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.