Making history

First race at the Eva Bandman cyclocross park in Louisville, home of the 2013 world championships.

I really like the USGP races. So far this is our second year at the Derby City race. John and I left on friday and headed down to the race. Once we found the park, thanks to Ryan Trebon being our personal tour guide, we got a few laps in and met up with the Rouge racing guys. They were our hosts for weekend and a big thanks goes out to the entire team for making us feel at home.

The saturday course was quite short but had us off the bikes quite a bit. We decided that rather than racing in the 2/3 race with probably 200 guys we would race the singlespeed race with 20 guys. I was off the bike about 6 times each lap, there was sand, some soggy hills, one barrier section with a tricky hump right in front of it, and super steep run up right after a tight 180 that some of the pros actually rode. I didnt have the right gearing so I got blown away on the start and got lapped by beard guy, of course beard guy also raced the pro race, so I guess getting lapped by him wasnt so bad.











Day two, the course was a bit longer and I had it in my head to ride all the hills that I ran the day before. I did awful, I dropped my chain on the first lap, and was feeling pretty tired from the day before and got lapped by beard guy on the last lap. I was thinking that I havent been on my singlespeed since like mothers day, and I was feeling it. I didnt even get my bike put together until tuesday, so I guess one dropped chain isnt too bad.











Overall the weekend was a lot fun. John did good even though the results were all messed up. Wissink won the leaders jersey for the masters 35+ race which was really cool seeing him put that on. The wolverine and rhino guys all did good and Michigan was well represented. It is always fun doing the out state races and hanging out with all michigan racers.

Next up is vets park which is one my favorites, now I just need to shake this stupid cold that I have before the weekend.

Cross Season

So far there hasnt been much to talk about, well at least not anything good. The season started at waterford, day 1 just hurt. I ended up way at the back of the B race, and was pretty cooked 30 minutes into the race. Day 2 at least I felt better, but my results were not much better.
The Ronde Van Stony was a fun race, it hit a lot of the roads that I train on and some of the trails at stony. About 4 miles into the race I lost my front brake, which really wasnt that much of a big deal just had to take some of the turns a bit slower than I would of liked. I was riding pretty good, but got stuck out in the wind pulling for longer than I wanted on area of the course that I didnt want, and got dropped and pretty much rode by myself for quite a bit of the race.
Munson wasnt really a race I was looking forward to. I got a pretty crappy start at the back of the field. My first lap was the slowest and the rest were pretty consistent and faster, so at least that was something. I finally felt like I could race for the whole 45 minutes and was able to go forward in the race instead of going backwards.
This last weekend John and I made the trip down to Cinci, for the UCI 3 day festival. I was really looking forward to racing cat 3 35+ instead of cat 2/3. I only ended up racing 1 of the 3 days though. Saturday on my second lap I came off a curb onto some pavement and blew out my tubular tire, I actually almost crashed because when I landed the bike wanted to go sideways, but I was able to keep it upright. Why they didnt make a little ramp is beyond me, there were two decent drops off a curb that they should of done something with. So this happens just before the start line, so I figure I should run to the pit and get my other bike. Sure I might get last place, but at least I will get some riding in. So I start running, run through the start, run past the Kona riders Trebon asks if I need anything I respond with a wheel or a beer, they laugh, run through the sand, run up the hill, and back down, get a brownie hand up, run on to the finish straight, the pits are just past this, and the race official pulls me off the course. 3.5 km of running for nothing. Well not entirely I got two nice blisters on my heels as a reward, I take off my shoes and walk back to the car in my socks because the pain was pretty bad. Sunday I decided not to race, the damage to my heels was pretty bad and I didnt want to make it any worse. So all of that for 19 minutes of racing, not the best return on my investment for sure.
While I am complaining, I dont get why they ran the Cat 2/3, 3 35+, and the 3 45+ all at the same time. I was second on the line, but I was still 90 people from the front. Why not stagger the start by a minute? The first lap was chaos and I had to come to a complete stop multiple times. It was pretty frustrating, and I am looking forward to racing the tailwind races more so than ever.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Well cross season is finally here in Michigan. It ended in December and I have been looking forward to it ever since. Lots of training miles, lots of time on the bike so I was expecting decent results moving up to the killer b`s this year. Well that didnt happen, not sure if the 10 days on vacation, and week before that of limited riding, or not doing much mountain bike racing this summer was the problem. The training has been going good, but training is one thing and racing is a totally different animal. The good news is that I least felt better on Sunday than on Saturday, so I guess that is something to build on.

On another note Banff and Jasper in Alberta is the most beautiful place I have been. Words cant describe it so here is a picture. :)

Stony XC

Bah! Time for the real season to begin!

Stony TT

Well my first mountain bike race of the year, finally. I was expecting pretty good results, being that I have been training a ton, and I ride the trail all the time. Going into the race I had my highest 20 min. FTP yet, and was feeling really good.
I started the race out hard, and was already passing people before I hit the river crossing. Time I hit the pines I had passed a lot of people and was feeling great. It was pretty slippery so I backed off the pace and made it through with only one near crash. Going up the snakes I passed a few more people and into the rollercoaster, and that is when it started to fall apart. By the time I was 3/4 of the way through some of people that I passed earlier caught up and got around me, and that continued all the way back. I had nothing by time I hit the grass and it was a real struggle not to let anyone else around me. I hit the line in about a hour flat, and felt like I was going to pass out. So I check my blood sugar and it was only 50! If you dont know, that is very low, 110-120 would be where I would want it to be. I should of known that was what was going on, instead of thinking that I went out too hard at the start. So I think if I would of ate something after the pines I probably would of put in about a 55 min. lap.

It is frustrating, but I feel the training is really paying off and I would of had a really good time if I didnt have to deal with being diabetic. But nothing I can do about that one, just need to listen to my body a bit better next time. You would think that after 10 years of this, I would know better.

Meet the Mudhoney!

DOB 6/26/2010
Weight 18.3lbs
Father and baby are resting comfortably, for now...








































































First ride will be tomorrow, I cant wait.

Goodie Bin

It is getting closer......

Brighton

My first race of the season and why did I choose brighton? Oh wait I know, because of the short track race.
I decided to take a pre-ride on torn shirt before the race being that I havent ridden the trail in 3 years. If you havent ridden torn shirt it is only about 5 miles, but the first 3 are quite technical with a lot of rooted, eroded climbs and really technical descents. After that the trail is quite a bit tamer and almost flows even. I havent ridden a trail like that in a while and it sure showed. I took a nice little spill on one of the last technical downhills, I guess I picked a bad line and didnt get back over the bike far enough then I rolled down the hill landing on my side. I finished up the loop bloody and bruised and decided that I wasnt going to do the TT. I figured I would probably be to tentative and just crash more, and the sore shoulder and back werent going to help.

Next up was the short track. The course was very cross like, more so than I was expecting. After a lap or two on the course I couldnt wait to get to the line, but I had to wait for the expert/elite race. My buddies John & J.B. were both racing in the expert race. J.B. got first in his race which was cool to see, and John got 4th. I counted out the laps for them each lap and before I knew it was time for me to take the line.
I line up early and get a good spot in the front row. The whistle blows, and we are off. And no sooner than that I hear the guy next to making all kinds of noise trying to clip in, and then he hooked his bars on mine. I am not sure how we separated without crashing but somehow we did, I guess I ended up braking and he got away along with a few other guys. The 5 laps that we did went by pretty quick and I couldnt quite make it up to the lead group. The cross bike was a big advantage, and the fmb tires were great on the dry course. I rolled across the line in 4th place. Not bad, and looking at my times compared to the expert racers I would of been in the top 7 or 8 spots.

Not sure what the next mtb race will be. I really cant wait for cross season now and the new project that is in the works isnt helping with that either.

Thanks to J.B. for all the pictures.

Look who is now famous!

2010 Gary Fisher Catalog













(Bottom left with the red/black coat and camera in my hands)

Maybe that pro deal wont be too far off.

The hell of the north!

Birthday Ride

This year on my birthday we will be riding the Tour de Cure in Brighton. I couldnt ask for a better birthday present than spending time with my wife, friends, and raising money to find a cure for this stupid disease that I have. A cure hopefully isnt too far off so please donate what you can to help out. Just click the logo on the top right to donate.

XC of a different sort

Every four years in Feburary it happens to me. I watch a couple of the XC ski races at the Olympics and I am all fired up about learning how to XC ski. So this year I decided to rent a set of skis from REI and give it a try. Maybe it is just being stuck inside on the trainer all winter and the boredom that accompanies it is getting to me. Being out in the woods any way that I can is a nice change. It is just too bad the conditions in SE Michigan arent always the best for this. Seems like a lot of times we get a lot of snow then it turns to ice after a few warm rainy days. Not good for biking or skiing or really much of anything.
So after some practice in my living room and then the neighborhood park I met up with Pete K. at stony creek today. We started at the golf course and then headed back to the pines. The snow was really good and freshly groomed. Getting out there early helped also with the amount of other people out on the trails. I tried skiing there once before, probably 5 years ago, I just remember having a hard time and falling down a lot. It was much better this time around, it took some getting used to and I did fall down more than a couple of times, but it was also a lot of fun. We put in just over 6 miles, and by the end we were both getting better. I am still not ready for any big hills since I am still trying to figure out how to stop but by the end I was much more comfortable on the skis than when we started out.

Cold!

Decided not to head out to the mmba expo today and ride my bike instead. It was a cold ride, and I am really wishing for spring. I think the Q is almost done finally. I stumbled across a orange salsa liplock on one of the forums. Crazy finding the right size, and color when I was looking for it. If it would of popped up a couple of weeks ago I probably wouldnt of thought about it.

The other good thing about not going to the expo today was being able to watch the worlds from Tabor. Stybar put the hurt on everyone else and just crushed it today. I cant wait until 2013 the world championships are coming to Louisville! This is huge for cyclocross here, and to have it in the mid-west instead of either of the coasts is quite amazing. It has never been in the States before.
So I know where I will be in 3 years!