Jingle Cross Night Race Video

I wish I could do this every day!

Jingle Cross Days 2 & 3

Day 2 and 3 of racing were a lot like Friday night... mud, mud and some more mud for good measures. By Sunday the course was dry in most spots with the exception of Mt. Krumpet. I found these couple videos to show how crazy the course really was as well as how fast Todd Wells was really going compared to everyone else. When 2nd place is minutes down on him you know someone not as "Pro" like me is going to be in for a world of pain to keep from getting lapped. Surprisingly I was able to make it a little longer every day before getting pulled including Sunday when I made it to 2 laps to go! The final results from the weekend are 25th, 29th and 32nd with some heavy hitters like the Wells brothers, Planet Bike's elite squad, The Legend Ned Overend and many more. A shout out to the promoters, spectators and even a few serious superfans to making this one of the best weekends of racing year in and year out! I would also like to give a big thanks to Tim from Half Acres for being an awesome pit man all weekend and getting me a clean bike when it counted the most.

It looks like Jingle Cross is going to be my last big weekend of racing for the year sadly. My plan of going out to Bend, OR for Nationals has now fallen through. UW Milwaukee was going to foot most of the bill for my trip to represent our school. It seems there are too many rules and too few of funds to really make it happen now. I'm not going to lie I'm extremely disappointed right now and if it wasn't a 30+ hour drive one way and the week of finals I would man up and drive it! There is one more race in Chicago that might be worth hitting up this weekend to finish up another year of racing. I'll post more pictures and videos from this last weekend as they come along.

Jingle Cross Day 1- Under the Lights

Last night was my first ever cross race at night under lights and it was awesome! I was pretty pumped and for some reason found myself with a jitter or two before the start. The venue had giant spot lights brought in that did a great job of lighting the course as bright as day where it was shinning. A few spots were hard to see which made for some interesting racing to go along with the slip and slide mud covering the course. As usual Mt. Krumpit was a brutally long and steep run up to keep things interesting.

Telling your body its going to race at 7:30 at night in the dark through the mud and cold is not too easy. It helped to see the carnage from the previous races with countless derailleurs being ripped off and bikes hiding under layers of mud to get the blood flowing and adrenaline pumping. I can't explain it but I absolutely love and live for racing in nasty slick mud! The number of starts was in the 40's and looked to be some respectable competition. I decided to try something different and started a little easier to see if I could hang with a group through the whole race. This proved to work a little better and I was sitting in with a group all the way to the bottom of Mt. Krumpet. Dialing tire pressure was a problem again with sections of hard fast pavement and slow slick mud. After a bike change things were going a lot faster again and I was able to catch back on and pass a couple dudes. All said and done I finished 25th and in the money!

USGP Jersey 3

Getting everything to come together on race day seems to be a problem for me lately. I find myself being able to start pretty well, even when I toe the line with the pros. By no means am I taking the hole shot but I'm finding myself still able to move up within the field for the first half of a lap. This is where putting it all together comes into play and I seem to fall apart for the next 2 laps. Obviously cross is all about running red line and being anaerobic for the majority of the race. My problem seems to be able to continue or closely maintain my position in the race from the end of the first lap for the next 2 or so laps. If I could solve this problem I truly believe I would go from one of the last scored finisher in USGP races to a good 10-15 places higher. Day 1 of racing in Jersey was a lot like last year with inches of peanut butter mud across the entire course. Running for 40% of a lap is no exaggeration, especially after a pile up in the first corner of the race leaving the leaders long gone and the guys in the back doomed to start running. A pre-ride of the course should have been taken but I opted not to for some dumb reason.

If you know anything about cross making the right choice with tires and tire pressure is beyond crucial, it literally can make or break your race. I asked a couple people that took a pre-ride lap or two what they thought and made my decision based upon their information... bad idea. Of the 3 different sets of tires I had to choose from I probably picked the worst one possible. Slipping and sliding my way through an entire lap was the deciding factor in my race and left me OTB quickly. I would like to thank my sponsors for the ability to have 2 identical bikes for situations just like this. I grabbed my B bike from the pits and with no exaggeration was going a couple miles per hour faster just about everywhere on the course! Sections of the course that were unridable the first lap were now ridable with the simple change of a bike with different tires on it. I powered my way around the course for the next couple laps trying to make contact with people only to find them pulling out. The time I lost on the first lap is hard to estimate but I wouldn't be surprised if it was almost a half lap. Trebon was on a mission and that was to relieve me of my duties bringing up the rear with 3 laps to go. Oh well... clean up the bikes and get ready to do it all over again the next day.

Day 2 of racing brought a different course and different style of racing. The course was more technical and dried out to allow for a little faster of riding and lap times. I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice so I got a little bit of time on the course and was able to make the right tire choice. The start seemed slower than normal or I just had good legs because I was able to make my way from the 7th row all the way into the top 30 through the first couple corners. Its a shame to be able to have such a good start only to watch it slip through your grasp. As I elaborated on before I can start really well but some how fall apart for the next 2 laps until I'm able to get it going again. Going from the top 30 to the back of the field is a pretty big mental blow but I am not one to quite and did my best to keep it going. Like clock work I started feeling better a lap or 2 later and was able to start picking guys off one by one. If it wasn't for Johnson setting a blistering pace around the course I might have been able to catch and pass a couple more guys. I don't know what my problem is with fading after good starts only to kick it in a couple laps later but I'm determined to figure it out before the end of the season.

USGP Jersey 2

Here are more pics from the trip home and a stop in Cleveland.

Baby Bobcat

Killing time at the Natural History Museum hanging out with the otter.

Monday Night Football action

USGP Jersey 1

I'll post a bunch of pics from the trip to New York first

Ground Zero and the construction of the Freedom Tower

Wall Street Grand Central Station (The picture doesn't do the size of the station justice)

Time Square trying to find Ben Baily and the Cash Cab.

Rockefeller Center and the tree going up.

Amazing pizza at Lombari's in Little Italy

Cool mural in one of the subways

Iceman 2009

The funny thing about this picture is I didn't know they were behind me. I was in the front row on the line just focusing on the start.... apparently they were too haha. The gun sounded and I was off and surprised how slow the group was going for a start. Maybe I've been doing to many cross races with the pros because I felt it just wasn't fast enough to make my head spin and legs scream so I took the whole shot pretty much from the start. My pull was probably for a good mile or so until I decided to let someone else pull a little and sit in and recover. Jesse Bell took over with the pace making and I followed 3rd wheel until right before the first section of dirt. Two guys attacked on both sides and turned up the pace a notch for about 20 more yards. This is where my great start was wasted as the two guys who attacked bumped each other and caused my buddy Matt to crash right in front of me! Needless to say I was pissed and left running down the middle of the trail trying to get my chain back on going from 1st to 100th place after 5 minutes of racing.

The rest of my race was spent trying to make up the lost places. This is where the shoulda coulda woulda took over in my head as I drilled it for the next 20 miles. Somewhere around Williamsburg road I knew I was getting close to the front of the race and could see little groups not far up the trail. I tried with everything I had to bridge the last couple gaps to the groups but found the match book running out of matches. The fuel tank levels were dropping fast and the chase ended with 6 miles to go and turned into salvage mode. My goal of 1:45 was falling by the wayside and as the miles ticked by slower and slower so did the goal. 1st twice or 11th in my age group was the final result. Overall I'm still pretty happy because I knew I felt as good as I have racing in a long time and I was able to almost get back to the front. I may have over done it in the chase by myself and payed the price in the last 6 miles but it was worth the efforts and I would do it exactly the same again. Congrats to Brian for the 3rd place finish and almost the repeat on the 3peat.... Triple Crown!

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and enjoying the company of new and old friends. The annual party downtown was crazy as usual including the party bus. Breakfast the next morning was the now tradition of The Omelet Shop, and amazing as always. Iceman is always one of my favorite race weekends of the season and I can't wait until next year.

Quick Iceman update

Just rolled in from the long drive home so I'm gonna make this short for now.

My 4th Iceman Cometh Challenge is in the books. Not quite the result or finish I was hoping for but overall still pretty happy. Finished #1 twice as Russel and myself like to joke about or 11th depending upon how you look at it. Time wise I was about the same as last year with a little longer course. I'll leave you with a couple pictures and do a formal write up soon.

Pre Part Bus action at the finish
Score for the weekend.... Brand new super cheap wheel bags!!!

RECAP 1 Grafton cross and WORS #12

This is going to be the first super update to bring myself current in my recent endeavors. Let's start with the weekend of the last WORS race of the season.

The day before the last WORS race of the season I decided to get a nice little warm up in by doing the cross race in Grafton. The course looked pretty good with one really steep climb towards the end of the lap. An important side note is the fact that I was doing my first race on my new custom SISU ti cross frame I finally got in but 2 days earlier. I managed to throw the bike together just in time for the race to test it out. The start of the race proved to be more trouble than I would have liked getting myself pushed to the outside of the first corner and almost in the back of the field before I could ever really get going. My work was cut out for me at this point so I did what needed to be done... start working my way back to the front. The field by and large stayed together for the first 3 laps, just really strung out. I was making up ground and picking off guys one by one as the time ticked by. The rather large hill I mentioned earlier was a deciding factor in the race and would prove to be my undoing soon enough. The first lap up the hill I could hear my rear derailleur trying to bobble between gears as I hammered up the hill with the large group. The same thing happened on lap 2 so I did my best to keep it smooth and steady. Lap 3 seemed as if the problem had gone away which eased my worries that I had something wrong with my last minute build of the bike. Lap 4 was go time and I was finally starting to feel good after a crappy start. I was closing in on Kip and decided to push the steep hill a little harder to try to make up some ground. Coming into the bottom of the hill full speed ahead and right out of the saddle left me on the rivet. No more than a quarter of the way up the hill the bobbling sound was back and worse than ever! I tried to keep it smooth and steady again until the feeling of no pressure on the pedals and the sound of defeat echoed through my mind and body. Game over, broken chain! I was pretty bummed to be done so quick but things got a little better after someone handed me a beer from the heckling section of the hill. Oh well hopefully this was a good enough warm up for the big race the next day.

It wasn't enough time racing to give a thorough assessment of the new frame but enough to know I was definitely pleased. Snappy response and great handling qualities not to mention a nicely damped ride from the full titanium frame and carbon fork to eat up the bumps. Definitely the best cross bike I have ever owned!

The next day was the last WORS race of the season on my local trails here in Sheboygan. The quarry and Evergreen Park is where it all started for me 8 years earlier almost to the day! I did my first ever bike race in the citizen class during the Wigwam Ultimax Challenge. Needless to say I have managed to learn the trails for the race inside and out. After a poor race the day before and honestly a poor WORS season all together, this was my last chance. I felt it was my time to shine and finally put the doubt out of my head on being able to race for a win in the comp class. If there was any course to do it on this was the one; home field advantage if you will.

The start was crazy as usual and left me chasing hard after the guy in front of me missed his pedal. By the hole shot across the parking lot I had worked my way into the top 15 and close to the top 10 by the first section of single track. Someone manged to stack it up in the first single track allowing me to pass a couple guys and into the top 10 where I belonged. I did a little count in the switchbacks and found myself in 7th place, sweet! I kept the gas on and managed to pass a guy or two in the next 3 laps and closing in on Brian Schwaller. Local spectators were giving me time splits to Brian and I was definitely closing the gap. By the end of lap 3 I had caught him as he was pulling out of the race on the equalizer. We later joked about how he was in 5th and decided to pull out of the race haha. Lap 4 was crucial, no mistakes to be made! The pain of cramps was starting to set in so it was damage control time while keeping the gas on as much as possible. I was running out of people in front of me in my wave and knew it was my race to take if I could hold off all the people behind me. It wasn't until 2 miles to go in the race that I caught the guy in 4th and layed down what I hoped to be a serious attack to distance myself from him in the closing miles. As soon as I knew I had dropped the guy in 4th I found another guy from my wave was breathing down my neck. Full tilt from the equalizer until the bride overpass proved to do little to shake the dude. There was less than 3oo meters from the bridge to the finish line so it was now or never. One last attack across the grass and into the little section of single track before the finish was just enough to hold him off! In my mind I knew I did pretty well and was in the top 5 in my wave but totally unaware of 4th overall in the race.

I honestly didn't know I was in 4th overall until I had changed and came back to look at the results board. Staring at the results board a little blankly and double checking what I was reading until it clicked, yes indeed I was 4th overall in the race. By best finish in a WORS comp race and by and large my best result of the season to date was the perfect ending to a WORS mountain bike season!

Podium time

This is a real brief post before calling it a night. I finally put it all together today like I knew I could and finished today's WORS comp race 2nd in age and 4th overall 2.5 minutes down on the all famous W! This is the best result this season and my best comp finish ever. Not the greatest quality pic but it was a camera phone last second.

I'll do a formal write up hopefully tomorrow to let you know how it all went down. Peace out!

USGP Madison

The first cross of the season is always a little bit of a shock to the system, especially when you haven't done it for the last 8+ months and it's part of the UPGP national series. I knew it was going to be hard and I soon found I was going into it with the wrong mental mindset so Saturdays race was a little rough but I survived. Jeremy Powers the race winner from Saturdays race was turning blistering lap times of 5 minutes flat on the 1.7 mile course leaving my race to be cut short when he lapped me. Only having to drive 2 hours and have so many friends and family there to support my cause made it worth the pain and suffering. I'm convinced their cheers helped me drag my carcase around the course and remind me what cross is really all about.

Here is a quick snapshot from Saturdays race. The blur of the picture is how my head felt trying to keep up.

I took my new found perspective after a peep talk or two and applied it to Sundays round two of the course; a mental reset if you will. Between the mental reset and the little bit of rain before the start my race went considerably better on day 2. I was able to make it to 3 laps to go and 15 more minutes into the race compared to the day before. Course conditions were a little greasy to begin with requiring more handling skills to better suite my abilities. The power in the legs felt restored and twice what it was the day before allowing me to actually sprint down the straightaways and keep the gas on through the technical sections unlike 24 hours prior. Positive feedback from people and my improvement on my result are signs of my early season fitness starting to return and providing fuel for the training fire.

Next up for big cross races in the 3 days of UCI races in Cincinnati in 2 weeks!

Lake Geneva and Chequamegon recap

The last 2 race weekends have been a little bit of a roller coaster but nothing I didn't already expect. I'm going to call both weekends a sucess on the road back to my early season fitness and speed. The month of August was lack luster at best in the riding department so the last 2 race weekends probably hurt more than they should have. Wors #10 Lake Geneva was really good for the first 2 laps. Awsome start in the top 15 and moving up into the top 10 and staying there for the first 2 laps left me pretty pumped and knowing I still have some snap. It was the next 2 laps that it fell apart by missing a feed and not eating enough. I was determined to keep it going even though I knew I was pretty dehydrated and feeling an awsome bonk looming. It didn't take but half a lap for both to pretty much hit me all at once and slowed my pace to what felt like a crawl. I can honestly say I have not pushed myself that hard after feeling the bonk coming in a couple years and I'm glad I did. It's good to feel where your limits are and be able to mentally and physically keep pushing. Needless to say I did not finish in the top 15 much less 30 but pushed my way to the finish slow but sure.

Yesterday was the Chequamegon Fat 40 which proved to be another roller coaster of a race. I warmed up Friday afternoon with Tristan and Brian after making the 5 hour trek. My legs felt surprisingly good and only got better as we rode. I'm not sure how to explain how your legs can feel amazing one day and so flat the next. Another awsome start in the top 40 across rosies field only to watch my placing slowly drop as the clock ticked away. The feeling of never being able to get rolling or being able to push it was what happened. I'd be able to ride with a group for a couple minutes and then I'd have no snap to hang on when an acceleration came. The time I posted was actually within my goal range but far from where I wanted to place. All in all I still had fun and managed to finish with a smile. Congrats to Brian for notching another win in his belt for this year and keeping the hopes of a triple crown repeat alive!

Next up is some serious switching of gears. USGP Madison this coming weekend. It's a real shame I'm going to missout on riding this by a matter of days!

Especially considering I have all of these to put on the bike!

starting fresh

I promise I'm not dead. There has been so much going on in the last month it's crazy. There will be lots of news to write about soon with cross season on the horizon! I have cross frames finally ordered and being built. To go with the new frames I found myself a nice Easton Tempest II carbon wheelset with some Dugast Typhoon tires already mounted. There are still a lot of things to be figured out yet but the season is starting to fall into place nicely. Being pre-registered for just about all of the races before the season even starts is a great feeling too. I'll post some pictures as soon as I get some of the new toys in!

Ore to Shore recap

Year number 5 is in the books and goes down as the best year to date. All in all the race went really well. I did have to stop twice to try and fix my non compliant derailleur with no such luck. It gets a little frustrating when you feel really good and want to push a really big gear but cant due to your jazzed derailleur, oh well. I managed to ride almost the entire race with cupcake and the tool shed. We all did our fair share of work at some point and kept our group going strong the whole time. You know your group is going well when your catching other groups and spitting them out within a couple miles. I managed to get myself spit out for awhile but caught back on with 1 to go to beat Russel and prevent the heckling for another year. 48 miles is a good day on a mtb, racing 48 miles in under 3 hours is an even better day. My goal was to finally finish under 3 hours.... mission accomplished at 2:56:20 beating last years time by 12 minutes! I finally got the chance to stick around a little longer on Sunday to ride some of the amazing trails I keep hearing about in the area. Matt from Sisu and a few of my new teammates showed me around and left me wanting more; I can't wait to go back. At the risk of sounding like an add I think Marquette is one of the coolest cities I have ever had the pleasure of frequenting. A cool little college town with good food and plenty of things to do. Amazing and what seems to be never ending trails not to mention the locals are beyond polite. If you ever get a chance check it out! Next on the race calender is the Border Battle this coming weekend.

pre ore to shore

Routine is the name of the game! This is my 5th year doing this race and I like to think I have it figured out finally. Roll out early, pre ride the last 10 or so miles as soon as we get here. This is really important, grab dinner at the pasta shop... So good! Head over to registration to get the number plates and ankle chips. Try not to stay too long talking to everyone we see which is easier said than done. Grab some ice cream and call it a night. If you can follow these few simple tasks you'll be in pretty good shape.

So far I have followed the rountine to the t and am feeling pretty good. The weather is awsome to top things off. Hopefully tomorrow goes as well as today did.

Sunburst, Superweek and Sisu

Training and racing has been going pretty well since the last update. I had the superfly barely 2 days before I decided to truly test it out in a race. Sunburst was the first mtb race in 5 weeks so I didn't know what to expect. My start was sub par and I was farther back on the first climb than I was hoping. It took me a little bit to get the body used to going hard again. Once this happened it was all systems go... superfly = superfast! Overall I had a good race, my only complaint was my seatpost shifting if I hit a big bump or sat down a little to hard. I'm sure I would have finished 2-3 minutes faster had I not had to stop half a dozen times to fix my seat.
Wednesday was the Superweek Lakefront Long course in Milwaukee. The car left early with Brian, Bennett, Tristan and myself packed from top to bottom with bags, bikes and coolers. The big boys were suiting up for 94 miles while I had a shorter 70 miles to race in the 3's. I'd never done the course so I didn't know what to expect. Brian was telling me how it used to be the national road race course a number of years back so I knew it wasn't going to be easy. 2 climbs, 1 switchback decent, 2 good straightaways and lots of crosswind off the lake. This was the perfect test of my endurance with Ore to Shore fast approaching. The first half of my race was somewhat slow and boring. I don't know what caused the change at the half way point but the guys decided they actually wanted to race for the rest of the day. After racing but 2 days earlier my legs felt good all day and were able to respond to every acceleration and even do a little work to bring back the numerous breaks. A late break went so the field was sprinting for 9th or 10th which is always a bummer. I finished with the field and a sense that my fitness is where it should be with the first major race of the season coming up. What better way to end a hard week of training and racing?...with a little relaxation time camping and tubing down a river. Never jump in without your floaties.
Myself and about 25 other people made the trek up to Iron Mountain, MI but not before I made a quick stop in Marquette. I had a meeting with the owner of Sisu custom cycles about the possibility of sponsorship for this falls cross season. The meeting went well and I am officially a proud new member of the Sisu Cycling Team! I will keep updating about this new endeavour as more info comes into play.

I made a hole in one!

The rest of the weekend was a blast spent camping and tubing down the Menomonie River. The rain that was on and off did little to stop us from fully enjoying the experience. Swimming for the last hour or so made for some good cross training too. The training plan called for some hill repeats over the weekend so I did a little scouting and found the perfect spot, Norway Mountain. Winding paved road with a step effect to the climb was more than long and steep enough. I wish Norway wasn't so far away or I'd always do my repeats there. All in all a great week and weekend! Next up is the Alterra mtb race in Milwaukee.