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.

MTB, CX and everything in between

I never would have thought it would be easier to update during the school year when things seem more busy than the summer months, I guess I was wrong. A lot has happened since the last lame update. My new mtb should be here tomorrow hopefully. It's a little change of pace going back to a hardtail after 4 years but shouldn't be too rough with this bad boy. I'm also starting to line up some sponsorship for cross season already; bikes, wheels, tires, the works. I've never been so motivated for cross and it's over 2 months before the first race!

So what happened the last couple weeks you might ask. Finished up 2 summer classes successfully. I'm glad that's out of the way cuz they were a huge time suck. Only 12 classes left till graduation! Gears have shifted from school to work now for the remainder of the summer. Trying to bank as much money as possible to pay for my rather large cross campaign. The good news is I love my job; can't really complain about working in beautiful Door County doing construction on a cottage. I took some time off the bike after the Tour of Americas Dairyland to rest up and enjoy a little bit of my summer vacation. Last weekend was spent in the dells for a volleyball tourney which was a lot of fun. Jet boats are pretty sweet, especially doing 360's at the tip of a hat.

Training is ramping up again. Sunburst is next on the schedule along with a little superweek hopefully. Here is a picture of me at Sunburst in 2004 for one of my first races.

TOAD day 7

I'm gonna try a mobile update while corner marshaling here in sheboygan. My legs are starting to come around nicely finally. Managed to break even on entry fees with prime money. Still can't find my sprinting legs for the finish though. The team is starting to work together nicely as mark is sitting 3rd overall in the 3s. Greenbush road race tomorrow should be interesting as its the same course as we use for our collegiate race every year. The goal is to finish in the top 20 overall for the series. Ill post some pictures as soon as I get them from Gary at extreme photography.

Death on the Nile

No I'm not dead. Yes I'm still riding my bikes. I promise to keep a post coming at least once a week from here on out. On that note.... what's new? Gotta get a ride in before class so I'm gonna make this quick and bullet this post.


-Summer school is half over and going good. It's been consuming almost all of my time and most likely will continue too until the 4th of July when I'm done.
- Went scuba diving for the first time ever....crazy cool!
- Learned to skeet and trap shoot
- I went against my better judgement and tried to play a game of golf with some friends. Let's just say I'll stick with cycling.
-Found 15 on 15 off intervals really suck
- Tour of Americas Dairyland starts in 2 days!!

Iola Bump and Jump

Sorry for the delay on this write up. This being my 1 week of true summer vacation before summer classes I should have lots of time. Lots of time to do every other project on the never ending list that is.

The first mtb race of the season is in the books and can be put behind me finally. I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform and was more interested in a result than anything else. I was hoping to either win the comp race or finish in the top 10. I've decided this is the year that I want to stick to a training regiment and see where I can take my racing while still in school. My base training is complete and I would consider it my best and most complete base to date. I'm a little disappointed with my overall result from Sunday but my time back wasn't too bad. I know what I have to work on now and will definitely rebound for the next race.

I lined it up front row on the right side with Matt Muraski and we went 1-2 over the top of the lead out climb with a couple second gap. We kept the gas on and went 1-2 over the top of the climb after the bowl too. I felt really good and was thinking to myself this was going really well. It was at this point that Matt blew up pretty hard and 1 guy caught and passed us on the flats. I had to leave Matt and tried to chase but didn't want to blow up too early. The rest of the race went a lot like this with 1 or 2 guys passing me after I put in a hard effort and unable to latch on to a wheel. I felt fast on the flats and a little dogish on the power climbs where it seemed I was always on the rivet by the top. All in all a good first race to a long season. My average and peak heart rate numbers are a little higher than years past which is progress. See you all at Rhinelander, be ready to thrown down!

Thanks to Mountain Goat for the picture.

New....

Riding new roads in the kettles is awesome! I've always come close but never ridden all the way to Kewauskum until today. We threw in New Fane and New Prospect for good measures. Today goes down as one of those good days. I felt pretty solid the whole ride from mile 1 to mile 80, not bad for a little over 4 hours in the saddle. Considering I felt pretty blown on Monday and was able to bust this out today is a good sign. Last but least some how I got more tan lines out of the ride today even with it being overcast. T-minus 11 days!!!

A little bit of everything

This last week has been jam packed with midterm exams, a brewers game, concerts and some solid weekend riding. I would have to say this has been the best recovery week ever. It all started with some serious stress as my entire semester was hanging on my 2 midterms Tuesday morning. There's nothing like making or breaking 16 weeks worth of work in a matter of 3 hours. After feeling my blood pressure jump drastically I figured it was time to relax for the rest of the week. Wednesday was the Franz Ferdinand concert at the Rave. Not to sound to so-cal but the concert was sick and off the hook; great live concert. If you ever get the chance go see them!

Thursday was an easy recovery ride around town. There was nothing exciting about the ride other than the weird weather in the area. I was riding along the lake and ducking in and out of huge pockets of fog. One minute you couldn’t see 5 feet in front of your face and the next it’s clear as day for 200 yards. It was kind of cool so I snapped a couple pictures.

Friday was the grand opening of Sheboygan Bicycle Company. The place was packed and the register was ringing all day. It's good to see both old and new faces coming in to support the new shop. With Brian having to manage the new shop Saturday morning we had to ride kind of early. It's pretty nice having 3.5 hours in before 11. The rest of Saturday was spent tailgating and going to the brewers game with 16 friends. The weather was amazing, the beer was cold, enough food to induce a coma and the company was great. What more can a person really ask for?

Sunday was the first day of riding trails in Wisco this year. Wally, Brian and I decided to check out the new trails in Greenbush to get some practice in before Iola. Overall the trails are top notch with only one real complaint. Being new they need to be broken in. Even on full suspension we were getting it handed to us with all the loose rocks and pot holes. 2.5 hours of trial riding and sprinting B-Matter on the road home made for a perfect ending to a rest week. The skills are still there and should be ready to go in 2 weeks for the season opener!