SWEET!!!

Ok I have to post this! So last weekend at Alpine Valley I had some problems with my chain, turns out I had bent one of the links and that is why it was skipping. I e-mailed Wipperman and told them what happened. Like it was nothing they told me to send it in for a replacement!! That's AWESOME, Shimano's got nothing on that. I had a Dura-Ace for 3 days and broke it and the Shimano rep just told me that it is tough to determine how long chains are going to last and that they can't warranty a wear item part.
Anyway go to Wipperman's web site and pick out the chain you've been waiting for.
Just had to pass on the good news.

Speed Kills

This week and into next week I am going to be doing speed work. Tuesday I went out to the northeast park and did interval work. That just killed!! I hammered for 1 lap and then recovered for 1/2 lap then back to full speed. The 7th one really hurt so I packed it up and rode back across town to meet with the group ride. Ended up with 3 hours so that was a good night. Wednesday was off, and much needed. Last night I felt great! Did some speed work but stayed with the group mostly. We rode at the "Lab" and the trails were perfect. The climbing was right on the money so that is always fun. Today I am going to peel out of work early and try to get some hours in.
No racing this weekend so that will be nice. We are heading over to the 12 hours of Metro to cheer on Jim for a while and then get some big miles and probably more interval work. Hopefully the weather holds up.
Well that is all for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Alpine Valley

Alpine Valley is always a fun race. I really enjoy the mix of climbing, single track, and creek crossings. The only problem is that the trails are only open for this one race. That means that it will take about 537 years before the trails are packed down hard. To add to that it seems every year it rains right before this race, so the nice soft power sapping trails turns even softer and harder to navigate. I liked it though. We prerode the course which was identical to last year. I was feeling good and flowing smoothly through the single track. That night the clouds opened up and gave us a nice thunderstorm, or so Cathy said as she couldn't sleep all night.
As the citizen's lined up the course was SOOO muddy I was having a tough time just walking around! It was funny as wave after wave of citizen's took off the line spinning and falling about 10 ft. into the race! Cathy got called up to the line first after a great season opener last weekend. As the women took off she was in second again with Jasha, her teammate right behind. They hit the singletrack and began weaving their way through the trails. Half way through her first lap she had opened a 1 min. gap on second. This pic is her coming up the single track for the second time on her way to a second victory!!

The mud really took it's toll on them as they were packing and drying the trails for the rest of the competitors...actually I think most of the citizen's took a majority of the course home with them.
By the time I lined up the sun was out and it was getting hot. I knew that it was going to be a hot hard race and I needed to ride my own pace otherwise I would blow up HARD! We took off up the first big climb there was a ton of traffic at the top as it narrowed to a short single track. I got through there and got into a groove. I was running in the mid 30's the first lap but picking people off really easily. By the second and third lap the people that went too hard were pulling out or really struggling to keep moving. I found a good gear that was working and had moved up to 20th or better. I by this point my chain was really skipping bad. I thought it was because I forgot to lube my chain but turns out I bent one of my links beyond recongnition. Whitelightning makes awesome lube, after washing the bike there was still enough lube left to get me through a muddy race!! I picked up the pace a little on the 4th lap as it was getting harder to catch and get around people. By this point I had moved to 15th. The last lap really hurt I made the climb and right as I crested the hill could feel I was about done. I was able to recover for the last section of single track and had enough to kick it in for the finish. Ended up 14th and in the money!!

It was a good race and I learned a lot about pacing and playing an offensive game. We have a week off before heading up to Wisconsin Rapids. Here are some random pics from the weekend, I think the dog would attest for the warm weather!

I will try to keep this more up todate than I have. So stop by once in a while for updates.

Iola bump and jump

Iola offically kicked off the WORS racing season. I like Iola, the soil is very light and it can handle the wet weather that we are going to have this time of year. During the preride I could tell it was going to be a fast race. The trails were just perfect and the tires stuck like glue in the corners. After last weekend I made sure I was going to have enough food in me for this race. We camped with the Baker's and had a feast that could have fed a small army Saturday night. Sunday morning I ate again before Cathy's race. She had another wonderfull race. This is a shot of her at the start.


Again she started slow and picked her way through the field. After the first set of climbs she had worked her way to 2nd place. As she worked her way through the single track she passed the leader and again never looked back. She came through for her final lap and looked really good. She was climbing strong and was having fun. At the finish she had opened a 2 minute gap on the second place lady!
As I prepared for my race I knew it was going to be fast and knew I had to keep things from getting out of controll at the start. We had a lot of climbing right away and I didn't want to pop and ruin the race 5 minutes in. The start was crazy, everyone trying to show that they had trained extra hard and everyone proving that they have NOT rode in a pack yet this year. We somehow made it up the climbs and were into the single track.


I was right, the course was fast! My first lap was 20 minutes, I could tell this was too fast so I sat up a little and had to just make it through the race. I was feeling alright for an early season race. I know I have a long ways to go before I am were I want to be but I think I have a good start on things. The bike was working good, my Maxxis MiMo tires again were a perfect choice, I have not found a trail that they are not perfect for. I think they are the best all around race tire I have ever rode! As I took the final lap I left everything on the trail. I was pushing to try and pull a group that got away back in but with no luck. I managed to keep the attacks from behind at bay and held my spot. At the finish I was 27th and 8th in my age.
Yestarday I went out and worked the kinks out of my legs and started to prepare for Alpine Valley. I heard it was really muddy so hopefully we will get some warm weather to dry that place out a little.

I finally did it!!

Ahhhh! Pictures at last. I probably should attach this to the 12 hour post but maybe I will do that when I get some more time. But for now this is me taking off for one of the laps at Kettle. I will try to get some pics of last weekend and maybe organize this a little better. I'm just excited I actually got this to show up.

Buck Hill

Well I have come to the conclusion that I will never be able to post pics on this blog I guess I am going to have to go about it a different way...not sure what that is yet but I will let you know.
So this weekend was Buck hill. We went up on friday hoping to preride the course but no luck so it was up to some early morning riding on sat. before the race. I am glad that we rode it because this year it was backwards from normal. I don't know if I liked that or not, we started pointing straight up the hill and climbed all the way to the top right off the get go. I supposed that was good because from that point most of the single track was down hill. I had a good start and the bike was feeling incredible! Everything was working really well, I still can't believe how well that thing just shoots through the single track! I was running in the top 15-20 untill the 4th lap. I felt a bonk coming on and did everything in my power to try to avoid it. No luck. I had eaten early, like 7:30-8am and I think that was too early for a 1pm race. Starting my 5th lap was horrible. I wanted to quit so bad but just kept pushing and tried to keep the bike from falling over on me. I somehow managed to climb the hill for a 6th time and started to feel a little better, and was able to hold off a group of 5 that were closing fast. In all it was a good race, I learned that I need to eat closer to the start of the race instead of so early.
Cathy had a wonderfull first race. She was the only citizen women to climb the starting hill with out running!! WAY TO GO! She led the first lap and was leading when she got into the single track on the climb. On the back side of the hill a women caught her and got around. Cathy did a great job of keeping her in site and was closing in a couple times in the single track. At the finish she was only 23 seconds in second place. So 1st in her age, 2nd overall women and 33rd overall citizen out of 100! It was fun watching her have a good race.
Thats all for now, we will see what happens this week with all the rain I am thinking was are going to be spending a lot of time on the road.

I am ready for summer

Well I got out finally and had a chance to really spin my legs out from this weekend. I am really getting sick of having to pile all these cloths on every time I go for a ride though. I was walking around the house today in my shorts and jersey just wondering what it would be like for it to be warm enough to be outside like this.
Anyway, we are going to be heading north this weekend for the Buckhill race. That is always a good race to start the season off with. Cathy is going to try her hand at racing and should do alright. I am excited to see how she does.
I am still trying to get some pics to post on here.....it is not going as easy as I originally planned.
Anyway, that is all for now I better hit the bed.

12 hours of.....FUN!

I am writing this with still shakey hands from yestarday. We showed up at the kettles around 6am only to realize that we didn't bring nearly enough cloths for the day...not a good way to start out! Really I can't complain though, the course was dry, fast, and fun. I was the lead out for our team. There was major comfusion at the start and I got stuck in the middle of the pack, I was pushing hard working my way to the front before the single track. I caught the leader (Polska) and found out he was racing a duo team, he let me by and then I could put the hammer down with clear sailing. The NRS was incredable out there. I had it set up with my Maxxis Mimo tires, which by the way could possibly be the best tires I have ever rode! They just stuck to everything they were so predicable in the corners and fast on the flats.
Anyway, after I finished my lap about 1.5 minutes up, Cory took off with the Polska rider coming strong. Even though we weren't in the same catagory, I was still pushing to be the fastest team there. When Cory came in he had been caught, we started going through the rotation and settling into a grove. Jeff and Dan were both turning really good times as well so it was a fun day. At about 12-1pm the Polska team had about 7 minutes up on us. I was pushing hard all day keeping my lap times around 40 minutes or better. When Dan came in from his 3rd lap he had enough. He was cold and worn out, that was cool, this was his first race and he left everything he had on the trail...WAY TO GO DAN! We decided to go to a 3 man rotation for the last few laps. Cory came in on his last lap with the polska rider in site. Jeff took off with a mission, pass and drop him. When Jeff came in he was leading I took off only to hear everyone yelling that the polska rider just came in. I knew I was faster than Chad but didn't want to take that for granted. I pushed hard, even though I turned my slowest time of the day I was able to open up a good lead at the finish.
It was a lot of fun. The race was exactly what I needed, hard interval work for the start of off road racing over the next couple weeks. Anyway, I am going to grab more food and probably take a nap.