Two Really Different Tires

Not super exciting but worthy. Wanted 10 hours Sat and Sun, got 7. All i can say is my life ain't simple. Alta had two soccer games, mom was gone, car issues etc etc. Big thanks to my Dad for helping out! Solid effort of car wrestling for grey sqrl. The 4 runner has new parts and solid again.

Riding pugsley to Leb for a full lap and back home Saturday was a good beat down (4.5hrs ride time). Saw new Leb stuff 1st time on pug. Good day on pug. I miss the old winter pug races..... So missed 10 hours but a good weekend anyway. It's nice to switch bikes. Many theo and surronding trails on cx Sunday was sketchy fun. CX season will be interesting....

Awe Bummer Dude

There it goes......say goodbye to Summer. I'm actually, and have been, looking forward to seasonal changes! This weekend will be a good dose of hurt.......more soon.

Maplelag Where Everyone's a Kid Again

Duncan doing the lake jump!!!

Simply put, the weekend is a no brainer. I'd get in trouble if I said let's not go. Every single family member would hate me for not going. That makes a racing weekend easy!!! It was fun as heck.

Alta runs with the kid pack doing everything from swimming to talking smack with other kids her age. Friday night was a glow frisbeee game that only the kids knew the rules. Leo did the dirt jump track til his hands hurt, and kept going for more air. He did suicide hill three times in citizen course too. Mom talked it up with other moms, bikers and had fun like I. She grounded Leo for getting close to passing her in citizen race. She got a medal for her efforts.

Duncan killed it on the ss. 29'er 32x18 with maxis tt front and ralph 2.2 rear scored 6, 7 or 8th in all three events. He used our one front shock. I used our one cassette free wheel (I should fix that for cx season). Anyway the kid went from bottom 25% of sport to top 10 in one year!!! No he will never catch me!

I finally had some legs Sunday after deep painful Saturday events. I actually dropped out of the tt. I never do that, but that's what I get after an all in no prep duathlon....... All I know is the single track is what I like and Maplelag has it. 10 miles 9 of it single track. It made me look good as I was only a few minutes off my best season form. In other words for being out of shape and lazy of late, a good single track is all I need. Yeah I felt like a kid again jumping into the lake too! It was way easier that I thought it would be. Sure wish the drive train didn't freeze up, more air would have been better going into the lake. More pictures soon. Skinny ski has many, and I have more too. Later....

Duncan's Dad doing the lake jump. I must say the way D-Man killed the sport race and all three events on ss motivated me (pops).

Tuesday Night Cross

My legs we're simply too pain ridden from the Duathlon to race, but Duncan did. Every Tuesday right in my hood there's a practice CX race. Tuesday Night Cross. Jordan Cullen beat out Doug Swanson and other to win lasat night. Cheap, mellow, and good training. Duncan sufferred good using the bike we have ready.....a 23lb front sus mountian bike! He did really good pushing big tires and bike araound.

Minneapolis Duathlon post Camping trip

FAMILY CAMPING TRIP: Tuesday to Saturday the whole family headed up to Walker Mn area (not too far from Maplelag actually). Kind of cool to be up north many days then come back to the big city for a huge duathlon the next day. More on the Minneapolis-Duathlon below. Back to family trip first. We found this resort that has two camp spots and about 20 cabins. We pop-up camper'd. It's a great place as the row boats, kayaks, and canoe's are use at will. Fishing was great, 28 kids running around all swimming to the dock and enjoying Summer. Mom and Dad had fun too! We had lots of fun family time. One day we biking on the trail 8 miles to the next town for lunch. Alta wasn't too happy but we all made it. One day I showed Duncan the roadie style pulling him 10 miles one way on mountain bikes on path. It was the first time I've done steady state road type miles for two months. Duncan never did it before. He said he didn't like it much but funny how he basically hammered the next day doing it again in spurts on aforementioned family ride.

MINNEAPOLIS DUATHLON: http://www.minneapolisdu.org/race-day/results 5km run, 18 mile bike, 5 km run again. I did much better this year. I took 8 minutes off my total time!!! This year my transition times we're 3 minutes total instead of 6. That's the time between running and biking. This year no shaking bottles, goo or tying shoe laces! My runs we're 7-8 min per miles instead of 8 & 9 minutes. AND surprisingly my BIKE time was 3 minutes faster with average speed over 22 miles an hour vs. last year at 21mph(no drafting allowed).

Biking hurts a bit after running when your suck at running. Overall I placed close to 130th of 1,400. Last year close to 200th overall. That includes women who are pretty fast. I'm pretty happy especially since I didn't run outside once (like last year). In fact other than early Summer speed tread mill efforts I quit running many months ago (just like last year). Also felt like this year did much less commuting and road miles mid summer.....and my racing shows it as of late. I burnt the race don't train match about a month ago. But I signed up so it was time to step up. Glad I didn't wimp out. I'm re-invigorated for CX season..... Maplelag next.

Oh wait. Last minute note. Yes another topic. Look what I got in the mail. Nice gear guide pictured below.......I do miss it so I buy the mag........if I lived in the mountains again duathlon would NOT be in my vocab... there I go whining again. I got it pretty good. Like I always say, "can't have it all."

Hillside Thursday

Ma, Leo, D-Man and I made it to Hillside Thursday. Alta was at a friends. It's a trek to get there with traffic and all but worth it. It's always low key and fun. The swag is entertaining and much like an arcade mystery prize machine you never know what you'll get. Leo got a Lexis model car. I got a car vac. Ma a cutting board. Duncan got the 1st place podum champ shirt.

Yep Duncan did the one lapper and even with 32x19 on 29'er he scrambled down the road and passed others into 1st place. As far as podium, Amy made womens and Leo made the kids comp podium too! I was the big loser. Actually no big deal.

It was my first time on the bike since Afton 24. Wasn't tender sore from Afton (9 laps ss 2 laps gears) but my legs we're sluggish! Off the start I chased rocket Ray down the road, then Eric flew by too fast to get on. Then Sam decided to hammer by. I was able to stand and with 4 good cranks got on his wheel. In third and set to ride out two laps...then at start of beginner loop chain fell off my 1 by 8. I got back going again slowly in 10th? Anyway a few more chain drops later and still made back into 4th. Yeah the bike didn't get any care since the 24. It was tough as Broten and others we're after me and my stale legs. Hey, just realized no dnf's this year. I don't dnf much at all as I'd rather finish slow than dnf. Not sure when I dnf'ed. Knock on carbon. Looking forward to more causual Hillside fun...good times.

26 Races in 2011 so far....

Duncan has about 20 races in too.....

Single Track Attack MNMBS ended 8th (dana's pics)

So far all races for me have been SS and rigid and happy with results. The exception was Cheq100 ss with front shock and 2 of my 11 laps at Afton24 used 1x8 with front shock. Maplelag I need gears at least, gotta figure out bikes. I only have one wheel with cassette freewheel (cx open pro rim). I may need to lace up another.....