close to open

well the close of 2011 has been pretty darn mundane for me. got out on the skis a few times. commuted to work a bunch and still ended up feeling like ive gained some weight. i really should get a scale. the new job's fun, feels good to be back in a shop. looking foward to 2012. have the unnamed almanzo ride coming up and cirrem. stay posted and party hard.

the off season

well there is snow on the ground, a time of the year some would call the "off season". for me im finally at a point in my life were i can focus on training. albeit the temperatures are lower and there is no reason to go out for killer hard work outs but staying active day in, day out will hopefully pay off come spring. as far as riding is concerned i will be commuting into work. round trip its about 18-20 miles a day depending on routes i take. days i dont ride in i will be running, snowshoeing, downhill skiing and any other from of out side involvement as possible. between those activities i should be able to put in the ball park of 100-140 miles a week of fitness. while its not a lot, i sure should have my base training covered by spring.

Doberman 150 plug boot vs. Speedmachine 12's

so years ago i raced in a lang comp 130 plug boot. the performance was awesome, but it never quite fit well. freshman year of college rolls around and i opt for a new boot. picked up some nordica speedmachine 12's. the boot was awesome. roomy toebox, and a whole lot less ramp allowing me to ski tall. the boot served its purpose but after five seasons its packed out. shells in  great shape still but i now have a lot of fore aft slop in the boot, that i simply cant buckle out. kinda makes me wonder if i got sized into a shell a tad too large.

speed machiene 12's. 27.5 shell size, 130 flex

ramp up five seasons and im skiing with gary  at wild last weekend. he's in the new lang boot that is less ramped than the generation of lang i was in. and it even has a slightly roomier toe box. but guess what. so does his older Doberman plug boot. 

doberman 150 wc plug. 26.5 shell size, 150 flex

 Lacing up the doberman was an interesting process. the boot has a lace up liner that need to be put on first instead of just stepping into the boot like you traditionally would. i did a shell fit with the liner out, it was going to be close. This was not only a full shell size smaller than what i had been riding, but it was also about 8mm narrower in the toe box.  Surprisingly once i got my foot in. i had room, not much but there was room. and the fore aft slop issues i was having were gone. Now that i was in the boot with out my foot beds i was having some alignment issues. foot beds in and the alignment issues were cleared up but now there was absolutely no room for my toes. dam. skied the boot all afternoon with the foot beds out and man does it perform. for being a 150 flex it was surprisingly supple and progressive in its range of motion. lateral edge changes were incredibly precise. but because of the lack of foot bed alignment issues made it difficult to keep the ski flat on its base. im going to have do do some playing with my foot bed. i think im gonna cut down a trim to fit to a 3/4 length food bed and go from there. i also need to get a power strap on the boot. stay tuned for further insight. 

you can visually see how this boot is narrower through not only the toe box, but also all they way back to the ankles

First Day on Snow

I bitched the whole drive to wild mountain. i had zero desire to go skiing, but it was my first day back for the season with Blizzard. we rolled into the parking lot under gray skies and a drizzle. awesome, go figure that my spyder instructor jacket is not water proof.

got out for a run before the kids arrived and the snow was good! in fact it got better as the day went on. thankfully though the sun never came out. had it, we would have been s.o.l. by noon.  in the end i got to teach some lessons and tag a long with our to black lesson. got some interesting perspectives on high performance skiing from groven.

looking forward to trollhaugen next weekend.

bottle cross

yesterday i took part in hurls bottle cross at the hobo camp. the course was short. fast. and brutal. the roll out was fast. aaron peterson killed it on the pink 1x1 blasting out of the gate like a time trialist. geno had a sweet sprint start and it was off down the long straight. over the barricades and up the stairs. the run up was the most brutal thing i ran since suicide hill at my high school alumni cross country (foot race!). but this time i had my bike, and some steep sketchy stairs to navigate. crawled to the top and my legs refused to work once back on the bike.

painfully pedaled down a fast gravel road into the run down, or as geno rode it the kinda just slide your bike all over the fucking place and hope you dont die down hill. back on the bike. down the straight and a quick right into the single track, then back onto the start. this made for some interesting racing as i lapped people i had to dodge them were they went into the single track and i continued down to the stairs.

the his and hers Hwoods took their respective wins. were awarded their trophies and the party began.
in the end i dont even know how i finished. all i know was that the racing was super competitive. the course was brutal. the beer was cold. and the entry was one bottled beverage! and the conversation with like minded peoples was amazing.

the Bicycle Jerk go his photos up. check em out.

academic freedom

my loose ends have been tied up. should have that fancy piece of paper in a few weeks. interview tomorrow. but for now getting my party on...

chilly chilli cross cross

had a blat at the chilly chilli ride yesterday with death rider y company. trails where superb. the chilli was amazing. and the company was fantastic. best saturday on the bike ive had in a while, and there have been a lot of good saturdays lately...

today i went to the cattail cx in rogers. race got a late start and they shortened our allreay short race. rode to a 3rd place finish in cat 4. whish i would have had that final lap. i think i could have caught them

drew was like a bat out of hell from the gate in the cat 3 race. drew soundly led the race for 2/3's of it but was sadly passed by brandon whom took 1st. in the end though we still covered our entry fees with winnings so it was good. hopefully ill be able to get some of drews photos to show ya the good times

the cracknfail is going 2x9. 50*42 double with dura ace goodness thanks to drew.

why do i do it

going into any chance to be competitive on my bike im jittery with excitment.

then the race comes. and i feel nervous.

then the race starts. and it sucks, i instantly hate every thing im doing at that specific moment.

then the race ends...and holy fuck that was awesome feeling rolls around. and i think about how awesome every thing was about the race. all the way up to the next race

and into the start of the next race...when everything sucks again.

cross rides, fall rides, and being pushed by death...

its been a good fall for me. as per the norm im not riding nearly as much as i want to be. but when is that not the case. the majortiy of my rides have been on the cannondale doing my little gravel/ single track training route on the "state trail" short fast and sweet about all i have time for. i picked up a set of specialized bourough xc's. they are light, fast, rad and expensive. paid more for tires than i did for the frame, fork, headset, and brakes. fml.

did my first ever cross race at theo. raced as a good ole cat 4. it was fast, fun, and fucking awesome. too bad cross is so dam expensive. is there really a need for cat 4's to have a USA cycling liscense. no there is not.

got out for some good ole hike a bike with cox. he even let me ride my ole banshee scirocco for shits and giggles. man i miss that bike. its fast, fun, and fucking heavy. heres some photos of the shenanigans.

XTREME! right well that's how i spent last Sunday. yesterday however was a completely different matter. yesterday was the Dirt Bag

Friday night skogen and wilson roll up and unload. we shoot the shit and rip on tri athletes and  the home brew recumbent riders...you know who you are...turns out there is a recumbentcon... go figure. hit the hay, wake up, load up, fuel up at perkins and get to clear water nice and early. we get geared up and meet some riders and roll out. right off the bat drew TT's on the gravel. warm up or just trying to move things along? the pace is nice and easy at about 20 or so. theres a big group, gravel is nice and tacky, pace line forms i sit at the back and relax. about 5 miles or so in, im in the midst of a wonderful day dream when havoc happens in the nice form of a sand trap. riders go down and everyone is stuck in two high of a gear. i ran through it and regrouped only to hit sand again. and again. and again. the road is finally looking good. there are about 3 riders around me and a group of 5 ahead of us. i look back and say lets go. we pulled ahead and caught the group of 5. now we were 8 chasing the lead group. about 20 min later we caught the lead and were 20 strong working together.

until mile 35 im up front chatting with drew at about 14mph or so. then BOOM washboard and the attack. the road went to shit. drew garmin flew off and smacked me in the face and catching me off guard. in the process of getting my shit together i was dropped like it was hot. i worked my way through, caught some rides passed some riders. hit the pavement and saw a group ahead. to far to catch alone. waited up for the rider back and we made our move. ever so slowly we caught up with Hurl and company, man was i hurting. then Sam and company were with us. we had a legitimate chase crew and the hammer was put down. too fast. legs burning i got dropped again. i tried to chase. but i couldn't. the distance got longer and longer. i was alone...

i sat up. slowed down. and peeked over my shoulder. another rider. death rider. my savior. we worked together that last 35 miles. we both hurt. we shared it. the last 35 was probably the shittiest 35miles ive ever ridden. but the conversation was excellent. we chatted our way to a 23rd (death rider) and 24th(my self) finish. i was wrung out, strung out, and totally happy with my finish. 4:52 and a total of 84.5 miles elapsed distance. not too bad

almanzo gentlemans ride

on Saturday September 24th i left Minneapolis at 6:10am with one goal in mind. crushing gravel. with David and Mikey on board, but on different teams we trekked down to spring valley Minnesota. once there, i oddly felt calm. im usually running around like a chicken with my head cut off. but given the format of the race. things felt different. i got my kit on. got the bike prepped chatted a bit with drew wilson and sam st. pierre, met andrew folpe our 4th team mate and set out.

the first 20miles or so were at a decent clip. about 20-22mph average not fast but not easy. drew lead most of the way trying to keep a large group together, so that straggles could hold on. roughly at mile 20 drew decided it was time to let things go. we fell off the back of the pack and settled into about a 17mph pace.  not a race winning pace but fuck its the gentleman's ride, we were there for the fun. and fun it was. at that pace, we were not only able to chat, but we were also slowly able to reel in teams that couldnt keep up with the fast racers. we over took a few and had one or two overtake us.

andrew was the man at setting the pace and keeping us going when drew wasnt leading. sam was the man for helping me to ride smarter by constantly reminding me to suck a wheel and not work alone. and drew, well drew was my biggest help. by every hour or so reaching for a gel pack, looking back at me and wiggling his. time to eat up boy. and eat i did. with out that i would have surely suffered.

well to be honest i did suffer a bit. i bonked hard at mile 40. ive not had the summer i dreamed of and well my conditioning going into the event was not were it should have been. but with everyone's help i was able to hold on, recoup and catch my second wind and power through. at the end of it all i had a blast. we were out for a total time of 6hrs and 28min, 6hrs and 6min was our total elapsed ride time with a completed mielage of 99.8miles of minimum maintenance and gravel roads .now that i have a gravel grinder of my own, well as soon as i pay dan for the frame, ill for sure be doing more of these events.

so what about dave and mikey. well they were on their own team, finishing a full 4hrs behind us. i left them a not and the key to my car. call me when your done. off to drink beers.

gnome fest de ocho and gets ride prep

gnome fest de ocho was a fucking sucess. i dont know what it is about single track in wisconsion compared to minnesota but it simply is better. lines flow better. obsitcals are natural and challenging compared to morcs man made bull shit. levis trow was a blast. goat dance at night is by far the most fun night ride ive done. besides denting my top tube and creasing it really really good i had a fantastic weekend. guess its a good excuse to go back to steel.

the gents ride is this weekend. got dans cannondale up and running. fits really well. tweaked my back good yesterday. hope that chills out in time for this weekend. could be a lot of suffering if it dosent.

powderhorn 24

wow its been a while since a posting. this summers been rough between wraping up my project and work i was putting in 60-70hrs a week and not finding time to get on the bike. but now that im done with school and unenjoyably unemployeed im finding plenty of time to ride.

my xc season has been less than desirelbe, and last week at the freehweel time trial at murpy i severly damaged my confidence, saddle, brake rotor, and my front wheel. what a wreck. thankfully frank is helping me get up and running again. looks like my american classic hub is getting the stans arch treatment.

RIP san marco ponza

look at that crease!

coming out of this wreck of a race. david and i took part in the powderhorn 24. the powderhorn is a 24hr urban endurance race, with aspects of an alley cat thrown in. this was hands down the most fun ive ever had on my bike. between the two of us we rode well over 300miles in 24rs. i rode 176 of those miles. for not having the season ive been wanting. this was a huge morale booster. we rode through the heat, the rain, and the cold. my longest stint in the saddle at a given time was 4.5hrs rode about 65miles that time.

coming up this weekend. i have a foot race for the anual wayzata xc alumni race, then its off to mpls for the all city alley cat, then on sunday assuming my wheel is fixed in time off to the border battle in river falls for the single track shinigans. and for shits and giggles heres a photo or two

checkpoint one. trying out daves la cruz

dave, hotlapping it in the final hours

summer is here

wow, been a month since ive posted. things have been hetic for me. i graduated, but have had my degree withheld. i am finishing up my senior project and sadly moving home at the compeletion of the project.

i havent had much time to ride and need to really evaluate my priorities for racing this summer. the freewheel went well enough for the muddy shit show it was. took first in class out of three. age group was just as bleak. i like the xc races but the lack of competition is frustrating.

oh well. ride on.

triple d

discouraged, disappointed, and disrespected...

Winding Down. Ramping Up

April of Senior year. im graduating in a month. all of my friends are in the slide, cruzing out with out a worry in their minds. im the bussiest i have ever been. between school and work im putting in about 90hr weeks trying to get things finished. found a few hours to my self yesterday, and finally got the Kona out on a ride. i died hard. it was really discourging, ive been commuting all winter and trying to stay as physically active as my hectic schedule will allow. id love to be able to blame my performance on the wind, but honestly its always windy in mankato. i write this feeling reallly discouraged about my race season. i havent had a weekend/ evening off in months to get a long ride in. im suppose to be doing BALLS on the 30th. didnt get work off, im going to try too. but its not looking good.

the bike was great and im realizable happy with it, need to figure out a better cockpit combination. with my stem flipped down it just felt too high. im use to a really low handle bar position though and my hold Bianchi had a lot shorter axle to crown length fork, so things are higher up. its pretty light though. any way time to head back to class. im preparing to do my final diesel emissions test for my senior project his afternoon. check out this video from the other week. its a three wheeled diesel electric vehicle. we are building a body for it, integrating a electric hybrid motor to power the rear wheel and doing emissions and economy testing on the diesel motor. currently averaging about 99mpg mixed city highway.

Spring Chicken Run...Todds Gang

met at the shop on a gloomy Sunday afternoon, paid my dues, got my manifest. rode to the top of the parking ramp. was told that that was not the start line. the start line was Glenwood cemetery for a special treat. sprint to the bikes, jump on and blast down the ramp as fast as i could. shot up walnut to 4th. went the wrong way on cherry and hopped on Glenwood. looked back Robertspeed about 500ft back. only other racer in sight. pound it up the hill into the cemetery. rick "see that snow over there" "yea?" "go find a beer and pound it" wade into the snow spot the beer, but make as many tracks as i can to disrupt other rides. click, so cold. pound it. Biggie and Robertspeed are there. down the hill to the government center, three times around the ramp, so sketchy and loose. burp up some hams. write Nerdling on the wall. take off, Robertspeed again. up Valimm, through campus warren and stadium. pull out the poster, drop all of the tacks, hands and knees digging through the snow. find them. post it. bomb down stadium to Stoltzman. up east pleasant to the trail. trail to moreland. moreland to woodland. Fromm burning down sap and playing the banjo.

grab a ducky out of the bin. back on the bike. cruise down 66 and pass Biggie. into sibley park, up the hill. gazebo, grab a set of matches. down the hill and through the parkway. pass two riders. cruise to the pub. for the mystery stop. turn in the ducky and get a flower 702 sibley and 6th deliver the flower. off again hit river front and see Biggie, no way he could be ahead of me. fuck. double time it and deliver the flower. blast back to the bar. biggies bike. dam. second. no wait biggie screwed up and put the flyer at the polo rink, wrong end of town. rad, 1st place, 35 bucks and a bottle of Rex Goliath 47 pound rooster Cabernet Sauvignon. Biggie gets a letter from Todd...sorry for your loss. 23bucks spent of beer for the boys, shot the shit, killer good afternoon.

sunday funday

got out for a ride this afternoon. it wasnt as nice as i thought it was going to be. battled a massive headwind south bound on 66, it took everything i had to make it to the top of the climb. made it up headed west, cross wind, thought i was gonna get blown off the bike. finally north again and was booking. had the wind and let it fly. eastbound back into wind fought the crosswind again, cold feet, and cramping quads.

oh well, it was a good ride. yesterday though was purely epic. mout kato with with chupacabras, shredded for a while, vegancabra broke all his shit, grilled in the parking lot, wolf gang came to the rescue with a set of bindings. drank some beer, got a buzz, sun came out and we shredded all afternoon. the snow was epic, beers at the patio were amazing. had the sun on my face, what an amazing day.

senior homework

i just had a really nice chat with my brother, we talked about skiing, snowshoeing and the act of civil disobenience that is going on in maddison right now. i did not know that 14 democratic representatives illegally left the state to create a quorum. this was a gutsy move, and i nod my hat to these people. removing a workers right to collective barganing is simply wrong. i was enlightened today, i really had no idea what was going on there and now i know, and knowing is after all, half the battle. on the other hand i was also issues a senior assignment from my brother, it goes as so...

Your senior home work is: 1. drink some beer; 2. make out with a sophomore; 3. drink some whiskey; 4. Lay a freshman; and 5. have a threesome with two junior girls.You have three months to complete this assignment and graduate on time. 

one and three are complete but that's not even a D. looks like i have some work to do.

uuugh

uuuugh i saw this and had a total mental bikegasm....me need...

  all city nature boy, pressfit bb, 38c clearance, qbp kills it again.

ghost chasing

went for a ride today, the plan was to hit up some gravel. but based off of the absurdly warm weather i took the trek beater single winter bike on a rode ride. full fenders, flat bars, 28c tires and 50*20 gearing i was booking out the bottoms rode. hit the first major climb and was feeling good, spun it out coming down the hill and passed two riders coming the other way...possibly Toby, and that Texas Road House guy from town??? wasn't sure, kept riding.

shortly soon after my right leg starts to twitch, then my left leg, peculiar. head down in the wind rode it out to Judson. the wind was dumb, cold, wish i would have worn tights and not my nickers. coming back i see this blur on the horizon. rider or a figment of my imagination. wasn't sure so the chase was on. with a solid 3/4 mile lead i hunted him down. 4miles and 3 major climbs later i caught the ghost. and it was Dr. Ross kicking it on the cross bike. i caught him just in time to say hi, then spun it up another climb. the doc and i banged it up the hill. at the top my right leg went out on me, then my left leg.

ive never cramped before on a ride, it was a really peculiar feeling, not at all enjoyable, but the company was. we rode back into town and had a nice chat about spring fitness and diesel cars. on Friday, if im feeling it ill bang out the lake crystal loop.

Big Wheels Keep on Turning...

mmmmmh so stoked. 

Scandium, Carbon, Chris King. Options for Gears or Single. and oh yea big wheels.

good by scirocco

ive had a love hate relationship with my Scirocco ever since i built it up. i always have a great time when i ride it, but i can never bring my self to ride the darn thing. i always hop on the muss. that said to fuel my 29er dreams i sold her to my good friend Jordan. we took the bikes to theo on Monday to give them a whirl and say good by. afterward we hit up Jordan's snow pump track.

royal 162

ok, mind is made up. sending in a postcard for a 162mile deathride.