Contour HD Video Camera

A good friend of mine gave me this awesome gift for standing up in his wedding. I've read nothing but great reviews, and from what I've seen so far it takes some pretty awesome videos for such a little camera. A helmet mount is in the mail...so I'll be uploading some videos soon, hopefully adding a nice spin to this blog.

Danny Macaskill - Industrial Revolutions

I hate to be the blogger who simply regurgitates videos posted by others, but this one has to be worth sharing. Incredible.

Herd of Turtles Cycling Club

Here's an article in the local newspaper about our Tuesday night group ride. More riders are encouraged to come out! 

http://www.ricelakeonline.com/main.asp?SectionID=32&SubSectionID=113&ArticleID=22273

Hard Reset

Clearly, this blog has been neglected for quite some time, and that's probably an indication that my riding has been neglected as well, as the bulk of this blog is supposed to be about cycling. No riding = no blogging. If I compared the intensity of racing and riding that I was doing this spring to what I am doing now, you could almost say I don't even "ride bikes" anymore.  June and July have essentially been "rest months"...albeit much needed ones.  I made it out for a few local Tuesday night group rides (most of them 50 milers), and I managed to squeeze in a 250 mile week (including 1 century in there) in late June after building up the trusty Merlin roadie, but outside of that...I've certainly been slacking.

Overall, since the two lovebirds got married on June 11, the summer has been...interesting...to say the least.  While I definitely reap many benefits from riding, there are certainly times when the structure and rigidity of a hard training/riding/racing schedule isn't conducive to learning other lessons that need to be learned in life.  So, I've temporarily taken a break from the hustle and bustle of racing, and have taken advantage of the spontaneity that surrounds a young guy's life with few real commitments, such as a wife or children, etc.  Ahhh...it has been quite the summer.  However, truth be told this phase of life must round off.  It's time to hit the hard reset button.  "Bigger picture" goals and fitness must get back on track.

I'm on the waiting list for the Heck of the North on October 1st, which I hope opens up.  Then I'm on the roster for the Dirt Bag on October 29th. Ultimately though, if I'm still living in Wisconsin by late December (debatable), my focus will be on redeeming myself from 2 years ago at the 75 Mile Tuscobia Winter Ultramarathon.  Folks, it's go time...

Click.

Good Luck

...to those participating in the Westside Dirty Benjamin this weekend. I will not be attending this leg of the Almanzo Gravel Road Series due to the holy matrimony of two of my best friends, whom I wish an even greater fortune in all of their future endeavors. I am truly looking forward to an epic weekend! Huzzah!!!

Reconnaissance

After several tough months of riding and racing, I feel like I can use some rest and relaxation. Although I enjoyed bagging big mileage rides on those long and cold spring days, and to some extent I kind of miss them...it's nice to be able to take some "fun rides" without being concerned with getting enough miles in or training hard enough...yada yada. So, this week I backed off a bit, but still squeezed in a few shorter "reconnaissance rides" out in the Blue Hills. The goal on these rides is to find places and trails that I haven't been on or seen before. Here is how these rides typically go:


You start out riding down something like this...

Then you might jump on an ATV trail or a logging road...

You'll run a few of these things over..

Find some water that happens to cross the road...

Obviously you ride across/though it...and maybe even jump in for a swim...

Further down the trail it probably thins out and becomes less used, but you still hope that it goes somewhere...

Then you see some more water...

Maybe it's not very deep and you're ambitious enough to ride the actual creek bottom for a while before jumping back on the trail...

...and if you've done things right, your ride home probably feels something like this...

Gosh, life sure is tough up nort'a Highway 8 der...don't cha know?

Cheq 100 & WEMS @ Northern Kettles

I didn't get around to writing a report on the Chequamegon 100 two weeks ago, so I'll try to kill two birds with one stone here...

I signed up for the Cheq last year, but due to crashing in the Almanzo 100 I was unable to attend. I think many would agree with me when saying that the CAMBA trail system near Cable and Hayward Wisconsin is likely the best mountain bike trail system in the Midwest. I've ridden a few sections with my older brothers, but I figured this would be a great way to explore and learn a bit more about the area, and find the epic sections that I want to return to.

With a simple 1hr 30 min drive to the start, I drove up the morning of the race. The course was a nice mix of singletrack, ATV trails & gravel roads. So, riding the trusty rigid Soma Juice 29er, I got a little beat up on the ST but was rewarded any time the sections opened up. Assuming that the bulk of the course was ST, prior to the race I dropped the psi fairly low for comfort reasons (no pressure gauge so I'm not entirely sure what it was set at). We started the course on Rock Lake road, and after about a mile jumped on to ST trails. It didn't take long before I realized that I had let a little too much air out. The rocks felt too soft, and on tight/fast corners the sidewall was flexing quite a bit. The handling was off all together. I planned on pumping up the tires a bit once the field thinned out and were were further down the trail, but it was already too late. I could tell that I had already pinched. Quickly becoming a feast for mosquitoes I changed out the tube as fast as I could, but I got dropped by the entire field.

Coming off a huge effort the previous week at the Royal 162, I suppose I didn't take this race too "seriously"...I was still pretty cashed. Once I flatted, I decided to take it easy, enjoy the trails and save some gas for WEMS the following week.

About 40 miles in we got to tackle the infamous Fire Tower Climb, which is at the end of the Fat Tire race in the fall. First time I've tried it...and it's a tough one...steep, long and rocky. By the time I hit the top it felt like mile 50 or 60, rather than 40.

Anyway...I trucked along past the OO warming house, down the Makwa, Mosquito Brook and Hatchery Creek trails (all sweet singletrack), and somewhere along the line I incurred another flat. Meh, by this time I was certainly out of any sort of placing that I would have been satisfied with...so, I took my time patching a tube (I only brought 1 tube - bad idea for 100 miles off-road) while fighting off the mosquitoes trying to feast on me once again. No worries though...I still kept a smile on my face and had a fun day in the woods. See?

6 hours and 30 minutes in to the Hatchery Creek (mile 60) checkpoint, I decided to bail. All I could think about was how much rest I would need before another 6 hour effort at WEMS the following week...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Part Two: WEMS at Northern Kettles

This was a fun one! I didn't have this race lined up until about 2 weeks ago. My cousin was having a party in West Bend that Mom and Pops were planning to attend on the same day as this race. My older bro was planning to race, then hit up the party afterward. He suggested I hitch a ride with with my folks, he would bring an extra bike...we both race...then hit up the party afterward. Perfect!

Arriving about an hour early there was plenty of time to register, get kitted up and roll a few short trips around the parking lot on the Salsa Mamasita: Niner carbon fork, XT disc brakes with 160mm rotors, 2.4 Schwalbe Racing Ralphs run tubeless at 22psi up front & 24 rear, 34 tooth crank up front, 11-34 9 speed rear cassette. Light, stiff and snappy...I was just hoping I wouldn't put myself in to a tree. The picture doesn't do the bike justice...

On the first lap it took a little getting used to...well, everything. Picking lines was rough, my pace was horrible, eating/drinking was poor. I would forget to drink on open sections when I should, then by the time I was hitting technical sections I was thirsty. I even had a hard time passing guys going much slower than I wanted to pace...the right lines just never seemed to be there. I felt like I kept pushing really fast, then needing recovery time from overexerting, then pushing fast again, then more recovery...back and forth.


Lap 1: 5/28/2011 -- 1:58:12 PM -- 00:58:12 -- 00:58:12


On the second lap I was starting to get the hang of it, but not entirely. I was riding a little smoother, drinking more frequently and at more appropriate times. As I became more confident on the bike it was a little easier to bite chunks off the Clif Blok once in a while too. Side note: Clif Shot Bloks are quickly becoming one of my favorites for "on the bike" fuel. They're easy to open, easy to squeeze to the top as you're eating them, and they're not as messy as most gel packs.



Lap 2: 5/28/2011 -- 2:54:46 PM -- 00:56:34 -- 01:54:46

Starting the 3rd lap I made a quick stop at the cooler to slam some Coke and water. While I was standing around, Derek's buddy Steve passed me again. We seemed to be leapfrogging each other. I realized that he had basically averaged the same lap times that I did for those first two, so he must be pacing pretty well. I jumped back on the bike, gave chase, and decided to ride with him for a little while. His pace was pretty comfortable for me on the climbs, but quick enough downhill to realize his bike handling skills were much smoother than mine. On downhills I was bouncing and fumbling all over the trail, while he would swerve and swoop through the corners with ease. I then would have to kick it up a notch on the hills and open sections to make up the difference. It actually worked out pretty well though...it seemed like I was saving just a slight bit of gas for what I knew would be a long, bumpy day.


Lap 3: 5/28/2011 -- 3:51:39 PM -- 00:56:53 -- 02:51:39


On the start of the 4th lap I stopped at the cooler for a solid 10 minutes. I chowed a Clif Bar, drank some Coke, ate a banana and went inside the shelter to top off my Camelback with some Heed. 10 minutes off the bike felt really good, and I'm certain it helped me push through the remaining laps with some decent oomph. I started fighting some minor craps, which wouldn't escalate until the 5th lap, but Steve and I both noticed our climbing slowing down considerably. The perk- I could really tell that even in just a few hours, my bike handling skills had improved drastically, and faster sections were waaaay faster than I had been riding them all day. Steve lost a water bottle and stopped to pick it up. I kept moving along, and somehow found the juice to pick up the pace.


Lap 4: 5/28/2011 -- 4:58:09 PM -- 01:06:30 -- 03:58:09


While riding solo for the rest of the day, I was thinking...Man, this is starting to really hurt...my left toe burns like hell, my legs keep cramping up on the hills, but somehow it feels like I'm still making good time. OK, if I make it back to the checkpoint before 6:00, I'll go out for another lap. Ugghh...that's going to suck. Will I even make it anyway? If I head out for a 6th, I have to get back by 7:00 or my last 9.5 miles won't even count! OK, I declare it here and now...6:00...that's my cutoff! Since I was seriously not looking forward to 6th lap, failing to complete it then was likely a self-fulfilling prophecy...as once the mind games begin, everything begins to falter. I rolled in at 6:00:29 PM, which put my 5th lap at 1:02:20. Ahhh, that answers that! Cranking out another sub-1 hour lap while fighting cramps just wasn't going to happen.


Lap 5: 5/28/2011 -- 6:00:29 PM -- 01:02:20 -- 05:00:29


After 3 weeks of back to back racing on Saturdays, I was perfectly content with an 11th place finish in the 6 hour group. Excellent day, excellent course. I highly recommend this one!

I'm closing with a shot of my bro on his Gary Fisher Superfly 100. I still can't figure out why he looks so much faster than me...

Until next time!

2011 Gravel Metric Trailer

2 flat tires early on made for a fun day of riding rather than racing at the Chequamegon 100. I'll be whipping up a race report soon enough. Biggest takeaway: Even if it's May, bring bug spray on an endurance mountain bike race in the middle of the Chequamegon forest.

On another note, these folks down in Illinois have put together another awesome trailer for their Gravel Metric coming up in a few weeks. Enjoy!

The Gravel Metric -- More Gravel from Seth Deming on Vimeo.

The Royal 162 - A True Spring Classic

One day when I am more experienced I will not babble about a race for as long as I did in this report, but it is not this day. I figured this one ought to test your endurance as well.

Now, before I forget, I have to say Chris Skogen is a class act. Driven by a vision to have free bike races available everywhere to everyone, he created the Almanzo 100 a few years ago (as well as a putting together a series of races with other hosts creating races along the same lines)...and each year the race is growing in popularity. It grew so much and so fast that this year he added a big brother to it - The Royal 162. Before going in to too many details I'll give ya the straight dope: Between the two events 730 people signed up to race (the weather forecast was poor and not all toed the line...maybe ~80% if even that), but 177 people finished. Of the 177, 151 people finished the Almanzo 100 and 26 people finished the Royal 162. I finished the Royal in 8th place. Results

I headed down to Rochester on Friday at about noon with my buddy Brent. We stopped at the bike shop to pick up a few last minute supplies, then proceeded to the bar and grill where the registration was taking place. Chris and I ironed out the few details of upgrading from the 100 to the 162. We swapped out the cue cards with another fellow who was hoping to downgrade, so that worked out. The bar was pretty packed, and last year Whistle Binkies was the ticket for a fine selection of beers and good food, so we headed there instead. There are 2 locations in Rochester, so we thought this year we'd hit the one that we hadn't been to. Surly Furious on tap made it dangerous to stay there for too long, so after grubbing down we made a quick touristy stop at the Seneca Foods where my old man used to work, and snapped a few pics of the corn cob water tower.

By the looks of it I'm pretty sure Brent thought it was edible. Considering I'd be crushing rocks for 12 hours the following day I thought it was appropriate to get the rock in the picture.

Anyway, we headed back to the hotel where I would make the final bike adjustments, laminate my cue cards, and stuff myself full of food until the coma was induced. We left the window open overnight and I was awoken by a rapid drip-dripping. Crap, my Camelback must be leaking...oh no, Tuscobia nightmares all over again! Ah nevermind, it's just the rain gutter draining right outside the window. Crap, it's raining...and, it's kinda cold. I closed the window for some peace and quiet, but with race jitters up the wahzoo I didn't sleep very well after that. The 5 am wake up call rang - I bounced right up, threw on the kit, loaded the bikes, and we were on the road to Spring Valley by 5:30. This was perfect as it allowed a solid 45 minutes to let the jitters settle, and I got to ride around and loosen up a bit. I realized it was a cold and wet 42 degrees and the forecast wasn't any better. I would be needing every article of riding gear that I brought with me. Looking around the parking lot, scoping out the scene, bikes etc., I recognized some dudes from all of the blog-reading-internet-creeping I do. I introduced myself to a few guys. Everyone was very friendly, welcoming...and a good vibe of mutual respect was present. We were all meeting guys just crazy as ourselves. It was great.

I toed the line about 15 minutes early and just waited. Along came Farrow, Meiser, Pramann, Buffington, and many other very strong looking riders. Being that they are finishers, winners and record holders of races such as the Arrowhead 135, The Tour Divide, The Tuscobia Ultra, The Trans-Wisconsin, Trans-Iowa, The Iditarod Trail Invitational...and the list goes on...these are the big boys here in the mid-west. I felt surprisingly comfortable. I was ready.

A quick run-down by Skogen and the guided roll-out began. About 1 mile down the road they cut us loose as we hit the gravel. A slightly unexpected mud splattering ripped the tightly knit pack apart. Everyone quickly spaced out a good 10 feet apart as our faces, bikes and teeth became covered in grit. The first thing that came to mind was...Holy crap this is a major game changer. Leading up to the race I felt I was well rested, well fed, and well prepared, but now I had no clue how the day was going to turn out. This was ridiculous. I would try to hang. Just hang, for as long as I can.

Sticking up front near the first 10-15 dudes I was hanging at best. The pace was quick. Not redline quick, but they were pushing the hills pretty hard. As the strong guys warmed up I could tell it was getting even easier for them to push up the hills. Easier than me at least. I started slowly drifting back. I saw Joe Meiser ride way out front...I thought,Damn, there he goes already...but he pulled over to the side of the road for a bathroom break. The group passed him and so did I, but about 1 minute later he effortlessly muscled up the hill and fell right back in with the lead group. I was impressed as I was suffering up that same hill, getting gapped by the leaders. I let them go...about 12 of 'em. I managed to keep 'em within about a 1/2 mile for quite a while, but I really didn't want to chase hard and pop early, especially on a day with bad conditions. Rain, mud, high winds...and it wouldn't let up all day. There wasn't much for drafting, as you would simply be eating the mud right off the dude's rear tire. Here's a shot of the lead pack in the 100 mile race taken by Kyia Anderson. This basically sums up the conditions.

I looked back and noticed a few stragglers between me and what looked like another group of about 8. Why am I just sitting here out in the open wind half-ass chasing down this lead pack? Screw that, I'm slowing down...I'll go back and sit with those guys for a while. Slipping in the second pack I was surprised to see Farrow and Pramann in the group. Pramann mentioned before the race he was recovering from something medical (I think), but Farrow threw me for a loop. I already lost the lead group, and I knew for certain that we had some tough guys in this group as well. Where the heck do I fit in? Am I over-exerting already???

By the first (and only) designated rest/drop/refill stop we had picked up a few guys who dropped off the lead pack, and we also lost a few of ours. 7 of us were now coming in to Preston, and Pramann says "I gotta stop in Preston and regroup or something". I asked, "Anyone else going to Preston?". Nope. The course and the group took a right...so did I. Wow, we lost Pramann, I thought to myself. Something wasn't quite right if that was happening. Charlie Farrow however, would not falter. In fact, I don't think I would have finished the race were it not for this guy. He's a 52 year old teacher from Duluth who has spent a lifetime on a bicycle, and has seen more miles than everyone in our group combined. The revised goal: hang with Farrow and you will finish strong.

I saw the photographer early enough to photobomb a Bruce face. A few cronies know what this is all about.

At mile 49 the 162ers left the Almanzo 100 course and began our own little adventure down to Iowa. As we were coming up on a small section that was an out & back loop, we were wondering what this note on the cue card at mile 58 was all about:

"Follow marked course through "yard" and into woods."

Approaching said section, this ended up being the last time that we would see the lead group for the day...off in the distance I counted 6 remaining, with two or three stragglers hanging between us. "There they are!", Farrow proclaims..."Why are they riding so slow???". Someone else says, "I bet they already completed the out & back loop...must be rough".

Coming up on the private driveway Skogen was standing at the entrance with a cigarette in hand. "Welcome to Hell" he says, as we make our way down the driveway past a few beautiful horses who are nearly jumping the fence antsy to run with us. Riding down the hill across a bumpy cow pasture riddled with pies, I chased Farrow and one other fella. Forced to cross a dried out ravine peppered with rocks, I rode through it right behind the two in front. In to the woods, up a steep hill requiring a dismount and some jogging, then back on the bike to ride a bumpy jeep trail for a few hundred yards. We then approached the same ravine further "upstream". The ravine being about 30 feet deep and crisscrossed with dead trees like a game of Pick Up Sticks, another dismount was required. After a hustle down in and back out of the ravine I looked back to see the gap increasing on the others. We rode through another field or two and Farrow, Ben Doom (I think), and myself came back on the road smiling. Farrow yells, "Man that was pretty fun!"..."Now we gotta ride another 100 miles though!". Nuff said.

Quick break- Here's a pic of my buddy Brent chipping away at the 100. He bagged it at Preston then rode pavement back to the start. Prior to Saturday, he had been on 1 ride this year, so I'm sayin' 60 miles for him is pretty damn good considering the day.

So anyway, Farrow, Doom (eventually Farrow would refer to him as Doomsday) and myself kept pushing along. Mile 64 approached and the cue card reads:

"You will soon be entering Harmony. This is the last city of any size for the day".

At this point I had drank both of the water bottles in my cages. I had a Camelback with another 2 liters and a smaller bottle in my jersey pocket, but for the remaining 100 I played it safe and refilled the bottles. I told Farrow I was running in to the gas station to refill, and he says "I'm gonna keep going, you'll catch me man!". "Uhhh....ooook" was my response. "NOOO man, you will!!!". I bolted straight for the Gatorade, grabbed 2 liters, straight to the register....swiped my card and I was out the door. By this point my wind-proof fleece gloves were sopping wet, and my hands were so cold I couldn't open my water bottle...I didn't think I screwed it on very tight, but maybe I did. I wedged it between my legs, took my gloves off, wrung them out like a sponge and used both hands to reef the cap off. Back on the bike, and here's Farrow and Doom (I think, unless it was another guy and Doom was out front...) riding by the gas station again. They took a wrong turn! We pushed along.

By this time the field was pretty thinned out. The lead group had one hell of a gap on us, and we had a solid gap on the crew busted by the cyclocross course. We slowed our pace to a more comfortable level, and casual conversations commenced. Farrow on several occasions, "You're riding pretty strong, man! Great job!". Constant confidence boosts. "Man, way back there even Pramann said you look strong! And Pramann knows man!". For the next 50 miles or so I was on cloud 9 listening to Charlie's antics and war stories from various epics. Things like, "You gotta do the Arrowhead man! That's the big one around here! I look forward to that one all year! It's like 30 or 40 below sometimes, and some people hardly finish, and a lot don't finish at all! It's so fun!", or "Maaan, the life of a worm...that's gotta suck man...I mean you survive the whole winter underground, then you're just crossing the road one day and SPLAT!" When someone is still this positive regardless of the fact that we're covered in mud, soaking wet, and freezing our b's off, you realize it's really not all that bad. I guess there's truth to the old adage: "A bad day on the bike is still better than a good day at work". Either that, or this guy is just one tough old feller...

At mile 100 we came upon a truck serving pizza, beer, and coke. A few buddies of Skogen got the OK to set up an "unofficial" aid station at mile 100 on the Royal course. This was awesome. We stopped briefly to chow a slice, then kept moving. The pizza must have helped Doomsday, as he caught a second wind and dropped us in the end. The pizza also helped John from Fargo - he caught us (after initially being in front of us and taking a wrong turn). The pizza didn't sit too well with me. I was suffering again. By the last "checkpoint" at mile 110 I told the guys I had to stop, get off the bike, and eat the rest of my Clif bars as I was starting to bonk. Charlie and Doom pushed on, but John from Fargo seemed fine with stopping. He was also a good guy, so it was nice to have someone to chat with for the remaining 40. We were both in survival mode at this point, so we paced it out.

2011 Water Crossing from Chris Skogen on Vimeo.

There was one creek crossing on the course. It was the same as last year's, but it was now at mile 138 on the Royal course. Approaching it I didn't hesitate to hop off the bike and trudge right through the knee deep water, as I knew we were near the finish. It felt like "room temperature"...so it was probably pretty friggin' cold. John and I muscled through the remaining miles. We had to walk up 1 hill - it was steep and long! The walk actually helped refreshen the legs quite a bit. I actually wanted to hammer the rest of the course, but John's cue cards were shot, and cruising it home wouldn't be the worst.

The course is no secret anymore, so here you go: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4515955

12 hours, 22 minutes of riding nearly 100% gravel roads. 10,000+ feet of climbing. I came in 4 minutes behind Farrow. I wonder if I could have caught the old man...

I think most would understand if I said this was the worst day I've ever had on a bike, but that would be dead wrong. On the contrary, this day was in fact by far the best.

You can check the "Read" section of my blog for any other relevant blog posts or links, and view more pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/craiglindner/sets/72157626605224693/

Thanks for enduring the race report! Cheers!

Recovery Hike

I called up my folks after work yesterday to see what their dinner plans were, to find out that they were just heading out the door for some Ice Age Trail maintenance. I was still feeling pretty stiff from Saturday's big effort, so I figured a hike in the woods would help shake things loose a bit. I grabbed some rubber boots, gloves and a shovel and headed out to meet them on the trail.

This was actually the section of trail I built for my Eagle Scout project in my younger days, and since I haven't hiked it in a few years a little nostalgia kicked in. It turned out to be a pretty nice "active recovery" day shoveling out the dammed (pun intended) swampy section, and hikin' with the folks.

Outside of that I'm still mulling over The Royal epic last weekend and slowly working on a write up. Meanwhile, the May 21st Apocalypse (better known as the Chequamegon 100) lingers in the back of my mind.

Spent

The Royal 162 will be an epic to remember. A fully embellished race report coming soon...

100 - 162

The Almanzo 100 hurt enough. This year, I'll attempt the Royal 162.

After getting tangled up in the crash last year that put me out of commission (as if I make money riding my bike...), I was intimidated by 500+ riders coming to this year's Almanzo 100. With hopes to reduce my chances of crashing, I haphazardly requested to ride the 162 with fewer riders, most of whom would be more experienced than many of the riders in the 100. When I read the response from Chris that upgrading wouldn't be a problem, a strange "oh yes!", "no way...", "oh shit" type of adrenaline flushed through my body, nearly causing me to jump out of my seat from the immediate restlessness in my legs. Remembering the course from last year, noting to myself that I'm tacking on another 62 miles of leg-braking, hill pounding suffering...a deep, calm feeling of reverence and respect for the course began to sink in, the exact opposite sensation. I skimmed the email a few more times in disbelief, and started realizing that I would once again be attempting another longest distance ride/race yet. Being an active cyclist for only a few years now, it's still a strange and humbling feeling each time I raise the bar on these types of events. I sank further in to the chair, body freezing up...I started writing this post, and began honing in on preparations for the upcoming epic.

....Holy crap this will be wicked. What the hell am I going to do? Why did I ask to upgrade again? That was pretty stupid. What if I crash anyway? What if I don't even finish? Which bike should I ride? Which tires will be best for the conditions? Hmm...I wonder what the weather will be like? How long is this actually going to take? 10 hours? 12 hours? 15 hours? That depends on the weather I guess. Well how much food will I need for the day then? Water? I guess that depends on how long it's going to take. Are there any refill stops? I can't plan on it. Self-supported race. Do I need another big training ride before then? Have I trained hard enough? Am I better off just resting? Have I rested enough? Why am I even doing this? It's not a monetary reward. There aren't any prizes. What's the reward then? What the hell am I doing?...

Some of these questions will need to be answered by Saturday morning. I can guarantee the rest of the answers will be delivered in a very painful package by Saturday evening.

Dear Almanzo,

Dear Almanzo,

Nice tent setup at the Ragnarok 105 last week at the top of Heath's hill! I felt very sorry about not stopping to enjoy some of the snacks and malty hoppy goodness, but I fear I would not have finished the race...so I reluctantly pushed on.

Anyway, I'm coming off that one feeling pretty damn good (with for me an excellent result!!!), and I met a handful of cronies who will be riding the 162. I hate to even ask this, but I was hoping I could sneak in to the 162 as well. I understand it might be a pain on your end to switch it up...and I realize I should have manned up back in January when sending in my postcard also. If the list is final, no biggie...just thought I'd ask.


Kind regards,

Yours Truly


P.S. After crashing last year (fractured rib, torn rotator cuff, road rash, etc), culminating in an entirely concussion induced finish...having so many riders in the 100 scares me more than suffering through 162 miles with some very experienced riders and friends.

Cyclocross in 1950

Ragnarok 105 report coming soon. If it makes any difference, in the mean time you can check the results.

Then, watch something old school...

Buenos Días, Buenos Aires

FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft

Since the weather today was not the greatest for riding bikes (as seen in the previous post), it was pretty easy to burn the snow day watching the youtubes, scanning the blogosphere, and just generally getting my fix on the ol' interwebs...but I digress.

Here's a video I found worth sharing.  It's a little glimpse of what Oz is up to behind the curtain.


FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft from michael evans on Vimeo.

Not Winning

¿Qué locura es esta?

If you haven't already seen this video (it has been circulating the bike geek blogs for a few weeks), here it is:



This also has been circulating around, but it's too awesome to not share. Someone has been setting hipster traps in NYC.  Thanks to Douche Blog Cycling for this one.

Other than that, the weather is warming up. My Blue Hills fire lane roads have become a mess, so I'll be bagging miles and miles of pavement for a few weeks to get ready for the Ragnarok 105. :(  Oh well, time on the bike is time on the bike I suppose.

Corridor 31

I got some decent riding in this past weekend on the Soma Juice. Roughly 3 fairly fast hours on Saturday rollin' solo (plus an hour run in the evening), and 2-3 hours of easy pacing on Sunday with a fellow riding buddy who rides for BKM Custom Stone and Tile.  The 12" of snow that rolled through didn't start coming down until Sunday afternoon, so I squeezed in some Blue Hills ice road bikin' just in time.

The roads were pretty sketchy at points...glare ice from shoulder to shoulder, forcing you at times to ride the snowbank. The snowmobile trails made for much better riding. Pretty firm crust, but also icy at times. Icy enough where some studded tires would be perfect. The 2.4s on the Juice were almost overkill on this day, as no flotation was needed. I think the tyre PSI was at about 22 & 20, so they were pretty solid. On that note, I did have one good spill on some ice. I fell down fairly slow, but it still left me with a bloody knee and a sore hip. Meh.

On both days I was able to scout out a corridor trail (31) that I've been itchin' to ride for quite some time. There is one more section that runs north of Wagner road that I'd like to ride soon. I think/hope it connects to the Tuscobia Trail. If that's the case, I can essentially ride 3 blocks from my front door, and not ride another mile of pavement for as long as I can possibly endure.

What's also great about these trails is that they simply connect and cross all of the gravel roads that I became familiar with last year training for the Almanzo 100, so now there's all sorts of options for rides/routes. I'm getting pretty close to mapping out an epic gravel/dirt grinder that should compete with some of the best. Excellent training grounds out here!

Here's a rough sketch of the two rides this weekend...the trails are hard to track on gmaps' satellite so they might look a little odd.

Saturday - http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4311618

Sunday - http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4311626


The creek crossing above is at about mile 7 on Saturday's ride. I didn't ride beyond this point as the trail got pretty soft, but this past fall I rode about a 1/2 mile beyond it, and it thins out to an ATV width trail. The Gazetteer shows another 4-6 miles of trail that could be explored beyond that...hmm maybe one of these days. Out!