Snow covers ice, limestone caves are created with water too? Oh details of quality surfaces. Ever climbed a stellar cave like Vacouver Isle, Horne Lake? I climbed right of gent pictured....up to slot then out and up cave on those bomber holes. Sweet memories. 
Saturday- arrivied in Leb lot before 7:30AM. Lot empty. First quiet solo lap very hard as I sunk 1/4 inch the whole lap(on pug). Twas a thick shag carpet ride no matter what the tire pressure. Lap 2 with LCR gang was freaky...no more small ring...no more work. WOW. It froze solid and went from punchy work to crunchy in an hour. Lap 2 some of us trudged farther into X, 2pin & Fox completed. Sarg marched XX after Scott & Ray stomped. By end of lap 3 I was worked. Amy went for a ride with Teel to Theo. My plans to hit surly brewery for first time thwarted. I had to head home to kiddo's so Amy could ride, it was only fair. Amy & I topped the day off with a snowshoe (she used her xmas present). Nice lake mtka hike with her sister & husband. Good times, good sushi & more exercise!! Today I'm riding Theo w/my pal Joel. Since he's from Australia now & hasn't been on a pug, we'll show him Sota snow treats to re-aquaint w/MN nICE (picture). Next weekend Pug Race #1 at Hillside. Oh about "nightcrawler", saw a live one at Leb!!
Been busy ya'awl.
Did score team order from Sponsor White Ind. A 36t for me. No reason to have 32t. 44 Rag. 38 Cheq. 34 for casual.
Seatpost 160gr. Stem 99gr. 26inch tube 4 29'er 99gr. Won't use til' thaw, priceless.
See 8 in pic? Duncan pointing at big 8 in the snow.
Hmmm. Leb 2.5hrs Sat AM. River 3 hrs in 10 degrees Thurs. Snow tonight. ALL GOOD!!
LCR won MNSCS Team. I enjoyed riding/racing with the team about as much as after festivities with the team.
I be faster in 08. Raced SS more. Only ride 29'ers. All good.
29'ers? Salsa Selma works. I rode it & don't see any issues. Geo good. Some carbon. I'm good now right? 2009?
Riding various bikes each week. When I ride...missing something...gaining too....my fat hurts!!
Oh yeah, biking, the 3 hours over previous weekend on SS 29'er, then a few short lunch breaks on PUG at Theo opened and set me up for Hillside. Results....my legs basically hammered non-stop. One of my stronger outputs this year. Weird. Sort of like the attached Kittty picture. Which Kitty had enough fun?? The after race pumpkin smashing sure was fun.
I'll be test owning/riding a Selma SS soon, report up next..
So went to Austin on business, did a MTB race after customer meeting. Bottom line I put in 2.5 hrs pre-ride the day before, then raced 2x9 rigid near 2.5 hrs the next morning. With prior day Amex expense, customer outing, pre-fat and drink up w/89 degree goodness......it was the best worst effort all year!!!
It was Bryan Lake Pedal Power, 3rd TMBRA series race. Flat like river bottoms. Twisty like St Cloud and bumpy like Du Lac it was A'ok. It was a good time. Like this, forward to middle of vid..... The top ten Pro's got the call up, then the rest of us behind. Experts started in following wave minutes behind. Anyway I mustered myself into 5th before woods and proceeded to wheeze out the remainder of my chest and head cold looming from prior weekend Hillside night race (fire/smoke/allergies/then evolving into greenies in throat n head). Gurgling & wheezing trying to hold onto lead pack was interesting.... Seriously, crazy wheez n DRY DUST coughing!!! Nice way to start a race.
I settled in about 7th then proceeded to slowly fade into 13th of 16 Pro/Semi's by end of 2hr21min race. Single Speed would have been better for me. Overall 16th of 45 or so Cat1's. All good. I finished ~12 min off leaders, sorta consistant, too bad wheezy & tourist FAT. At least didn't do expert 40+, they only race an 1.5hrs. ....L A T E R
Got the "ok you can go" from the honey. With just Saturday and half of Sunday allowed, woke early, drove a few hours then hit trail solo 10:00am. 2 hour SS ride to start the trip and it was time.
Once the LCR gang showed up we did an afternoon tour. Found the Goat Dance. The night ride included sidewinder at 1:00am! The trail looks like the pic above, yet even MORE exposed in spots. No biggie cause you don't see the drop offs in the dark. Imagine pictured trail with rocks to go over and cliff's to hit your bars on. Quite enjoy-able with lights.
All 29'er Single Speed for me, 34x19 & 32x18 between bikes. I offerred but no one wanted to borrow second SS. How rude, all 16 of them. The rigid SS worked great at Levis with 2.1, 2.1, 2.3 & 2.3 tires.
Broke in the Ergon pack with a clean body slam flat onto it. Sweet riding I must say. Let's just say pack is tough. Overall Ergon pack rules with many over-the-top features. So heavey the features I wheelie'd right over backwards, ha ha. Nice prize, not sure I'd fork out the cash unless many long rides we're an option.
I also tried the Ergon grips, nice surprise. I really really like them. Comfy. I will definetley keep the Ergon grips on my so called long ride and epic race bikes.
LCR quick hit wknd. 3 day rides, 1 night ride, a derby that bent my wheel, too much food, just enough beverages, fire, fire tipping, little sleep, trail sillyness...good times.
So what does the two time SS State Champ bake and eat the morning after? Everything! Including blueberry, strawberry and chocolate chip muffins. It can't be protien all the time, anything works. Warm muffins deserved, no?
I'm beat after two races in a day. The expert course had plenty of new rock'n rock gardens. That ride back to Hayward in the rain justified. Biking to class Tues. & Thurs also good. Keeping legs opened up really helps. I went into races similair to Red Wing, heavey ride week. Finding time to keep "bikes" & "body" in shape is a trick!!
SINGLE SPEED RACE: Off the gun Dave M. led us around the parking lot into the CC ski trail. Hwood, Charlie & I just followed. Later in prolouge I went to the front. At the end of the prolouge around parking lot Hwood stormed ahead ensuring he had lead for first lap. The two of us started gapping chasers. Somewhere way in the woods, wood had a yard sale. All good, now he followed. My goal was to hold on & lead second lap. Around parking lot put in a huge effort stayed in front. Hwood caught back up in woods, we gapped others big. Through 2nd lap upping pace and staying smooth was the goal. The two of us stayed together until last punchy climb. Before we got there I mentioned "I know what your planning". We chatted a bit. At the top of the hill I said, "I thought you we're going to cyclo-cross the hill". Hwood said he couldn't stop laughing. From there my lead increased. Win, second year in-a-row. Good race w/better competition. 34x17 on 29'er a little stiff for accelerating out of corners.. skinny ski! link 1 link 2 No-No.Na-O
EXPERT w/SS: ....with previous race just an hour earlier my intent was start slower. Around the parking lot I was dead last of expert field. Then I started to pick off riders. Matt, Guse, Jack, Larry, Jeff, Another and later in second lap caught up to Jay, Jake and Barry. Barry was leading us through back sections, then Jay led. The pace was fast enough and at times wasn't sure if I'd hold on. Last year my legs didn't give as much output. I threw on the 34x18 combo for the expert race. It was much faster in the woods for me. Started to feel really strong again. Went with it, in short section before end of lap 2 hammered past the three. I yelled out "see ya soon" as my legs we're bound to give. I went hard to ensure my gap around parking lot to start lap 3. It worked. Amazingly my body and legs survived at constant Expert pace. 7th overall experts. 1st & only 40+'er out there. Unreal double race day!!!
Fun yet saying no more. Fun to see folk but grass ride not worth riggamaroll. My deal went down SS 2 9 @38x17. Over rev'ed engine 10 times before rosies then passed a zillion on rosies. Brutal rollout on SS. The trail went fast and my gearing was good.
Scored a nice pull from FG and followed Ryan Horkey to water tower. We formed group of 4 ss'ers. At water tower gaped all 3 ss'ers, only walked once.... But chain kept cracking loud popping noises. I held off Ryan for most of the way home but within last 10 miles got off 3 times, twice to push chain back on & once to wrench chain line tight. I was feeling way strong but bike down time stinks. It happens, Ezra had flat issues too. Nice job Ryan et all. Chain issues cost me 20 spots & 3rd overall in SS? Oh well the results beat my 2005 effort finishing 2hrs 26m, top 100.
I was the idiot of the day and biked back 20 miles to Hayward in the rain. Not sure what got into me. It was wet, sorta fun and fine on the legs. My team mates all wimped out. I was looking forward to a group ride back but no.
Amy, Duncan and my Dad all improved their time over last year in the 16. I hear Dad was strong the whole race and passed a large group on finish hill. Next year I'll watch. Sheila scored 2nd and Teel 3rd in SS, sweet.
Fun to hang with many friends. Too bad the rain drove most home Saturday. I'm looking forward to single track riding. Happy trails.
Whoa, this video is out there, funny what triggers a song. Is it Alice Cooper... Y/N???
Biking: Removed shifters & multi- gears off geary 29'er. Result 19 pounder. At Hillside race last Thursday, hotlap w/ 38x18, 2nd place. 19t would-duh worked better. Hmmm, what to run at Chequamie. Thinking it's 38x17? 44x19? 44x18?
On a completley separate note. Alta, appendice taken out today!
We are in the hospital recovering fine.
ARE YOU READY KIDS!!!!!! Hey kids did you miss it?? Maplelag XC course is one of the toughest and funnest around. Did you show up, survive or DNF? I'm guessing 7 experts dnf'ed. Speaking of kids.....check out picture here 25 kids in the kids comp class!!!
.
Maplelag is like going to Camp. Thank You Richards family for Camp Maplelag!! The lake, swimming, fishing, friends, non-stop race action, home style food, cookie jars, movie room, skills clinic, main lodge, dinner bell? Everyone has kid like energy. It's hard to explain the great job the Richard's family does. Food is inclusive with overnight stay, so everyone sits together at mess hall on wooden benches and tables. The food rolls out on carts, you just want to start singing like at camp when it's served. 
The Time Trail Saturday AM hurt as my biking time has been lacking. Time has got the best of me, hence my late blog post! This week I started 2 more MBA classes(I'm halfway through St. Thomas MBA program), kids are back in school, and the actual egress windows are both finally in!!
In the short track my goal was to simply not get passed by the leaders. I lost three .JPG)
spots when my chain came off on final lap/hill, looks like weak derailuer to me. Important thing is met goal of not being passed by expert leaders, whew. Duncan also did ST and was leading for a few laps. It was so fun to see him hammer it out with the leaders. What a race. He took 1st in citizen males in ST and overall. Far out!! The short track is a blast to watch. 
Lap two Barry and I pedaled together talking about how long a race it was going to be. Barry is really good at following and showing me his wheel. He knows I'm a sucker for a race and will speed up if challenged. He did this on short track and other races. We actually joke about it. As we cruised along we knew Jan was coming, Matt caught us. Paul was ahead and eventually came in site.
So at start of lap 3 it became myself, Barry then Matt. Jan was way gone and Paul was ahead somewhere. At suicide hill Barry the steady one made his move. My legs said no with a few electrical shocks, I had to let Barry and Paul go. Finally I steadied my pace and kept Matt off. It was hard but finally caught Paul and passed him. He was basically riding one handed, yep, what a finish for him. I never saw Barry but ended 45 seconds behind him. 
So as expected after 2 big digs this week, results suffered. Attached is a shot of 1 of the 2 holes I dug this week. Oh me arms! Add in a 24 hr race last weekend, it's a knock out. Leo, Duncan & I showed up early enough. Yet when I heard kiddie race was up I quickly found Leo & signed him up. Anyway, once the boys we're set just 20 min of warm up not enough. The race was fun but I dropped my gel flask, stopped hard & broke my front brake cable loose. So for two+ laps went without front brake. A guy cut me off causing me to save a crash with both feet, he said sorry after race. Lap 4 no water cause it fell out somewhere. Yup one bottle was mine! By lap 5 I was coming on strong, wish race had 2 more laps!! Oh well, wasn't just me.... I saw Brendan's chain fall off at start & later heard had no gears, just 3to1 ratio. So another race done. Come on Maplelag.......
This week after Afton 24 was just swell, more like swelling. Monday Jimmay & I hit Theo on our PUGS to spin out Afton. A few side adventures, a hot lap then libations & pizza at the legion. We saw a large group of morc'es, all good. The enclosed picture shows Tuesday night & Wednesday night digs (2 windows!), also shows Thursday night race results. Yeah, dig'n holes makes ya sore. Not a bad Hllside race result considering all and a bee sting on the knogg! Today, Friday, snuck 1 hr ride in. Then dug some more to fit gavanized tub in hole. Saturday the last tub and egress widows go in. 
Salsa 2 4 as it's now called was a blast. Perfect weather, full moon, tons of swag, MORC/Salsa ran a stellar show. The non-race festivites, games and food we're swell. I can see this event becoming bigger n bigger. With 9-mile so close or perhaps name change speculations, folks missed out!!! Dan Dittmer won solo easy, stopping early (21 laps). LCR cleaned up with the following: 
-2nd place overall team; LCR Misfits
Duncan, Leo, Dad and I headed out to the MNSCS race today at Buck Hill. Not too many people. 1hr 13m expert winning time. Too short. Very dry conditions but fast.
After the race we went to Horner's for an LCR team BBQ. We all had fun. Kid's still had energy...
That's it.
Later..........
OK, let's get the juvenile topic out of the way. In sort of a group think fashion LCR boys lined up in front of everyone. I was told course setter said go for it. The intent was fun. So anyway that pug line-up fun led to other persons funn'n then....boys will be boys! Sticks and Stones. Sticks and Stones. When push came to shove it got ugly. A first in a vibrant biking community.
My race was going quite well for three laps. On pug doing better then expected flatted at end of lap three. Looking forward to Sunday. Duncan had a great race finishing closer than ever to new LCR fast girl Jordan. The kids will all have fun at Afton 24!
I heard there was a multi-dude pile up at the mid-pack rec mens finish? Anyway the remainder of the night was fun as kids, parents, racers and all enjoyed the awesome summer night. Amy's chip salsa was a big hit, later! Oh, almost forgot, it may take a while for results posting at Penn's site un-official results.
Wednesday we all headed over to Athol, Idaho - Farragut State Park TT race. It was the 4th and final 2008 time trail race. Amy and Duncan had a great ride TT style. My race was very good too. My legs we're still way tender from the 65lbs pack and hiking. After getting beta from Aaron at the Sandpoint bike shop it was a 16t cog to go with the 34 ring. A good move. I started the TT a few minutes behind Aaron (cause she's fast). It worked, was able to catch the carrot and pass her. Motivated and ignoring my sore legs it was all good until my pedal broke 1/2 mile before finish!! With a nub a half inch to limp on finished as fast as possible. By what people we're saying...did I win? Ha ha ha, finally saw results days later, NOT. With pedal and sore legs ended up 2nd of single speeders, 5th of 91 overall. Not bad, quite happy given first time on trail. The trail was flat with a few climbs. Mainly open and very fast through old growth with multiple roads to hammer. 13+ miles. No awards, just shwag, food and very nice folks. I won a park tool pizza cutter but refused it as local racers deserve the goods. Regardless, all kid racers scored lights for their wheels so we we're set swag wise....
Buck Hill up twice this week, then Afton 2-4, Check out Murphy on Wednesdays and Hillside on Thursday's this month. Hillside rocks. Maplag Holiday weekend always the funnest race weekend of the year....
No Duluth, however hauling heavey packs into Alpine Lakes Wilderness ruled over a MN northlands bike race. 4,300 feet of elevation, 7 miles & 8 hours later Duncan and I tromped into the high plateau. The Mt. Stewart Range, Cashmere crags as it's commonly known. We dropped our 28 and 65 pound back packs for camp. The camping under Witches Tower and Dragontail Peak 8,800 ft elevation above was killer. Day one with 1,100 ft more of mixed hiking we bagged said Dragontail Peak. Day two, near 3,000ft more elevation between the Enchantment Ridge and Little Annapurna. We hiked high snow meadow above Witches Tower and camp to gain Little Annapurna (sweet!)
10 years ago I climbed the multipitch Prussik Peak South Face with full natural gear, it was in view. No rock climbing yet a real no non-sense trip for Duncan and I, we both loved this trip!!! My legs haven't been this sore since a ski trip in 9th grade (many moguls a long time ago!)
MNSCS Red Wing and Nationals: What up with this weeknd of racing??? NATIONALS: dnf's, learnings and crashes!! Reading rider blogs it appears none of the fine folks we locals race with around here crashed. Too bad Sam J. (U23 boy) crashed while defending his title. On brighter note Chris P., TJ, Jake, Ben & Zenna all had very good XC races. Sounds like a good time was had by locals regardless of XC strange. Next year I hope to attend the maddness. RED WING was wicked fum yet a bit weird. It was't a relitively high temp day, yet, as prior night rains burned off racing was hot! With all the folks at nationals we looked to rally Luke, Oftendahl's, Dave Meyer, Matt Kurke, Barry, Jesse, Jan and a few others. Dave O, where we're ya? Off the gun my legs did it again, Barry said whaddda doing...? Kind of an on-going joke. Good call, I eased my efforts, Eric & Justin initially led us out. Into the woods we went....Justin, Oftendhl's, Barry, Luke & Myself. Barry led a good pace with Luke talking motivation to kept the Bro's in sight. Soon enoght Luke went after to chase aforementioned Bro's. Then with Anikin & Jesse chasing me, I kept Barry near ahead. Then Barry flatted! Then lap 2 I saw Justin cheering on sidelines! Also lap 2 Luke was off to the side of trail with a flat issue! Jan was walking his bike with a chain issue! Kurke off too! At one point I was in 3rd. After some chatting Anikin and Jesse charged up the woods climb ahead of me. Dave Meyer & another we're catching me fast & basically touched my tire begin of lap 4. Then I got back some fire. Basically standing single speed style the woods became mine. The open corners and roads we're also love for da 29'er. I held strong for a 6th place OA. Sweet. I gotz the "have enough" tire pressure for rigid-rigid figured out. I carried tools and tube yet 30lbs psi worked flawless. My gears: 2x8, 32/44, 11-30 worked fine. Whew. Thanks to LCR & Family cheering. So cool!!! Duncan had to dnf as he wasn't feelling well after one lap. He still had fun. My Dad had one of those bump in's with another racer and attended the crash. Pops is bummed as other party was hurt'n. Later in race he helped clear trees off the course too. We cheered him at the finish line. He was going for 1st in age but the anything can happen, did. Stranger things have happened in a weekend, no?
It was surprising becuase my effort was quite slow nearing the woods. Barry, Chris & Jeff we're behind as we hammered through the woods. I really went hard to not hold up Jeff and try to bridge Dave and Brendan ahead. Brendan was gone, couldn't catch Dave. After Jeff flew by the next few laps went the typical game. Recover then charge ahead of who ever is around, then get hammered back. We did have lap traffic where Chris got hung up, and we waited for him to catch back up. Later, Chris finally charged hard on final water tower climb. Barry & I really didn't respond so we duo charged the end of Lap4 again until final sprint effort where came in just ahead of B for 5th. Buck is my interval training. Results in pic or visit Penn Cycle site for official results soon.
The whole family took the jaunt over to Eau Claire Saturday. The kids we're pumped about camping. They we're not dissapointed as the bouncy dome thing, food, & kid friendly enviroinment ruled. We hooked up w/LCR team and Horner's already there. Too bad I didn't take a picture of the camp set-up. The highlight for me Sat. was pre-riding w/Amy & Duncan then cooking marshmellos on our pitchfork that night (that's what city folk do w/pitchforks ya-know). The movie was a bit boring for Leo, mellows good.
Speaking of lil'Leo, he did Citizen youth finishing a fairly tough course. Great to see him out there. No picture of him on course, but see picture of Amy edging out competition at finish line. Amy did awesome in Citizen women placing 10th of all 30! Not bad for only doing a few races each year without training. Duncan had a good race. So fun to have them out there!! Alta had a sprained thumb and bummed we didn't let her race.
My race started off great. I was able to hammer up front, top 10ish for much of the lead out. Went into the woods near 15th, perfect. Then mid-though lap 1 Todd, Barry, and two got by. I caught and followed Barry and aforementioned group torward end of lap1. Followed them right into a straight-over-the-roots steep uphill, a good line, yet wham! Nailed my rim a bit. Sure enough the tire was letting out air. Finished lap, replacing tube with two air cartridges in the most retarded way. Not a good time to learn.
I spend second lap figuring out what g-force would cause tire foldovers. One time ended up running w/one handed bike flying like kite beside me. You know right hand air turn before first creek, yup, not good w/20lbs psi. So went 2nd lap. Decided racing half speed around corners risking americlassic rim wasn't worth it. Called it a day. Funny, I was thinking after pre-ride 2.3 up front w/rigid would be nice.... Hard way to learn tubeless and/or more air is required on some courses. I blame myself....2nd dnf in 4 yrs. Last time was a torn tire at Steeple Chase......
No problem, it was quicker to get to Kato than I remember. Anywhoo, Grey Squirrel and Squirrel Jr. said the citizen course was slippery and fun. I had a good time cheering, hydrating and taking pictures. 
Finally after two years, raced a SS at an MNSCS. Buck, no big deal but just couldn't go there at MNSCS. Scared of muscle failure. Mankota was it!!! Single Speed rigid 29'er 34x19. I was nervious but it ended up A'OK. Off the start I was comforatable in 15th or so up the first climb. It was a bit of a grind. I settled in near Tom, Jesse and a velo guy. The hills and short climbs wern't too bad, but after most of lap fell off Tom's pace to ensure race success. Lap 3 & 4 started getting real good at pacing before, then, hammering small inclines. Funny, mid race I was nervious about muscle failure. It never happened, in fact I started pushing it faster during lap 5. It was sweet. Never walked, hardly regretted it and definetly enjoyed!!! 14th of 38 Expert, 3rd in age behind Cam and (Jan only-18 sec) on rigid 29'er SS. L
ater....
