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.

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!!