Christmas in New York

We liked New York so much from this summer that we just had to go back!! Well kinda, Chris and Jenny hosted the Swanson Christmas, so we all headed out to see the sites. It was a lot of fun, the weather was perfect for walking around and all the winter activities were in full swing.


Friday, we got up early and headed down to the Rockefeller Plaza to try and get on the Today Show. That didn't happen for several reasons: it was pretty cold, they are sissies, or probably more importantly we were just late. From there we hit up a few shops for some over the top shopping on 5th Ave. After while we split up and Mom and Leslie went to the MET while the rest of us went to the Museum of Natural History. Just like about everything we saw it was really interesting. I don't know how anyone can run out of things to do in that city!
Cathy really wanted to see a Broadway show so that night we got tickets for Beauty and the Beast. I was shocked with how good the show is, now granted my experience with plays and drama is slim to none, but even so this was excellent!

Saturday, we got to sleep in a little and got to the city in the early afternoon. We started off by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and got to see the city. Once in the city we headed down to China town for a little taste of Black Market shopping. A guy was just sitting on the street and when we walked passed whispered "purses, purses" Jenny in her unbelievable street lingo muttered something back and next thing we know we are following this guy to a side street and the girls were getting in this fully tinted mini-van. As soon as they got in 'click' all the doors were locked. They guy told us not to stand around by the van because we looked suspicious and would attract cops, so we spread out on the street and tried to act cool. About 5-7 minutes later the girls got out with a few black plastic bags. They told us to walk a couple blocks before opening them up so the people couldn't be tracked. It was pretty sweet and I guess they scored some pretty sweet deals on some knock off Prada purses. We were going to another show later in the evening but before hand we stopped in at Central Park for some ice skating. The ice rink was packed but it was a lot of fun, I didn't bust out the triple toe spin but Cathy and I did dabut our doubles swan move - we should go on tour.

Sunday was another relaxing day. Church in the morning and then Cathy and Jenny prepared the best ham feast I have ever eaten. After that we opened gifts and played games the rest of the night.

Monday, was time to go home. The day before we called a car service and told them that we needed a vehicle to take 5 of us to the airport. Nobody speaks english so it was hard to get across what we needed. Finally after about 15 minutes they said they would send someone to get all 5 of us. Well just as I expected some guy shows up with Lincoln Town car, needless to say we didn't all fit. We argued for a while and then we told him to leave. At this point we are cutting into our time before the plane leaves. We called another service and they said they would send a van. Well this guy shows up with a mini van and the trunk all full of his personal stuff! He refused to take us but we all just jumped in and Chris started throwing bags on top of us. We all got in and the guy wasn't overly happy about it but took us anyway. Fortunately traffic wasn't an issue and we made good time to the airport.
WOW what a trip! It was a great time but it is nice to be home again.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!

Melting away

Looks like we are going to have another year like last - an early snow to make you think it is winter and then gets warm and everything melts 'till spring when you are supposed to be riding out side and we get dumped on with snow.
I was in at the shop last night and Bob was saying that up north it has been really dry and that he is thinking about hitting up Levis/Trow this weekend. That would be really cool if that works out.
Well we sold a few bikes so that is good. Cathy's bike ended up in Oregon and my frame is heading down to Georgia. The basement looks really empty with only a couple rode bikes left. That shouldn't last for long though....

....and now it is winter

Wow I almost made it a month without any updates!! Anyone that is still reading this site really needs to get a life!
I guess the biggest reason for no updates is the lack of news this time of year. We took some pretty serious time off, riding maybe once or twice a week tops. Over Thanksgiving we got out a few times thanks to the beautiful weather, but that quickly ended. When we woke up on Friday we had snow piled up everywhere! I shoved out the car and we tried to get to work. After taking 30 minutes to got 5 miles on the interstate we turned around and decided to read a magazine and sip hot chocolate. Once the snow started letting up at 10am we ventured out again and finally made it to work.
The snow looks really nice and now it actually feels like winter. I think we are going to rent some skis this weekend and hit up Kettle for some XC action. I have only XC skied a few times last year but really liked it, hopefully the snow will stick around this winter so I can get better at it.
Lastly Cathy's bike sold this weekend. We are going to get it all packed up and off to it's new owner out in Oregon. Now I just need to get my frame gone and we can both be rocking Anthems next year.
I say this every year but I will try to keep this updated better through the winter.

The race was a success

Thanks to everyone for braving the weather and coming out to the race. We were setting everything up on Friday and between lightning strikes and rain/hail/snow I was afraid only a handful of people would even show up.
A big thanks goes out to Mike Guisleman from the Rock County Park system. He really made this possible, the city of Janesville was difficult to work with but Mike was really excited about the idea. Even in the muddy and sloppy conditions Mike was excited to see everyone in the park and to see how much fun they were having. If you get a chance drop him an e-mail and just say thanks!
Now that the race is behind us things should settle down a little. Over the past month training has been non-existent, and riding has just been easy and enjoyable. I am going to work with TJ again for 2007 with his new coaching gig so that should keep me busy throughout the winter.
With the end of the season comes cleaning out the garage and drooling over new equipment. Cathy would like to get a full suspension ride next year and I am looking at upgrading my frame. Before any of that happens we need to move some of our stuff. I will get a post up here shortly and if you are interested let me know.

Final Touches

We should have held the race last night, the weather was perfect, the course was wicked fast, and the weather map didn't look like this:


Today we are heading out to put up ribbon and barriers, all we need now are racers! We are really trying to give a lot back to the racers, the payout isn't as much as we were hoping, just because we weren't sure what attendance would be like. Looks like that has been good this year so we are putting in a preem on everyone's second or third lap. $20 to the first person over the last barrier of a run up, should be interesting! Hopefully we don't see any of this!!
We also have quite a bit of schwag that we are giving out. All the Junior racers are going to get water bottles from Schwinn, stuffed with stickers, and more stickers. Michaels Cycles also cleaned the schwag closet and gave us a box of stuff to hand out. Tonight I will be putting the finishing touches on the trophies. I just need to get the medalians hung in them and we will be set.
Hope to see everyone out tomorrow, looks like we will have true 'cross weather!

Burning the midnight oil

These trophies are taking a lot longer to get together than I initially planned!! I have been working on them past midnight all week, but they are turning out really cool so if people like them, and RACE HARD for them, it will be worth it. O&A manufacturing in Verona did an awesome job with the medallions, they donated their time and resources to get these done up really quick. If you or your company is looking for great service Scott Pernot is your man!! I was going to snap some shots this morning but due to the late night I opted for a few extra minutes of sleep.

Tonight we are having a group ride at Gibbs Lake if you are interested e-mail me or just meet at the park at 6:30pm. We are meeting in the lower parking lot...which by the way will be closed to racers this weekend.

At this point it looks like the weather could go either way this weekend, should make the beach run interesting.

Hope to see everyone this weekend!!

One man's trash...

...could be your treasure!!



Stay posted more to come.

This should be interesting

I was hoping to get more posts up here about getting trails trimmed, filled and ready for the race. Don't worry just because I didn't blog it doesn't mean it didn't happen. We have spent a lot of man hours getting everything ready and this past weekend we marked everything out and got the tight corners all racked up nice.

This is what racers are going to see as they ride into the park only with a maze of tape going around just about every tree in the picture!!

We haven't worked out all the details yet, and actually won't until race day but here is a potential natural obstical.

There is one substantial climb on the course. It starts in the woods then opens up to a grassy top.

The dirt section was an area we wanted to get filled in is now going to make for a slightly more technical climb.



You are going to want to bring your running shoes, we will have 4 obsticals/run-ups with one being the finish for a lap preem! When on the bike the course will be a combination of really tight and technical turns in the park and FAST open horse trails. Don't worry we will pick up all the land mines but you might want to keep the pressure in the tires low as some sections are a little rough! I think this is going to be a course that you will either love or hate. If you want a sneak preview we will be riding the course this Thursday night meeting at 6:30pm. Bring your light and some warm cloths. We will ride the course for a while and then do some exploring on the other great ski trails around the lake. Directions are here or drop me an e-mail and I can help you out.

Meeting a Champion

This past weekend was the Wisconsin Bike federation fund raising party at Saris. I was working the max power/Margarita blenders which were a way bigger hit than I was expecting! We had some pretty ambitious people mixing the margarita to say the least. But really the highlight of the party was getting to meet Floyd Landis! He is a super cool guy. He talked a bit just to the employees at lunch on friday and was just hanging out around the plant. I got to talk to him a bit and it was a lot of fun.

The party was pretty crazy for him but he took time to get pictures with everyone.

2006 Wrap Up

I once heard a quote that I have kept close to my training: “Don’t buy upgrades, ride up grades”. That being said all the training in the world won’t do anything for you if you can’t get to the finish line. Thanks to my wonderful sponsors I had a mechanical free season. Here’s who helped make it happen this summer:

Bob does a wonderful job running our team. He gets us the hook up on bikes, and if we need any repairs puts aside the paying customers to get us in and out as fast as possible. Mike really bends over backwards helping out the team in anyway possible. Next time you are in Janesville stop in and thank these guys for putting together the best local team in the state!



This was my first product sponsor. 3 years ago I was trying out the NORBA circuit and after my final of 3 stages in Texas I was in the parking lot loading my bike and Josh came up and started talking to me. I was pretty wiped out and when he asked what kind of chain lube I used I just went crazy telling him that whitelightning lube was the best thing ever!! Well turns out he worked for them and asked if he could help me out. This past year our entire team got on board with whitelightning and has had a wonderful year as a team.


I have been using eggbeater pedals ever since I hung up the tennis shoes and started wearing cycling shoes. This was our second year with them helping us out with some light ti pedals. Over the years I have had problems with the pedals digging into my shoes, this has been fixed with a tough plastic spacer. I have actually been using the same spacer over the course of two sets of cleats!



This is another parking lot sponsor. I had just finished a few loops out at the kettles and seen Mark’s truck in the parking lot. I went over and introduced myself. We got to talking and they were really interested in my brakes and rotors. I told them that I was running Kool Stop pads that worked ok but were a little low on power with the aluminum rotors. It didn’t take long for Mark to respond and sell me on the advantages of Vesrah pads. About a week later I put some in and was instantly impressed, all the power was back with control what would rival an Egyptian Pharaoh! Look for some sweet lightweight rotor options coming soon…hopefully I will have the opportunity to do a review on them.


This is also my second year with Maxxis and this year they extended the sponsorship to the entire team. With the introduction of some more XC specific tires they are becoming a more common name at WORS. The new tire this year is the CrossMark. I did a review on it earlier this summer and can only expand on that saying this is by far my favorite tire I have rode, and believe me I have tried a lot of them!


I have read a lot of lightweight wheels and the general consensus is that it is not how light the wheel is but how well it is built. Well take that mentality and apply it to one of the lightest wheelsets possible and you have a dangerously fast combo. I was a little leery about how the wheels would handle my aggressive riding style – was I ever wrong. The only time my wheel came out of true was when I hit a fence post cornering to the finish, high sided, and blew my tire clean off the wheel when I landed! Any less wheel would have folded over like a wet paper towel, but the ZRT Olympic rims only needed a little tweak on the spokes and we were back to new.

Again thanks to everyone!! The 2007 schedule is out so now it is time to start training and preparing for an even more successful season!

Sheboygan WORS Finale

I have said this before but WOW that was a fast summer!! It literally seems like just yesterday that we were all lining up at Iola wondering what each other had been doing over the winter, or wondering if I had done enough!
This season turned out to be my best ever thanks to TJ for coaching and pushing me all summer. Usually coming into this race I am so burned out and ready for winter that I can't wait for the race to be over. This year was different, I took a little break after Chequamegon and that was enough to get re-charged to end the season strong. Cathy has been keeping good form this summer, but was ready for it to be over. We got lined up and with a bang were off sprinting for the hole-shot prime. I wasn't going for the money as much as trying to get a decent spot into the single track. I was sitting right about where I was hoping and feeling good about it. The first time up the equalizer was cake, I kept it in my big ring (42-32) and made some good ground on Tim at the top. I kept a pretty solid pace keeping Jerry Long in site. As we started the 4th lap I started to run out of juice, I hit a few clif bloks but they didn't kick in soon enough - BANG - I was done! I only had 1/2 lap left but it felt like it took all afternoon to get through it, people were flying by me like it was my first day on the bike, even a few comp guys I had lapped caught up and passed me - it was BAD! I was afraid at the pace I was holding that would happen, but the points were already locked up so I really didn't have anything to loose by doing it.
Cathy always struggles on fast starts, and this was no exception. The women took off just behind us and she was going over the top to stick with them. Even though the course is pretty tame there are just enough roots to make a full suspension nice. The ol' hardtail was taking her for a ride! First time up the equalizer she had a good line and no traffic, she climbed all the way to the top but spun on the final root and had to dab. BUMMER! That was her main goal to try and make it, after that she cruised around the course, enjoying the views and fun trails...except for the bumps!
With it all said and done this has been a wonderful season. Thanks to everyone that helped make it possible, and we look forward to doing it all again in a few months!

Non-biking entry

Yep it is getting to that time of year, when the focus shifts from biking to cross training / not training / just having fun. Since Cathy was knee high to a grasshopper she has been playing volleyball. She kinda got out of it when she first moved down here but last year and again this year has gotten back into a weekly league. For me volleyball should be played from the sidelines, I have don't have the cordination to run, jump, and hit a ball without totally rebounding out of the net! Cathy on the other hand is fun to watch!! Last night she was just killing it. She got paired up on the front row with the other teams better player and in some cases players. She was drilling the ball through 2 blockers at times other hits they would get a hand on but couldn't control it. By the 3rd game she had schooled one of their guys so many times he about took the net down in frustration...dude that's got to suck to have your world rocked by a chick!!

In cycling news...the weather doesn't look good for this weekend. We have been lucky all summer and I was thinking we might be able to squeeze in one more race to the fair weather streak but unless we get those NASCAR dryers out on the course I think it is going to be pretty sloppy. Oh well this will be the excuse I have been looking for to upgrade my drive train.

I should be getting paid for this....

...well I guess I kinda am. Last night I had to do some extended product testing for work. The sky looked pretty crazy so I threw on a back pack and desided to keep the ride in town and on the way home stop by the grocery story and pick up a few things. I headed down to Rockport, jumped on the trail and almost litterally ran into Bill and Ragena. They were rocking out on the tandem getting ready for next year's short and fat. After they got home I made my way up town to grab a few things. As soon as I got out and was unlocking my bike things got really crazy. The wind started blowing HARD and it was raining in every direction. I figured I wasn't going to get home dry at this point so I just took off. Talk about flash flood! I was hitting the side streets cutting through town and was pushing 3-4 inch puddles at almost every intersection. About 5 minutes into the soaking the hail started. I have never rode my bike through a hail storm, and I don't think I will again - THAT HURT!! The news was saying there was quarter size hail, but all I seen was marbles and that was big enough. My arms and legs looked like I had chicken pox from getting pelted.
This is what it looked like when I finally got home.

On the plus side, the PowerTap worked perfect. If you ever need to know your power output while battling your next tropical depression this is the product for you.

Last minute decision

The forcast was for unseasonably warm weather, and with winter just around the corner you have to take advantage of every day you get. I wasn't planning on racing this weekend but with forcasted sun I knew I would be kicking myself if I didn't. So Saturday night I got the 9.8 running and ready. I took a gamble on light-weight and set up the tires tubeless with Stan's...big mistake!! About 3/4 way through the first lap I was going through a corner when BANG the tire was off the rim. Light-weight tires + high pressure - tubes = walking back to the car. I walked off the course, cheared on all the other guys and then walked back to the car. About half way there I though, what I am doing? I should be racing!! So I ran the rest of the way, threw in a tube and jumped back on the course about 2 minutes behind the last place women. The first lap was perfect to warm the legs up so I just put it to the floor and started making up ground. I got around all the women and could start seeing guys on different parts of the course. As I started caughting guys I was getting a new motivation to push harder. I didn't know how much time was left so I tossed my bottle to Cathy and she somehow got it filled by the time I looped around to the feed area. I took a full bottle and then heard the bell, 1 lap to go. I got around a few more guys but in the end just ran out of time. I know I could have made more ground if I had more time, every lap my legs just felt better and better. I ended up rolling in 23 of 32 guys. I guess I learned my lesson that 120grams I saved by not running a tube cost me about 6-7 minutes.

It's official!

We are having a race. I have never put on a race before, and I think the only reason I got choosen to be in charge is because I showed up late to the meeting! As the flyer says we are having it out at Gibbs lake and will be starting in the boat landing parking lot. If you go out to ride around a little don't let the restrooms = a splintery board over a hole in the ground scare you...we got some port-a-johns for the race.


If anyone is interested we will be doing some trail maintance next Saturday Oct. 7 from 8-noon. The more people that show up the sooner we can all split out and head up to Sheboygan.

Switching the legs to ON

I have learned a lot this summer having TJ as a coach. One thing I just don't understand is how bad I can feel before a race and then as soon as the wheel rolls over the start line my legs just turn on like a light switch! This past week after Chequamegon my legs and mind where just shot. I was sick of riding, sick of training, sick of bikes, sick driving from work, sick of updating the blog...well you get the point. I did a few recovery rides early in the week. Wednesday I hardly got through my intervals and the rest of the ride was in recovery mode. Thursday was supposed to be another hard ride, but my legs and I were fighting so that ended up being a recovery ride. Then friday and saturday I didn't even look at the bike. I didn't really want to race Sunday but figured I needed some point and the team needed points so I went. During the warm up things didn't go any better than during the week. I tried a couple hard pulls and almost fell off the bike. As I was sitting on the start line I decided that I would go out super hard and if the legs didn't come around I was going to sit up and just enjoy the trails or quit.
As Don yelled GOOOOO we all hit the lead out at warp speeds. I don't know if I had any gears left and Phil said he was spun out doing almost 30mph! I hit the single track sitting around 10-12th and the legs felt great! We kept the power on really hard all the way through the first lap and going into the second had a group of about 6. Somewhere on the second lap we dropped Ron S. and at one point Tim D. when down really hard. We were down to Jerry Long, Marko, Nate and I for the last 1.5 laps. Nate and I were taking just monster pulls into the wind. I knew it wasn't the smartest thing to do but if we sat up for any time we would have been caught by the few people we worked to drop. On the last lap Jerry was leading through the first set of single track. I was tight on his wheel with Marko in chase. I knew he was going to attack somewhere in the second set of trails so was trying to stay recovered as much as I could to be ready. Sure enough just after the two way bridge Jerry went hard, I tried to respond but was pretty much maxxed out. Marko came around also and they were gone. I tried to keep them in site and keep Nate out of site. He was closing hard and my legs were shutting down. As we turned onto the gravel hill Nate closed the gap and rode my wheel to the finish shoot. We came through the fence and sprinted for the finish, he had a better kick and got me at the line!
I was really happy to round out the top 10 after feeling that bad. It is just weird how your body turns on for the race and then turns off again once it is done. After the race by body completely shut down. I was freezing cold, then sweating, then cold it wasn't pretty.
Next weekend is Fall Color fest, which I won't be doing. I am going to try and get back on pace with training for two more weeks and finish the season out strong. Sheboygan is never a good race for me just because I am in shut down mode. Hopefully this weekend will motivate me to stay focused and turn a solid finish in what is going to be a TOTALLY STACKED FIELD!!

Battle in the North Woods

This could possibly the most anticipated race in the midwest of the summer. Being the second of the Triple Crown races the big guns have had a taste of what everyone else has been doing this summer. I have had mixed results here, the first year I didn't really know what was going on and just went hard bringing me in 44th. The next year I felt awesome, had a perfectly timed peak and only let 16 riders finish ahead of me. Last year I had a rough start and my legs didn't show up untill just after county 00. From there I felt great but could only manage to pull my self back up to 31st. This year I have been riding alot better. I don't feel unhumanly strong but have had my moments...hopefully one of them will show up tomorrow morning oh say about 10:15am (after the leadout).

Cathy is giving the 40 her first shot. She is nerviously excited, not ever riding off road this far yet this year. It is a fast race though and the miles tick off pretty quick. She is in prime condition right now so I think she will surprise herself my prediction puts her in around 350-400 spot - seems like a ways down but remember there are over 2000 people lining up for this one!!

The forcast is calling for rain and thunder. Personally I am excited for that, I had one of my best runs at 24-9 in the rain and it keeps my typically over heated body a little cooler.

WORS #10 Sunburst Showdown

Last year this became the muddiest race I have ever race or even seen for that matter! The skies opened up just before the Expert race, we were all scrambling for mud tires and it became a race of willing yourself to finish.
This year threatened to be the same. Rain was forecasted all week and when we woke up Sunday morning it was doing just that...raining. I quickly got on the phone for weather forecasts and conditions reports from a few of our teammates that were camping. Everyone was saying that it was going to be cloudy but no rain, so we loaded up with no additional gear and took our chances.
When we pulled in the temp was hovering around 52 degrees, I was wishing I brought more than just a sweatshirt to warm up with. We headed out to try and get our blood defrosted and start flowing. I got a good call up sitting 13th followed by Cathy getting a 9th position call up. Once on the course I knew this was going to be a fast race. We shot up the first climb like it wasn't even there. Next thing I know bamm we are at the bottom of the hill for the 3rd time. Wow this race was going fast! I really liked the layout of the course this year. It opened up nicely to get around traffic but still had enough single track to keep it fun. I was starting to pass quite a few women and still no Cathy. At last about half way through my 5th lap I passed her in the open field. She wasn't having the best race but was still throwing down with everything she could muster. Last time up the hill attacks were starting to get more significant. I was trying to hang with my group but traffic was really stringing us out. I took a glance over my shoulder coming up on the final time accross the hill only to see Jerry Long charging hard. I pushed the pace hoping my gap would hold him off. I checked one more time just before we headed down and around the ski lift and he was on my wheel. I sprinted and took the inside line a little too tight and hit the fence post with the edge of my bars. That sent me flying, I landed it ok but hurd a super loud BANG!! Here I had blown my rear tire completely off the rim! I jumped off and ran in with Jerry just sneaking by - yeah that might have been dirty but I would have done the same thing - that's racing!
This week it is raining again, we are supposed to get rain all week and then friday it is supposed to get nice down here but start raining in Hayward! I have never done the 40 during a slop fest but I can only imagine it isn't pretty.

New York Weekend

This past weekend our adventures took us out to New York City. My bro and his wife needed a car to drive all their stuff out so we decided to fly out to see them and then drive the car home.
The weekend started with me frantically finishing a project at work before it had to go for a show that afternoon. We cruised over to the airport just in time to catch our plane. Flying is so much faster but as of recent so indirect. We had a 3 hour layover in Atlanta GA. before finally getting to NY.

Saturday we slept in a little and then headed out to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Hurricane Ernesto was making for some really windy and rainy weather. Despite being totally soaked it was really cool reading about all the people that came to America and some of the stories. After spending a few hours there we headed back into the city. We hit up Time Square and the Rockefellor Plaza. It was really cool seeing all the lights and just how busy everything was. It was cool to visit but I think it would be overwhelming to live that way! We wanted to eat sushi for supper and literally just happened on a sushi bar buffet!! It was like heaven literally 50 ft. of sushi! After 30 pieces I figured I had my money's worth and we rolled out and called it a night.

Did I mention it was really windy!?!

How can a food that looks this good hurt sooooo bad!!

Sunday we got going a little earlier and headed out to a Yankees vs. Twins game. We quickly learned not to cheer for the visiting team when Torii Hunter knocked one out of the park! I have never been booded and threatened so much at a game! The rest of the game didn't go so well and we snuck out in the 8th inning. From there we headed down to Central Park and really seen New Yorks "better" side! Because it was labor day weekend they had all kinds of things going on, it was pretty cool seeing all the DIFFERENT people out and about. From there we ended up back down town, checked out a few shops and then caught a cab over to supper.
Monday morning we packed up and started the journey home. The drive wasn't so bad but after 10 hours we were to the point of comparing how much our ankles were swollen - I definitely won that one! My ankle looked worse then when I broke it. The trip was a lot of fun and it was really nice to get away from the everyday life for a weekend. The next few weeks are going to be busy with traveling and finishing up the race season. I can't believe how fast this summer went. The days are already getting significanlty shorter and the mornings have that cool smell to them.

Pictures from this weekend.

Cathy really starting to pick up speed on the downhill sections!

Even though the race was really spread out it seemed like there was always a battle going on.

This section was alot smoother during the XC race than it was Saturday morning for the Super D.

The sticky conditions made pedaling hard but made the single track just killer fast.

Just before this as I was crossing the big mud hole my rear wheel washed out. Thomas Bender caught me just as I was getting back on the bike and it was a sprint finish.

On the Podium!!

Cathy has really made short work of moving up through the Expert field this year. On only her 5th race as an elite she had broken into the top 10 and this past weekend was standing on the podium with a 6th overall and 3rd in her age!! The race really played into her favor, lots of climbing and not overly technical single track. She started out sitting mid pack for the first climb and first decent. Then as early as the second climb on the first lap she started making her moves. On the second lap she hooked up with a comp rider and paced off him for the rest of the race. I seen her a few times and was getting reports from the sidelines that she was having a really good race. Finally about 1 mile from the finish I passed her and she was riding strong. Then just as she was finishing two Elite riders came into a corner way to hot and tangled handle bars. They went down HARD and Cathy had to do everything she could to keep from getting tangled up in it. She was really happy with her finish and really felt like she was racing instead of just surviving.

My weekend was a little longer. I did the full stage race which started out at 11 on Saturday. The days before the race were really wet and Saturday morning was about 120% humidity. We literally couldn't see more than 100 ft in front of us as we rode up to the start line. Everyone was second guessing their tire choice, some were running semi-slicks, some had skinny mud tires, and I was running a wide dry tire. Turned out handling would trump tire choice. The trails were just grease so if you were ok with riding forward/sideways/backwards, you would do ok. I caught my minute man about 3/4 way through and really felt like I had a good run. When it all shook out I came out 17 seconds off the win! It was a tough 20 minute flat out sprint so my legs were pretty tired. We ran into town to get some lunch and just chill out before the Short track that afternoon. I ran my 9.8 with the rigid fork set up with a 42 tooth gear up front. We took off and I moved to the front. I was pushing but felt good and on the second lap had opened up a gap on the field. Then I dropped my chain, I got it on as the main field was going by. Then again it dropped. Now I was chasing. Just as I caught back on it dropped again and then one last time just for a nice even 4 times!! I pulled in a couple stragglers but was way off the pace I was hoping for. The final race in the Stage was the XC main event. The course had really dried out by Sunday and went from greasy slop to sticky peanut butter. Carlos and I had a good race going until he crashed really hard on the second to last lap. I was definitely feeling the first two events as I climbed the hill for the last time. As we came in for the finish my rear tire washed out in huge mud hole sending me over the bars. I quickly jumped up and seen another Expert rider coming hard. I jumped on the bike and we bumped elbows just hardly holding him off through the finish.
Sorry for the sparatic report Mondays are tough enough and I don't think this one is going to go any better!
On a course that most people love to hate both Cathy and I walked away really enjoying the weekend. I managed to pull off 4 in the Stage race and broke even on the weekend and Cathy walked away with her first Expert medal.

Maxxis Tire Review

I called up Maxxis for some extra stickers and they sent me a truck load!! Anyone that wants some let me know!

This is my second year rolling on Maxxis tires. This year they did away with the Larson MiMo. The new tire that was replacing the void is the CrossMark. This tire has a little of everything. An almost solid ramped center tread that rolls like a road tire on hard pack. When the trail gets rough or loose then the square spaced tread like on the Larson TT takes over. If you get your self in a bind and need to get around a tree in a hurry then the late MiMo round tread pulls you to safety. Because of it's high air volume I am able to run it tubesless (with Stan's) at about 28 psi. I don't have a computer on the bike so I don't know the exact mileage but the tires haver really lasted well. I was going to rotate the tires front and rear but the front got a hole worn in it from my trunk rack...kinda weird. I threw a new tire on the rear and put the rear on the front. This year has been pretty dry so these have been a perfect choice. I have rode them in wet conditions a couple times and even though they can hold there own they are by no means a Medusa!!

Next weekend is the WORS Devils Head Stage Race. The weekend starts off with the Super D which is a XC version of downhill. The trails around Devils Head are all generally hardpack littered with rocks. I plan on running a wide 2.35" Larson TT tire. The TT is a very fast rolling tire and the extra volume will offer insurance at speed over all the rocks. I have never done a Super D before so I hope this is the right choice...I guess there is only one way to find out!

A little break from the races

Well this is a change, no racing last weekend and nothing planned for this weekend! The past two weeks have been easy at the beginning of the week the hard weekend rides. I feels good to have a few days of easy riding/rest days. Cathy is working early hours the past two weeks so I have been commuting into work from her office. It is a really nice 30 minute ride to wake up the system. The morning weather has been absolutely PERFECT!!
So this past weekend we headed up to Minnesota for my cousin's wedding. It was good getting to see everyone again. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a shrimp, but when I get around the Swanson family I am by far the shortest one...even out of all the girls!!!
This weekend my parents are bringing my bro and his wife down. My mom got a new bike, and Jenny got a new bike so we are going to hit the Madison trails and try them out.

Top 10

This was the last of 4 races in a row. I wasn't sure what 24-9 was going to do to me and after my TT intervals on Monday my legs had had enough! Tuesday it was everything I could do just to turn the pedals over. Wednesday was back to the grind with Power Intervals which didn't feel the best but at least the power was there. The rest of the week felt pretty good so I was confident going into the race.
We decided drive up Sunday morning. After getting hopelessly lost in Fon Du Lac we somehow found 151 again. We left in pouring rain and the forecast was rain all day at the race. As we got closer though the rain had stopped and the sun was out. When we got to the course the citizen racers were hosing there very muddy bikes down. The sport guys were out at the time and it looked like the course was drying really nice.
After a short warm up the time had come to line up. I got a 14th spot call up while Cathy got a 10th position! We had about a 1 mile road lead out which is always sketchy I made a move to get a decent spot into the single track. After the lead out we jumped on to the course I dropped my chain. I got back going and attacked the hill really hard, Cory was ahead of me so I hit the gas and went to give him some help. He jumped on my wheel and as I upped the pace and kept an eye on him. He looked like he was hanging but after the race he said he was blowing up HARD! After about a half lap of this I had to kick it. He dropped off and I floored it. By the end of the lap I had caught Jesse Lalonde and the two of us battled it out the rest of the race. He would take me on the climbs and I would pull/gap him on the flats. On the last lap I crested the grassy hill first and made my move to gap him on the flats, I don't know how fast he was spinning but I ran out of gears trying to get a gap before the final climb. I hit the final climb first with only a few second gap. I heard Jesse coming and tried to respond but the legs were already spent. We had a decent gap on the other guys so I sat up and enjoyed the last set of single track before the fast down hill finish.
I seen Cathy a few times throughout the race and she looked like she was having a good race...looks were deceiving though. On her first lap breakfast wasn't agreeing with her and decided it would rather sit on the side of the trail. After getting sick for a little she got back on her bike and kept going. Then on the first climb of her second lap a comp rider crashed next to her and put his pedal in her back leaving a really nice knot! At that point she wanted to quit. She kept going and finally started feeling better. Her last 1.5 laps everything just came together she took off and closed a HUGE gap on Anna Fink. She was riding Anna's wheel until a comp rider wedged his way in between. The sprint from the last single track to the downhill just wasn't enough for Cathy to get around Anna. Turning another 8th place finish was good enough to move up again in points!

Photo Blog

Well this wasn't what we were expecting when we set up camp.

Turns out the race would end the same way it started - WET!!

Cyclist should really stick to the bikes.

There that is better!

We did a lot of planning leading up to the race, one thing we forgot though was organization.

Slippery roots at 2:30am = a trip to the hospital and 9 stickes....after finishing her lap!

24-9 - Race or Survival

In my short cycling career I have experienced many types of races, one however I have never tried was a 24 hour race. This weekend Cory, Bill, Chris, and myself all threw down our season best efforts at a podium finish for the National Championships. Cathy and I got to Wausau friday night the weather was forecasted to be hot and sunny. Just as we were getting ready to head off to bed Bob calls and warned us about a storm cell that just popped up and was heading our direction. We loaded all the bikes in the team truck and tied down for the storm. The next morning we woke up to rain, wind, and a flooded pit area.
I was the first one out so I got dressed and went for a short ride to spin the sleep out of my legs. We started with about a 1/4 mile run to our bikes, I had a good run and was the 4th rider across the start line heading out to the first of my 13.5 mile laps. The course was really wet but I think these are probably the best trails in Wisconsin or even the Midwest for wet riding conditions. By the time Cathy went out for her first lap the trails had dried up really good. She wasn't sure what team or event she was going to do up to this last week. Two of our teams had kinda died out so they combined and put together a 5 person team. She did not like the course at all during the WORS race but loved the way this course was layed out and knocked off a 1:16 hour lap.
So this is how the rest of the day went, drink water, go ride, drink gatorade, clean up, drink water, eat, drink gatorade, relax, drink water while mixing gatorade! It got really humid so keeping the fluids going was going to be key to survival. I was the last person on the team to run in daylight getting in just after the 7pm mandatory light time. Before loosing the sun light I put my light on right away after getting back to the pits. I used heavy duty masking tape, like I have used all summer, to hold the battery. Turns out I have never used that in 100% humidity and streams of sweet pouring over it. When I was out on my first night lap I got about half way through before one piece of tape let loose, this caused the battery to swing and unplug itself. I had to stop twice because of this, finally I got it to stay on but the third time the entire battery just fell off. Fortunately another rider stopped and gave me light to find my battery, and reroute the cables to my back pocket. I made it in with a slow 1:07 lap. Cathy went out for her first night lap and was riding really well until hitting a tough rooted section. She crashed and really gashed her elbow good. She quickly got up and assessted the cut donating blood not only to the trail but all over her bike as well...SWEET!! She rode to the next aid station where they cleaned her up a little before finishing the lap. Once she got in and cleaned up a little she headed into the hospital for stitches. Here is the conversation while the doctor was stitching her up at 4:15am:
'Doctor' "How did this happen"
'Cathy' "Riding my bicycle"
'Doctor' "So what time did this happen?"
'Cathy' "About 1.5 hours ago."
'Doctor' "WHAT you where riding your bicycle at 2:30 in the morning!? Did you just get out of bed and decide to go for a bike ride?"
'Cathy' "Well actually I haven't gone to bed yet...I am doing that 24 hour race at 9 mile."
'Doctor' "You must be crazy! Here I will put some extra wrap on in case you decide to do another lap or something."
While she was at the hospital storm #2 was brewing FAST. I had just finished my second night lap and quickly tore down camp before everything got wet again. About 5 minutes after I finished it started raining harder than I have ever seen! Cory was out on the course at the time and got stopped at an aid station. The race got stopped for a while so the race officials could decide what to do. Problem with this is that it took all the time gaps out of the race. Cory came in and I went out on a mission to gain some time back in the bad conditions. I had an awesome lap, probably one of my fastest only to find out that the race had been called off due to tornado warnings and that they froze the field the lap before it rained. I was pretty bummed to here that both Cory and my efforts in the mud where for not.
We ended up 4th in the Nationals and 5th over all the teams. Not too bad for just a local team who had never done a 24 hour race before. Cathy's team had a wonderful 5th place finish out of 25 teams in the 5 person category!
Driving home was a struggle and we pretty much just crashed as soon as we got in the house. This week will be a lot of cleaning, recovery, and eating.
Haven't pulled the pictures off the camera yet, so check back tomorrow for a picture blog.

Let's go RACING!!

The weather this year has been so wierd, yestarday we got 4-5 inches of rain in Madison but at home we didn't get anything and were able to ride off road! The group ride was really small, partly because everyone was home packing or afraid of the weather. The few that showed up went out for a little ride. When we got home it was frantic pack time. Neither of use have done a 24 hour race so I am sure we brought more than what we need. Cathy went to bed once all the cloths and food was packed and I went down and worked on the bikes, nothing like waiting till the last minute.
So the lights are charged, the tires are sealed, the brakes have fresh stoppers, and a set of mud tires are in the truck just in case.
Check back later this weekend for a race wrap-up and some much over due pictures.

Phillips - WORS #7

Last week Cathy and I loaded up and headed out Wednesday right after work for a much needed vacation. Cathy's Aunt was having a 60th b-day party up at there place in Ely, MN...literally 10-12 miles from the Canadian border! Despite the incredibly long drive it was well worth the time to relax. After the party on Saturday we loaded up and headed down to Phillips. We got in kinda late so we couldn't pre-ride what turned out to be a pretty new course. Traditionally Phillips is mostly ski trails with some single track. This year was a lot more single track and made for a better race.
Sunday started with a hint of rain here and there, then cleared up and turned into a perfect day of racing. I was hoping to cherry pick a little at this race, I figured high gas prices, a long drive, and with Super Week it should be a smaller field. I was kinda right, we only had around 40 guys, but of that only 2 of the top 20 were missing, so much for an easy race. We hit the road lead out and I was sitting in a decent spot. I hung out with a group of 5 and each lap we lost 1-2 guys. On my 3rd of 5 laps I started to really hurt I hit a few clif bloks and doubled my water intake, all of the sudden the legs came around and the power was back. I got around a few guys and figured I had to be doing decent because I was lapping a ton of Comp riders. On the lead-in to the finish we were slopping through the only wet spot in the state of Wisconsin when a single speeder just flew past me! I tried to get on his wheel but he was on a mission, on the last hill I threw down an attack, and closed the gap. Once we were on the road he looked at me and said "I think you got me here". He was right, I grabbed a few gears and was gone. Despite having a full field I pulled out a season best 12th place over all and got on the podium again for my age group.
As I mentioned earlier we didn't get to pre-ride which was good because otherwise Cathy probably wouldn't have raced. The course was really rough and she was bouncing around a lot on the hardtail. She wasn't too excited to race but got out there anyhow and even though she didn't feel too good was able to hold a strong pace. She was going back and forth with a couple girls and was ahead of a few girls that normally put the hurt on. On the last lap a girl she was riding with crashed pretty hard, even though she didn't want to, Cathy used that to put a gap on her and was able to hold that for an....8th place finish!! After figuring out the points yesterday that is going to put her in 10th place overall, good enough for a call up at Calumet! This has been a tough season in a harder class but Cathy is really stepping up and throwing down some very solid finishes.
This weekend is 24-9, we are getting everything finalized. Cathy finally got her team plans together, she is doing a Co-ed 5 person 24 hour team. I have a few more night rides this week and then lots of rest. The plan this week is eat and sleep. I know I haven't kept this up todate, but I will get a few post this week leading to the race.
Out for now, Neil

Boycotting the heat

There is two things that my body absolutely rejects: heat and shoe shopping - neither of which I have any control against. The race at Eau Claire a couple weeks ago was HOT!! After a full week of feeling crummy Cathy got sick, probably from being so wore down and slept for like 18 hours, I didn't get sick but it did take me the entire week to start feeling better. I tried to get my rides in late in the day or early in the morning but was still struggling with the heat wearing me down. Finally I decided to boycott the heat altogether and ride at night. Everyday this week my rides have started at 9-9:30pm. By then things are starting to cool off and I have noticed that I am feeling a ton better too. In addition to avoiding the heat the night riding has been helping prepare for 24-9 later this month.
So what's is store for this weekend? This:
Traditionally the race this weekend is always on the hottest weekend of the summer and this year is forecasted to be exactly that. With 105 degree heat index it is going to be a cooker. It should be interesting to see how everything pans out, will people go out hard like normal and blow up, will the pace be a little slower because of the heat (I know mine will be). All in all this is a pretty fun course so it shouldn't be too bad.

WORS #5 - Eau Claire

This is quickly becoming my favorite race of the series. We drove up on Saturday with the new rack. As a side note, anyone that is looking for a bike rack this could possibly be the best thing since sliced bread! The bikes load so easy and quickly even when you are dead tired from the race!
Typically when you head north things get a little cooler, not the case here. When we got into town and got the tent set up it was topping 90+ degrees. We loaded up with water and headed out for preride. There was one rocky downhill that Cathy was really struggling with, after about 5 tries we changed plans and she decided to run down it during the race.
Sunday turned out to be even hotter than the day before. I walked around with an umbrella all morning trying to keep from burning up before the race. Even though it wasn't part of the Minnesota Series this year there was still a really good turnout in the Expert field. Before I knew it we were off and the dust was flying! Everyone was really jockeying for position going into the first single track, and despite some people forgetting how to ride we all made it in smoothly. I was feeling pretty good and was pushing a pretty hard pace. I knew the heat was going to take it's toll but I wanted to get moved up as far as I could before that happened. Sure enough on the 3rd of 4 laps I started to feel the heat. I was cold and shivering every time I came out of the woods, and a few times things were getting blurry. I ate a bunch of my clif bloks and drank all my water to try and pull things together. By the end of the lap I came back around and could put the power down again. Good thing because during that time I dropped back to 20-23 place. I just floored it the last lap moving up the 17th. Coming out of the final single track a guy got on my wheel. I tried to push the pace and shake him but he was already in the finish sprint. I stood up and grabbed 3 gears. We sprinted side-by-side for the last 150 yrds. of the race...I got him by 1 bike length at the line!
Meanwhile Cathy was having a really good race herself. She took off with a new strategy to stay on the main packs wheel as long a possible. She was feeling good and as they approached the downhill section she planned on running, everyone else rode it so she sat back and just hung on riding it like a champ!! With that added confidence she upped the pace and for the first time felt like she was really racing. She was hanging on and dropping girls throughout the rest of the race. When she finally made it to the line she was sitting just outside the top 10 in 12th spot!!
We were both pretty burnt from the heat so after a quick cool down we loaded up the truck and headed home. The next couple days were much needed recovery rides. That brings us up to today. I think we are going to stay in town tonight and depending on how we feel do some mt.bike Time Trials around rockport...if it is hot we might end up in the pool by the time it is all said and done.

2007 Fox Fork

The past few years I have had problems with my Fox forks. This winter I had enough and was lurred in by the light weight of the SID Team. It didn't take too many rides before I realized that was a mistake, it was very flexy for my 175lbs. and felt like I was riding a flat front tire all the time.
Now that I am back on a Fox I feel more like home. There is a lot of new features for 2007 starting with the look. When I pulled the fork out of the box it looked like a downhill fork compared to my SID. The 32mm santions haven't changed but the lower legs have a new look and are even stiffer than before...I know I didn't think it was possible either. I have only rode the fork for a week now but have had some solid rides in there and am happy to report all the problems with leaky seals appear to be gone. There are some internal changes as well but I haven't tore into the fork to notice any of that yet. One really nice feature is an adjustable lockout threshold. This isn't intended to replace or act like the FX series, but if you have the fork locked out and hit a big hole the fork will break loose and absorb the bump before locking out again.

So how does it ride? Well I opted for the 100mm instead of the 80mm. They are with in a few ounces of each other and the 100mm can be de-stroked to 80mm if need be. My first ride with the longer travel the bike did feel a little slower in the corners. I measured the new head angle the next day and found that it had only changed by like .5 degrees, so I think the feeling was in my head. I really like the extra travel, it is a softer ride and totally soaks up everything on the trail. I raced on it last weekend and the fork handled increadably. The stiffer fork handled sooo much better in the tight single track of Altera and the longer travel really was nice on the down hills.
As much as I would like to say this fork will make you faster, it won't. But it will keep you fresh and in control, which in the end will allow you to go faster, read into that as you like.

Busy Summer

That has been the word of this month! So the last thing I posted was the Wisconsin State Road race. The next weekend we skipped Kewannee and headed down to Chicago for a the weekend to celebrate our 2nd year aniversary. It was fun getting away and site seeing. We have been down there a few times but never just to kill time and look around.
Then last weekend my sister came down so Cathy and her dropped me off at Crystal Ridge and then they went off shopping. I entered the 3 hour race to get the legs moving again after a few weeks off. Things started out really well getting the hole shot and leading into the single track. Then I rolled my tire off the rim, instant flat. I started walking hoping someone would have a pump. ure enough the 5th from last guy had something. I started pumping like crazy and finally got my tire up to pressure. I was feeling really good so I just focused on making up as many spots as I could. I knew it would be hard to caught Jesse, but I didn't see any reason I couldn't at least finish second. At the 4th lap and just over 2 hours in I got around the second man, putting only Jesse ahead of me. I could tell I wasn't caughting him as I would see him in the same spot every lap. I pushed hard just to get a solid 5th lap in and rolled in about 4 minutes after the win.
This weekend we are headed up to Eau Claire for WORS #5. My goal this year was to stay in the top 20, after skipping the last race I dropped to 21st...BUMMER! It is a fast course and I really need to push some big gears to get back to my goals.

Am I getting Soft?

So this weekend we were scheduled to race the 12 hours at Muir. The park rangers have no problem closing the trails if there is so much as a forecast of rain. Well about 2am the rain started. It was still, raining when we got up to get everything loaded, I called Chris who was at the parking lot already and he said the race was on rain or shine! We called around and everyone kinda decided they didn't want to slop it out all day. So we threw in the towel before we even got started. Cathy and I were only about 5 minutes out of town so we turned around and went home. I really wanted to race so we decided to hit the Wisconsin State Road Championships later that afternoon. We went home and crashed for about 1.5 hours then got up and loaded the road bike.
The coarse was tough but still fast, which made for an all around hard race. The start/finish line was about 100 yrds. from the top of a substantial hill. From the start line was a few rollers, then we turned into a few more rollers. Then just around the 3rd corner there were another set of rollers all leading to a FAST down hill, I was gliding at about 45mph!
Cory, Jason, Bill, and I all talked strategy, as much as a bunch of mt.bikers know, and the general consensus was to just hammer and see what happens...sounds like mt.bikers!! I wanted to keep things together so that I could attack on the 4th climb. I took a few pulls longer than I wanted too and chased a few breaks down more than I wanted also. I still attacked on the 4th climb and got a good gap with one other guy. We stayed off for about 1/2 a lap before he sat up and we got pulled in. I knew at this point it was going to be a pack sprint, which I am not good at, so I decided to get a good hard workout leading to that. I got out front a few more times and took a few hard pulls. I came into the final corner in a good spot. The last hill felt really hurt but I maintained a decent spot over the top and rolled in 15th of 70 guys.
The race didn't seem that hard or that long but on the way home we were all just toasted! I think the medium short laps took my mind off the pace and the effort...good for a training ride, but not good strategy. Oh well it turned out to be a beautiful day so I am glad we did the race.