Tales from Lil B

A Full Year Off The Bike

2010-10-07T16:32:00.000-05:00

Hiking and camping with Aubrey

Aubrey at Bay Beach on some rides.

First trip to a pumpkin farm

Resting after a long day at the pumpkin farm

I can't believe I made it a full year without racing. I needed it though. Early in the year I was excited to race the season but burnout set in and 15 years of racing had me wanting to spend a year off and enjoy my life off the bike with my daughter & wife. I am glad I did it. I am hoping to come back to racing in 2011. As of now I think I will put together a schedule that includes many races I have wanted to do but haven't because of worrying about doing the whole Wors Series. Probably some early season road racing, a few fun Wors courses, and some epic races. We'll see what happens. See you at the Sheboygan race, I'll be watching.

Baby-School-Riding this is the order of my life.

2010-02-11T22:46:00.000-06:00

Times are extreamly busy here. If I'm not spending time with my little girl, I'm at school. Late at night I am even spending some much needed time on the rollers. I'm hoping to be ready to do some collegiate road races by mid March. That will give me about a month on the bike. We have 5 guys that are going to be doing some collegiate road racing this season so it will be nice to have more people to travel with. The season actually starts at the end of this month but at this point in time I don't want to spend 9 hours in the car driving down to kentucky and 9 hours back. The first 2 races are actually down there. I am hoping to start with the Depauw race which is race #3. I can't wait till the weather gets better. I really want to ride outside without having to put 20 layers of clothes on. I have yet to venture outside on the bike. Well I hope you all are getting ready for the race season because it will be coming up fast. I know I can't wait to hit the trails.

All In Time

2010-01-16T21:07:00.004-06:00

WOW what a year 2009 was. Only raced till August and did what any new parent should do, spend as much time with there new child as possible. That is what I have been doing since Aubrey was born on July 2nd 2009. I am lucky enough to not have to work much so I've had alot of time with my daughter and I wouldn't change that for anything. I can't believe she is already six months. This summer is going to be great. We have many fun family trips planned and I will be back to racing full time. I guess that means I should get back into racing shape. Last years racing was pretty much a joke. As you could see from my results. That's what no training will do to you though. New lifestyle and hopefully many successes to come in 2011. See you then.

2009-11-28T19:53:00.002-06:00

New Baby Girl

2009-07-05T21:10:00.003-05:00

Aubrey Rose Drankus

Born: July 2nd, 2009

Time: 12:48pm

5 lbs- 12 oz

19" long

She was 16 day's early. Everyone is doing great !!

No racing here

2009-06-09T15:52:00.003-05:00

Well it's been awhile. Been doing the facebook thing. That is so much easier to keep up with. I've been rehabing from a neck issue so it has kept me off the bike for way to long. I have missed the last two WORS races and just was able to start riding my bike again today. Things have been busy getting ready for the baby coming in July. Now I have to start training for the rest of the season. Also I start working next week so this will be interesting.

New Shop Opening Soon

2009-03-23T16:02:00.002-05:00

Anyone coming to the sheboygan area check out the new bike shop coming soon.

www.sheboyganbicyclecompany.com

2009-03-04T13:19:00.002-06:00

I did my first Collegiate road race of the year last weekend down at Murray State in Kentucky. It went pretty well. It took me about 3 miles to warm up then I was feeling pretty good. We had three 16 mile laps (48mi). Lap one was pretty clam. Lap 2 there was a pretty intense attack on a painfull climb. This blew the pelaton in half. I was able to answer and stay in the main group. A few miles later Indiana University put in an attack and about five riders got out front before the rest of there riders put in a block of the field. I sat in the main pelaton for lap 3 and they put in another attack on the same hill blowing the field even more. I answered and made it over the top with the group that was left but slowly started to fade and ended up off the back in no mans land for the last few miles. There were riders scattered. I was pretty happy with my overall race seeing I have only about 10 hours of riding in so far. I hadn't even done a training ride over 30 miles yet. The weather was rain/snow and about 33 degree's. It was nice to get that over. Above is my new bike that I just finished building up. Full black naked carbon. To bad i didn't have it for Kentucky.

Collegiate

2009-02-16T22:50:00.002-06:00

12 Days till race day. It should be interesting seeing as I have been on my bike 4 times this year so far. Nothing like starting with a good 48 mile road race then a 45 min crit the next day. You never know it could turn out good. New UW Sheboygan Jersey's due to be here the 26th.

Spring Please

2009-01-29T19:00:00.002-06:00

Ok it's time for the weather to get better. The older I get the more I hate living in this climate. The running is going good and I'm going to have to start riding the trainer by weeks end. Hopefully I can work in both workouts in a day. School is in full swing and more of my time is going to have to go to studies. One month till Collegiate race #1. New news to some of you is Michelle & I are expecting our first child July 18th. That gives me another reason to get in shape early in the year so that when the baby comes I can take some time off. The baby won't hold us down though. You will see us at the races after the baby is born.

Its Official

2009-01-16T17:48:00.004-06:00

Its official I have decided to not resign with Gear Grinder for the 2009 racing season. I want to thank Gear Grinder for there support over the last few years but it was time for me to go back to the Alterra Coffee Racing Team for many reasons. I look forward to representing Alterra Coffee on the awards podium in the 2009 season.

Training

2009-01-13T20:53:00.003-06:00

"The more I train, the more I realize I have more speed in me."

Leroy Burrell

Motivation

2009-01-08T21:53:00.004-06:00

I don't think I have been so motivated about training ever. With the running I've been doing the motivation for actually training is high. Man I love running. I know that probably sounds sick to alot of people because many don't like to run but I think it will help in the long run. I'll be doing as much Collegiate road racing I can this spring before the mountain bike season. Last year I didn't really train due to some breathing issues nor did I do collegiate road racing. The season starts March 1st down in Kentucky. With the training I'm doing now & till then it should have me in the best shape I have ever been in going into the Mountain bike season. To be competitive now you really have to train.

Good By Trek-VW

2009-01-03T13:26:00.002-06:00

Looks like Trek-VW is no more.

http://www.velonews.com/article/86280/trek-volkswagen-calls-it-quits

Feeling good

2008-12-30T16:23:00.003-06:00

This is where I'm spending my first 180 miles. 1 month = 180 miles run. So far so good. Collegiate road starts Feb. 28th @ Murry State. Tenative schedule came out today. Will this be the first year that I actually train. We'll see. I have to give Matter some competition on the team.

The end & The beginning

2008-12-22T16:54:00.003-06:00

Finally, the semester is done. I had my last two exams today. Now I get over a month of vacation. To bad we don't live in a warmer climate. December 28th starts my secret training program. I'm going back to my roots. If I told you it wouldn't be secret. I'm still waiting to see what the collegiate road season looks like. The schedule still isn't out. Hopefully UW will have new jerseys by the road season. I'm still working on the details. Does anyone have any suggestions on disc brakes? I'm looking for some good input. Have a great Christmas !!!!!

New American MTB Series for 2009

2008-12-07T13:46:00.002-06:00

Whats up with this. Nobody could step up to the plate in the midwest to have a race closer. East Coast/West Coast

http://www.velonews.com/article/85659/new-american-mtb-series-for-2009

Winter Riding

2008-12-04T15:18:00.005-06:00

I rode my bike to school today and I have to say I actually enjoyed it. I haven't really had any motivation to ride lately but after riding today I think I found some motivation. School is almost done. One week to go and then exams. After that its over a month off. With this new found motivation to workout I think I'll start doing some skate skiing & maybe some more winter riding.

Busy Times

2008-11-18T15:30:00.004-06:00

With the biking season over I've been really busy with school. For the last semester I've been doing a work study in one of the local elementary schools for my teaching degree. On weekends I've gotten out to do some bow hunting with no luck. Up next is gun hunting season. This Saturday is opening day. Hopefully I'll get lucky enough to shoot a deer like the one I shot last year. I've been selling a few parts from my Trek Fuel 9.9 and looking to upgrade a few things. One thing I'm looking for is some good disc brakes. If anyone can hook me up with some quality disc brake let me know.

Collegiate Nationals Banner Elk, NC 13th

2008-10-27T18:01:00.002-05:00

More to come later

Sheboygan

2008-10-14T16:14:00.003-05:00

We'll make this quick. I had a good start and hit the woods in the lead group of 12. For the first 3 laps I rode in 10th & 11th. Lap 4 I started to blow up. I felt sick to my stomach for all of lap 4 and lost 4 spots. Lap 5 I just couldn't get myself to go anywhere. I ended up losing 7 more spots. I just couldn't react to people coming from behind me. I ended up rolling in the finish 22nd. Not the way I wanted to end the WORS series but if your body doesn't respond then theres not much you can do. Up next for me is Collegiate Nationals in Banner Elk NC. Lets hope that goes better.

Rough Weekend

2008-09-29T13:18:00.004-05:00

Man its been a rough couple weeks. School, Soccer and biking has had me going. I've had a right & left pulled quad, Left pulled hamstring, pulled muscle by my right shin and a twisted ankle. Thursday I played a home soccer game and could barely walk after. I even added a left black eye to my list from a ball that blasted me in the face. After skipping the Lindsay Wilson Collegiate race a weeks ago to try to recover I headed to the University of Michigan. I got there about 7 pm on Friday and checked into my hotel. Woke up Saturday and everything still was killing me. 1pm and we were off for the 28 mile race. I had an ok start but my legs were just to tore up to really push the pace. Th field was pretty big. There were over 20 people in the A's race. Thats pretty good for collegiate race. I was sitting 5th into the second lap with two guys not far back. One guy caught me and rode my wheel for awhile. Then he asked if I wanted him to take a pull and I let him by. He pushed the pace and I just couldn't hang on. about 2 miles into lap 3 of 3 the next guy caught up to me. I let him by and was able to ride his wheel. My legs were killing me. I rode his wheel till the end. I new he was hurting and didn't take advantage of it on the last climb. Stupid mistake. We hit the last stretch to the finish and I put one good attack in and he put me into the tall grass. So we rolled in with the same time. I ended up 7th. Its was disappointing but with the conditions I guess that wasn't to bad. I then jumped into the car and headed back to Sheboygan. Got home about 10:30pm and went to bed. The legs were sore from the muscle pulls and full of lactic acid from racing then sitting in the car for 8 hours. Woke up drove to the WORS race #11 and had a bad feeling when warming up. About a mile into the race I new I was going no where and just suffered off the back. My great disc brake were rubbing the whole time again. I think I am done with disc brakes. I think the remainder of the season is going to be on the wifes bike that has V-brakes. Its hard enough racing with tired legs then add crappy brakes and they become very tired legs.

Michigan State- 1st Overall

2008-09-14T10:41:00.003-05:00

-The Bridge To Canada-

I didn't get into Chequamegon this year so I headed to the Michigan State University Collegiate race. It rained the whole drive there and it stayed raining all the way till I got home. The race was Saturday at 1:30pm. It was pouring rain and it was going to be a mud fest. We went off and I slipped my pedal on the start line. I was 5th going into the first single track. Not the way to start in these conditions. About 2 miles in I made my way to the front. At that time it was no looking back. With the pouring rain the course was like a river. There were even two actual river crossings. The first one was up to my knees at one point. Anyway I kept riding at an even pace and in the few open sections I hammered pretty hard. When I took the lead 2 miles in I was never challenged for the rest of the race. You had to have good handling skills for this one. It was a fun race. My rear disc brake was rubbing so bad for the last two laps. When I finished I spun the wheel and it would stop immediately. I took my pads out and one was completely gone and started to wear into the metal of the pad. So much for those brand new pads. I'm really starting to hate disc brakes. So I was pretty happy to get my first collegiate win and redeem myself from the DNF of the first collegiate race in Missouri.

Rhinelander

2008-09-08T20:41:00.003-05:00

Man I felt like I was going nowhere on that first 3/4 of a lap. I definitely didn't warm up enough. Finally towards the end of the first lap I started to come around.

I guess I was 18th going into lap 2 with being about a minute down from the next position. I rode hard on the road but not enough to kill myself. When I hit the single track I road as hard as I could taking every risk I could to make up time on the guys ahead of me. Every person I came up on I rode even harder so when I passed them they wouldn't be able to hang on. It worked. For at least the last

3 miles Scott KJ was riding about 10 seconds ahead of me and I just couldn't close the gap. We came around towards the lap/finish and Don was yelling go to the finish. I was like really ?? I stood up and hammered in for 13th. I was pretty happy they cut the race a lap short. I was starting to feeling good and it would have been interesting to see how many more positions I could have made up but I'll take 13th this time around. No Chequamegon for me this year I didn't get in. I'll be heading to Michigan State University to redeem myself on the collegiate scene. Should be interesting if Lance comes back to the road next year. I think he's doing it to save the sport after all the idiot dopers this year.

University Of Missouri Race

2008-09-01T11:44:00.003-05:00

18 hours of driving, 1133 miles, no results. Well Collegiate race number one was a big disappointment. The XC Race went off at 12:30 pm Saturday with sunny conditions & 84 Degrees. I didn't get to preride so I went off the start line and let others do the work. The body was not feeling to great on the bike. I settled into 3rd place and planned to just hold on to it for the race. On the 3rd lap of 5 I got a flat front tire. No big deal right. I jump off and I have a new tube in within a minute. Nobody has come past yet. I go to fill the tire with my CO2 and my CO2 nozzle explodes into about 5 pieces. What the @#!% !!! I was pretty pissed. About 2 miles from start/finish I had no option but to DNF. I never DNF no matter what but by the time I got back to the start/finish people were already going on there final lap.

Word is there were so many flats for riders it was ridiculous. Fellow Gear Grinder

teammate Sara Lukas also fell victim to the flat tire in the women's race after having a 30 second lead on the other riders. I told her it was her fault and she jinxed me. I packed up my bike quick and thought I would head over to St Louis to do a road race. I stopped at a hotel to use there wireless connection to check what my start time would be. Unfortunately my race started at 2:30 and it already was 2:45 so the trip was pretty much worthless. I headed home instead of staying till Sunday for the Short Track. I guess I'll have to travel to almost all the other Collegiate races now so I can guarantee a nationals bid. Up next Rhinelander.

Collegiate Racing Time

2008-08-28T20:59:00.004-05:00

This was post Collegiate National Championships XC Race Banner Elk, NC

No WORS race this weekend means I'll be heading down to the University of Missouri for the Midwest Conference Opener. XC on Saturday and ST on Sunday.

School officially starts on Sept. 2nd. Hopefully someone will join the team that wants to race mountain bikes. It gets kind of old when you have to travel alone to all these races. Fellow Gear Grinder teammate Sarah Lukas will also be there so at least there will be familiar faces.

Border Battle & Vacation

2008-08-25T20:32:00.006-05:00

The race went better than I thought. After Sunburst I didn't touch a bike for a week and a half. The week leading up to the race Michelle & I were in Trego camping. I went on my first training ride on Wednesday the 20th for a whole hour. The second was on Thursday for another whole hour. 2 hours of training in 2 weeks. I really didn't think it would be to good. I had a good start and rode the lead train till the first open field on the second lap. I just didn't have the get up and go in the open sections. I fell off the lead group. I was in no mans land for awhile. Dallas & Landon came up towards the end of lap 3. I rode the wheel of Dallas till I crashed just before we came out to go into lap 4. Landon & I hammered lap 4 and bridged up to Dallas. When we got up to him he was riding a flat into the Lap/Finish field. To bad!!! Landon eventually got away from me as we hit more lap traffic. Going into the the last switch back climb I saw Scott KJ coming. I figured I could hold him off. That was till I hit lap traffic on the climb and had to dismount. I let him go ahead in the short open section and sat in for some recovery time. I was hoping to get a good jump on him coming out into the short finish shoot. He jumped a split second before me and I couldn't get past him. He rode it very smart. I came across 14th overall. I was ok with that after only 2 hours of training.

My home for the week was our pop up camper.
Many hours were spent on the river in our canoe fishing. Also many hours sitting in a tube floating down the river drinking beer.
This was the first time I have been on the river and actually saw deer drinking.
You think those Porto's at the races are bad. These are what are at the rest spots on the river. No walls !!!!

I thought the Indians had it rough back in the day but I looked inside and ..........
Futons, Electricity and a Fan that doesn't look so bad.
Just down the river about 200 yards I spent many hours. Why you ask. Well let me tell you. There was a down tree in the river and below this tree is where a big Musky lives. I know this because my first encounter was when I had one of my fishing lines out with a worm and bobber. I was tring to catch bass. Well I caught a bluegill and as I reeled it in I then had a musky who decided he was hungry ans swallowed my bluegill along with the hook. About 2 minutes later he snapped my line. The next day I set out to the tree and was casting every lure I had at this Musky and he didn't even take a look. While I was doing this I had my other pole out with a worm and bobber. I caught another bluegill and again as I reeled it in the Musky decided again to have lunch on my account. This time I fought him for about 5 minutes till he bent my hook straight and got off. Now I was pissed. The next day I went out with my best pole, the best line you can buy along with an 18" steel leader, Live fish as bait and a big strong treble hook. As soon as I dropped that live bait in the water he hit it again. This time I had him good and no way is he going anywhere. He was fighting and launching out of the water as I laughed and thought I got you now you @#%!#@. I fought him for about fifteen minutes till I had him tired out and about 3 feet from the boat. Now my problem was to get myself to the other side of the tree so I could attempt to hold him steady and scoop him up in the net. Just as I leaned over the edge of the boat and was going yo net him he let out one more big thrash and all of the sudden my line went limp. I let out many choice words very loud into nature. I reeled in my line and he bent the clip straight on my steel leader and pulled the hook right off. So needless to say I had the same Musky 3 different times and he got the best of me every time.

I did go out a 4th time but he was not around to eat that day probably because he had a big treble hook stuck in his mouth. One crazy thing did happen the the 4th time out though. A Black Bear came out on the river only 20 yards from me in my canoe. He just sat there for almost 15 minutes staring at me waiting for me to leave but I wasn't going anywhere because he was in the direction I had to go. I didn't have the camera but I had my cell phone camera and snapped a pic of the bear. I just have to get the software so I can download it from my phone.

Sunburst

2008-08-11T17:09:00.005-05:00

8th

I ended up skipping O2S this year because my legs felt terrible on Thursday when I was out riding. I headed out to Sunburst to ride around the bumpy mowed grass trails. I had a good start sitting in the top 5 going into the first climb. My legs felt terrible the first 2 laps. I rode in 7th place from the second lap through the fifth lap. I was out by myself the whole time. There was a group chasing behind me the whole time but I held them off. My only downfall was getting caught by one person in the last mile of the course. He passed me at about the best time possible. I had a moment that I just was struggling but recovered pretty quick. Not quick enough to make up the ground. I was disappointed in losing the spot but satisfied with my 8th overall finish when I really wasn't feeling to good riding. Congrats to TJ for his first WORS Win and pulling the double this past weekend.

What do I do

2008-08-06T20:49:00.003-05:00

What do I do this weekend?? Should I go do O2S and come back to do Sunburst. Do I have enough in my legs yet for a double and all that driving. Do I park and sleep in my car for this one to save money. This will be a last minute decision.

I got out only once last week and once this week so far to ride. I did have an awesome training ride yesterday though. Decisions.......

Alterra

2008-07-28T22:10:00.004-05:00

I actually had a decent race. I guess it must have been that I actually had time to train 2 times last week. Work has been taking up all my time. I think I could have been an easy top 10 if at the start I didn't drop my chain. I had to be pretty close to last by the top of the hill at the start. Good thing I know the course so I was able to make up alot in the singletrack and the climbs. The course turned out to be pretty good. I think I actually like it better than the last couple years courses. I had myself riding at the 10 spot on the last lap but a costly crash and lap traffic let Ronsta make up ground and he passed me by the top of the hill. Landon jumped on his wheel and they had a small gap on me that I just couldn't close on the last part of the course. I rolled in for 12th overall.

Thanks Goat for the pics !!

I lost my legs

2008-07-07T21:21:00.002-05:00

I think I may have gotten the breathing problems under control. The Eau Claire race was going ok for the most part. I had a bad start but rode myself back to Benders group of about 6 guys by the second lap. We were just out of the top 10. Lap three I started to lose the power in my legs. Then about 2/3rds through the 3rd lap I blew up big time. From there it took awhile for the next person to catch me. The last lap I spent going backwards. I jumped on a few peoples wheels but just couldn't hang on. Next up Alterra. If the breathing stays right I think a little training should get me back on track. We'll see what happens.

The Cup

2008-06-16T17:11:00.005-05:00

Thursday Michelle & I headed up to Devils Lake State Park to camp for 4 days. Unfortunately we hit the monsoon on the way there. As the storm was at its worst we were heading through the Portage area every street we drove on was covered in water. Cars were covered up to their roof with water and people were in sand bag mode. It was crazy. I should have been pulling a boat instead of our pop up camper. I think we were probably one of the last cars allowed to go through that area before it was completely shut down. We eventually got to Baraboo and it was flooded. We couldn't get out of downtown Baraboo when we arrived. I have been going to Devils lake for 32 years and I know every way to get to the park and I tried them all but the city was surrounded by flood water. We sat around by this for about 1-1/2 hours till it went down to the depth of a foot and they finally let us go through.

We ended up getting into the park around 6:30 pm. This is what the park looked like when we got there.

We were able to set up camp for the night then the next morning everyone had to leave the park because it was going to have to close for at least a week due to conditions. We headed towards the Dells to Mirror Lake State park and were able to get a site there for the rest of the weekend.

The Race: We left early Saturday morning for the race because of all the road closings in the Dells area. My legs weren't feeling the greatest going into the race but I was going to give it a shot. On my warm up my bike felt really slow. My rear brake squeaked a few times so I got off and reset the wheel. It didn't squeak anymore but it felt slow still. Race time was near so I went to the line. Then it was GOOOOO!!! I went but it felt like I was riding with my rear brake on. The race just got worse lap after lap. Almost 2-1/2 hours later I crossed the line. When I got back to the car I checked my rear wheel and it would turn for about an inch and stop. I spun it really hard and it stopped immediately. So I guess I was right about riding the race the whole time with the brakes on. I'm pretty close to giving up on disc brakes. I've had nothing but problems with them rubbing all the time. I might just show up at the next race with Michelle's bike built up for me. This has been a tough year so far. I need to get things rolling right.

FLAT

2008-06-03T09:53:00.004-05:00

Race was going pretty good till the about 3 miles into the last lap I got my flat. I rode the flat for the next 5 miles to finish while I was passed by 33 elite riders. The breathing was ok in the race but still having some problems. Everyone in the Geargrinder car but one was hit by the flat tire issue. Next up Mt Morris. Had another breathing test today at the hospital. Methacholine Challenge Test. Now its the waiting game till the doctor calls me with any results. Congrats to all of you that made it through the race with full tires. Time to get some training in.

Still No News

2008-05-27T22:04:00.002-05:00

Well I had a pulmonary function test last Thursday and it didn't tell me to much. One thing it did say I guess is I breath in to much air into my lungs. I think that's what they said. I guess I will be going to take another pulmonary function test that will induce an asthma attack. That will be next Tuesday morning. That sounds a little freaky to me. Looks like I'll have to suffer through another race in Wausau this weekend. We'll see what happens.

Lake Geneva

2008-05-21T11:08:00.003-05:00

Lake Geneva went a little better but I still can't breath right. I was having to take baby breaths the whole race and believe me its not easy racing that way. I was riding right on the tail end of the top 10 the whole race till the last lap. The lack of being able to take a deep breath was staring to take its toll. I ended up losing I think 4 spots early on in the last lap then held my 16th place till the end. Hope this breathing stuff gets fixed soon. More tests on Thursday.

Fort Collins Colorado

2008-05-13T21:58:00.002-05:00

Spent 3 days in Fort Collins Colorado by Colorado State University. That is a great city and a outstanding campus. Definitely somewhere to visit if your near there. I was there to support Josh Nagode at Collegiate Road Nationals. I got 2 rides in out there on the road bike. They were only 2 hours each but it was awesome.

50+ mph down the mountains is pretty damn scary. Every turn your just waiting to slam a guard rail. Next time I go there I think I will bring another cassette that has some easier gears. The hills aren't fun on a 11-23. OUCH !!! Put that with my breathing problems and it was pretty painful at times but rewarding. I have my doctors appointment Thursday so hopefully they can figure out what my problem is before the weekends race.

Disappointing

2008-05-05T19:24:00.002-05:00

My title says it all. I've never had a good race at Iola but I was feeling like I could have a good race this year. My body felt good racing and even after the race It felt fine. Usually after a race I feel like crap for awhile but not this time. I had a pretty good start but it just kept going down hill each lap. I just can't breath during a race anymore. I had problems last year and It seems the problem is still here. Its not allergies. I have been told I have athletic induced asthma but every athlete is told that now a day's. It's definitely more than that. I can wake up and do a few twists to crack my back and I can hear a loud wheeze from my chest and this is anytime of the year. That is not normal. Now I have to find a good doctor in sheboygan to go to. This needs to be fixed somehow and fast. We'll see what happens. Until then it will be time on the bike. I'm off to Fort Collin's Colorado for 3 day's this weekend to support Josh Nagode at Collegiate Road Nationals. I just have to decide if I take the road bike or the Mountain bike.

2008-04-27T15:49:00.002-05:00

School and weather had me off the bike for 3 days. Not exactly what I would have wanted but that's the way life is sometimes. Saturday night I was tring to decide if I wanted to do a WCA crit at Evergreen. I woke up Sunday & figured I'd go for it.

I headed over about 10:30am and signed up for the Masters race. I've never done a masters race so I didn't know what to expect. What I did find out is that the older guys seem to have more power in their legs. The group pretty much stayed together the whole 40 min. With 2 laps to go one guy attacked without alot of us noticing till it was to late. Nobody wanted to chase. I sat in for the 2nd to last lap and after heading into the last lap I went to the front and spun at an even pace. I took a glance back and it seemed nobody really wanted to hit it yet. With about 3/4 of the lap to go I went for it. I've never done that before but I figured if it holds I'll be good to go. I got a pretty good gap. I was just about to head into the final climb to the finish and I was red lined. All of the sudden out of nowhere the pack blasted past me and I was toast. I thought I was going to make it but obviously not. It was pretty fun going for it and I by no means am a road racer. Nor did I have anything to lose. It was a good training ride. Maybe next time it will stick. One week to Iola and the word on the street is everyone is rocking the 29er.

First race of the year

2008-04-20T19:15:00.003-05:00

(This is me early on when I was dropped and thinking what am I doing here)

(It was a lonely place)

All week I was thinking about doing the Collegiate Regional Road Race in Greenbush and at the last minute I said what the heck. I figured it would kind of tell me how my fitness is coming along. It was going to be a 50 mile road race through the kettle moraine roads. 5 laps 10 miles each. I ended up getting registered about 20 minutes before go time. I rolled to the line with I think the heaviest bike in the race. Oh yeah I think I also was the oldest. We rolled out about 11:47 am. Lap 2 I found myself off the back about 200 yards. My legs just wouldn't loosen up.

I kept telling myself just put your head down and keep digging in. I dropped down into my bars and dug deep. I would watch the peleton attack when they crested every climb. So at the bottom of every climb I would attack myself. My thinking was that I could make up the most ground on the climbs and just keep pace on the flats and down hills. About 6 miles later I finally caught back on. I was pretty damn proud of myself that I found the power to bridge the huge gap alone. Two guys were off the front of our race and then there was the peleton where I was. I ended up trying to compete in the sprint to the finish but with getting in a bad position and the lack of sprinting power I just rolled through the finish. All in all I'm happy I did the race and got a chance to see where I am with my fitness.

Gear Grinder Training Camp 08'

2008-04-14T15:40:00.002-05:00

Well 2008 training camp is in the books. Picked up a team car and headed down to Nashville, IN. Tony & Brenda rode along to camp with me. Friday when we got there it was about 70 degree's and 3o MPH winds. We all suited up for a ride. About 6 Miles out we ran into a flooded road so we spun it in search of a new route. At this time we split into two groups. It was great to ride in just short and a jersey.
I wish my legs would have came along with me. I'm still suffering with my quads being super tight. Every time I put pressure on them it feels like I just did a 10 min interval at 900 watts. I suffered through the ride and hoped for better legs for Saturday. Saturday was 40 degree's and over cast with 20-30 mph winds. We headed out for 4 hours 20 min into the wind tunnel. Little guy's and wind just don't mix. I pretty much sat in the whole time. My legs still were crap. I stopped doing the squats about a week ago in hopes my legs would recover for camp but it looks like it will be more recovery in my future. Nothing but easy recovery type rides for this week. Sunday at camp we headed home early. It was about 33 degrees and raining which meant no riding. I was fine with that. I didn't want to go home and end up sick from riding a easy recovery ride in the cold and rain. All in all it was a good weekend. Sorry no pic's. I had to much other crap in my pockets for the rides, especially Saturday's.

Not much going on

2008-04-07T21:40:00.002-05:00

Gear Grinder Training Camp 2008 is coming this weekend. Hopefully I can come home from it and not get sick. Every year it seams I get a bad head cold when I come back. I attempted to ride to Milwaukee last weekend but ended up stopping in Mequon. No Legs on that ride. Michelle met up with me in Mequon at Panera Bread for dinner there on her way down with the car. My legs have felt like total crap lately. I've been doing squats for the last month and they have just trashed my quads. So after how they felt last weekend I'm doing away with the squats. We'll see if they respond good at training camp. It couldn't get much worse with how they felt Friday. Congrats to Mikey for ripping up the Pro XC race in AZ.

Spring Please

2008-03-23T14:30:00.002-05:00

Got home yesterday and I have to say the weather is pretty disappointing. Its not as bad as Milwaukee but I was hoping for grass to be showing and people to be working in there yards getting ready for spring. Doesn't look like that will be happening this week. Back to reality tomorrow. School and work will be on the schedule. Here are some more pics.

Three weeks till Gear Grinder training camp.

The Real Deal

2008-03-21T19:17:00.002-05:00

Close to three hours of climbing in a four hour 20 min ride. Insane down hills. We were tearing those trails up. Here are some pics.

Day One

2008-03-14T19:25:00.002-05:00

Left Thursday 8pm arrived about 10am Friday. Zero sleep for me. Brian & I got here and the radar showed rain so we suited up and headed out to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a 2 hour ride. We had one really good climb that lasted for 12 miles. That was sweet. Started to feel some drops and spun it around and flew down the road at 40+. When we got back we got ready to hit the local Brew Pub for some beers and burgers. Asheville looks just like Madison. It has the same vibe going on. Well time to chill by the fire and get ready for day two.

Never ending winter & Training Take 2

2008-02-27T21:10:00.004-06:00

This winter is never ending. It must just be that it started so early with the snow right away in

December and has been non stop since. I have gotten some CC sking in this winter though. Headed out to Greenbush last Saturday with Matter & Tristan. This is my second year skate sking and I can go pretty good but Tristan and Matter definately have the skills down. I found myself off the back about 50 yards many times. Things got even faster when we ran into the Schwallers. Tony was killing it off the front. I did my own thing. 2 hours of good sking and feeling the pain. This gave me some motivation to get riding consistantly. Brian Schwaller & I decided were ready to get out of this crap weather and head south. Mid march were off on a road trip to bike all over. Were packing the road bikes and the Mt. bikes for about eights days of riding which may include Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolina's. It should be pretty awesome just riding a bunch of places instead of being stuck in one spot. A few weeks after I get back it will be Geargrinder training camp near Bloomington ,IN. Hopefully this will all lead to better results this season. This means its all computrainer hours for the next 2 weeks. More snow on the way. Someone make it stop !!!!!

Cool Pics from Switzerland

2008-02-22T21:15:00.004-06:00

Check out these cool pics from Versoix, Switzerland.

I hope these people have a good ice scraper.

Mini Vacation

2008-02-18T20:26:00.005-06:00

I brought Michelle down to Schaumburg for a night for her Valentines gift this last weekend. I made the plans in advanced with a night at the Country Inn & Suites and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We spent about 3 hours at the Big Blue Box Shopping.

I felt like I should have to have my passport while down in Illinois. I think 90% of the people spoke a language other than english. After the 3 hour tour we headed to the hotel to check in. The room was pretty nice. It's weird having a flat screen LCD Tv on the wall in a hotel room.

You even got a free glass of Wine or Beer in the breakfast area from 5:30 pm-7 pm. Unfortunatly we couldn't take advantage of that because of our dinner reservations. So I made up for it with 2 beers at dinner. It was a nice change. This winter has been way to long. Still trying to figure out how to get out of town for some training in warmer weather. UW training camp is a no go. Maybe michelle will feel sorry for me and let me go somewhere during spring break to train. Until then it will be school work everyday.

Motivation

2008-02-11T19:07:00.000-06:00

This weather has me searching for some motivation. Its hard enough to ride the trainer let alone have the weather just mess with your mind. I'm trying to dig deep to make it through this one. The weather looks to be getting better in the days to come but I just don't feel its safe to ride the roads around here with the current conditions out there. I think I'll hit the cross country ski trails as much as possible this week to find some renewed motivation. A trip to a warmer climate for a bit may have to be worked out. Maybe a UW training camp is in order. We'll see what happens.

Looks like the ground hog was right

2008-02-07T16:35:00.000-06:00

This is during the storm early in the day.

That is our 6 foot fence on the left. I now have my own sledding hill. 16" later

Let the games begin

2008-01-30T18:09:00.001-06:00

The day has come when I must try to start a training plan. Yesterday was the first day of training on the bike. Unforunately it had to be on the trainer. Bring on the spring temps. This cold stuff sucks.

The New Bike Has Arrived

2008-01-24T16:09:00.000-06:00

Now I have the fun task of building it back up.

This is funny

2008-01-17T22:41:00.000-06:00

This is a TV

2008-01-07T22:33:00.001-06:00

Now this is a TV !!! 150" of plasma delight. 11 feet by 6 feet. Price is unknown?
Maybe Santa will bring me this next Christmas.

Why do I live here

2008-01-04T16:01:00.000-06:00

During this time of year I question myself why I still live here in Wisconsin. I do love the seasonal changes but I could do without the freezing cold weather. The temps have risen in the last day or two but I would love to live somewhere that the average cool temp only gets into the 50's. I can only dream of moving to a warmer climate though. Maybe when I can retire I'll get out of here. Training has begun. Its pretty low key right now. I hate riding the trainer everyday so I have opted to get back to what I grew up doing. I was a runner from a very young age. I ran on my treadmill today and it was so much more enjoyable then sitting on the bike trainer.
This will be where I'll be when I can't make it to the fitness center. The Sheboygan high schools have awesome fitness centers that the community can use for free. I was going through my cycling cabinet and came across this weight gainer I tried one time to obviously gain weight ( It didn't help me gain weight). You would think an extra 2200 calories a day would help a little but I didn't gain a pound. Oh Well. We'll see if some lifting this winter will help me get to 125.

2008

2008-01-01T19:57:00.000-06:00

January 1st, 2008. Here we go again. Another year and a year that will hopefully be full of successes. Last night was low key with dinner out and a TV marathon. We could have gone to a party in Madison but opted out due to no place to put the dogs. I actually was happy we just stayed home. I woke up about 9am and headed over to lakeview park for the 2nd annual retro ride at 12:30pm. There were about nine of us I think. First stop was the beach for the polar bear festivities. Those people are crazy. I was cold just standing there watching with all my layers on. After about a half hour of watching the crazies we headed north down the lakeshore. Then over to the Quarry trails. After riding through all that snow nobody was commenting that they were cold anymore. After reaching the parking lot by the quarry we headed south back to the vehicles. All in all I think we did about 14 miles total. It was nice to ride after a 2 month break.

Plans in the making

2007-12-28T14:52:00.000-06:00

I've been off the bike for 2 months. Now I'm getting the itch to start getting back into cycling shape. I've been working at one of our high schools fitness centers for awhile now and I'm impressed with the dedication of many of the people that come in so early in the morning day after day. Now its time to get my lazy butt going. I'm off school for a month now so this would be a great time to get myself going on a plan. My one goal is to gain about 10 pounds. Thats 10 pounds of muscle. I'm weighing in a hefty 116 pounds as of today. My goal is to be 125-130 by race season. A lifting plan is in the works. Now I'm just in need of a good cycling workout plan. PCW is gone and is now GearGrinder. That means a new team, a new contract,a fresh start and some different sponsorships. This upcoming season will bring many new incentives for me that only will be rewarded by getting results. This means no more lack luster training. I'm also looking to go somewhere to train during my spring break. We'll see what I can work out. Hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year .

Things Are Changing

2007-12-05T21:49:00.000-06:00

Christmas Tree

2007-11-29T11:33:00.001-06:00

It took me all night but I got my tree up. Not really this isn't my house. I got this pic sent to me. I thought it was pretty funny. Now that I think about it, this could be Mikey's Tree.

Global Warming

2007-11-27T08:41:00.000-06:00

Just thought you all might like to know what's really causing the problem...

Who's your DADDY !!!!

2007-11-19T17:43:00.000-06:00

This is my nephew posing with my buck. He came along deer hunting for the first time to see what is all involved.

I finally bagged the big one. 6:45 am Sunday this 8 Point Buck came running through full speed. I took a shot while it was running on my left from about 110 yards, didn't know if I hit it. Reloaded another shell into the chamber as it now was running in front of me at about 60 yards. Of course this deer was running through the thickest crap. I got my second shot off as it was in full stride. 30 seconds later I heard it go down in the thick. I new it was a buck but I didn't know how big because it all happened so fast. I sat for about 20 more minutes then climbed out of my stand to go search for it. I headed into the direction I last heard it go down & all of the sudden I looked to my left and about 20 yards away there lay this big monster. I couldn't believe it was an 8 pointer at 200+ pounds. The thing I am most proud of is that I hunt the real way. I scout out my spot by looking for signs of deer. Then place my stand. This is public land. No bait pile, no camera taking pictures of all the deer coming through. This buck was gotten the real way. That is something to be proud of. Anyone can sit on a bait pile and get a deer but to do it by knowledge of your surroundings is the way to go.

I'm back

2007-11-08T20:32:00.000-06:00

Haven't updated in awhile. I've been pretty busy. Then My modem died so I had no internet for a few days. Its all good now.2007 Collegiate Nationals in Banner Elk North Carolina went pretty good. It had to be one of the hardest races I have ever done. They had 6"-8" of rain in the preceding 4 day's to the race.
This wasn't the same course as the Norba Nationals Race. I flew into Charlotte
the 24th. Got my rental Truck.

Yep this is what they gave me. I was supposed to get an economy car but they new I was there for the race and new it was really wet so they gave me this truck for the same price. It was definitely nice to have with the muddy conditions. Anyway I drove the 2 hours north. Settled into my room on the top of Sugar Mountain. Most of the time this was my view because of the rainy weather. On top of the mountain was always foggy.
This was the one minute the fog left.

Thursday the 25th I went over to the course to pre-ride. The course was a complete mess. The mud was like 6" deep and the course was about 50% ridable. If this course was dry it would have been really sweet & fast. 5 Mile laps that when dry supposedly take around 20 minutes ended up taking around 40 minutes. I'm glad I pre-rode. At least I knew what to expect. It was an 8am start Friday morning. It didn't even get light out till 7:45am. I got in an ok warm up & headed to the line. The D-1 schools went off first. Then we (D-2) went off 7 minutes later. I got a call up so I was in a pretty good spot on the line. The gun went off & straight through the lake size puddles we went. Everyone was all over the place as we hit the mud. I was sitting somewhere in the top 20 when we hit the single track about a mile in. It was a constant on & off the bike with the terrible conditions. I worked my way up through the field pretty good. Coming through after the first lap I think I was 15th. The second lap we started hitting alot of the D-1 riders. It was pretty easy to get past them though because we were running most of the time with our bikes. Going into the last lap I was already through about 80% of the D-1 riders. They started pulling the D-1 guys one lap early. I rolled through with one lap to go with a bunch of D-1 guys & the race director had me stop with them. I kept telling him I was D-2 & had to keep going. I told him like 5 times & he kept telling me to stay there. About 2-3 minutes went by & 2 more D-2 guys came blazing through. That finally made the guy realize he made a mistake by pulling me. So I jumped back on my bike & caught the guys that just came through right away. I was so mad & was running on pure adrenalin. The huge gap I had was now gone. The possibility of finishing in a better spot was now gone. I hammered that last lap. About 100 yards before the finish I was passed by the two guys. I rolled through & went straight to the trailer & put in a protest for them holding me with the D-1 guys. They new they screwed up & gave me those 2 spots back & adjusted my time to what it would have been before they stopped me. I ended up finishing 11th overall but I can only wonder what I could have finished had they not made me stop for so long. With conditions so bad I know I ran about 10 miles of the course & rode the other 10 miles.

I have to say I don't think I have ever been so sore in my life after a race. I ended up being sore for the next 4 days. Running in Mountain Bike shoes 10 miles isn't fun. Here are some more pics.

Thanks to UW-Sheboygan for there support & financial backing in all my collegiate races this year!!!!

Next stop Banner Elk, North Carolina Collegiate Nationals

2007-10-23T08:56:00.000-05:00

Next stop is Collegiate Nationals. If the course is the same as the Norba Nationals Mikey says it will be tough in the rain. It has a crazy down hill section. Flying out Wednesday morning. Race on Friday 8am. Forcast looks like crap. Its been raining everyday there since Sunday. Its supposed to rain every day till this Saturday. Looks like it will be a mud fest.

Today: Showers this morning then thundershowers developing during the afternoon hours. High 67F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.

Tonight: Showers with a possible thunderstorm early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 58F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Rainfall around a half an inch.

Tomorrow: Rain showers in the morning then thundershowers in the afternoon. High 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
Tomorrow night: Showers with a possible thunderstorm in the evening, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 51F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Thursday: Chance of showers. Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the low 50s.

Friday: Chance of showers. Highs in the upper 50s and lows in the low 50s.

Saturday: Partly cloudy. Highs in the low 60s and lows in the low 40s.

Kentucky: Regionals

2007-10-16T11:42:00.001-05:00

Friday I spent pretty much of the day driving to Columbia, Kentucky. I had an I-Pass so the tolls through Illinois were a breeze. Its amazing how much time you can save not having to stop & pay. I got down to Kentucky & checked into my hotel at about 8:30pm. Saturday morning I woke at about 8:30am & other riders staying in the hotel were getting ready for the short track races & slalom race. I decided to pass on racing the short track race seeing it started at 9am & I just woke up at 8:30. I was walking to get breakfast & I looked at the gas station by my hotel & the General Lee pulled in.

You know your in the south when the General Lee is cruising around. I was waiting for a big white caddy convertible to cruise in with Boss Hog & Cooter. As I was waiting to get a picture Sarah Lukas was driving by to go race the short track. We talked for a bit & I headed to eat breakfast. After I headed over to the race down the street to watch the Woman's A race & to cheer on Sarah.

This is Sarah in the battle for 2nd. She dropped the hammer on the competition on the final climb to hold that 2nd overall finish in the short track.

After her race I headed to the local Walmart quick to pick up some stuff. Oh man that was an experience. The stereotype of Kentucky people that most people have was in full effect at that place. WOW !!!! is all I have to say. There were even two guys in suits walking around the parking lot trying to brainwash people with the religion talk. After this interesting experience I headed to the cross country course about 20 min away to ride a lap. Unfortunately the start wasn't marked so I ended up riding the lap backwards. Oh well I still got to see how the conditions were. It was a good thing I went there because a rear tire change was defiantly needed for race day.The course was pretty intense. The weather the whole weekend was awesome. Sun & upper 70's -80 degrees. When I got back to the hotel & I went to the front desk to ask if there were any nice restaurants around besides fast food. Her suggestion was some billy bob redneck diner. I took that as a No! I was in the land of Fast food.

The list of places to eat: McDonald's, Sonic, Long John Silver, Wendy's, Taco Bell, & thank god for Pizza Hut where I did end up getting some pasta.

Race day Sunday morning 9am start. I get a good spot on the line of 35 riders in the A's race. I got off the line good & hit the trail in about 5th. A couple people got past me but I ended up getting the spots back pretty fast. Dallas & I hooked up again to ride with each other. We worked together & were riding in the top 5 the whole race. On the last lap we found out we were in 2nd & 3rd. With 2 more guys in tow. About a mile from the finish there was a very long rooty climb. I slipped up on a root. This little slip allowed Dallas & a Michigan University guy get a small gap on me. I dropped the other rider behind me & tried to close on Dallas & the Michigan guy but they were battling pretty hard & ended up finishing about 10 seconds ahead of me. So I ended up 4th overall. Its amazing how much one little slip can effect your finish. Now I just wait to hear if I qualify for Nationals in 2 weeks. The weather around here looks like it will be crap for training but I guess it could be worse.

Off to Kentucky

2007-10-11T21:09:00.001-05:00

Loaded up the PCW rig tonight to get ready to head to Kentucky after my morning math class. Its should be about a 9 hour drive. The race is down in Columbia, Kentucky. Home of Lindsey Wilson College. Its the Regional race for the MWCCC Conference. The weather looks like it should be in the 70's. Although I race at 9 am so it might be a little cooler for the race. Hopefully I get a better start than the last race. I've only ridden once this week. I've been trying to let my body recover from cramping bad after last weeks race. I rode the trainer at home for my ride because it was dark out before I could get outside. Man I hate the trainer. Even riding the trainer while watching TV is boring.
Well hopefully everything goes good this weekend & I have something positive to report when I get back.

Sheboygan Race

2007-10-09T17:00:00.001-05:00

I was watching the weather for this race for about 2 weeks. Hoping for dry warm weather. If it would have rained this course would have been so slippery.
When I saw Hot & Dry I was pretty happy. I love racing in hot weather. All the big guns were there to try to win the big cash. No worries though. The Elite field was pretty big compared to alot of the past races. Getting into the single track in a good spot was key. Unfortunately I got stuck behind a crash just inside the first single track. To make it worse this idiot in a A & F kit thinks he's going to get somewhere so he cuts about 3 of us off going in. This made the guy on the ground unable to get up right away. Nice move bone head. So we finally get going again & Mr A & F is in front not wanting anyone to go by. As he hits his breaks on every turn I am getting more & more pissed off. If you can't ride single track get the hell out of the way. A guy who knows him yells for him to move & let us by but dumb ass thinks he's going fast I guess so he keeps riding slow. Finally I got by him about a mile & a half into the race. Now it was catch up time. Myself & Chris Fisher form MN worked our way up one by one. Made contact with bender after the first lap. The 3 of us worked together & we caught Paul Hansen. Then there were 4. We rode 4 strong for a lap or so then Fisher fell off the pace. The 3 of us then caught Seth. Paul put in an attack on the gravel climb & got away. Later Bender got away also. Seth & I worked together on the last lap. He got into that single track just after we went under the bridge in front of a couple lapped riders. I didn't make it in front of them. I basically had to wait till the end of that section to get by the 3 guys. So finally I get out on my own. I hit the rooty climb in the back & I started cramping. I got to the equalizer for the last time & spun up it in pain. My muscles were cramping everywhere I could hardly bend my legs to pedal. I pushed on for the last 3/4th of a mile to cross the line 12th overall to make the podium. Man that race was really painful.

Michigan

2007-10-02T19:08:00.001-05:00

6 AM Friday morning I headed to the High Speed Ferry in Milwaukee to blast across to Michigan for my first Collegiate race. I'm so glad I didn't have to drive all the way around through Chicago. What was to be a 7+ hour drive turned into a 3 hour drive with taking the ferry. I walked up to the top while we were going across & I almost blew off the damn boat. Man is it windy up there.

About 2 hours later I was in Muskegon, MI. The Michigan side is so much better looking than our side. Everything is so sandy & clean looking. When you get there you go through a channel into a big lake called none other than Muskegon Lake. That's where the ferry docks. Only 2.5 hours more & I was in Waterford , MI.

I checked into my hotel & when I walked in there was this wall with sliding mirrored doors. I thought this is weird to have a big closet. I opened them & it was this. A big whirlpool tub. This exposed the bathroom right to the rest of the room. Man this could be a good party room.I suited up & headed over to the state park where the race was to do a little riding. The race was only a mile from the hotel. This was awesome.This meant no need to be rushed in the morning. I headed out into the super highway outside the hotel to find a place to eat. I swear there was every type of restaurant on that strip but an Italian one. I got frustrated driving around so I hit up dinner at Panera Bread. This would have to do for my carbo meal. Back at the hotel I was sitting around & got a craving for an ice cream. I walked over to the food store next door & opted for the Brian Matter pre race special.

Yep a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. A new flavor Banana Split. Oh it was good. Race day came. It was sunny & about 70 degrees. The race started at 1pm. I did a good warm up & headed over to the start line. I figured I would work together with Dallas Fowler. I slipped getting into my pedal when they said go & everyone blasted off the line. I was back about 10th spot. The only good thing was Dallas was there also so we worked our way past all the riders during the first lap. We caught what we thought was the lead rider going into the 2nd lap.Going into the last lap we found out that there were 2 more riders off the front. By this time they were out of reach. So we were 3rd & 4th. The laps were 9 miles & we did 3. I popped a little a quarter of the way through the last lap. Dallas rode off while I let myself recover. I had about a 30 sec gap on the 5th place guy. I was confident I could hold him off & roll in 4th. Well that came to a screeching halt with about 2 miles to go. I was hammering about 20 mph down this trail & suddenly there were 3 hikers right in the middle of the trail with no where to go. Two of them dove out of the way but the 3rd guy was run over by me. I flew over my bars superman style. After yelling a few words I gathered myself & started riding again. This allowed the 5th place guy to catch me. I tried to go with him but I was blown from the crash. I came across 5th overall. Not to bad but it definitely will get better. The course was super fast with alot of awesome single track. If anyone is near Waterford , MI check out the trails at Pontiac State Park its worth it. About an hour later I was on the road back to Muskegon to catch the Ferry back to Milwaukee. The only thing that sucked was I had to wait till 11pm till the next crossing. So I did a little sight seeing in the area. Here are some pic's.

Whats up next ??

2007-09-25T11:26:00.001-05:00

Iola for the second time around went alot better for me. The start is the key at this course. Coming into the race I figured I would go out hard right off the line. I did that & was sitting about 5th or 6th spot as we approached the first little climb on the gravel road. Unfortunately I was right behind Peariso when his bike slipped on some loose rock which sent him into Phillips. I was the one who payed the biggest price for this mishap due to coming almost completely to a stand still while people just blew by. That's racing though & I know Chris just hit a bad spot. I battled back & settled in. Carlos & I battled it out for the first 2 laps till I got a gap on him. It was me & Scott KJ chasing down the riders in front of us. I could tell Scott was starting to feel the effects of riding that SS so I put in an attack & gaped him. I caught Krayer early on in the 3rd lap & we worked together but we couldn't make up any ground on Seth & Dallas. Every time we got to the top of the start climb they were just coming out. I think the race order pretty much stayed the same from when everyone came around on there first lap. I ended up 14th & made up some good points in the overall standings.

Up next for me on the race front is my first Collegiate race. This will be hosted by Michigan University. Pro/Semi-Pro races are about 36 miles so it should be
a good race. I'm going solo on this trip unfortunately but I do get to take the high speed ferry across from Milwaukee. This will make my 7.5 hour drive turn into a 3 hour drive. It should be pretty cool.

Busy Times

2007-09-07T12:37:00.000-05:00

Its been quite a while since I posted so I figured I would let you know whats going on. I started school on tuesday. Man its weird walking around & being in class with people almost half my age. Between work & school its been a struggle to find time to ride. I'm not used to this homework stuff yet. It was much easier coming home from work & just having to ride or sit on my butt. Now I have to do homework & skip alot of the riding. I should've taken care of this school crap along time ago but I was young & stupid back then & didn't put forth a good effort. So to all you young kids GET YOUR SCHOOL DONE WHILE YOUR YOUNG & STOP GOOFING OFF !!!! Sunburst is coming up in a few days & I got 2 rides in all week. At least this is usually only an 1hr 30min race course. We'll see what happens. See you at DUMBURST !!

Smokin Spoke

2007-08-27T21:22:00.000-05:00

I was going to skip this race due to the boring courses in the marathon series. I planned on doing the first collegiate race of the season down in Columbia, MO but with not being able to get off work I opted out of driving 8 hours Friday night to race Saturday at noon. I figured I would just do the WORS race Sunday & just drive up day of. Saturday afternoon I was getting all my stuff together for Sunday & realized we raced at 10:00 am not 1:30pm like usual. So much for going day of. By this time it was about 7 pm & I needed to hit the road soon so I could get some sleep before the race. Got on the road about 7:30pm. One stop at Fazoli's in Green Bay at 8:30pm for dinner & I was off to Rhinelander.

This was my no cost last minute sleeping arrangement. My car folds flat in the back so I figure I would just sleep in there after arriving in Rhinelander at 11:30pm. I found a good dark spot in back of the marathon gas station in town.
There was a Holiday Inn Express down the street that looked like it had a restaurant in it so I figured in the morning I would just go eat breakfast there.
Alarm goes off at 7am, time to get up & eat. I hop in the drivers seat & go to Holiday Inn for breakfast. I walk in & oh no there is no restaurant in the hotel. What do I do now? I look & boy there complimentary breakfast looks pretty good. I figured what the heck I might as well go taste it. So I chowed down. Man this is turning out to be a free weekend. I went to the course suited up. Did a warm up & crashed once in some sand. I didn't know what to expect
seeing I got out on the bike once this last week. 10:30am were off & racing. I got shuffled back on the start & I'm just telling myself this is not good but relax & you'll come around. I started working my way up through the field right away. I got on a train containing Carlos & Krayer. We worked together & were moving up. We caught Bender so I figured we were moving up pretty good. Bender fell off the pace. Then halfway through the 3rd lap Carlos crashed. He was then gone off the back. Krayer & I caught TJ next but I got stuck in lapped traffic going into a bridge towards the end of the the 3rd lap. I was then left out by myself for the last lap. I kept spinning & halfway through the 4th lap I caught Phillips who was cramping on one of the climbs. I kept an even pace with my quads cramping to finish 13th. If I wouldn't have got stuck on that bridge when I was with TJ & Krayer I think I could have reached the top 10 but that's racing!! That was the toughest course by far this year. It was pretty painful but an awesome challenging course.

WORS CUP 07'

2007-08-19T18:37:00.001-05:00

Sitting at the line I knew there was going to be alot of good competition. To bad I wasn't feeling up to par heath wise. I was there to put forth whatever I could. I really need to work on my starts. I got myself in a bad spot off the start. I battle back on the first lap. I couldn't breath due to this damn cold & chest congestion. After the first 2 laps I was really feeling crappy. At that time I was just telling myself just keep spinning & you'll start coming around. With the steady rain the course started to get pretty slick. I didn't have good tire for the conditions & went down 3 different times.

Laps 3-5 I worked my way up through the field & eventually dropping riders that were hanging on. I rolled into the finish 16th. Not to great but I'll take it considering I was sick all week & rode a total of 50 min. The course Don & his crew designed for the race was awesome. This was true mountain biking. I wish we could race on these types of courses every WORS weekend. Minus the rain !!

Finally the new road frame is built up. Now I can get some different workouts in. I must say though I think I'll try to hit the road on the mountain bike once & awhile still. At least now I have 2 options.

Training

2007-08-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

This has been my training since Monday late afternoon. 2 pills every 4 hours so that feeling extremely shitty turns into feeling just shitty. This is all due to Bill Street hacking, sneezing, & coughing all over this last weekend. I finally start feeling good riding & this crap happens. I am starting to feel better & will be assessing the damage on an easy training ride tonight. It may be an interesting weekend.

Ore 2 Shore 2007

2007-08-13T09:39:00.000-05:00

Myself, Matter, & Street headed up to Michigan Friday morning. The forecast looked good for the weekend. 4 hours later we checked into the room,
suited up & headed out to do some riding. We rode in 8 miles from the finish to check out the course. It was pretty damn sandy. Locals were saying this was probably the sandiest its ever been because of all the dry weather. Oh well.
I was feeling pretty good on the 16 mile pre-ride so I was actually looking forward to a good race saturday. We hit up a local pasta shop for some great food then back to the hotel to get everything ready & rest up.
Saturday morning alarm going off 6:45am. I hate early alarms ! We had to get down to breakfast by 7 or we wouldn't be eating till alot later.
For some reason the restaurant there is very slow. We made it just in time before others started piling in. The race started @ 9:45 so we got there about an hour before. We headed out for a warm up & about 2 miles in Matter gets a nail in his rear tire. Oh crap that's not good. The Stan's sealed it up & we headed back to get a tube, put it in with 5 min to go. Matter & I backed it into the start line Spiro style.
I got an ok start. About 4 miles in a rider goes down right in front of me in some sand. I pulled a superman over the bars & landed pretty soft. I jumped back up & started trying to make up ground. By this time I was probably in the 30's. I hit the power line climbs & I was cranking it to get back up there. I was making pretty good ground. About half way through the race I was sitting low 20's. About 20 miles to go we hit a pavement section that was about 3 miles long with some longer climbs so I attacked the group I was in & dropped them pretty quick. The only one from the group that eventually bridged the gap was Sam W. Sam & I worked together till about 10 miles to go. The Eppens came screaming past through a sandy double track section. we jumped on but I couldn't hold there wheel. Sam was able to hang on a little longer & then they gaped me. I was cranking it out solo for the last 10 miles.
nobody was coming from behind me due to the gap we put on the rest of the field. The random groups of people cheering kept me going. I rolled in uncontested for 19th. That is one hard race. Alot harder then Chequamegon.
Saturday night we hit up the awards. Later that night the Bells Team was putting on a party. Matter was rock'in the mullet on the dance floor. Simonson was playing the drums in the band. 48 miles, Beer & 2 AM made for one long night. Man you had to be there to see it !!
Hopefully I'll have some pictures soon to post of the weekend.

Alterra Race

2007-08-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

The Alterra WORS race was tough. The course has been bone dry for a long time. Until race day. Its amazing what a little rain can do to some of these courses. By the time we raced it wasn't to bad. The muddiest part of the course
was the first mile. This made for an interesting beginning to the race. I got off the line pretty good & settled somewhere in the top 15. I was riding from 10th-15th for most of the race. I could feel the lack of riding I had done the last 2 weeks before the race. That's nobody's fault but mine. Anyway after the first 3 laps I was riding riding solo in 13th. Passing lapped riders & pushing myself to keep spinning so that I wouldn't have to worry about having to race into the finish. I put it in cruise control for the final 2 laps. I was ok with a 13th place finish but I know I should be doing alot better. I guess thats what training would fix.

I've had my road frame now for about 2 weeks but still haven't been able to ride it due to not having a fork. Its been sitting in the work stand. I really don't want to have to buy a new carbon fork. If anyone has an extra one sitting around they might want to get rid of let me know. I need an 1"-1/8th steer tube.

Metro Challenge

2007-07-24T10:21:00.001-05:00

We were heading down to the milwaukee area to visit family this last weekend so I brought my bike with. I figured I would get some good training rides in at Crystal ridge. It just so happened there was going to be a WEMS race there this weekend so I decided to hit that up saturday. They've really done a great job getting some quality trails built there. I was pre-riding Friday & smashed my pedal on a rock. After the ride I realized it was toast. Thinking I could find the pair I wanted being around like 10 bike shops I waited to call around till Saturday morning. Not a good Idea. Nobody had the pedals I wanted. One last bike shop to call & score they had 1 pair left. Time was running out before I had to make it to the race. I cruised over to Rainbow Jearsey to get the pedals. Ate some food quick then headed off to the race which started in about 25 min. No warm up but that was the way it was going to be. We started off with running up the hill to our bikes. Mine was in the front so I had to hop over other bikes. I got to mine & mounted up & was off. Carlos was throwing his bike all over the place tring to get on. It was pretty damn funny. Carlos & I took control right away & gapped everyone in the first singletrack. I think after lap 1 we had close to a 2 min. gap. Carlos rides there alot so I let him lead us through the trails. About 3 1/2 laps in he was starting to struggle a little so I jumped out front. He couldn't hang on at the time & I got a gap. The gap was maybe 25 sec at the most. Heading into the 5th & last lap I could see him coming up the hill. I hit the first singletrack section & was starting to be a little to aggressive on some of the turns & washed out my front wheel. I went down & my right calf cramped so bad I couldn't get up for about 10 sec. I finally got going again & could see Carlos coming through the woods. He eventually caught back on a little past the top of craters of the moon. With about a half a lap to go I let him jump out front & figured we would sprint it out into the finish. We hit the finish climb & were wheel to wheel till about 50 yards to go he put one last hard push in & I couldn't answer. Carlos got the win. It was a great battle. The spectators were loving it the whole race. Thanks to Jeff Frings for the awsome picture above.

New Road Frame is in the mail

2007-07-19T16:21:00.001-05:00

Where are my legs ????

2007-07-18T17:10:00.000-05:00

Man this has been a rough year so far. WORS # 6 was tough. I've been riding the Mt bike on the road for training but hadn't been able to ride for more than an hour & a half. It just got boring after that & I felt like crap. At the start line I thought we were going to have a 4 wheeler lead out so i just slowly rolled off the line. Little did I know there was no 4 wheeler lead out & I lost ground right off the bat. I got in a group in the first lap with about 5 riders & we were hammering to catch back up to the lead group.By the second lap we caught back on to the front group. Later that lap we kind of paid for all the hard work we put in to get back on. About 2 1/2 laps in I was YO YOing off the back then I finally blew up. I rode by myself til 3 1/2 laps in & people started to finally catch me. I was actually thinking I might actually make it to the end & not get caught. Not so. I ended up 25th.

After taking 2 days off from riding I made myself get out for a long ride on the Mt bike. I hit the road & made my way to Port Washington & back. Trying to get in the long ride I need. I felt really good. Hopefully these kind of rides will help me get my legs back. 3 Hours 2 Min. later I got back home to sheboygan. Soon I may have my new road bike. I'm going to be building up a frame hopefully by early next week with my parts off my bent frame.

This was the long road back home.

Finally Home

Eau Claire

2007-07-03T09:26:00.001-05:00

No Pain no gain were the words I was going by sunday. The upper body was taking the hits. The pace was screaming fast. That was not what I was looking for coming into the race battered. Oh well. I didn't have high expectations coming in with the crash & time off the bike I had to take. I just didn't want to sit around & not race till the next one. I got caught up by a crash a mile into the start. I had to slow way down then try to chase. Thank God I wasn't involved in it. I was pretty happy with the way I felt overall. I rode consistent. I was on the verge of blowing up a few times but recovered which was encouraging. I was catching people every lap. I didn't get dropped by anyone.

All in all I felt good about the first race since my road crash. I was damn sore after the race though. Time to get some training in. The next race is going to be fast.

Back on the bike

2007-06-29T21:42:00.001-05:00

I'm officially back on the bike. 5 days off from the crash & I've got the itch to get back to it. I'm sore as hell but I need to get back on so I don't loose all my fitness. I swear I bruised my lungs or maybe its just my rib cage. My whole upper body is one big knot of soreness. I headed out on the Mt bike yesterday to test the body & its going to hurt but I'm Racing this weekend.
My pain pills will be waiting for me at the finish line. I'm looking for a road bike to use for training if anyone has an extra. I need a 52 or 53 CM. Let me know if you can help. Otherwise its slicks on the Mt bike the rest of the season for training. See you all in Eau Claire !!

My Weekend in Michigan

2007-06-25T19:41:00.001-05:00

Superior Bike fest is a blast but not on the bike for me this weekend. Friday night crit I was sitting in the break group & my legs just wouldn't loosen up which had me off the back about 3/4 of the way through. Saturday I was ready to crank it up in the road race. The first climb in the race 5 riders from Team KMK attacked. Myself, 3 Hagerty guys along with another rider jumped on. 30 seconds later we couldn't even see the rest of the field. 10 riders in the break we were cranking out some good speed with a pace line that was well organized. This was going to stick. I was feeling really good. We were cranking it out mile after mile putting alot of time into the main field. The guy in front of me out of the blue just starts losing it & goes down. No time to react meant I was about to have a face to face with the pavement at about 25-30 miles an hour. I go down into him face first, & the 4 or 5 guys behind me eighther run me over or land on top of me. Big pile of bikes, riders, & parts all over. I get up look at myself with bad road rash & blood dripping down my face & body. I hop back on the bike. Yes I actually hopped back on. I made in about 40 yards & realized my bike was trashed & the rear wheel was taco'ed. I walked back to the support trucks. The ambulance came checked us out & my day was done. I refused transport. Got wrapped up & one of our team cars picked me up. Sunday I obviously skipped the MTB race due to not being able to move. I felt like I was run over by a truck. If anyone want a more detailed update on the weekend as far as our team check out Matters blog. Its pretty damn funny. Here are some pics I took after I got home sunday night. Matters got all the on scene Photo's I'll have to get them from him soon.

The bike is trashed & the frame is bent.

Phillips WORS #4

2007-06-18T17:16:00.000-05:00

We did the usual & went up to the Phillips race Friday to make it a long weekend. We set up camp on the shoreline & let the dogs go swimming.
Later B. Schwaller, The Holcomb Family, & Ponath's rolled in to set up camp.
Christine & Carlos were already there before I got there. Saturday brought big cast of others like Ty, Ronsta, Sonia, Etc.. You get the point.

These are are crazy dogs that bark at anything or anyone they haven't seen before.
Race day the clouds rolled in & the rain came down for about 30 min during the Sport race. Severe thunderstorm warnings delayed the Elite race so we started @ 1:45. We set off & the pace wasn't to bad on the road. I got to that loose rocky climb on the start loop & Phil Ott doesn't say a word & blasts up my left & throws in a shoulder which makes me dismount. Lets just say I wasn't to happy with that move. So there goes about 10 riders off the front so I get back on & start to chase. I caught back up pretty fast. Happy to be on the train I worked my way up to Bender & Ronsta. I sat on Benders wheel & Ronsta let her rip with a few attacks & got a gap on us. This is how we rode the rest of the race. Bender towed me around for the whole time. I was feeling pretty good but didn't want to attack him for fear I would blow myself up. We sat 5 & 6 the whole race. I did have the legs to gun it the last lap but Bender looks back & yells " Drankus if you pass me on the last lap I'm going to kick your ass". I told him I would let him take the fifth spot seeing he did all the work out there for me. So we rolled in next to each other through the finish line.
Finally I feel my legs are starting to come back to me. We'll see what I can do in the next one. I have some ground to make up in the points.

State Road Championships

2007-06-09T21:16:00.001-05:00

No Mt bike race this weekend meant that I should go do the state road championship race down in Burlington. You couldn't ask for better weather.
Roll out start to the top of the climb & we're off. The pace felt like we were on a charity bike ride through rural wisconsin. A Beans & Barley rider blasts off the front about 2 miles into the race. I was thinking this dude is going to be toast out there by himself with about 38 miles to go. Little did I know that the peleton pace was going to be so slow for the first 4 of 6 laps I would've went out with the guy. He almost held it to the end. At one time I think he put almost 2 min. into the group.
People in the back were complaining about the pace but didn't want to come up front & do any work. The Center line rule was enforced big time. One dude who was complaining while sitting in the pack blasts up the left side hits the center line & up came the official on the Moto & tosses him on the spot. That was sweet. That's what happens when you talk shit from the back.
Tim Pacholski(in the red & white) & myself (along with a few others) did alot of work up front to push the pace on the last few laps to catch the guy off the front. Tim P. & I caught the Beans rider 1/3 of a lap into the final lap. Mission accomplished there. We pushed the pace pretty hard in the last few miles & popped off a bunch from the main group. Last turn I'm sitting 3rd wheel into the long painful climb into the finish. Still sitting about 4th or 5th halfway up the hill I stood to try to push harder & cramped just enough to let a few riders past & to loose my chance to take a win.

I was happy to hear when we crossed the line that Tim Pacholski took the victory. At least the guy that I worked with the whole race took the win & not some guy that just sat back in the draft all day bitching. I ended up the 7th overall for the State Championship ranking. Now I just have to recable my whole Mt bike for the race next weekend. Lets hope for a dry one this next time around.

3 Down

2007-06-04T21:09:00.000-05:00

3 races down & another bad race. Last year started off slow for me to. The 4th race last season is when I started to put my season together. Lets hope that happens again. I don't think I like this Marathon format. There was way to much time spent lapping/passing citizen & sport riders. Nothing against them but they just can't be on the course racing while the Elite & Comp riders are out there. Most of them were respectful to us passing but alot just don't understand that are race is much different then there race and they need to move to the side. We were already lapping them a little more then a lap into the race. Hopefully they rethink this all starting at the same general time thing in the future.

Treadfest

2007-05-21T21:58:00.000-05:00

MY TOASTED RIDE

GOOOOO!!! What happens? I slip my damn pedal again & lose ground right off the start. Then we get to the sharp left hand turn up top & I get stuck in the bottle neck. Starts the key. If I can get into my pedal I think I can stay up front instead of having to work from behind all race.

It was a great course!! To bad conditions turned for the worse for a few laps with the rain. I'm pretty sore after this one with all the dismounting & a few

crashed. Damn it was slick when it was raining.

Crit's

2007-05-13T16:53:00.001-05:00

Headed back home Saturday to go out to dinner with the family for mothers day. I brought the road bike along so I could do the Muskego crit. I like doing these to get some good training in. The only thing about them is they're very frustrating to me with all the slow, fast,slow, fast. Also all the brake tapping.

These things are all about being in the right spot at the right time & not getting cut off when you try to make your move at the end. I felt pretty good for the whole race. The last lap bell rang. I made sure I was up front. Off the last turn I was in 5th position sitting pretty good. About 150 yards to go a guy blasts up the right I jump over to follow but get cut off by another rider thinking the same & off road I go. I rode the grass & dirt for about 20 yards before getting back to the pavement & tried to put in an effort to salvage a decent position but to many others had momentum. I rolled in 14th I think. That's how these things work. I thought I could take till that incident. We'll see what happens at Treadfest this next weekend.

Check this out. Cole tearing up some Euro racing

2007-05-10T08:03:00.000-05:00

The USA Cycling National Development Team has two races on the schedule next week, the Tour Haut Anjou in France, May 11-13 and the Vuelta Tarragona in Spain, May 15-19. Competing at the Tour Haut Anjou will be Zak Grabowksi (Lafayette, Colo./VMG Racing), Nathan Miller (Fairfield, Calif./Team Swift), Ulric DeYoung (Hereford, Ariz.), Cole House (Oneida, Wis.) and Kevin Soller (Breckenridge, Colo.). Competing at the Vuelta Tarragona in Spain will be John Devine (Dixon, Ill./VMG Racing), Sheldon Deeny (Fort Collins, Colo./VMG Racing), Caleb Fairly (Amarillo, Texas/VMG Racing), Chris Barton (Ojai, Calif./Vendee U), Sam Jurekovic (Jackson Hole, Wyo.) and Colin Cares (Boulder, Colo.).

Bad day at the office

2007-05-06T20:23:00.000-05:00

Well The result from today's race was not to good. Actually it was pretty embarrassing. I figured I wouldn't have the greatest race due to being sick for the last week & a half. It really does suck coming off a great training camp feeling strong then coming home & getting sick. It pretty much takes away all the hard work you put in & sets you back alot. Not to make excuses but it had me coming into the race with not to high of expectations but not like what happened. I felt like it was my first race ever. Starting with missing my clip in at the start, crashing during the first lap, & my lack luster handling skills today. I had no legs. I was climbing like I was 300 lbs. No working lock out had me bobbing & wasting energy on the climbs. Oh well, first race of many so I'll just put in some good rides in the next 2 weeks & be ready for the next one. Congrats to Matter for the win & Mikey for making up some ground to snatch 2nd. Also Matt Gutowski for putting in an awesome ride for 13th before he heads out west for the next chapter in his life. It was great to see everyone again after a long winter.

This picture tells the story of my day PAIN!!

PCW Training Camp Complete

2007-04-23T21:26:00.000-05:00

Training camp 2007 is in the books. Bright & early Friday Matter rolled over in the team car to pick me up. We stopped to pick up Tony & Brenda in Cedar Grove. I think they packed for a week. We hit the road officially probably around 6:45am. One bathroom stop @ McDonald's in Kenosha had me thinking bacon,egg & cheese Bagel meal. Whats it going to hurt. A few hours later in Indy we hit up Subway then it was full tilt to camp. We rolled in & everyone was dressed & ready to ride. Nothing like getting out of the car after a 5-6 hour drive & jumping on the bike to get the legs moving.

Friday we did 56 miles, Saturday 87, Sunday I opted to go on the tour of the area ride instead of the 56 miler. I wanted to get some pics & check out the area a little more. I think I ended up doing about 30+. I did stop solo in Nashville for some grub @ this little shack.

The big Barbecue pork sandwich drew me in. OH Man it was good!!! Check it out. That's what I'm talking about!!! Just as I finished eating the group I was riding with was coming back through town so it worked out good & I hooked back on. The weather was awesome & the roads were perfect. Good climbing & screaming down hills. It was 3 days of perfect riding. I definitely feel stronger after camp.

Squirrel Launcher

2007-04-16T20:05:00.000-05:00

watch video <----- Click Here

I'M HUGE!!!!

2007-04-09T21:40:00.000-05:00

You have to minus 2.5 lbs for the camera weight & there you will have my massive weight. This is why the wind is not my friend.

Out of commission

2007-04-03T10:07:00.000-05:00

I took a rest day Monday & tried to get my headset working on the road bike till the new one comes in but its toast. So with my Mt bike sitting without a front shock(sent that back to rock shox to get fixed) & my road bike sitting

with a trashed headset I guess I'll be riding the spin bike till the new part arrives. That will be fine since the weather is taking a turn for the worse this week. Man I hope we don't get that 1-2 inches of snow they're talking about.

You gotta love Wisconsin weather.

No legs

2007-04-02T10:19:00.000-05:00

I noticed there was going to be a WCA Crit at evergreen here in town so I ventured over to sign up. 1 mile loop with a nice painful climb at the end of each lap. The weather looked good 50 degrees but windy. I rolled to the line with about 25-30 others then the sky opened up & down came the rain along with the temps. Ate road grit for 35 min + 2 laps.I felt good for the most part. I had some bike issues that really sucked. My headset is toasted on my road bike so I either have to ride it loose or really tight. It still moves either way. I opted to ride it loose but it got really tight for the last 4 laps & I could barely move it. This didn't help my cause. I had to really lean into the turns to make it clean. I was there for the finish but had no legs on the climb into the finish. I think I rolled in like 6th or so. I didn't see the results. I do these Crits for purely training purposes early on in the season to see what I need to work on & where I'm at. Time to start hammering out the workouts on the plan & stop worrying about the endurance rides during the week. This was the wake up call I needed to get me motivated. Congrats to Mikey & Chris for kicking some butt at nationals in AZ.

80 degrees

2007-03-26T22:18:00.000-05:00

Today was an off day from riding. The legs need a little recovery. 80 Degrees in March???? Michelle & I along with the two dogs headed over to Kohler-Andre State Park to hike around the beach & dunes. When you actually get into the dunes you really find out how hot it must get in the desert. I should of wore shorts. Oh well.

It doesn't get much better than this for March in Wisconsin.

The three ladies.

Now you see the park bench. Now you don't see the park bench. I think the DNR needs to get a shovel.

BEFORE/AFTER

One last thing I would like to say is that every time we walk the dogs around town we see lazy people that must have also been walking there dogs sometime or other that don't pick up there dogs crap. No wonder why dogs aren't allowed in any of the parks. People can't even pick up there dogs crap in there own neighborhood. Follow the rules or don't own a dog.

The pains of the long ride

2007-03-25T18:50:00.000-05:00

Saturday I hopped on the bike & hit the road to my parents house.
The weather was outstanding. The roads were good & I almost made it all the way down without having some punk gangster wannabe saying something stupid. Yep you know it would happen when you get into Milwaukee. People just can't help but to talk trash to bikers. Anyway the ride was pretty smooth. I was feeling good but the legs were burning for the last 15-20 miles. I pushed past the pain though & kept a solid pace. I swear its all up hill from Mequon to my parents. 70 miles & 3 hours & 40 min later I was there. My legs were in sheer pain. All the pain was worth it. I got in a good long ride & was able to stay physically and mentally strong even with all the pains. Sorry I don't have any pictures from the ride but I wanted to keep spinning the whole way down without stopping.

Day Trip

2007-03-23T20:40:00.000-05:00

Instead of getting a new road bike this season I opted for a new wheelset.I Went over to Bike-N-Ski to make sure Matter was actually working(yes he was pretty busy) & left with my new Bontrager Wheelset. I also brought my Mt bike in to get looked at & there going to send back my Sid to get replaced or rebuilt. It was blown out. I did notice it during the season last year but really didn't have time to send it in because I needed it to race. Hopefully it will be back before the season seeing that I sold my 9.8. I'm heading down to Milwaukee for the day Saturday to grill out at my brothers. I figured I would just ride there. The weather looks good & I'll probably get at least 70+ miles in by the time I get to my parents house. Michelle & the dogs are going to drive down to meet up with me. There was a squirrel doing the hola hoop in my yard today check it out. What the @#!%$^@!!!

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE IT IN ACTION

To good to be true

2007-03-15T20:10:00.000-05:00

Well rode yesterday in about 56 degrees & even had to tear off the vest. Today & the weekend ahead looks like it will be back to the norm for Wisconsin weather. Oh well!!

Detailed Local Forecast
Tonight: Cloudy. Low 24F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph.
Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy with snow flurries developing late. High near 35F. S winds shifting to NW at 10 to 15 mph.
Tomorrow night: Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 23F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny skies. High 37F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday: Snow showers. Highs in the mid 30s and lows in the low 30s.

New Family Member

2007-03-12T20:53:00.000-05:00

Meet OREO the newest family member to our household. She's a Beagle mix like Hailey but we're thinking some kind of Shepard due to her markings. She'll only be about 30-35 lbs. So that means about the same size as Hailey.We picked her up from the Shawano Humane Society Saturday. We've been looking to get our dog Hailey a sister for about a year now & Saturday was the day. They are very happy together. There playing and wrestling all the time between naps. Good thing we have a big yard. I have a feeling there going to be running like crazy all summer.

Hailey Is the boss but Oreo is crazy.

Training is back at full tilt. These 12-5 hours are awesome. I get up about 7 am eat a good breakfast, do my workouts, have a good lunch & off to work. With this daylight savings time deal I can even do another ride at night if I feel like it. I'm not at that point yet though. Its nice to have options though. 60 Degrees tomorrow OH YEAH!!!

Blasted by an Anonymous reader

2007-03-06T14:42:00.000-06:00

Well the 12-8 shift is no more. I will now be doing a 12-5 shift. Yes to my anonymous friend in my last post I will be training with a full steam ahead attitude. I have started going to synergy regularly now. Gravity this afternoon,
power yoga tomorrow morning & so on. I'll be doing my riding outside with an occasional spin class indoors. For now I have all the time in the world to train. All my time will go to get ready for the season & to make my anonymous friend happy.

One other thing. My nephew is selling his 2004 Honda CR-85 if anyone is looking or knows someone looking let me know. The bike is mint!!
!!!!!!!!! 2004 Honda CR-85 !!!!!!!!!! - $1500

A new week

2007-03-04T19:47:00.000-06:00

Went back to Milwaukee this weekend & went to the big bash at Mikey's house. It was a pretty good time. Its always nice to get together with your friends from back home & everyone you hang out with during the race season. Had a few beers. Some had more then a few(Tony). Tony was pounding down the Martini's. Ty I think ate 5 or 6 servings of everything. Matt was trying to be sneaky & snapping pictures while having the camera sitting on his lap. It was a great time. All was to celebrate Mike & Chimene's engagement.

Tomorrow starts a new beginning for now. I start working 12pm-8pm.

Yeah the hours suck but I think it'll help me focus on getting better workouts in because I'll be forced to do them in the morning. Hopefully these hours won't last to long. I'm still waiting to hear from something else that has been in the works. Till then I'll have to make the best of everything. Looks like the weathers going to start getting better. That means quality workouts outside.

DAMN!!!!

2007-03-01T09:47:00.000-06:00

Look what I woke up to this morning. Damn, I'm really getting sick of snow.

It looks like only about 3 inches or so but is it ever going to stop. Bring on spring & green grass I'm ready.

BEER

2007-02-28T21:00:00.000-06:00

Well its been awhile since I posted but there hasn't been to much to report. I did go to Green bay last weekend to go out with my sister, brother-in-law, some of there friends, & my cousin. We went to eat at one of those Japanese places that cook the food in front of you. The only weird thing was the white guy doing the cooking show. It was good but usually a foreign guy does it. At least at all the ones I've gone to in the past. We started putting down the beers at about

6:30. Michelle was nice enough to be the sober person to drive us around to a few bars after dinner. The first bar was an old firehouse turned bar. The beer was flowing pretty good & fast at that place. You know it was a good place when free shots were being served every half hour or so. There actually was one time in the night while we were there that they opened the back of the bar to everyone to go ahead & make as many & any shots they wanted on there own. It was crazy. We hit up one more bar after that but didn't stay there to long due to the crowds & we were toasted already.I don't even know what time we got home. I don't really do the bar & drinking thing very often but it was fun to party it up like the good old days. I thought I was turning into Mikey. Just kidding Mike.

Looks like people are really hitting the training hard now. I slipped on my program a little so I think I have to back track a bit. The weather hasn't helped my motivation much. Also the fact that I hate the trainer with a passion doesn't help either. I've gotten back to it now. I even went to synergy today for a gravity class. I definitely have to take advantage of that place more now that the season is near. I'll be ready to rock come race time. Plus training camp is still to come.