much better, I could sit down and feel the tire hooking up, but I still didn't have the horsepower to move forward. It was funny because Brian Matter passed me 1/2 way through the first lap

and no one passed me the remainder of the race and I didn't pass anyone else . I couldn't see anyone in front of me and only Weighal and Wicks were behind me loosing ground - I finished 15th. It was a difficult day to be off, but I'm glad I was better on Sunday and the conditions could not have been worse.

So, the season is now in full swing and this coming weekend I am flying out to Hartford, CT with Jamie to stay at my friends and host house of the 2006 and 2007 east coast cross campaign season the Pulvers. I'll do the GP Gloucester out there, then come home and get ready for round #2 of the USGP in Ft. Collins October 8-9. It's going to be a stressfull two weeks coming up with lots of packing, unpacking, bike work and regular work but it will be fun to do a little travel after a season of just WI racing.

Big thanks to my sponsors Cyclocrossracing.com, Blue bikes, Lazer helmets and Rolf Prima wheels. I have excellent support and I wouldn't be able to race at this level without them.

2011-09-07T18:41:00.003-05:00

The transition to cyclocross is almost complete. One more set of Rolf Prima wheels need to show up and I am ready for the season. I am extremely lucky to be able to race this season again with Cyclocrossracing.com, Blue bikes, Rolf Prima wheels, and Lazer Helmets. They have worked together to put together the best possible program that I could hope for.

Cyclocrossracing.com stepped it up this year a little more for me and will provide me with a full selection of my choice of special edition FMB tires. This is probably going to be one of my biggest upgrades over last year and I think it is going to be a huge advantage to have a top end tire to choose from for the races. I used FMB tires late last year and thought they were far supperior to anything else, even Dugast, due to the fact that the sidewalls already had a sealant on them from the factory. They have excellent tread choices and even a new mud tire which I'll have set up called the Gripo XL. Cyclocross racing has a really good selection of tires so you should check them out if you are looking to get going for the season.

Blue has provided me with two matching Norcross SL bikes again with Shimano DA 10spd. I thought the bikes were awesome last year and since not much changed this year, they should be awesome again.

Mike Phillips and Sram hooked me up with 2 sets of the Avid Ultimate brakes. I've been riding them already and I think they are going to really increase my ability to stop along with the new special red pads Rolf Prima gave me. One of the main problems with the TRP EuroX brakes I used last year was the stopping power, I think already with these they are noticeably stronger and I really like that you can adjust the spring tension to your own feel. Hopefully the wet weather stopping power is just as good.

I also received 4 sets of the new and upgraded Rolf Prima 38CX carbon wheels for this season and they decalled them in yellow special to match the Blue bikes! Last year I was very happy with them and this year they are lighter, coming in at 1207grams! I started gluing them and hopefully will have them finished by the weekend. I am really lucky to have such a great wheel sponsor with a product that works well.

Down the road I am going to try and highlight each of the sponsors and show what they provide me with and how it makes a difference in my racing and training a little more in depth. Right now with all the bike building and wheel gluing time is running short, but once everything is set up proper I'll be able to spend a little time on the equipment choices for some of the races. I also have a couple little custom parts I am working on and if they turn out, I'll have to share how that goes.

2011-08-19T21:02:00.005-05:00

I've been taking a good break this week from the bike. It's my 2nd of the year and at about 7 months into the season, it feels good to wake up and not get on the bike. Ore 2 Shore was going to be my last focus of the early season and now I'll start getting on the cross bike instead of the road bike. Still a couple of mtn bike races left, but the priority now is cross.

Ore 2 Shore was a fun weekend. The dynamics of the race have changed a lot in the last 5-7 years I think and I'm not sure why. I remember the first years I did the race and going gangbusters for the first 30 minutes after going over the luge climb. It just never let up. Now it seems like it is more road racing tactics with lots of group riding and lots of guys being able to sit in the group. I had the best legs I've ever had at this race this year so it was encouraging to be able to train specifically for the event, and then have excellent form. I was never in trouble at all in the race and always felt in control and comfortable. The last mile didn't play out that well for me, I think having Cole House in the race changed the race dramatically in the last 10 miles because of his strength and sprinting capability. Anyway, I tried a couple of attacks but Cole and Nathan were on everything. Brian launched one as we came out on the road and everyone hesitated. I wasn't going to chase Brian with Cole on my wheel but Cole waited to long to try and bring Brian back. I was hoping I'd be able to jump him in the last 50 meters but Cole kept it at about 35mph for the last 300 meters which is what makes him so good and why he can win a Pro sprint. He almost caught Brian but ran out of room in the gravel corners. 3rd again for me, I think my average for this race is 2 1/2nd but being on the podium is always fun.

I've had some good home improvement projects on the list and after living in the house now almost 2 years the entire list is getting short. Got a dishwasher wired, plumbed, and installed Monday. Sprayed the front of my house white on Tuesday because the upper half aluminum siding was fading. Spraying with a paint made for aluminum worked awesome and took very little time with a good sprayer. It looks like brand new siding again. Wednesday/thursday I filled all the cracks in the blacktop driveway with sealer and today I coated it. Nothing looks better than a jet black driveway.

I'm hoping my new cross equipment shows up next week so I can work on that while I start to regroup and get ready to get into training again. I might get on the bike this weekend for Race the Lake around lake Winnebago, it's just to close and too much $$$ to pass up a shot at. I'll have some stale legs at the start but they should clear out by High Cliff State Park I hope.

2011-08-10T20:38:00.005-05:00

This last weekend I had two choices, race a little or race a lot. With Ore 2 Shore a week out for me it was a toss up on whether an extra little boost to fitness would be better or worse this weekend and whether or not I'll gain that little extra, or be a little extra tired.

It's hard for me to pass up racing so Gordy and I decided go for it and get a little extra fitness in so last Saturday we loaded up early and headed down to Elk Grove, IL for the crits down there. Big $$$ and big fields. I had goals of getting in some leg speed, staying hydrated, and not going too hard. 1.5 hour crit with about 8 corners, there seem to be a lot of crashes but nothing bad this year. I didn't warm up much, actually at all because I started getting a migraine headache an hour before the race but a quick trip to the gas station and 2 Excedrin seemed to curb it at a dull throb behind my eyes, not too bad as far as midgraines go. But, that took a little pep out of me and I wasn't very aggressive in the race, rolled across the line in 24th after 2 crashes in the last lap. I think I got in what I needed though without going very deep at all.

Sunday was a somewhat quick drive up to Camrock for WORS #7. The venue at Camrock was crowded, luckily there was a small park there and Ellie could play while I got ready to race, otherwise it hard to keep her under control in those types of settings. Give her a slide and she's happy for hours though.

The race went good. I was feeling good from opening up the day before at the crit, but not knowing the course at all was very difficult. Blind corners, 180s on grass taller than you can see around and tons of brake checks had me a bit frustrated on lap 1. Nathan had a sizable gap soon on and I could tell he knew the course more than anyone else in a short amount of time so I was pretty nervous he might be gone. I did a majority of the chasing, but after loosing sight of Nathan everyone seemed complacent and I backed it down too to try and cool off and learn the course better for lap 2. Shortly after that we came around a corner and Nathan was off his bike airing up a tire, that changed the race dramatically because I think Nathan would have been hard to catch. I continued at the front for another 1/2 lap when it started raining. Corners became like ice on the hardpacked grass and dirt but for some reason I made the transition from dry hardpacked to slippery instantly and could feel myself opening small gaps on the group. I kept the power on for the remainder of the lap while it rained and starting lap 3 I held a sizable gap on Matter and Phillips. I thought the course was much better wet, it was more challenging and technical and I was having fun. One of those laps I missed a bottle from Jamie so by lap 4 my head was spinning and I thought I might tip over. Matter was closing in hard and I could feel myself loosing focus. Luckily I had a bunch of GU left and I ate 3 on the last lap which saved me and despite no water I made it in for the 5th win of the season. I drank about 1/2 a gallon of water on the way home and was still 5lbs less than I normally am. That's a lot of water.

I was happy to have the Felt Edict out there on that course, it has been making a huge difference in the amount of pedaling I can do compared to the hardtail. I was able to just sit and put out power without bouncing off the saddle and that made a huge difference when it was slippery and on the open sections that were fast. I think it will be the bike for O2S this year. I've done a hardtail the last couple and it's time for the full suspension this year. Plus, I think I'm undefeated on it so maybe I can keep the streak going. Hopefully I can recover enough and use that extra fitness for that little extra this year that I'll need, too many 2nds at O2S. We'll see.

Come and Get It

2011-08-04T18:54:00.003-05:00

I really need to get rid of all of last years cyclocross equipment. I brought everything out and took pictures of it, it's all for sale. Dugast Rhinos, Challenge Fangos, Blue Norcross SL, Rolf Prima Carbon Tubular wheels. Everything is listed at my GARAGE. Make me an offer I can't refuse. Cyclocross season is coming up fast. This is the best equipment you can get at a fraction of the cost.

1999

2011-08-01T11:28:00.004-05:00

I found my harddrive with all my 2003 pictures and older on it. Man, I've been sitting here for an hour going through them. I posted a ton on Facebook, it is easier. Mostly WORS races and some road racing. Lots of memories there. I can't believe this was 1999 Crystal Ridge. Blazer won, Spiro passed me on the switchback downhill and beat me for 2nd but I was pumped anyway.

Spiro

Holeshot? No prime that year but it was still blazing hot. Dad dumped a bucket of water over my head up the climb every lap.

There are two bikes I wish I still had. My Schwinn Homegrown bassboat blue and my team Saturn titanium Lemond. Remember Spinergy Spox? I'm runnin' them in this picture. The next race was Wausau and I think I got 30th. I was very inconsistent then, I think I blew up a lot trying to get to the front.

I also found a bunch of pictures from the infamous La Crosse mudbath race. It was epic to say the least. I remember Dewey Dicky passing me somewhere in there like I was standing still. It was my first Elite WORS race and we were just getting back from family vacation. Tractors pulled the cars out of the parking lot because it was 6" of mud after the storm.

h

July

2011-07-25T21:52:00.008-05:00

Ellie's birthday helmet from Grandma

This month has been great. It's been hot and the sun has been shining. I like it like that when I get up in the morning and the sun is full blast, it's so much better than overcast like the last couple of months and it is refreshing.
After a good break from the bike before the last race in Eau Claire, getting back into the groove of training the last two weeks things have been feeling good on the bike. I was surprised I rode good at Eau Claire, and my workouts since then have gone great too. Sometimes after a little downtime I don't feel so good for a while when I come back but this year it has been good. I got in some great workouts both on the road and mtn bike the last two weeks and now that my Edict is dialed in, it makes the trails in the Kettles a lot easier to ride than my hardtail so I have been out trail riding a little more than normal.
The lakes around here are really warm right now too so we have incorporated lunch at the beach into the busy day once a week. I leave on my ride and meet Jamie and Ellie around noon at Long Lake, get in an hour of swimming and then head home for work. It's fun to finish a ride at a lake and go for swim and Ellie loves the water. A couple of my sisters met up with us last week with their kids and all the cousins play together.

I was quite surprised to win WORS #6 this weekend at the Alterra Coffee Bean Classic. I was a little bummed not to win any Alterra Coffee but was really happy with the win. I'll have to dig up a picture, but I think I got 3rd at this race behind Spiro and Blazer in 1999 or 2000. It was one of my breakthrough races and I remember it was blazing hot that day too. My dad dumped a cooler of water over my head every time up the climb and I wished he was there doing it Sunday again too.

Mike Phillips and Nathan Guerra really put me to the test mentally and physically to stay in this one to the end. I knew both would be tough here and the singeltrack would be the deciding factor since the growth is so dense you cannot see which way the trails go or how fast you can take a corner. Twice in the race I was chasing for my life to keep them within eye sight and both times when I came back to them in the open one of them popped. Nathan really went all out on the last lap and I thought he had me but I just didn't quit and somehow managed to keep the gap he created in the singletrack just within distance that when we came out I was back to him right away. After that it was a slight attack on the backside hill to get my own gap which I held to the finish. It was a really tough battle and I was glad I was there mentally to be dropped off the back a couple times but battle back where I new my strengths were. Having the Felt Edict really made a huge difference too since I had such better control and pedaling with the suspension. Last time I was here on a hardtail and you just can't ride them the same but the full suspension was definitely what kept me within site of those guys and able to come back this time.
My water girls on the hot day.

2011-07-12T20:45:00.008-05:00

Since 4th of July weekend was kind of a bust for me we made up for it this last weekend with a mini family vaction/race weekend. That's usually how they go for us I guess with limited vacation time so we have to make the most of it. Next year I'll be up to two weeks so then it will be a little better. Still, it's fun to make a race weekend a family weekend too and I guess that I am starting to fit right in with the WORS heads since that is what makes that series so popular.

We headed up to Eau Claire to preride saturday and I am glad I did. Since Subaru Cup I had taken the most time off my bike since last winter so I was a little stiff and stale from climbing up and down the ladder painting, but feeling fresh and ready to go. I was also excited to finally get to test out the new Felt Edict on some trails that would be perfect for it. I am really happy with it and how it rides, after being on a hardtail for almost 3 years it's completely different to be on a full suspension where I can just pedal hard and not bounce off the saddle. Two laps on the course and I could tell it was going to make a big difference over the hardtail. I made a few adjustments and ran a 2.2 tire up front for better cornering and that made a big difference too. I guess it pays a little to show up early and preride, I don't do it often but it's nice to have the ability when you do to change tires/wheels and feel the difference.

The race itself went good. I was flat at the start, but not too bad. I was able to kind of dangle off Phillips for maybe 1/2 a lap, but I just didnt' have the top end to get back to him when he would gap me. The temperature was a bit of a shock, 2nd lap I could feel my body overheating so with Philips pretty much gone I backed it down and listened to my body. After the time off I wasn't as confident in my fitness, but after lap 2 I was still feeling relatively good and recovered from lap 1 so I went pretty hard again. I rode a good lap with Eppen who was riding a hardtail pretty well, but I knew after being on one for a long time where I could make it hurt on him and that seemed to work well as I dropped him in the uphill bumpy section and never saw him again. 4th lap I put it in cruise control and just enjoyed the course and the full suspension making things smooth. Finished in 2:17 which is probably the longest WORS race in the last 5 years. I ate a lot of GUs out there and drank a fair amount, I actually felt quite good at the finish and well within myself so I am pleased that my small break seemed to refresh me and still not loose any amount of fitness.

After the race we headed over to the Metropolis water resort and had a really fun time at the water park. I wasn't sure how Ellie would do, it was a little sensory overload for her at first but once she got going she was hard to slow down. I went down a couple waterslides with her and then somehow got her to go down by herself. That was the end of doing anything else as she proceded to do about 2000 laps up and down for the next 2 hours and refused to do anything else. She seemed to forget about not liking water in her face after a while and just blasted down the slide lap after lap. Monday we went back to the park in the morning and then stayed until early afternoon. She pretty much did about 3000 more laps on the slide and I did about 1000. Mom did 1.

I picked up a waterproof Sony HD camera on ebay for $29 and it was awesome at the waterpark. I couldn't believe how clear it was and even underwater. Hey Jamie, toss me the camera - sploosh!

2011-07-06T20:50:00.002-05:00

This picture is the finishing touches on my 4th of July weekend. You could say I didn't do much other than work. It wasn't a very enjoyable weekend. I talked with Gordy after last weekend and we decided a relax in training was in order, sort of an early summer break. So, I took up a project I have neglected since moving in. The garage had been looking pretty rough with tons of chipped paint, the upper windows on both ends were boarded over, and there was a large 30ft tall pine tree in the corner full of wasps and pine cones. One thing led to another and by Friday afternoon I was trying to do all 3 parts of the project at once. I decided I couldn't paint with the pine tree and wasps so that came down. Pretty easy too, even with a handsaw and a ladder it was down in an hour. I don't waste time. It was hauled away in 1.5 hours total, except the reamining 12ft stump, couldn't get through it with the hand saw.
I should say that with the pine tree gone, Ellie discovered if she stands on a chair in the kitchen she can see the race cars between corner 4 and 1 on Saturday nights, she is pretty excited about that.

Next up framing in some storm windows for some ventilation and light in the upper level. There is tons of room up there and it's great for storage with walk-up steps inside. Even enough room for a shop, lots of my bikes are stored up there but with no natuarl light it was kinda dark and stuffy. Problem solved. It took a while for the first one, but the 2nd one on the other side I had framed and installed in an hour. I have never done that before but it wasn't too bad.

The scraping took about 3 days, 2 days longer than I thought it would. The back was really bad, the sides were not as bad and only from the middle up, but as soon as I started I relized I was in for more than anticipated. The previous owner sprayed a quick coat on to cover, but it didn't adhere well so it scraped right off. That, along with the old paint/primer coming off I was down to bare wood on probably 65% of the garage. Monday morning I was finally done with scraping. Then the fun part today was spraying. The sprayer worked ok, but it wasn't getting in the deep pores of the old wood enough so I basically sprayed it on thick, then used a brush to get a good cover and push it in the wood. I used a paint/primer mix so we'll see how it holds up. I'm hoping in the next 5 years to side the garage so if this lasts that long I'll be happy. Sure looks good now.

The rest of my 4th weekend was spent at work. I had to work both Saturday and Monday so other than standing on a ladder 6 hours before work and then working 9, I didn't really get to do much. Actually, I take that back. After church on Sunday we went to Mauthe lake with my sister and had lunch on the grill and some beach time with Ellie, the highlight of my weekend.

I actually find projects like this to be somewhat relaxing mentally since I don't think about training at all and it gets my mind a bit refreshed from the last 4-5 months of riding every day just doing something product and different. We are planning a nice weekend up in Eau Claire after WORS for some waterpark time so that will be nice to enjoy now that this project is done and crossed off the list.

2011-06-29T21:26:00.001-05:00

All photos WORS.org

The last couple of seasons June has been a good month for me fitness wise. I come home from 3-4 days of racing in Iowa for Memorial weekend and about 2-3 weeks later I am flying. This year has been really similar. At Wausau I had the best legs of the year and state road championships were really good too. Greenbush RR for TOAD (Tour of America's Dairyland) happened to be on Monday last week and being only 5 minutes from my house on all the roads I train on I couldn't pass it up. Again, really good legs. I don't even train for long road races but I rode 79.5 miles off the front in an 80 mile race and barely hurt the next day. Ended up 5th behind J. Cantwell, never missed a pull in 3.5 hours of rotation and was climbing really well.

When I start riding like that I loose a couple pounds too and going into Subaru Cup I was about 143lbs on one of our scales and 145 on the other. That is really light for me. I stopped all sugar for 1 month before which was really hard, especially for an oatmeal eater, but after a week I seem to adjust and an apple and raisens stop all my cravings, but no sugar is still really hard. I figured I lost about 1lb a week just doing that.

So, going into Subaru Cup I had aspirations of riding top 5, I thought that was possible if things went my way and if I had super legs. I didn't. I had ok legs, but not super. Things also did not go my way very much. I knew before I got there that I would be dissapointed in the call up and I was, 40th. That pretty much takes you out of the race unless you are super. Last year I got lucky at the start and had really good legs. This year the bottleneck at the top of the climb hurt everyone outside the top 10 and I was just not good enough to make up the huge time gap lost on the first lap. I rode behind Sam Schultz, last years winner and he was in the same boat. Last year he won, this year he was bogged down in 20th with me and was no faster than anyone else he was around. A perfect case in point of how critical the start is in a big race. But, going into it I knew that would be the case because I choose to chase points around the country for cyclocross instead of mtn bike so more or less after lap 1 it was just a race for WORS points and I resorted to that early on.

I will say the course was a true mtn bike course and if I could choose to race mtn bikes week in and week out it would be that style of racing. Punchy climbing, short somewhat technical descents and fast pace. I really like that and it is very challenging. It was good to be challenged above what we normally do for WORS, what a contrast between Wausau last week and Subaru Cup this week, one is wide open throttle start to finish and one took some serious skill and technique. Very fun.

The short track was a bit of a disappointment as well, but not totally a bad result. Warming up I was completely dialed on my Felt 6 hardtail and ready to kill it up the steep climb. Then, 5 minutes before the start we all found out there was a mistake and the climb was not in the mens race. That blew my whole game plan and focus. That hill was to my major advantage and partly the reason for the no sugar diet. I was going to crush that climb. So, I quickly swapped to my Felt Edict that I just got because there wouldn't be that much climbing and a lot more bumpy pedaling. Perfect for the Edict. That is until Brian asked where my # plate was 30 seconds before they called my name for call up. Luckily my car was 100ft from the start so I rode over, swapped wheels and made it back on the hardtail with my number plate, but I missed my call up and was 3rd row. Things didn't go much better from there. I was way off of making the front group like last year and the hard climb I was hoping for wasn't there. I picked off some riders, but didn't really feel like I had given it my all being stuck between groups the whole race. But, that is short track racing and again, without really being part of the national series a top result doesn't really matter in the end and due to Matter's bad luck with course tape, I got top WORS points for the short track too, but definitely not what I was looking for going into the weekend.

So, it was a so-so weekend of racing depending on perspective. Awesome course and WORS does a fine job, it's exciting for everyone to watch the big pros race and it is really great to have so many people out cheering for me. I really appreciate it so thanks. In my mtnbikeracenews.com interview a couple months ago they asked me about Subaru Cup and what it means for us WORS racers. I think I might have made a self fulfilling prophesy concerning all this, but it is what it is and I'll be looking forward to coming back next year and looking for that result I've wanted at a NORBA for the last 10 years. I think it's possible, there are just a lot of things that have to go right and bike racing is not the most predictable sport. That's what makes it so exciting.

Seconds

2011-06-18T10:57:00.004-05:00

Or it might be 2nds. Both actually. The last couple weeks I have been riding fairly well yet I haven't managed a win. We'll start with two weeks ago at state road championships. After racing 3 times over Memorial weekend I seemed to recover really well for the road championships. This race has played out the same for about the last 5 years and this year wasn't much different. 3 guys got away right away and everyone let it go. IScorp had a rider in it so we were happy. The race wasn't too animated until about 6 laps in when another group of 5 went away. IScorp also had a rider in this break but I wasn't that comfortable with 8 up the road with only 2 riders. Neither of the lead groups were really gaining time after 60 miles of racing so with 2 laps to go what was left of the field chased down the leading group of 8. We just so happened to catch them at the base of the steep climb up through the start and before they even knew they were caught I had attacked them. Jordan Cullen came across to me and we had the winning move before anyone could even respond. Jordan ended up attacking me on the backside of the course and I cramped pretty bad and couldn't close down a 10ft gap. Then it was 20ft, 50ft, I just couldn't pedal hard. I ended up chasing him the last 2 miles to the finish for 2nd place. I was impressed with Jordan, a bit discouraged in myself for making the race and then not closing it, that shouldn't happen.

A week later WORS #3 in Wausau. I think everyone has seen the results from that. I've got my hand in the air and Matter gets the victory. I haven't really felt like talking about this one at all. It felt to me like one of my most dominant races in recent memory yet I didn't walk away with the win and I was pretty mad at myself. I finally got my bike together Friday night before the race. A quick warmup on it Saturday and off to the races Sunday. 5th time on a mtn bike this year, counting the two previous races. I had amazing legs, it felt like I had a throttle I could twist as much as I wanted. That doesn't happen often. It didn't matter much though with the open course and rough single track my hardtail was no match for the full suspensions. IT seemed like no matter how big a gap or how hard I tried I was caught in every section of singletrack by the full suspensions. The new, freshcut singletrack was the worst and I couldn't even pedal. With all the trails in Wausau, I couldn't figure out why we were riding on almost unridable, brand new trail - it wasn't even cool to ride. I tried everything I could to blow the race apart but the front group would either chase me down or close gaps in the singletrack and I just could not crack those guys. It was really frustrating and by the 4th lap I just made sure to lead into the singletrack, then I would shut it down and completely recover where no one could pass, then twist the throttle when we came out. It was somewhat effective in keeping those guys in check on the singletrack, but not very effective in staying away.
So, it came down to a sprint and I was pretty confident in that. The only problem was that I forgot Shimano only sent a me a 28/40 crank and when we were going 30mph for the sprint I was completely spun out in the 40/11 and couldn't stand up to sprint. I should have started the sprint a lot later, but with a group of 3 I didn't want phillips to jump first and then have to try and get around him later, so I kept the lead and spun out my gears. I never saw Brian next to me, he must have been in my blinds spot so when we went into the finish shoot I thought I had it. It wasn't until after the line that I saw him come by but I was still pretty sure I had it. Apparently not. Oh well.
I think my form is good and I'm hoping it continues at Subaru Cup for a good ride there. I'd like to try and beat last years result and hopefully with a better call up that might be possible.

Memorial Weekend

2011-05-31T20:22:00.005-05:00

It wouldn't be a memorial weekend in the last 10-12 years for me if it didn't include a trip down to Iowa for the Memorial Weekend bike races. I did Snake Alley as a junior so that makes about the last 12 years I have made the trip. It is one of my favorite race weekends of the year because I can race 3-4 times over the weekend yet can sit in the park and have a picnic lunch, swim in a pool at the hotel and almost say "relax". Snake Alley is my favorite criterium and one I put on my schedule early in the season.

Going back a week I didn't have much of a chance to update after WORS #2 in Rhinelander, but I didn't really have much to say about it. It was a lot of driving in one day and a sub-par race for me. Not really sure what happened, I warmed up well and felt solid the first lap but faded pretty hard the 2nd and 3rd uncharacteristily. I drank about a 1/2 gallon of water on the way home and still weighed in at a season low of 141.5lbs, a good 5lbs lower than what that scale normally tells me on a lite day. I thought I was well hydrated going into the race, but maybe the higher temps and long drive had something to do with it, anyway, I had a decent race but Brian and Nathan both put the hurt on me and I didn't feel like I could suffer any harder than 90%.

Last week leading up to Memorial weekend I was a little nervous that I wasn't riding as well as I hoped because of Rhinelander. That was probably part of the reason I didn't race the way I should have at Snake Alley on Saturday. My legs were really good that day, better than I expected them to be. I had a great start, nailed my pedal and had a bit of a gap with Tilford over the top of the climb on the first lap. The pavement was still wet from rain but it wasn't affecting me at all, it seemed like the race was split apart pretty good the first 4-5 laps. But, no one made any of those huge efforts to blow it apart for good. I was a little hesitant to do it myself because I feel the snake is my strong point and late in the race when it gets hard, the race blows apart itself. That never really happened this year. I got myself in two strong moves that I though for sure would go to the line, one with Marcotte and Jensen and then later with strong group of 6 which I was sure would be the selection. Both came back and the lead group swelled again.

I stayed well positioned, but too far back going into the snake on the last lap. I came over the top in 7th and finished in 7th but I was a bit disappointed to feel that good and get that result. It wasn't bad, but better positioning would have been a much better result and I was capable of that.

Waiting out the rainstorm - hotel camping

The rest of the weekend is just racing for me and I do it mostly for training. I had a good time racing with the rest of the ISCorp guys and spending time with Ellie and Jamie. Ellie loves being outside and asks whenever we are looking like we are going somewhere if "we, go, side"?

She did pretty awesome considering she missed naps two days in a row and didnt' make it to bed until probably after 10pm both nights when she is normally there by 7.

State road championships will be next on the list this coming Sunday. We should have the strongest team there again and it would be fun to try and go for it this year. Finally some warm weather this week too so it should be a good week to get in a solid bit of training too before Subaru Cup later in the month.

Saint Louis

2011-05-16T18:01:00.004-05:00

Just got back from a painful weekend of racing in St. Louis. Probably one of the worst two days or racing in recent memory. Not because the races were bad, but the weather was just horrible. I am still at only 2 for days I have ridden in only a jersey. This weekend didn't help that at all.

The plan was to go to St. Louis for the NRC races with ISCorp. Normally I probably wouldn't do that because of work and local racing, but the team was going and I didn't really have a good reason not to go. I knew it would be hard racing, but I can sit in a hard crit and get a good workout and with Snake Ally coming up in two weeks I was hoping it would put some speed in my legs. Eh, why not.

Weather forcast was for the 50s and 50% chance of "showers". It rained from my house in WI Saturday morning until we got back to about Beloit Sunday night at 10pm. The rain made the races that much harder. I thought the courses were pretty safe considering the rain, but there were still a ton of crashes, flats and close calls. Because of the rain we slowed down for the corners and the acceleration out of them was crazy. I did 2 - 6 corner crits and we would slow down into the teens for the corneres, then back up to 30+ mph on the straights. I probably did about 500 max 30 second accelerations if you count both days. Sunday's race was harder with a climb in it and after about an hour of racing and only about 40 guys left I got popped off the back. I just couldn't accelerate back up to 500 watts again. I sat in the car and shivered uncontrollably for about 30 minutes, my hands and legs were purlple and I could barely move my face. It was a miserable two days of racing.

Things weren't much better at home as Jamie got pretty sick Friday. She seemed better Saturday morning when I rolled out, but by Saturday afternoon she was smoked and making calls for her mom to come get Ellie. It was not a good weekend all the way around, the only thing I can hope to come away with is some speed and some rainy crit skills for when it matters again. Probably will come in usefull soon enough given the weather pattern. I'm thinking snake ally will be a wet/cold race again this year. Who knows.

Iola 2001

2011-05-03T14:31:00.002-05:00

The winning attack 2001 Iola

After a little digging around I found some photos from Iola 2001. I worked at Wolf Cycle at the time and they were a big Schwinn dealer so I had lots of Schwinn clothing and a good deal on bikes. Mike Spiro, 1996/ 1997 WORS Champion, also worked there so I had a great mentor at a time when I was learning to race. I trained and drove to a lot of races with him so I learned a lot about preparing and training for big races throgh him. I think it helped teach me how to focus on the race. I copied a lot of what he did for many years until I was established enough to know or figure out for myself what does and doesn't work for me, but seeing how it was done from the guy winning at the time had a big influence on the amount of training and suffering I would try and match.

Chad Melis (Sobe) leading me and Jeff Ott at Iola

In the early 2000's when WORS was at its peak the amount of guys riding in the Sheboygan area was huge. I bet there were over 20 good riders from the area that were taking up the top spots in the elite and comp fields so there was a big sense of competetiveness and energy from all the guys I rode with. The group rides were fast and hard, but I also had my own intervals I did that must have been pretty effective. I think a lot of the WORS races had tons more climbing in them from what they have now, and that went to my advantage a lot more when I was 18 and 140lbs. I can't think of any WORS race other than Subaru Cup these days with a climb over 30 seconds when in the early 2000s we had Alpine Valley, War at Wilmot, la Crosse, Devils head, and a couple others and they all had significantly longer and harder climbing per lap compared to what is out there now for a full race.

Anyway, it was kinda cool reading the history of WORS and around 1996 I started to remember the races since I was just getting into it then. I remember the mudfest at Onieda in '98 because it was the first race I could drive to and I got pulled over for no reason. The two week family vacation ended at the rainstorm in La Crosse in '99 for my first Expert race. I'll have to dig up some more pictures of that one, I know there was a tractor pulling cars out of the parking lot to end the day.

Defending Iola

2011-05-02T18:53:00.007-05:00

The season is in full swing now. The first mtn bike race of the season went off yesterday WORS #1 in Iola and spring has been just nice enough to let the ground dry just enough to finally get on the trails for a little off road action. There was a lot of aprehension 2 weeks ago when 4" of snow fell if we would actually be having the race here this weekend, spring is maybe just now starting to feel like spring, I'd say about a month behind normal. It's been pretty miserable with very little for sunshine the last month and a lots of rainy and extremely windy days for riding. But, we are making it and things were just good enough to dry out by May 1 for Iola.

I have lots of memories of Iola, I have done this race now since at least 2000 when I was a comp racer. I think I got maybe 11th or something. Then, the next year I think I won it as an elite, maybe 2001 against Chad Melis and Jeff Otto. I was riding a Schwinn Homegrown and I think I could dig up a picture of that day. It was a pretty special win and I couldn't believe it when I actually came across the line. I think Iola has been my best race over the years and I am sure I have won it 5-6 times. I know one year in there it was snowing either late in the year, or early in the spring, so I guess things really dont' change much over the years weather wise. I also remember finishing Tour of CT in 2004 with Saturn, hopping on a plane and arriving home at midnight. I drove up Sunday morning and was able to win, that was a pretty special one too.
Since those first years as an elite I've traveled a lot and raced a lot, tried to go big on the NORBA circuit, tried to go big on the road with Saturn, but never quite seemed to make it. I told Jamie last night maybe things could be different if I had gotten on the podium at some of those NORBA short track races where I was 6th or 7th so many times. I look at who was right in front of me on the podium and many times it was Chris Sheppard, a pro with a contract beating me out for the final spot. Then, shortley after I decided I couldn't make it he gets busted for EPO and I think back how things might have been different if I had made the podium as some unknown WORS racer on team PCW making the Pro podium at short track what might have happend. It might have been that final step in making something out of it. Instead, a doper stood on the podium and all I can do now is just wonder. I think of this because Sheppard is back on the bike and winning big $$$ again and it just sort of bothers me. But, you can't go through life letting those kind of questions slow you down or discourage you from doing what you are doing now or being what you are now. It is what it is. I'm surely not blaming Sheppard for holding me back, there are many reasons why some guys make it and some don't, there's lots of links in a chain, but it's just one of those you look at that was out of my control.

I'm not sure where I am going with this but being at Iola where I first got the real taste of winning brought back some memories from over the years and most of the memories involve the WORS series and many of the races. Those first wins over the first couple of seasons 10 years ago are really memorable. The faces have changed over the years from Spiro and Blazer to Swanson, Hall, Lalonde, Matter but the racing has been the same. I've been doign WORS for 13 years and don't remember ever leaving wishing I hadn't gone, gotten in a fight with someone or left with a bad taste in my mouth. I am lucky to have found success early in my carreer and be able to look back 10 years later at a race I won when i was 19 and new to winning again now when I am 29 and well seasoned at the sport. I'll be luckier if I can do it again in 10 more years, but I'd like to say I'll still be trying.

I can see a lot of faces on the start line of guys who are looking for their first wins like I was. There are a lot of guys who put a ton of time and devotion into it just like I do and it's fun to race against guys that want it and push me to keep at those trainer intervals in April. I'm glad I can come to WORS and race against those guys and not wory about whether someone is doping and cheating us out of prize money or out all of our hard work and determination. It's clean, competive and great for memories.

Rest Week?

2011-04-22T22:01:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure I should call my recovery week a rest week anymore. It seems like it never means rest. In a perfect world I would reduce volume, sleep extra, eat good and generally let my body recover from the previous 3 weeks of training. Instead I find myself trying to get other projects done so that when I am back on training I have it taken care of and can just focus on training again.

This week we finally had Paceline construction ( cool name huh - he rides) and they are putting new windows in our house. The ones in there were installed in 1915 and were in great condition considering their age, but they weren't up to today's standards or convenience.

Then today since it was raining I decided to start the project of putting 4 new struts in the Subaru. 120,000 miles on the originals and it is needed. It went pretty fast actually and I had it done before I left for work. Not a bad job at all with the electric impact wrench, that thing makes easy work out of rusted bolts.

BAck on the bike again tomorrow for the Whitnal park race. It's one of my favorite races and one of the first crits I ever did. Last year I won out of 3 man break. The last couple years it's been wet and cold but tomorrow looks like we might actually get something other than wet and cold, maybe a little sunshine? Sure would be nice, I'm forgetting what it feels like.

2011-04-12T22:09:00.002-05:00

Finally some sunny warmish weather in WI to enjoy the last couple of days. It's been so long that I have been in the sun I have been getting a rash and what looks like an alergic reaction wherever the sun touches me. Sock line, neck line, seems in my shorts, holes in my leg warmers. I can go outside for a few minutes and my scalp will itch like mad and anything exposed to the sun will break out in rash. I was a little scared to ride with just shorts on at the race saturday, it wasn't especially warm, but warm enough not to wear leg warmers. I had some rash going on, but not bad. And now, wherever I got the rash, it isn't coming back when exposed again very bad so I think my body is just in a little shock from UV rays. I did a little internet searching and found it can happen from lack of sunlight on your skin for extended periods of time. Wow, I need to move. Jamie and I are celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary today. It snowed on our wedding so I guess in 3 years things haven't gotten much better in that respect. I guess I still live in WI though so why would it change. We had a good laugh in bed the other night. Jamie is training for a 1/2 marathon and I had ridden 3 hours to the crit in Milwaukee, then raced and came home straight to work until 11pm. I came home from work, made a leftover taco and went up to bed to eat it while I talked to Jamie. She was hungry too and sent me down for a leftover ham sandwhich we had packed for at the race. So, we sat in bed at midnight and ate snack of tacos and ham sandwhiches. We are really burning through the calories here these days. I've been happy with how my training has been going the last few weeks. Less distractions this year right now than last so I am getting more time in on the bike. Averaging more around a 14hr week than the 10-12 of last yaer. Not a lot but some. I have no idea what the mtn bike trails are like right now, 2.5 weeks away from opening day and I don't have a mtn bike again. Seems like it happens every year. I did get a new Felt frame in the mail but waiting on Shimano, hopefully the new 10spd is worth the wait. I better take some pics of something to get up to make this blog a little more interesting.

Barry Roubaix - First Race of Spring?

2011-03-29T18:26:00.003-05:00

Watch more video of Barry-Roubaix: The Killer Gravel Road Race on cyclingdirt.org

I got the first race of the year in last weekend - the Barry Roubaix in Middleville, MI. I think it was the coldest road race I have ever done, maybe around 20-25 degrees at the start at 10am. I know it was down in the teens while I slept at the "motel wayside" about 20 miles away in the back of my car at 4am. I left work at 9pm and 5 hours later called it close enough and pulled it over for a quick 4 hours of cold cold sleep. Luckily, the Mazda with the seats down is just big enough to stretch across the back so it was somewhat comfortable, but cold. Took a little driving to get the frost off the inside of the windows when I woke up at 7am to hit the Big Boy for some eggs and oats. You gotta just do what needs to be done if you want to race in my situation, there's no leaving work and there aren't enough vacation days to hit them all comfortably, so the option is don't go, or do it this way. Barry Roubaix is a fairly unique race and that is why I choose to go. 65 miles of gravel roads and I believe somewhere near 5000ft of climbing, so a lot especially for late March and mostly indoor trainer rides. This year the gravel was completely packed down almost as smooth and fast as cement. I had my cross bike and I think it was a good advantage over a few that had 29er mtn bikes. My cross bike is 16lbs and I don't care what you have for a mtn bike, you aren't coming near that and with 5000ft of climbing that makes a big difference. I dressed like I would for any ride I would do outside where it is 20 degress when I leave. I had an insulated coat, long sleeve base, balaclava, windshell over my Lazer helmet and medium thick gloves. I was perfect the whole time. The race broke down into a group of about 12 or so that would swell and then get smaller as the distance and climbing added up. There is big differences in fitness right now for a lot of guys so it's hard to judge where everyone is at. Everyone tested the waters but the group brought everything back until about 55 miles in. One rider got away and we all kinda watched, he was strong and I could tell that early on in the race, when he went I did n't go but soon after was pretty sure we'd all missed the boat. I got away as the race broke down in the last 5 miles and then attacked the small group to solo in the last couple of miles, it was hard but I just thought back to all my efforts on the trainer and it got me in for 2nd a minute down on the winner. The weather has barely warmed up at all this year so far but this week looks like mid 30s. I was outside riding today and it was sunny and about 34 which was manageable, it's just hard to do efforts outside when you are all bundled up and not that flexable with all the clothing on. Hopefully the weather changes over and we skip right past the 30s and 40s right to the 50s. Cycling Dirt write up.

Watch more video of Barry-Roubaix: The Killer Gravel Road Race on cyclingdirt.org

Getting Down To It

2011-03-12T21:44:00.006-06:00

I know that I am getting into a good training routine when 2 hours can go by on the trainer fast. I usually start out my season by slowly morphing skiing and indoor riding together and slowly just adding more time the bike. The first couple weeks riding inside goes bad. The legs turn over slow and rollers just add to the sluggish feeling. Then I start putting in less time on skis and start adding specific workouts to the bike and time starts to go faster on the trainer. With a good interval workout, I can easily do 2.5 hours and it's not that bad these days. That said though I just did a 2 hour steady state ride on the trainer and it was an eternity, but by mixing it up with intervals most of the time goes by fast. I am even to the point where I would rather do my workouts now on the trainer than take the time to dress for outside riding. I think the workouts are better because you can moniter exactly what you need to be doing, but it does take discipline.

post workout recovery smoothie sharing

After 2 months on the trainer I got outside the other day because it was sunny and I figured I better, it was like my legs were spring loaded. Riding a trainer you get the sense you are always pedaling through mud, I think that is because you don't carry momentum like outside. Inside you take the pressure off the pedal for 1 second and you have to bring the speed back up from zero where outside you are still rolling at 18mph. Probably why you get an overall better workout riding the rollers than riding the same time outside. I think if you had the dedication to always ride inside you could probably get more out of all your workouts, but what fun would that really be when it is nice out.
I read blogs and facebook updates of lots of guys out doing base riding and I think "man, that must be nice to have that much time." I don't have that kind of time though. I could maybe do a couple days in a row of big miles, but I don't have the time to recover from that or keep it up day after day. Now that I have been on the anti-base mile program for a couple years I really wonder if it is any good for anyone that races regionaly or not on a big pro team that does stage racing. I really don't see a reason at all for putting in huge miles around here when the longest road race is 80 miles and a majority of the racing is crits and 2 hour mtn bike races. Intensity is where it is at for that kind of racing and I don't see long miles doing much for that around here. Maybe that is just my way of justifying not doing it, but I wouldn't want to ride for 3 months doing base and go to my first race and feel slow because of lack of speed work or intensity. After 3 months of training I'd want to be firing pretty well and have the cobwebs blown out already. I guess if we lived in AZ where it was nice out year round that might be different, but being stuck in WI for 6 months of winter just adds to the fact that base riding just doesn't really work that well in WI unless you have lots of time, but not a lot of money to leave, and like being miserable.

So, we'll see how the rest of March goes for weather and workouts. Barry Roubaix in MI looks like a good goal for an early season test. I'm going to have to pull some crazy moves to get down there between friday night at 9pm when I can sneak out of work and 10am saturday race time, but that is how it goes.

Tax Returns

2011-03-01T14:14:00.003-06:00

Anyone looking to upgrade their ride for this coming cross season could consider putting their tax returns towards this sweet ride. I need to get rid of the old stuff taking up room in the basement. Get the whole bike (minus wheels) for the price of 10spd DA - just ask.

Other than getting ready to be getting some new equipment not much is going on these days. February is a long month to get through in WI but lucky it's short. It was cold, warm, and cold again and it looks like trainer time and skiing will still be on the ticket for a while yet. No reason to slaughter yourself outside unless your on skis. I am trying to upgrade my ski equipment too finally. I've been wishing I had for a long time now and this just might be the year. !0 years is a lot to get out of them, especially when they were the skis I learned on and abused pretty bad for the first couple years.
Bike fitness is coming back with some solid workouts from Gordy and my first LT test had me 12 watts higher than the same time last year with 1 month less time on the bike before it. Not sure what that means, maybe I better recalibrate the powertap? At least I know now I can ski before cross nationals in January and it might not hurt me too bad next year.

2011-02-21T10:40:00.004-06:00

Sister #4 got married this weekend, someone said we have had 5 weddings in 7 years in our family, I'm not sure if that is true but it sounds just about right. Margo was one of my "little sisters" but she is not so little anymore, it's hard not to think of her still being Ellie's age now.
Age gaps get smaller as we get older I guess.

Family keeps getting bigger

We had a little downtime during the afternoon and went to the old truck stop with my grandparents for coffee. They live in Green Bay and said they are sick of the hype surrounding the Packers. It's hard to find time with grandparents so opportunities like this are nice and they have a lot of wisdom. Grandpa is always asking about my job and racing, he is one of my biggest fans.

Jamie sewed Ellie and her dresses and they looked great

exploring great grandmas purse

Cousins

2011-02-15T13:25:00.000-06:00

Wondering about skiing right now. Last Saturday I had one of my best skis ever with about 40k in 2:30 hours. Conditions were perfect and we had a great group. We always say we're going to keep it slow but for some reason skiing just turns faster and faster until there are only two left in the group and there is drool frozen on the chins. Average heart rate 160. I've got some older equipment, some Fischer RCS cold, low end boots and poles and I never really cared. Now that I am getting pretty good at skiing I always want to upgrade this time of the year when I am getting into it. The problem is this week it was 45 on Sunday and it's been above 30 now since then. We went from a blizzard two weeks ago and haven't been above freezing since December. It was about -5 for a bunch of days last week and was in the teens the week before.
But, this week it is 45 and the snow is melting like mad. I have probably skied 30 times this year and would keep at for another month but when the weather turns like this I am always glad it isn't my focus. I'm sure the skiers will milk out the snow for quite a while yet and I'll be out there too, but when you're not a diehard like I am it's easy just to get back on the bike and do the endurance work there rather than ski around on bad snow. Still, I'd like to get new equipment and skis better suited for my weight but it's hard to justify when I've only been skiing for 6-8 weeks and the weather turns. I keep saying I'm going to do the Burkie next year too but with cross nationals moving further and further back the calendar skiiing will be 2/3 over before we even get off the bikes the way it is going. That is going to be a bit of a bummer as I use skiing to keep me occupied and off my bike for a couple months and I don't know how that will work if nationals isn't until January. Like last year I'll probably just end up on my old skis and equipment next year until the snow melts and then be glad I didn't invest in something I only do for 2 months. We'll see.

2011-02-02T14:37:00.000-06:00

Glad I picked up this snowblower a couple months ago and spent some time getting it running. It was missing a handle, clutch lever, belts and axel bushings. I made everything other than the belts and muffler and put it back together. This 3ft tall drift down half the driveway was a little much for it, the snow was higher than the shoot, but it dug through it pretty good.

Other than that the "blizzard of '11" wasn't too bad in Plymouth. Lots of wind and snow on the ride home last night. Someone as I was leaving work asked if I was crazy for riding home, I asked if he was crazy for driving home. I'd rather get off and walk than pile my car into a ditch because there was no way to see the rode out on a hwy.

I rode inside today instead of skiing so it was a pretty normal day other than the snowblowing. Tomorrow I'll bet the ski trails will be back and groomed good so I'll get out there and get some time in. My ski form feels good right now but that is because I don't overdo it and I only ski a few days a week. If I skied more I'd probably start getting tired and start feeling worse. As it is every time I go my arms and legs are recovered, maybe there is something to learn from that.

2011-01-24T20:20:00.002-06:00

The weekend started out good with a decent ski on Saturday. It was cold, probably around 5 degrees out, but I was dressed good and it didn't seem too bad. A bunch of the ISCorp team came up and we skied some laps, fun to be out there with a group instead of by myself. I usually ski by myself because I go in the mornings while most people are at work so I don't get to get out that often with other people and it was fun. I had my camera along but didn't want to risk frostbite getting it out of my pocket. By the time we finished no one could talk straight because of frozen cheecks but for some reason that is tolerable when skiing, not riding though.

The weekend turned for the worse about 3am Sunday morning. I woke up with a bad stomach ache. I had been at work all Saturday afternoon till 11pm and felt fine but at 3am it wasn't so good. I started throwing up and by 6:30am I was wasted. I pretty much got everything out of the sytem by 9:30am and layed on the couch the rest of the day smashed and aching. Luckily I made it till 2 for the packer game. Luckily they won, I was pretty sure they were trying to not win after half time but they managed. I woke up this morning and the smashing headache was gone and so are the other aches, still a bit foggy but ok enough to make it to work. I just have teh rest of this week of not worrying too much about workouts but next week I am starting up so hopefully I'm back by then and feeling solid again. Being sick is miserable, I don't remember the last time I had the flew, must be like 10 years ago. I told Jamie I was sure I had H1N1 because I thought I would get extra attention then, she didn't bite on that one but I sure hope Ellie and her don't get it, that would not be fun. Weren't we all supposed to die from H1N1 last year and this year not a mention - what a joke.

I was hoping to update this website more again this year but I haven't started off to well. I think it will get better though.

2011-01-16T15:44:00.004-06:00

This week has been pretty relaxing. I did start getting in some workouts, we got enough snow on Tuesday and Thursday that the skiing is good again. I got out 3 times this week for about 50k. The snow is soft so it's slow skiing, but it felt good to get back out and exercising again. I managed two rides on the trainer too, but only for 45 minutes each so that is just a warmup.

I talked with Gordy this week and we are getting things started for this coming season. I think I'll be back on the program by February, but after a long season I don't want to start without enough rest. Motivation is coming back and we are hoping to raise the bar another rung this season with some tweaks and adjustments to the program.

With the extra time Ellie and I have spent some extra time together coloring and sledding. I got her a little red shovel so she could help, but she can't hold on through the mittens and would rather stand by her sled and ask for rides. It's a good workout.

Winter still has a long way to go here so we'll probably keep on that program for a few more weeks yet. I'll enjoy a few more sunday afternoon naps and Packer games before getting more serious about my training.

2011-01-14T09:43:00.001-06:00

I put up my Blue Norcross SLs for sale HERE if anyone is thinking about next year already. Check em out!

2011-01-10T09:40:00.008-06:00

It's taken a while but I am finally feeling caught up with things around here. The last 3 months of the season were so busy with the new job, training, and racing that I just stopped doing anything around the house. I guess nothing had needed to be done in any hurry, but there were some things we just wanted done so we got to them right away after Nationals.

We tore down the last of the wallpaper and painted the entrance and stairway. The house has plaster walls but being 90 years old it is still in really good condition and only a few minor cracks.

The for probably the biggest improvement we went to the bathroom and tore out the only carpet in the house. Hardwood floors in the whole house but the upstairs bathroom had carpet??

I installed something called "Allure" which is more or less vinyl tile, but it's about 1/8" an inch thick and comes in 1x3' sections that overlap each other and they do not stick to the floor. It's a floating floor so will go on over almost anything. I just laid it down over the wood floor and it looks really good. Huge improvement over carpet in the bathroom.

Next it was on to the living room and a little electrical. We've come to realize old houses don't have very many electrical outlets. There were only two in the living room and there were no light switches. When I did the the kitchen project last spring I was able to get the kitchen circuits separate from the living room so it made it a little easier to add outlets and a switch in the living room. It's a bit tricky drilling through the basement ceiling, rafters, and floor (about 14" total) and getting the drill to come out where you want it in the wall to pull the wires through but I've got it dialed now and with the help, or not help of Ellie, we got switches and outlets in. Now we don't have to walk around a dark living room looking for the lamp.

Probably the biggest project is going to be the windows but hopefully other than all the project planning that I have pretty much been doing the last 3 months I won't have to do much other than let the installers put them in. The windows in the house are 90 years old and still have the ropes and weights in the walls to hold them up. Many of them are broken now though so it takes a dowel to hold them up, or they don't go up at all. They are all single pane, they look really nice, but the cold just leaks in through all the cracks and openings. I chose Eagle replacement windows and will have a friends company stain them to match, and then another friends company will install them. It probably won't save very much in heat costs, but it will be nice to be able to open windows to clean them and not have to stuff cotton balls in the corners to keep the draft out.

We had a great Christmas this year. It was more fun than last year since Ellie was old enough to get excited about tearing something open. Next Christmas will not be so relaxing with Nationals still 3 weeks away, but it was nice to enjoy the downtime this year. I'll start doing some cross training now that I am caught up and hopefully in a month I'll be down to business getting ready for the spring season again. Hopefully a little more snow to ski on would be nice.

First lap crash

2010-12-18T21:29:00.003-06:00

Wow, cruising the internet tonight looking for a live feed for the World Cup tomorrow and I ran across these pictures from the first lap of the race last week. I guess now I know why Todd Wells beat me - he goes by in the last picture.

What happened here was that there were two lines around a high sweeping burmed corner, a high line that swept up and a lower line that stayed low. When you came out of the corner there was a sidewalk with lots of mud, woodchips, and a hay bale. I was taking the higher line because it brought you out of the corner much faster as you dropped back down the banking and allowed you to square up before going over the slippery sidewalk, it was way faster and safer.

I took the high line on the first lap and Lindine took the low line. Lindine came out over the sidewalk and just washed out into the hay bale. I was on the high line coming down at probably twice his speed and just piled into him, Driscol them piled into me. You can see from some of the videos how big a gap opened up from that lead group of 5 back to the next rider from this crash. Obviously Todd made it back across the gap that opened, but it took him a lap or two.

Just thought it was interesting that someone actually caught this, it was in the far back of the course and I wouldn't have ever guessed someone had it on camera.

Todd Wells rides by and up to the leaders while Driscol and I unhook my wheels from his handlebars. I thought my race was over here but I did move up quite a bit over the first laps and for a while closed a bit on Wicks. My fitness wasn't good enough to make up time on people though, just good enough to hold even and that's pretty much what I did the last 4 laps.

2010-12-15T22:52:00.006-06:00

The season is officially over for me. It's definitely been a long one, longer than I anticipated. I've been racing Since April and I think the total race tally will be around 43 races this year - that is a ton and way more than I expected. I probably shouldn't have raced that much but I just can't help it. There are probably a bunch that I shouldn't have done in hindsight from a fitness perspective, but I love racing and there aren't any that I didn't learn from.

I had a very solid season and the best part is I hit all my goals. I placed top 5 at USGPs, I podiumed at a UCI cross race, I won the WORS series, I won crits. All of those kept me motivated as the season went by month by month.

This past weekend at Nationals in Bend, OR I matched my previous best result at nationals with another 8th place. This year was a very dificult race, it was a demanding course and very challenging. The competition at cross races are getting tougher every year with more and more riders getting into the sport. My 8th place in Providence in 2005 was very special at the time, but now that I have such limited schedule and training time I think this was also special knowing that I am able to hold my own against the best in the country while holding down a day job. It is not easy at all and now that the season is done I am really feeling relieved and like a burden has come off my shoulders because I can get up, eat breakfast with Ellie and Jamie, and not get out on my bike before goign to work but can rather play with Ellie and do some projects that I haven't done in 8 months while completely forgetting about riding. It is a great feeling and very relaxing after having almost zero down time at all the last 10 months.

As far as the racing itself the last couple months it was tough, and probably why I feel so relieved now that it is over. I started struggling with workouts and heavy legs sometime in mid October and watching my results they started to slide. It may not look like some of those races were that bad, but given how I felt a lot of the time I have gained a little confidence knowing I can feel very bad at a race but still pull off a top 10, and I was doign that a lot the last 5 weeks. Still, when the legs quit, it is hard to stay motivated and I struggled. Luckily, my coach put me in somewhat of survival mode and I got away with it the last couple races mostly by recovering and racing. I managed to get just enough for Nationals, but the week before Nationals at USGP in Portland was really bad especially because the mud was so sticky and slow. None the less it was enough for to keep my 7th overall in the USGP series even though I had probably the worst weekend of the season.

The next couple weeks I'll wind down but try to get out on the skis a bit over the weekends. My legs already are starting to feel tight and uncomfortable from not riding for a few days. It is hard to quit in a way after being so dedicated since last January in training, like something is missing every day, but that is necessary for the body to come back from always being on the edge trying to do too much in too little time.

Thanks to all who cheered and watched at the races, it's really great to have such big support while out there racing. Have a great Christmas !

2010-11-17T22:00:00.001-06:00

I thought once I got this far into the cross season things would be a little easier to manage with a decreased training volume but that hasn't seemed to be the case. I started a new job as I mentioned earlier and they thought it would be a good idea to have me work 3rd shift for a weekend, then first, then 3rd again. Right now I am working 3rd and then next week starting my job on 2nd shift. I'm having a hard time keeping things straight.
Iceman feels like a year ago. Brian brought home the money in a move I've seen him make every year - attack with 4 miles to go. It seems to win every time except that each year there is harder competition, I'm not sure the Iceman can top this year in terms of talent that was there yet the Midwest was on the top podium again - sweet!

Ellie and jamie were along for the long drive and that means Ellie completed her first Triple Crown series at the age of 16 months. Good job Ellie!

It was on the Fort Collins, CO last week for round 5&6 of USGP and luckily I was able to fly while the Gear Grinder crew and the recent Iceman champ drove out with my equipment and to pick me up me up from the airport. 6 hours of travel time total and I was at the race venue - that was awesome.

I didn't have my best legs of the season but managed a 10th and 8th both on muddy courses. Saturdays race was really slippery and I didn't have my mud tires along so that didn't help at all. I also got a tangled up with the Rapha/Focus mechanic in the pits when he hooked my bars during the 2nd lap and I lost contact with the Johnson group, I never came back to it and was a bit perturbed about that - he just walked in front of me with a bike and it hooked my bars.

Sunday was a bit better racing and I had better legs. It didn't change my result much but I got a little confidence back and hopefully once I get on a normal schedule again I'll have just enough in my to finish out the season. I lost a few spots in the GC of the of the series, but it will be a close battle through Portland. Jingle Cross up next in Iowa, see ya there.

3rd WORS Championship

2010-10-31T15:04:00.004-05:00

No racing for me this weekend. I have been feeling a bit toasted and needed a little time off. It's not an ideal time, but if I'm going to make it another 6 weeks it's now or never. Iceman is coming up with the big money, but USGP and cross nationals is the focus, you have to pick and choose sometimes.
Last night was the WORS banquet, I think last time I was there was in 2002. It was fun to stand on the top again after 8 years. It's been a good season and I'd be satisfied if it ended now but there are still 2 USGP weekends and Nationals so I'm trying to keep my motivation up for a few more weeks.
Thanks to Don and WORS for a great mountain bike season - we are lucky to have quality racing like WORS all summer long.

Louisville, KT USGP #3&4

2010-10-25T01:17:00.004-05:00

So you think you can dance?

I had a powertapSL built up a couple weeks ago on a nice light tubular rim and finally got a course ok to race it. It's a very light wheel at 750g so definitely race worthy. I wanted to race it in Ohio two weeks ago but got scared. This weekend the course was ok to ride it where I didn't feel it to be a disadvantage. Usually I am not into talking to much tech on here but rather than give another race recap I thought those of you out there training with power might find it interesting to see what you need to finish top 5 at a USGP of cyclocross. I found it very interesting. I finished 5th both days.

Saturday's course was probably about average pedaling for a US cross race, Sunday's course had a lot more turning and the pedaling sections weren't as long but I only rode the wheel Saturday. I think it will give a pretty good picture of what it takes to race at the top level of the sport.

I was surprised somewhat to see only a 270 watt average and a 295 watt normalized power. But, powertap also said I spent over 10 minutes at ZERO watts, so that is 1/6 of the race not pedaling. That is pretty huge. Powertap also said I had 35 surges over zone 10 - that is massive. I don't think there are too many kinds of races where you doing 1200watts that many times in an hour. Warming up I hit 1345 watts on steep run up that I was riding, I don't think I've ever seen a number like that before on a powertap but it's amazing what those little 5-10 pedal strokes can hit sometimes.

2010-10-18T21:28:00.003-05:00

It's been another week since the last race and I'm just starting to feel a bit caught up. That said, my bikes still haven't been cleaned from the racing yet, and now that I think about it, my mtn bike is still completely blown out from Chequamegon over a month ago, so really, maybe I am not caught up at all.
The 3 day race weekend in Cincinnati was great last weekend. I did the first races there in 2006, they have changed a lot since then, but in a good way with way more attendance and organization. I skipped racing Friday, it was just too much on myself after flying back from Gloucester on Monday, then working a 9 hour shift in the afternoon making an almost 24 hour day. Then it was another late night at work Thursday night with an early departure (3:20am) to get to Cinci in time to race on Friday for the other guys. I decided my candle is already burning at both ends and that could probably get the fire burning in the middle too so I opted to just race 2 days of the weekend and try not to completely shatter myself.

Saturday the course suited me quiet well, very punchy and turny with lots of loose grassy corners. I never made the front, but sat in the 2nd group until I felt I could go better solo so I attacked, got a gap, and continued to build it the last 4 laps for my first podium of the year.
Sunday was a dificult race and although I felt ok, I never felt great, or maybe even that good, but once again I did manage to make the 2nd group which eventually lost some riders off the back leaving me fighting for 5th. I then forgot where the finish line was and never even sprinted for it but ended up last in the group for 7th. Not a horrible result, but that great either.

Anyway, this week I am starting a new job and trying to prepare for USGP in Kentucky this weekend. It's a bit of a stressful week changing jobs in the middle of the season, but it was either do it now, or suffer 12 hour shifts at the old place and I wasn't about to put myself through that. In the long run it will be better, I just wish it didn't have to happen while trying to focus on cross racing.
Hopefully I'll have time to update from Louisville after the races. I'd like to maintain my top 5 placing but that will be hard. Hopefully I'm recovered and focused enough to do that.

From Madison, WI to Gloucester, MA

2010-10-08T20:47:00.002-05:00

I've been measuring time by seconds lately. Both racing and in everyday life. If I had 10 minutes to sit on the couch in the last month I would kill for it. I haven't been to bed before 1am in a long time. Too many tires to glue, bikes to set up, clothes to pack/unpack, and then there are the normal everyday things and most of that is getting neglected other than the day job. I had to take a day of vacation to update this blog - and drive to Ohio for the UCI races here!

None-the-less team Schouten has been focused on the races and getting it done. Jamie has been helping me overtime with cooking, lunch packing, errands, laundry, bills and keeping up with Ellie - I work, train, do the above and try to get ready for the weekends.Team Schouten

Madison was a great opener for the cyclocross season and I felt good on the right weekend. All my equipment was here and I managed to get it together by race day meaning lots of late night sniffing glue at midnight after work. The only thing not to make it were the new Hincapie Cyclocrossracing.com kits, that just meant one more race in the PB kits. I managed a 7th and 5th putting me in 5th overall for the USGP series.

Then it was a quick week and a few short nights for a fun weekend back out to my east coast home away from home. The Pulvers invited me out to do Gloucester and I was able to visit my host family from 2006/2007 when I did all the east coast racing. They flew me into Hartford,CT and got me to the races both days in Gloucester. Last time I raced Gloucester it snowed unexpectedly and I froze to death but this year was opposite and I was wearing a long sleeve skinsuit in 70 degree heat.
The races went well here too, I managed a 4th on day 1, but then didn't have much left on day 2 and suffered to an 8th. Maybe a few too many short nights and travel miles. The races in Gloucester and very scenic on the coast and have a great atmosphere. I really enjoyed my time out there and appreciate the Pulvers and all they did to get me there.

Gloucester 2005

Gloucester 2010

Chequamegon 40

2010-09-19T14:44:00.001-05:00

It's almost getting too late to update on this one - Chequamegon was so last week. By now I think everyone has heard the story and seen the results but I guess I can give a quick update from my point of view.

The start seemed very safe this year, probably due to the tail wind on the road to Rosie's field and I think most people were spun out which kept the surging down.
I had good legs once again Saturday and went across Rosie's field right behind Tilford after a safe transition off the road. Unlike last year, I was able to ride in the top 5 at all times and never drifted back. This really hurt me last year and with all the large puddles and the shuffling that goes on back there, it is very important to ride the front, take some pulls, and be a part of the race and not just hanging on.
Mike Anderson was aggressive at the front at some defining moments of the race and I made sure to be at the front where I could see lines around the puddles that were causing havoc further back.

Our group of 4 got separation after Martels(?) pothole and when we came out on the road section I made sure everyone rotated a few times to keep the pace up and make sure the gap stayed up. We all worked well together until fire tower climb. Jason put a slight gap on Brian and I, but we brought it back on the backside.
Jason attacked hard going onto the birkie trail with 8 miles to go and I couldn't respond, but I was able to keep him in sight and keep the gap manageable. I knew it would be very dificult for him to stay away on the gravel road if Brian and I worked together. Luckily a headwind helped us out and we did end up catching him just before the final 4 wheeler trail. I made a hard move on the 2nd or 3rd climb to try and get a gap but didn't have much. I think I was stronger mentally here than physically but Brian saw that Jason was gapped and gave it more gas which I could not respond to.

I finished completely gassed and seeing spots, I've never done that before in a race. I wanted it bad, but Brian has that last mile dialed I guess. Still, I kept my streak of placing no worse than 2nd at a mtn bike race this year alive and I'm happy to finally stand on the podium at Chequamegon.

After the race we took Ellie over to the Musky museum but they were closed so we looked at the giant fish through the fence. Ellie has made it to 2 of 2 of the triple crown again this year and I think she is going for the iceman this year too!

2010-09-15T00:06:00.004-05:00

Too much going on the last couple weeks. Training for Chequamegon is about completed and I am happy with a solid 2 weeks with some new secret training I had to incorporate for Chequamegon only. As it turned out at WORS #10 in Lake Geneva Sunday it also worked there, but I'm hoping with the session today and maybe Thursday it will have an even bigger effect.
The cross bikes are here and in between training, sealcoating the driveway, working, racing I am trying to find enough to actually get one in working order, it's almost there. Wheels should be here Thursday and maybe I'll find time after work at 2am to put some glue on them, otherwise I'm in trouble for USGP coming in Madison next week. It's a full schedule after that and I've even got a short trip to Gloucester on the schedule thanks to my east coast family. Getting ready for cross season is extremely stressful trying to find all the small little parts you need - like DA chainring bolts for a 46, valve extenders for 8 wheels, the right length stems... It's almost impossible to do working full time and my days are to the max. Luckily, it seems you can still train and race ok with less sleep despite what I hear and read so that's the way it is.

I'll try and update after Chequamegon on how the secret training went. I'll also get pics up of the new cross bikes when I can.

Focus Shift

2010-08-30T10:45:00.002-05:00

Cyclocrossracing.com

It happened this week. After last weekends WORS race it was time to take a week off, rest, and refocus on the upcoming cyclocropss season. That meant not doing WORS yesterday and missing the first opportunity of the year for #1 call up as the new series leader, but more importantly a week to relax mentally from racing and training and to refocus on what must happen coming up.

I announced on FB last week a new team for cyclocross and I am excited to announce it here now with team kit pictures. I am very excited to be riding for a new team called Cyclocrossracing.com
along with Blue Bikes, Rolf Prima Wheels, and Lazer Helmets. Things came together quickly but I couldn't be set up better with equipment with Blue Norcross SL bikes, some great looking new carbon CX tubulars from Rolf Prima, and continued protection for my noggin from the best fitting, coolest looking helmet company Lazer. It's been very exciting because I wasn't sure earlier in the year of cyclocross on a national level was going to happen, but with the support of the new team a full USGP schedule, along with all the midwest UCI races and Nationals will all be possible.

With the new team and new season comes new motivation. Hopefully with determination and hard work some good cross results will follow a solid early season of road racing and mountain biking. My coach, Gordy Paulson has been saving the best workouts for last, so I am fully expecting to be torn down again after a refreshing break, but he's been a tremendous asset to my racing/training the last 2 years and I know that he will have me ready when it's time to line up against the country's best.

2010-08-24T00:19:00.004-05:00

I didn't have any good race photos from the weekend so Ellie takes home the front page. She hated her little infant bathtub the first 3 months, now she's too big for it and thinks it's a row boat and loves it! She climbs in and out for hours and thinks it's fantastic. Funny what you begin saying "whatever" to when you have a 1 year old.

This weekend I cracked 30 races for the season so far. I don't know if that sounds like a lot or not, but I guess it is. The year I raced on Saturn in 2003 I think I did over 70 which is a lot, but many of those were stage races or multi day events and that adds up fast. All of my races are either 1 or 2 race weekends now so I guess that is a lot of weekends. I think there might only be 1 or 2 weekends I haven't raced since April. I like it though and I have been able to stay focused at all of them so I am feeling good about it and still feeling motivated.

This last weekend I raced the last WCA crit of the year in Fond Du Lac and after much deliberation I ended up passing up the shot at $20k at Race the Lake Sunday to do the WORS race. I think that means I am done road racing for the year. It was a tough call to skip Race the Lake, but in reality I just didn't see myself being able to win it against the teams that were showing up and while there is great money for top 10, cyclocross and finishing out the WORS series are my priorities and I needed to keep them. It turned out well at WORS on Sunday so I was relieved about that. I had a hard time at first getting through my legs from the crit the night before, but with the longer, faster laps I was able to sit on comfortably and just wait for them to come around and hope for the others to tire. I know my legs in that situation will more than likely feel better at the end than at the beginning so patience and determination were key. It worked out for me and finally on the 3rd lap I was able to ride at a high level and keep the throttle on for the 5th WORS win of the year. Thanks Mafia and Felt bikes for a great season so far!

Speaking of being done road racing for the year, I am able to sell off a few of my old cross bikes and if anyone is interested, I am selling my two Ridley X nights. They are both 54cm but really measure about 56cm. Well, if you know me you know about my size and they fit me good. They would be race ready other than wheels, leave your email in the comments if you are interested.

Ore 2 Shore

2010-08-17T14:23:00.004-05:00

Fantastic weekend of bike racing again in Marquette. It's really one of my favorite places to go and race. The weather was perfect, lake Superior was warm, and the racing was tough.

It's been a few years since I made it to the finish but this year I made it back finally but missed out on the win by a bike to Travis Woodruff. 6 of the top riders coming into the last corner was nerve wracking, but a good move on the inside of Simonson and Guerra got me into a good spot coming out but just too far off the back of Travis's wheel to make up the ground.
The race itself was a mix between really hard, and somewhat easy as the finishing time was just a little slower than Matter's time from last year where he rode basically solo for 30 miles. This year we had a very strong group of riders, but too many people watching and scared to keep it going hard. Simonson was most aggressive and spent the most time on the front and when he was there, he was going hard. No one else either could, or wanted to keep it rolling if he wasn't and with guys like Derek Graham of Bissell in the group it's hard to blame anyone as it's more of a course suited for powerhouse riders. Still, it worked out for me and I was happy to go 2nd again for the 3rd time, one of these years I'll get it right.
Huge thanks to Mafia racing and Felt bikes for the equipment and support. Most of the guys this year were riding hardtails and I was quite happy on mine as we hit the climbs. Thanks again.

Ellie enjoyed a 3 hour nap on the way home, I didn't think it was quite fair but that doesn't matter I guess.

Beat the Heat

2010-08-09T11:11:00.002-05:00

I think I spent 13 hours at work between Friday and saturday and 14 hours in the car driving between Saturday and Sunday leaving about 12 hours of sleep for the weekend. Not a good way to go but it seems to work if you make it.
Saturday a couple of us from ISCorp blasted down to Grays Lake, IL for one of the last crits of the year. A horseshoe shaped crit with good money - very technical and it took good skills to pedal through all the corners at speed. Kyle attacked 2nd lap and I jumped over a few riders and we held a 20 second gap on the field for the remaining 65 minutes - talk about what seemed like the worlds longest race, I didn't think it was ever going to end and Kyle was killing me the whole time. I don't think the gap ever went over 20 seconds until about 10 laps to go when it finally got comfortable. We went 1-2 so it was worth it and there was good money so the added driving for the weekend wasn't too bad. Kyle actually won the state time trial championships earlier in the day so he is the double champ and it hurt my ego pretty bad that he was still riding me into the ground during the crit. He's riding well.

A short nights sleep and we were on the road again at 6:45 Sunday morning headed towards Minnesota. I wasn't really planning on racing in 95 degree heat before leaving for WORS #8 but as we drove out of the rain and through Wausau the temperture continued to rise all the way until we arrived. All the rain the night before left the course slippery and the parking area a soggy oven. I was dripping sweat just taking the bike off the car but it's amazing how much better it can feel actually riding over just standing there.

I can't say I didn't have it pretty good despite having to drive 5 hours before the race. Former Sheboygan WORS race director Brett Edgerle has been chauffeuring me around to the last couple of races in his minivan and letting me sit in the back seat with my legs up and the AC cranked watching movies. Can't get much better than that and I'm sure it helped getting in an extra needed nap between Shawano and Eau Claire.

The race went well. I felt really good and kept the thermostat between the needles as the other riders faded one by one through the laps. Brendan Moore and Nathan Guerra kept the racing close and never gave up so it was always a mental battle to keep the pressure on. The heat didn't seem to bother me too much physically, but mentally my head just gets drowsy and on the start line all I wanted to do was sleep. Anyway, despite being probably the hottest race of the year I was able to win to end the weekend and start looking forward to O2S and whatever might happen there next week. See ya there.

2010-07-27T13:23:00.003-05:00

No racing last weekend since all the rain we had washed out the course I guess. Not that big a deal, wasn't that excited about going anyway. That meant I had a good weekend of solid training which went well. I think I am getting back some good feelings after being a little flat after a week off over the 4th. Got down to the Superweek lakefront road race last wednesday and rode well, it was a hot day in the upper 80s/90 and I think it was 90 miles, we finished in 3 hours so it was fast and hard. It felt good though.
This coming weekend looks like we'll be down in Elk Grove, IL for the races down there. I've never done them before but it looks like a good way to prepare for O2S coming up soon and a good way to get in some extra road racing before it's completely over for the season.

Other than racing, Ellie is keeping us on our toes now even though she isn't walking yet, she tears everything apart and isn't happy if she isn't moving.
She really seems to like water

She also likes to help mom put away, or take out the tupperware.
tWe've got an awesome beach about 15 minutes from home so we have been going there on Mondays and enjoying some warm water and lots of sun which has been a good way to change things up a little and do some family time after weekends of training or racing.

Firecracker Report - Hard Fought Win

2010-07-13T00:13:00.005-05:00

A little down time after Subaru Cup two weeks ago and I was ready to race again Sunday at round 6 of WORS. I had to think about it a little before leaving, 9 hours of driving in one day to race is a little extreme, but with a good streak going I didn't want to miss a 2nd race and be two races behind in the series so I decided to spend the majority of the day driving and hopefully the legs would be ok when I got out.
I hadn't been at the Firecracker for a year and there was a lot of new trails from the last time. Most of the course was the same, just a couple spots that were redone, but it was a lot rockier than I remember and I was glad I put on more durable tires at 6:30am before leaving.
The down time always seems like a good idea, but it never feels that good either while you're doing it or after it's done. I get tight and sore after 2-3 days off and then I start getting sleepy and lethargic during the days. It felt good to get going again this week, but at the same time the legs take a long time to come back around from a week off. I got in some good training to open back up, but I was definitely feeling sluggish Sunday and Darin and Nathan both gave me a really hard fought win. I felt stuck at 90% the whole race and while I was putting out good power, I was loosing ground in most of the singletrack to those guys who seemed so quick in the tight stuff. I decided I had to be in the front to control the race so I did for most of it, there wasn't a lot of open and I didn't want to be following. On the 4th lap Darin crashed and opened the gap that I needed. I rode really hard the last lap since Nathan kept the pressure on and I could see him on switch backs, he definitely had a great race and really made me work for the win but I was able to keep away and ride smooth to the finish for another win making the 9 hour drive much easier.

Photos from: tmeive's

Now it's on to some Superweek to get the legs back and start building again.

WORS Cup Pro XCT

2010-06-30T00:38:00.003-05:00

I think I can say I had the best weekend of mountain bike racing I have ever had. I traveled the country for about 3 years in 04-06 doing all the NORBA races and if I could have had just one weekend like the one I had at WORS this weekend it might have changed a lot of things for me. None the less, I was really happy to finally show myself that I had it in me to ride at the front in a pro short track, and also ride close to the top 10 of a cross country. I think top 10 would definintely had been possible had I not been staged 71st on the back row, I rode through riders the entire race and picked off 4-5 on the last lap, but it's impossible to ride into the lead group starting that far back.

Back Row - passed 60 riders in 2 hours, probably 30 in the first 5 minutes

Sunday's short track I was able to start 2nd row and I had amazing legs, maybe better than Saturday, almost scary. I rode the front of the race, covered some moves by Sam Schults and got to watch a couple of the bigs guys crack late in the race. The only bummer was riding by Todd Wells with 2 to go as he popped, only to have him come back on the bottom of the course on the last lap and get my inside on the gravel sweeper into the finish to gain back the 5th spot on the podium. I was pleased anyway to have ridden with that group of riders though, back when I was doing the series I think I got an 8th once in a short track, and I finished pretty high overall that year, but I never was able to ride the front group and be part of the race like I was this weekend.

Huge thanks to Don Edberg at WORS for putting this on and really treating everyone to a fantastic weekend of racing. I really don't think I've ever been to a Pro XC race before with that many fans, that cool of a course and that good of racing. I think all the riders in all the categories enjoyed it all and it was definitely a success and hopefully comes back next year. I think for the Pros especially it was exciting to have a World Cup style course with fans to make it exciting, it was for me.

What To Do In Your Spare Time

2010-06-20T23:27:00.006-05:00

When we bought our new house the one thing it was lacking was a functional kitchen. Most of the "kitchen" area was all crammed in the pantry off the to the right of the stove with very little counter and what counter was there was very crowded by low hanging cupboards. We agreed we would try to update the room a normal kitchen would be in, but I was planning on this winter after cross season.

The only place for the microwave was the card table and it was not very good at all. Neither was the wall paper although a clothes shoot in the kitchen is nice.

The kitchen area was a good size, but I think because the house was built in 1920 that this would have been the family eating area and then next to the kitchen is the formal dining area, which is what we use. As you can see it's a not a very good setup for cooking, although it is nice to have the sink area off in a pantry where it's not as visible, but that's about it.

So what started out as project I intended to tackle this fall I somehow decided to start 3 months ago when racing began full throttle and training was a maximum. I must have needed something to fill the spare 5 minutes I had between that and working 50 hours a week.

I guess we decided to just order cabinets and then slowly work on it. I worked on the electrical for about 6 weeks adding outlets around where the counters would be because there was only 2 outlets in the whole kitchen before and none at counter level, it was a time consuming job cutting holes and fishing wire, but it wasn't too bad even though we have plaster walls and it will be really nice having an outlet for everything now with separate breakers from the other rooms in the house.

I finished the electrical after working on it about an hour a day before work and then the cabinets came in so I just kept going. This last week I really killed it and got in all the cabinets and almost have it done other than the trim to put back on and I haven't skipped any workouts yet! I also haven't slept much the last 3 months, but maybe now I'll be able to take a nap before I go to work instead of sanding counter backsplash.
After shots.
no more card table! keeping the clothes shoot though.

2010-06-13T22:06:00.000-05:00

It was a pretty interesting weekend for racing. Saturday had me in Ripon, WI for the state criterium championships and Sunday at Sunburst in Kewauskum for the 4th stop of the WORS series. I'm pretty smashed right now. The crit was a 6 corner course with some interesting corners, two off camber and two small climbs, but a very dificult and technical course. To add to that, it started raining 20 minutes before the start so it was wet and dirty. I thought for sure the race would blow apart, but for some reason no one could get away and all attacks were brough back with nothing staying away more than a lap. I had decent legs, but the rain didn't favor me and with 1 BMC rider, 2 Livestrong and a Kenda rider ISCorp was having a hard time getting the right move away. It ended up coming down to a field sprint with ISCorp going 3,4,8,10, not our best result but the rain really made things dificult for us to control.

I was definitely feeling the late night crit today at the WORS race, but I was still feeling decent. I knew with Barry (Kona) at the race it would take it up a level, but after the last race against Barry I wanted a redo on a course built a little better for me, even if it is a horribly boring course that just is not tha much fun. I was agressive and rode the first lap on the front, whittled the group down to 3, attacked hard on the 3rd lap up the start climb to drop Darrin Braun, but I couldn't shake Barry. 3rd and 4th lap was more about dodging lapped traffic while going twice their speed, at one point we both just laughed and shrugged our shoulders as we were bottle necked in the woods and not really racing each other but just trying to get around people. I don't like racing when you can't really race each other but are just trying to get around lapped traffic, it was bad. I am not saying I would have beaten Barry either but when we are both sprinting for the only line down the hill to the finish and I have to brake to keep from hitting another lapper while Barry has the clean line around him I was really disappointed to have it end that way with me on the brakes to avoid riding into the back of a rider during a full sprint for the win.

Ellie enjoyed another race and has been to a lot of races for a 1 year old. She's learned to clap at the riders and seems to keep everyone around here entertained. I am glad we can go to the races as a family since Ellie is so good and seems to have fun, I don't know what we would do if she wasn't so good about driving and hanging out on the sidelines for a few hours while I race.

2010-06-09T00:20:00.000-05:00

Keeping things busy these days, I think my weekends are even more packed than my work/riding days. Last Saturday I spent the day celebrating with Heather and Allen at their wedding, it's the first wedding I've ever stood up in and only the 2nd time I've been a tux. It was a fun day and listening to everyone I didn't know call Allen "Al" all day was funny as I believe I was the one that gave him the nickname which started out with Big Al, but morphed into just Al. Maybe not, but I've been calling him that for years and I thought it was great. Congratulations to them.

Sunday was out the door early after a resonable departure time from the afforementioned wedding and a decent nights sleep to the WI road state championships. ISCorp had a good crew there and I was feeling really good which I wasn't sure I would after last night, and the previous weekend racing 4 times, it's always hard to tell how you will feel after that and then a few days of rest whether you'll be good or stale. I was good. Seem to be riding good form right now. The team played all the right cards with Kip Spaude in the early brake and then finally dropping that and soloing home for the victory. It was pretty easy for the rest of us to keep the race in check and stay fresh, even so there were only about 8 riders left in the main field for the 18% climb/sprint finish that Jordan and I were able to take for 2nd and 3rd. So, a bronze medal at state championships, it's the best result I've ever had there and probably the easiest one to earn, but I've been feeling good on the bike and I'm hoping to keep it going for a few more weeks through the Subaru cup and then see where things are at. We were able to go 1,2,3 in the race which was pretty awesome too, it's been a lot more fun racing with a team than solo. This weekend will be state crit championships and probably WORS on Sunday, even if it is the worst mountain bike race in the country and I hate myself for doing it every year, if it wasn't 40 minutes from my house I wouldn't go.

Big day of training tomorrow after riding the trainer today inside while it rained, that's dedication, and not very fun in June.

Snake Alley - Finally!

2010-05-29T22:22:00.001-05:00

Another rip down to Burlington, IA for another go at the Snake Alley criterium. I thought I'd change it up this year and try doing to road race the day before to see if I felt any better on the Snake on Saturday instead of just driving down the day of and being in the car for 6 hours before racing. I ended up flatting like 30 miles in though yesterday, waiting for the field to flip it at the 1/2 way point, and then I jumped back in for the free ride home only to get called out by the officials. I talked him into letting me ride behind the wheel car and then took the shortcut after 45 minutes of motorpacing, not a great start but I didn't care much, just wanted to open things up.

I finally had the ride I've been looking for on the snake for about the last 8 years. I new it would take the right combination of things to make it happen and it seemed like this year things just lined up for me. It didn't rain, I had the best legs of the season and the race just played out in my favor. I was really strong today and almost felt like I had a throttle on the climb, it's a special feeling. I also had the unknown rider going so kinda flew under the radar of a lot of the guys.

I got off the front with Marcotte in chase of Paul Martin and 1 other rider who had been off most of the race with about 4 laps to go. This was the move I had been looking for and we drilled it. I had been off the front of the chase group earlier with Brian Jensen which I thought might be able to bridge, but I don't think Brian was feeling that great and after a lap we just kind of sat up.
I wasn't suffering at all on the climb and could really stand up and just put the power down and my recovery over the top was great.
I think everyone was suffering more and more with the heat late in the race and once we were away that late we were able to stay away and ended up catching Paul Martin after dropping his chain late. We didn't catch the lead rider, but I was able to outsprint the Marcotte and Martin for 2nd on the day. I was blown away taking a sprint against those two, it was a pretty special feeling standing on the podium at the race I've been coming to for about 10 years and dreaming of winning. I think this is one of the races I imagine winning when I am riding he trainer in January and when the result finally happens looking back at the hardwork really makes it that much better.

Jamie and Ellie got to enjoy watching it and it's been a really fun weekend so far with the team and everyone here. We plan on staying and racing two more days, but now that the snake is over and I got the result I was looking for the next two will be fun and with 80+ degree weather it will be an awesome weekend.

2010-05-18T00:12:00.002-05:00

Another good weekend of racing in the books. Did an awesome 60 mile road race Saturday near Baraboo that I just couldn't pass up because it actually has sustained climbing and it's a tough course. The team won again and I felt strong and was able to take it somewhat easy knowing that Sunday was WORS #2 in Rhinelander.

Past years this has not been the greatest race for me. While I suspect it's an awesome place to ride, for me there is just not much in it that makes it a good race for me. I knew that going in but I am motivated and wanted to do well so I gave it my best. Had it not been for Barry Wicks showing up with 29er wheels and 4" of travel front and rear it might have been a different story, but while he was rolling over the rough stuff I was getting jackhammered and doing pushups with my handlebars in between half pedal strokes. That course is just not meant for hardtails, at least going fast.

I was able to hold off the group of Periseo and Matter in a close sprint for 2nd, but I was a little disappointed to have lost to Barry but he upped the game and we couldn't match.

So, now it's a week of work and training, some electrical on the house as we get ready to put in some cabinets and counters and then a full weekend of crit racing to follow. Getting ready for Memorial weekend in Iowa and the Snake, can't wait.

2010-05-02T21:33:00.001-05:00

Almost too much going on this weekend to even write about. Started out with a trip up to Door County Saturday morning for the Door County 1/2 marathon that Jamie and my sisters have been training for. Awesome spring weather in the 70s and a beautiful park made a great day for the run and the girls did great.

I had Ellie duty and she is really an awesome baby. She was up at 4:45am, no nap till 3pm and happy as could be the whole time. Both Grandmas came to watch the run and Ellie enjoys them both, along with everyone else. I don't know how we could manage weekends like this if Ellie wasn't such an awesome traveller and generally happy about everything.

Sunday was opening day for the WORS series. I've been riding some good season form the last few weeks, won two crits last week in the new IScorp colors and this weekend I wanted a good race for the new team Mafia. Luckily a partial bike showed up Friday afternoon with just enough time to get it working, Ellie can make the final adjustments. The race went well and I continued the win streak, looking back at Iola results from years past I have won this race in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, and now 2o10 and I think I go 5of5 at it. Must be something that fits me well about the course. I was having flashbacks of 2002 riding with Eppen and the long hair and beard again, can't believe I've been racing long enough to have won a race almost 10 years ago. Anyway, it was great to open the mtb season with a win and get that confidence booster.

2010-04-07T10:26:00.003-05:00

Sunday capped off one of my hardest weeks of training in many years and I decided to do it wearing the old Saturn kit. It's a been a long time that I have been able to train like I did last week and it' a been a long time since I have worn this kit. It still feels fast when I put it on and I have a lot of great memories from those days. I still think it is the coolest looking team kit I have worn yet. A lot has changed since then but I am still racing, I think most of the other guys that were on the team are not. I raced most of those two years with Saturn overtrained, overraced and I am pretty sure the 2nd summer I had mono and didn't know it, but I learned the most about racing those years and still use that knowledge today.

The WI road series starts up this weekend. It's rather disappointing looking at the schedule and seeing that for first 3 races, there is a total of $150 to win. The cross series has better payout than any of those races and the turnout is about 75% less! It's a guaranteed money loss even if you win. I don't really see a point in splitting up $150 for 5 places either, give it all to the winner if that's all there is, at least someone can go home with a little extra from the weekend. Enough on that, time to go ride in a wind storm but at least I have a somewhat protected area to ride in so it isn't so bad.

2010-03-31T13:21:00.004-05:00

I can't believe the weather the last month. Since I posted last I figured I'd still be skiing right now but that all ended a few days after I posted when it rained for almost a week and the snow went from being 2ft deep to being gone. Usually I don't get too excited about March when it warms up a little because that's when it seems the temperature hovers at about 35-40 endlessly with rain/sleet and riding inside is still normal. Not this year it seems, I'm still holding my breath but riding outside in March was great. 40s-50s and lots of sun and I haven't gotten wet on a ride yet. Riding when its above 35 is generally pretty comfortable if it is not windy or raining so I feel lucky to have made it through March with this.
Today is the first day I have seen my legs outside since last October probably, it isn't very pretty, 6 months under leg warmers. It felt strange to have the wind blowing over them and once again like every spring I discovered I have not clue how to dress when it is over 60. I know exactly what to wear in 5 degree increments for everything under 40, but today when I went out it was over 60 and I was clueless. It actually feels warm over 60 when you step out of the house which is a shock to the system when you are use to brisk winds and a chilly first 15 minutes of a ride, I forget that 60 outside is generally what it feels like inside which means insulated long sleeves and leg warmers with shoe covers is going to be way over dressed. At least I have learned the art of utilizing the back pockets to their full extent since that is where everything ended up after 1/2 an hour.

I managed to sneak out of work and get a race in over the weekend in MI - the Barry-Roubaix. It was a great race, hard course on gravel roads with lots of steep short climbs. I seemed to be riding well and got away somewhat early on with Derek Graham (Bissell) and Mike Anderson (GF) and we rode a good tempo until I flatted about an hour and a half in. I was bummed, not sure how it happened, I might have had my tires inflated too hard and slit it on a rock, I didn't really look and didn't really care since I couldn't fix it. First race and forgot a sealant using tubulars - ooops. I thought the feed zone at the start of the 2nd lap might be close so I jammed for a long time as groups slowly passed me but it took over 1/2 an hour to finally reach it at which time my motivation to chase was gone and instead I climbed in the car and headed back home early.
Thanks to dad for driving me there all night while I slept in the back of the car, the life of a 2nd shifter and early Saturday morning racers isn't that good, but we got there and raced, felt good and had a good time so sleep deprivation and racing isn't all that bad no matter how much the pros complain about the aches and pains of racing bikes and traveling. It's either that or not race so I'll just make do I guess.

Hopefully get some pics up soon, for now I'll leave you with our 9month old, I can't believe she's that old already. She likes her new pajamas.

2010-03-01T12:58:00.006-06:00

Plenty of snow out there in the fields yet, luckily the roads have been clear and other than a few drifts blowing over a few back roads it's been decent for riding. This weekend was good despite the long work schedule and I was able to get out Saturday and Sunday both for some longer endurance rides. From my new house I am in a lot better area for riding and there are tons of small steep climbs instead of flat wind blown farm fields so I actually got in over 4000ft of climbing in a 4 hour ride, not too bad for eastern WI. That's a pretty long ride for me but it felt good and with the sun poking through 3 hours in I got a little solar power the last hour. The sun shining down on the snow late in the afternoon looked pretty cool but it looks like my phone didn't capture the sparkle.

Jamie has been training for a 1/2 marathon in May so she has been putting in the miles, Ellie doesn't mind entertaining herself anymore and sits happily on her throne while Jamie pounds out some miles.
Ellie also likes playing with paper so I kept her entertained for about an hour one day with a newspaper. She just sits there and crumples it and makes noise with it while I work on the computer. Works for me.

No Spring In Sight

2010-02-24T13:12:00.003-06:00

We are still getting plenty of snow here the last week so that has meant more time on the trainer and lots of quality skiing. It's almost march and at most I am riding outside once a week on the weekend, could be a new record on trainer miles this year as I usually suffer and ride outside but with a training plan more focused on intensity and efforts it doesn't make sense to try and do those outside. When the ride is split into intervals time goes by pretty fast and if I did them outside it's too hard to control the variables and I just never feel that comfortable on my bike doing efforts when I am wearing all that clothing. So, I have been riding inside, watching the Price Is Right and also catching lots of great coverage of skiing on the Olympics. There have been some great races and it's nice that NBC is having so much live skiing on during the day and weekend.

Watching the skiing has given me some motivation too and for the first time since I started skiing about 10 years ago I have started doing intervals on skis. I never thought I wanted to get that serious on my skis and that by doing efforts it would take away the fun of skiing and turn it more into training, but so far I have been wrong now that I have started. My top speed is increasing and I am feeling a lot stronger and balanced since working on speed instead of just going out and skiing moderate pace the whole time. Like I said before, my work schedule doesn't allow me to put in 4 hour days that often but I've found while working with my coach that I can do half that time with specific power and effort zones and work that aspect instead and get about the same fitness. Realistically most of the races I do aren't over two hours anyway so other than the occasion long ride, I haven't found it that necessary to work on that.

Tested out the All Wheel Drive today too after skiing with some good figure 8s - it was a good day to have a Subaru and skis with 4" of new powder.

For Sale

2010-02-08T11:12:00.003-06:00

Spotless!!!
Email: tschouten@gmail.com
for info and $$$

2010-02-02T13:06:00.006-06:00

Time is cruising by this winter. Training is pretty much in full swing and going great and the winter project list is getting shorter. I've got the basement bike area fully setup with a homemade bike stand that works a lot better than the type that hang the bike from the seatpost. With all the bikes going to seatmasts instead of posts it's impossible to hang them anymore so this type is a lot better and works with any bike. Plus, I made it myself.

I've been spending a few days a week skiing at Nordic Heaven in Greenbush and the conditions have been excellent even though we had 2 days of rain last week. Lots of time on the trainer too, but not spending much more than 1 1/2 hours at a shot, although Sunday I split up a 3 hour ride with morning/afternoon session, but I've been keeping it somewhat short since winter lasts a long time around here and we're only about 1/2 way through. I've been riding the snowmobile trails on my mtb too to mix it up and that is interesting.

Ellie sat down with me and helped get taxes started the other day. She cracks up at almost anything we do around here and thinks everything is funny so it's been great entertaining her, or the other way around. Either way she's been really good the last 5 months and even got her first tooth on new years day! She likes sitting in the basement and watching me work on bikes too, although we don't get much done. She tends to tip over while sitting so she's been working on her balance. I watched her faceplant a couple days ago, but she didn't seem to mind that her face was in the rug and her bum up in the air, she just kept on playing.
I watched the Worlds CX race Sunday afternoon and Stybar was the man. Sven looked like he might bring him back but crashed pretty good and never looked to get going again. It seemed he had a file tread front tire on, interesting in those conditions. Tim Johnson had a great ride and Driscol was impressive. Now we are all looking forward to 2013 Worlds in Louisville. While it is fantastic to think about, I am wondering how they will come up with the fans and spectators to look make it worthwhile, but it's exciting and motivating to think about and I'd really like to be on that worlds team. 2010 first though.

For Sale

2010-01-17T22:52:00.003-06:00

Large - 58cm GT GTR
New frame with uncut mast, new wheels never ridden
10spd Ultegra
$2000

For Sale

2010-01-11T20:19:00.001-06:00

GT GTR Road bike For Sale. Check it out.

Winter Projects

2010-01-11T11:15:00.001-06:00

Finally got enough new house winter projects done to be able to sit back and relax enough to enjoy them. We moved out of our small apartment early in December right as the weather changed from nice fall to cold snowy winter. I had everything lined up for redoing the garage roof because it was bad and I didn't want to do it in April when the racing would start. Then it got cold and started snowing and the project was more me vs. wisconsin winter more than anything else. That's when the neighbor told me I shouldn't be up there cause it was too dangerous. He also told me I'd have to do the house shingles too now this summer so I freaked him out a little more and told him I was doing it in January. Anyway, I had to shovel the roof twice just to get up there, and scraping 2 layers of shingles and ceeder shakes off even in warm weather is not fun, much less 0 degrees, but I got it done and it looks good now.

Moving into the house we had some projects like wallpaper removing and gold ceiling painting. Neither were really our style so we've been tackling those projects and making some good headway.

Ellie is quite happy watching from her throne during the projects and is exactly the oppposite of her first 3 months. She laughs and smiles almost always and is rarely crabby or unhappy, except maybe around nap times, but even then goes to sleep good and is sleeping 10 hours straight at night so we are all feeling pretty happy about that. She even got her first tooth on new years day!

So things are going good here and with the new house being 10 minutes from the northern kettles I've been getting there a few times a week. I finally got a nice ski waxing profile so waxing ski's has gone from an annoying job to a quick easy one, maybe it will get done now more than twice this year. I've been back on the trainer on the inbetween days of skiing just to keep the riding legs going and mixing it up like that feels good. Normally I would have been riding outside a little more, but we've had some below normal temperatures and with probably 20"+ of snow base on the ski trails I'd rather do that than freeze toes riding on wind drifted salty roads. I'm aiming at doing a for real cross season this fall so a little more down time and skiing time this winter should be ok.

2009-12-25T19:14:00.002-06:00

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the
Government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-17T17:13:00.002-06:00

I will update soon. I had to miss nationals last weekend because we bought a house and were moving. The last couple weeks have been busy with that, moving in and setting up, but things are settling in and I'll be able to update and start working out again.

Four 4 Four

2009-11-22T22:37:00.002-06:00

Won the state championship cross race today on a fun and greasy course. Good to test the skills on slippery, off camber cornering again. Registered for Sat/Sun at Jingle cross tonight so I guess I am going. I didn't make it last year but I guess it was really muddy, two years ago when I was there it was blazing fast but I think it would be better if it was slippery or muddy for me so I am hoping we do get the rain/snow they are talking for later this week. After that I need to decide on nationals. I don't have a lot of points for a good call up, I'm not sure an OK call up is good enough to not affect a result at nationals so it's a tough decision if it would be worth it. I haven't actually had very good legs since Iceman, not sure if that race just took a lot out or if I'm just a little flat late in the season but I'm starting to look forward to a break.

Tomorrow Jamie and I spend all our money at one shot, report on that later

2009-11-20T14:08:00.005-06:00

Finally got a new motherboard installed on the laptop so I am back in business be that a few weeks behind. Amazing how annoying being without a decent computer can be, no training uploads, no ebill payments, no email. But, got a new one installed and now I can say I can build a computer, someone needs to tell me why those guys can charge as much as they do when I did it myself no problem and in about an hour.

Anyway, Iceman happened a few weeks back and went great. I tried really hard early on to break the lead group into small group since I new a bigger group would not play to my advantage at the end. I couldn't split it up enough, but the group did get whittled down to 5 others, but this wasn't small enough for me. I had the best legs of the season for some reason but still couldn't pull of anything better than last in the group of 6. None the less I felt great and was in the race for the win, had it gone a little different you never know so I was happy with that.

Since then I got in some local cross racing and have gone 3 of 3 so far this year, hopefully I can keep it going through this weekend's state championship. I hope to be at Jingle cross for the races there, I'll have to drive down Saturday morning but that is better than nothing. I'm not sure when the bottom will drop out of my training but the fitness seems to be staying fairly good and motivation is about average.

Ellie decided sleeping through the night is a good idea and now she is much happier, seems like she is a completely different baby from last month, but it 's great! She even puts herselft to sleep now which has Jamie and I asking what is wrong with her? Apparently that is normal but we hadn't experienced it yet. Nice. She made it to two more cross races last weekend too and got to see me win, coach Gordy got to do a little babysitting too while spectating which was fun to watch while riding by.

2009-11-03T00:31:00.003-06:00

...I guess that never happened. Whatever, life is going too fast these days to keep up too date right now. Toronto was a fun weekend in the sense that I felt fast and competitive again at a higher level than normal, but frustrating to know what I had to do to get there and what that costs you in results. You can't expect to win against riders at that level when you are working 50 hours a week and sleeping 5 hours a night, traveling at 4am to get to the race and home back in time to make it to work on Monday, yeah, that's just not going to win races. But, I'll take satisfaction for the time being in 1st place dad, 1st place working man, and knowing that I am riding well again.

Other than that, WI cross racing last weekend at a great course in Milwaukee. The courses I've done locally have all gotten better and are really starting to get well attended. Fun. This weekend is the Iceman. I might have to come down with the H1N1 to get out of work, but I'd do it not to miss the Iceman - too much fun.

Ellie is finally learning to cry herself to sleep at night. Really she doesn't have a choice anymore if she goes to bed, just how long she wants to cry before giving in. Her thumb eventually finds it's way in and that helps a lot. Good thing it's attached. She rolled over a couple times now but still has the bobble head going while on her stomach which is funny to watch.

Quick Trip to Toronto

2009-10-19T14:23:00.003-05:00

Flew in and out of Canada in two days and got in two decent races. I'll update more later, gotta get back to work before they realize I was gone - gasp!
A couple pictures to hold you over.

Most Aggressive Rider??

2009-09-27T23:00:00.002-05:00

Really fun weekend in Madison at the USGPs the last two days. I had the best legs of the year both days and was able to move up both days from near back row callups to the front of the race both days. Today I rode into 8th and was 10ft from latching onto Swiss rider Christian Huele and CrossVegas winner Driscol but after two laps of dangling I just couldn't latch on and ended up having to battle Wicks for 8th. To add to the good races they awarded me a monster check for being "most aggressive rider" rider of the day which was pretty special for me. I'm still wondering where the good legs came from, most likely from all the local fans screaming in my ears on the run up which was awesome. I also wasn't putting very much pressure on myself going into it and maybe that helped with the aggressive nothing to lose attittude. Still, there are days when you are feeling it and days your not and I've been getting kind of use to mostly not feeling it.
Anyway, I had a really fun weekend seeing everyone and catching up with a few of the crossers I've known over the years and the results were the topping on the cake. Sleeping at home during it all ranks right up there too. Felt bad for everyone packing up bikes and heading to airport early while I sleep in... not really.

Chequamegon

2009-09-23T08:36:00.004-05:00

A lot of pain this year at Chequamegon for me. Looking at the riders in the top 20 overall after the race there was some serious horsepower in that race. AFter the front of the race split in half before OO I was in the 2nd group and everyone in that group was capable of winning the race, and we were in the 2nd group! I managed to hang on more than anything and by Seeley fire tower the race came back together with the lead group, but I new that was a really bad spot to make contact as we had probably burried ourselves catching the lead group at the hardest part of the course. I was right and as we all came over the fire tower the gaps opened right back up and I was in the 2nd, but smaller now, group again. We continued to pick up stragglers all the way to the finish but I was cramping bad and just couldn't go when the group got it going on the four wheeler trail into Telemark.
I was happy with 11th, not my worst and no my best, but satisfactory. The rest of the weekend was pretty standard other than doing it all with a baby for the first time. Traveling is still interesting and a learning experience along with eating out and being in large crowds like at the awards ceremony with Ellie. She has been getting better and we are figuring it out but it sure does change the procedures on a lot of things. She's already been to two of the triple crown races and she's only almost 3 months! If we could get her to like her carseat as much as she likes the blue bouncing chair we'd be set.

2009-09-01T00:10:00.002-05:00

A bit of a rough day at the races this weekend in Green Bay. I was pretty sure before I started that I wouldn't be too hot, I'd taken almost 2 weeks completely off since O2S and other than racing around lake Winnebago I had mostly been off the bike and doing other things - like working 50 hour weeks, but that's boring to talk about here. I also believed everyone when they said the race was wide open and screaming fast so I was a bit out of position by about 20 places when the course went into singletrack .5 miles into the race. That pretty much took me out of the lead groups instantly as the gaps opened up wide right away and since I was lacking any amount of significant horsepower there was no way I was going to ride up to a group of the midwests strongest riders who had a 30 second headstart. So, I just rode hard with a group and had fun, the singletrack flowed well and the race went by quick until the last 3 miles where a lapper crashed while trying to pull over for our group, his bike went airborne and landed in my lap sending me airborne also. I pedaled in for 12th, definitely could have been better but I needed a break earlier and if racing is to continue on at all this fall it will pay off shortly when the fitness comes back around, hopefully in time for the Chequamegon.

Lull in the Action

2009-08-18T11:42:00.003-05:00

I've backed off things hard since Ore 2 Shore two weeks ago. I'd been preparing for that race pretty hard and then things just didn't work out that well there. I felt fantastic Friday preriding and Saturday race day was no different. I was able to ride over the luge climb at the front and even gapped the front group on the downhill, but after that the race didn't really go that hard until the powerline climb where Brian and Mike got away and then we in the chase went the wrong way on the course at a critical moment as it was splitting up. To add to the wrong turn I flatted shortly after as we were riding through the field. Basically I was sitting on the back of the chase group unable to see the ground as Doug pulled at 30mph, hit a big rock and flatted the rear tire. My race was over and my Co2 was empty so I bummed a ride back in what was my shortest O2S race ever. Very disappointing and it let a little air out of my motivation which has definitely helped with the system shutdown after the race.

I didn't ride much last week except to do the Race The Lake road race around Winnebago on Sunday. It was too far to La Crosse for the WORS race and it was only 30 minutes to do the 90 mile race with good prize money. I didn't have that great of legs after being off all week but it was fun and we were done racing by 9:30 am which has to be a new record for me - 90 miles in by 9:30 in the morning - nice! It kind of reminded me of when I was training in Tucson and would leave at 5:30am in the dark and freezing cold to get to the shootout on time, then ride home with pockets jammed full of cold weather clothing at noon in 100 degree heat with 100 miles in. Kinda like that. Ryan Baumann won, he rode strong and hurt a lot of people in the crosswind sections. I had good position throughout the race but had bad cramping issues in my left hamstring which is still sore today, better take another day off.

Ellie is getting baby pictures today, I hope she smiles. She started a little bit last week but it's kind of hit or miss. She has more clothes than I do and she took over my closet and dresser.
She also gets to take a nap whenever she wants ( which actually doesn't seem that often) on the couch where I use to, now I have to go to work instead.

Summer Racin'

2009-07-24T00:42:00.000-05:00

The weeks are flying by. Things are starting to settle in a little more with the 3rd person in our house and last weekend I made it back to the races and I would even say somewhat successfully. Getting use to all the planning ahead it takes with a little baby is hard to adjust too, but Jamie is doing a great job and definitely more than her fair share I have been able to continue training and racing.

Last weekend I made it to Sunburst for the mtn bike race. While it is pretty far down on the list of fun races, it's made up for by the close proximity to home - 40 minute drive time. I had a decent race but needed my full suspension bike to be able to pedal any harder. You would think riding on 90% grass at a mtn bike race would be a good hardtail course but I knew it wasn't going into it but that's the only bike I had ready to go and I paid the price dearly as Brian floated over the cut grass and I bounced off the saddle. Luckily it was a shorter race.

I am amazed at the photos WORS collects for their photo contest, there are some really great ones and I am impressed what people can come up with. Thanks to everyone that submitted.

Yesterday I made it to my first Superweek race in Milwaukee. I can't complain about racing on a Wednesday, especially when it meant a total of 97 miles and 4 hours of riding along the lakefront in Milwaukee. There were some pretty big teams pressent and although I felt good, my positioning experience is not that great when there are groups of 15-20 attacking of the front constantly and into crosswinds. I had fun though and came away fealing good so hopefully it was good training for Ore 2 Shore, can't wait for that. Saturday night I am hoping for a little speedwork at the Great Downer Avenue bike race, I haven't done that one in years and am looking forward to it.

Sleep

2009-07-18T22:12:00.000-05:00

Sometimes we all get some, sometimes only a few of us.

Our New Little Girl

2009-06-30T19:34:00.005-05:00

"I praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made!" Ps 139:14--

Ellie Grace Schouten born 6/30/09 at 12:03am. 6# 10oz.

WORS Cup Stage Race

2009-06-22T13:43:00.006-05:00

What an awesome weekend of bike racing the last few days. Finally some really great weather to enjoy at one of the best races of the season and Don and WORS crew put on another top notch event with a tough course and great competition for 2 days of racing fun.

Saturday's XC was hot, first actual hot day of the year. The front of the race whittled down over the first lap to 5. I could tell we were all hurting in the heat, everyone seemed content to ride hard, but never too hard. I could tell my HR was a little high for the effort and felt pretty dizzy for the first hour of racing, kind of a shock to the system to ride in heat in humidity while just a week ago I was riding in armwarmers and a vest.

The pace hurt though and by lap 3 Travis had the group down to 4 and I was dangling off the back while the cramps seemed to be appearing a bit early. I managed to get back on the decent and by the start of the last lap I decided to spice up the race more out of boredom and desperation in a decision to either get 4th cause I attacked and then got dropped, or get 4th cause I just got dropped. For some reason though hurting on the back of the group hurts more than hurting 20 seconds off the front and after realizing if I ignored my cramping quad on every pedal stroke and kept my gap I might be able to hold off a charging Jesse Lalonde. Desperation turned into motivation as the finish line came closer and with one section of hard climbing remaining the relization that I might pull it off began to settle in just as I turned to see Jesse full on the gas. I managed to make it over the climb with cramping quads and just a few sections of downhill singletrack where all that were left to cross the finish 17 seconds up on Jesse. I'm still not sure where it came from, but it sure was refreshing to take a win again on the mountain bike.

Really big thanks to Jamie for sitting in the sun all weekend handing me bottles and to Planet Bike for the great support and motivation. My GT Zaskar was the fastest bike on the course and it was great to ride it to victory. I really owe all my sponsors for standing behind me and supporting me through the last few years ups and downs.

The only thing better than winning was jumping in the lake afterwords and cooling off, that was awesome.

June?

2009-06-10T12:01:00.004-05:00

The weather is still stuck in March. I think the temperature hasn't changed in 3 months, we are still stuck in the 50s and I've ridden in the rain/wind for close to 75% of my rides last week. That wouldn't be bad if it wasn't so cold and dreary out. Last Saturday I rode with full fenders, winter booties, leg warmers and thermal jacket. It's hard to get motivated to ride when the weather is constantly bad.

Sunday it did not rain at the state road championships, although twice on the way down it rained so hard cars were pulling over on the interstate. The race went well, it was long at 80 miles for a WI road race, but it should be for state championships. An early brake got away that should have stayed away, it had most of the strong men in it, but ISCorp was reading my mind and kept it within reach while buring it's matches. With about 35 miles to go the break came back and the counter move attacked at the top of the major climb. I went across to it and that was it, we rotated through for the remaining miles until I got popped when the eventual winner Matt Buschey(?) started attacking at crazy speeds. I managed to hold off the remainig field solo to the finish and to top it off I didn't have to sprint up the final climb to keep 4th place. That climb is brutal and I didn't want to sprint over the top like the last few years, worked out perfectly - got dropped before the climb and got to go up it at my own pace.

Monday I got the bad cold Jamie had for 2 weeks so I am spending today starting my Facebook page instead of riding. I think it will be my first day of missed training since January 1, that's not too bad. Now I probably won't have as much time to train since I have Facebook.

2009-05-23T20:48:00.001-05:00

There is one thing that can really make Snake ally a bit scary and that is rain. It's usually the same forcast every year hear, 80 and scattered t-storms. This year was only a 30% chance but we nailed it on the head. 5 minutes before the race started so did the rain.

The snake was really slippery and standing up to climb on it was almost impossible because of wheel slip. I really like to stand when I climb. Decending is not really my specialty either, add in a couple high speed corners in the rain and I pretty much take myselft out of contention for any kind of good result. Waa waa waa, disappointing none the less.

Somehow I seem to get relatively the same result every year despite how I feel going into it. Last year I had only raced one time before and was quite a bit heavier and finished 25th, this year I have been racing and riding pretty well and finish 20th. I'll blame it on the rain this year, looking forward to a drier race tomorrow and cleaning off all my equipment the rest of the night.

2009-05-22T21:05:00.000-05:00

Heading down to Burlington, IA for another Memorial weekend racing bikes. I have really gotten to like doing these races over the years and Snake Ally is my favorite crit of the season. It's one of the hardest races I do all year but I find it fits my riding style about the best I could ever hope for at a crit so my goals are always high for this one. Going as light as possible so I'll ditch the powertap for the first time this year. I use to run a 27 tooth in the back but then I got a compact crank and started running a 36 up front with a 25 in the back. I relized though that if you are at the front of the race going for it, you pretty much need to be pushing a 39x23-21 up the climb to stay in the lead group so this year I am running my standard setup and not messing around doing anything special. I'll probably blow up 5 laps in and wish I had a bailout gear, either that or I'll win.

2009-05-18T20:26:00.006-05:00

This last weekend was busy. Saturday I drove over to the Baraboo area for what was probably the best WI road race I have ever done. A solid field of WI and MN riders and an awesome course that was by far the toughest I have raced around this area only made harder because of the fierce winds and pace. Significant amounts of climbing on each of the 20 mile laps that separated the field immediately. I was able to go on and off the front with different groups before finally riding the last 20 miles in a chase group of 4. I had some cramping issues in the last 15 miles but was able to ride through them and was able to out sprint a few of the remaining companions for 5th which I was quite pleased with.

Sunday I was slightly bummed not to be heading to Iola for the WORS race but there were more important things - like my sisters wedding. It was a good time and I ate too much dessert, but that's ok after Saturday's race. My family is getting pretty dialed on doing weddings, I think this was the 4th one in 5 years.

What brother in laws are for

The daily commute also just got a little more braaaaaaap in it - it was time to upgrade. 400cc's of slick tire fun with way too much torque. A little loud at 5:05am though as I roll down the driveway.

2009-05-12T20:36:00.003-05:00

I can't keep up anymore, I haven't had time to update from last week yet and this week is almost 1/2 over already. I raced again this last weekend in Muskego and had a good race. I won that race a long time ago and it's a good course for me. I like the direction they ran it this year with the longer climb through the start/finish and it kicks hard twice so it is good for me. I've been riding well, haven't had the best of luck making the right move but IS Corp has done a good job of playing their numbers to their advantage. We've had some smaller fields this spring too in the 1/2s races which hasn't helped either, but the racing has been fun and mostly that's what it's all about. Getting some good fitness in before the mtn bike season starts up is a plus too.
I've been working hard this spring on bringing my power up for cyclocross this fall and I think it's working. It's a lot of hard work, I'm not sure what is harder to do mentally, a 4 hour ride slow or a 2 hour ride filled with intervals, but mostly I've been doing the latter since that's all I have time for and I feel stronger and faster than years past. I have lost a bunch of weight too, not sure if it's from the interval training or the long days at work with lack of sleep, but either way it's been coming off and that is a good sign as I have been increasing my power output.

I ordered some lightweight wheels and some special components this week for my GT Zaskar, when it's built and finished I am hoping for a sub 21lb bike. I'll post a pic when it's finished, I think I will be able to drop over 1.5lbs in wheel weight alone and I've got some other cool stuff to try too.

This blog is too long, time for bed.

Single File

2009-05-04T19:54:00.001-05:00

Lots of fun and fast racing this last weekend, I'll update when I have caught up on sleep.

2009-04-27T16:13:00.003-05:00

I usually don't race in the rain but the weekend was so bad that at 4:15 I decided I couldn't find the motivation to get on the trainer any more and that it was better to just go and race than complain about he the weather. So, I saddled up and rode over to the crit 10 minutes from my house to see if anyone had shown up. It was pouring rain and 45 degrees but I had enough rain coats on the keep my upper dry which seemed to work well enough to keep me warm. Pulled the old garbage bag with 3 holes cut in it over my head trick out for under my jersey and then had an additional rain jacket on, one and half hours later when I got home my base layer was still dry underneath - nice.
The race was more of a training ride, only 6 guys in attendance but like I stated earlier, it was better than doing efforts on the rollers. Race dynamics are pretty bad with only 5 other guys to race against, reminded me of my jr. racing days when there were only 2-3 guys and no one could drop anyone else, we pretty much raced like jrs too and nobody could drop anyone so we all rode together and sprinted at the end. It could have been a fun race on a good course if there had been a solid field, but the weather hasn't been that nice to this race over the years and today was the worst I can remember. The steep hill should be good for me but numb legs and rain soaked shoes and covers made the legs pretty heavy and I never really felt that great. Cole House won the race with a good sprint up the steep hill to the finish, made it back from Belgium just in time for a beautiful spring in Wisconsin. Probably should have stayed in Belgium as opposed to WI this time of year, it's been slightly depressing weather wise around here.

Looking forward to this coming weekend of racing, I've been feeling good training and racing the last month so I'm hoping I can start finishing stronger and start looking for some results now that I have some racing in. It would be nice for some decent weather too for a little help in the motivation department.

Durand RR

2009-04-21T19:24:00.002-05:00

This last Saturday I made it over to Durand, WI for the road race. I think it was the first day I rode in short sleeves and shorts, ended up with just a little sunburn and the start of some tan lines. It was a great day for a race and it was fun to see everyone from MN that I don't normally see at a road race in Wisconsin. I'd have to say the MN racers are a little more organized and have a little more team mentality than what I've seen in Wisconsin, cool to see bigger than normal teams warming up together and racing as a team. That does intern make racing solo quite a bit more challenging, but I guess basically it just takes more concentrated effort and smarter racing.
After the coming home from the Hillsboro Roubaix race with my tail between my legs a few weeks ago, Saturday I had much better legs after a easier week of training and that made the racing feel a lot easier. Even with all the teams it seemed there was a lot of watching and waiting, but in the end I was having hydration issues since I only managed to have 3 bottles total for 60 mile race and was starting to cramp pretty bad near the end. I tried to get off the front a few times near the end of the race on some of the climbs where I was feeling somewhat strong, I missed the big move though when a group attacked from the field and I couldn't get on as they came by me on the climb. It did end up coming back before the finish but the before mention hydration issues kept me from having a good sprint which was a bit of a bummer as I found myself in perfect position 200 meters out, but I had to sit down instead of stand up to sprint I was cramping so bad.
I hung around for the crit on Sunday in Madison, but 1/2 an hour before start time it finally decided to start raining so I decided to head for home and call it good enough for one weekend.
Looking forward to a fun hard crit this weekend here in Sheboygan at Evergreen park, it's one of the first races I ever watched about 15 years ago and it's a brutal course, but hopefully one that fits my strengths a little better.

2009-04-14T20:35:00.000-05:00

Rode trails today for the first time this year. They were drier than expected, but the long winter has done significant trail damage in the form of trees and lots of branches covering the trails. It was more of a shake out ride on the new bike though and by the end I was was feeling comfortable on it. One thing that is really hard to get over is the wide stance mtn bikes have. Riding a cross or road bike for 6 months and then getting on a mtn bike with a wider crank/bb is really uncomfortable and hard to adjust too. I need to come up with a way of narrowing that down so both bikes feel similar. If it weren't for that my bikes would feel pretty identical. I really like this bike though and it fits well. With the rear suspension set up as it is, you don't get bucked off the saddle like many other full suspension bikes tend to do when you come off a bike hit, although I find myself being lazy on these full suspension bikes and just end up riding over stuff I normally would have jump over. Now I'm just waiting on the hardtail to show up and I'll be ready for the season to start.