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.