Quick Update From the Road

I'll keep this short and sweet because I haven't had a chance to download data or pictures yet. We just finished up our intense immersion into Canadian mountain bike culture, and all is well here with our neighbors to the north. I finished up stage 3 this afternoon, and I wound up somewhere around 30th overall in the men's solo 40 and under category. I felt great today (except for the numerous scrapes, bruises, and a sore a**). The legs held up really well, and I'm happy with the way things turned out. Look forward to a stage by stage report once I return stateside. Right now, I'm sipping on a glass a Hurradura Anejo and waiting for our pizza to arrive at a Travelodge in Bracebridge, Ontario. Thanks to Chris for keeping up with the WNR report in my absence. I'll see you all at Kipp Rd. on wednesday night with stories to tell. Thanks for reading.

WNR Report 9-17-08

With Pete & Sarah off to Canada for the Crank the Shield 3-Day MTB Stage race, we expected a lighter-than average turn out. Fortunately we gathered a decent showing; Chris, Rob, Scott & Matt arrived in the Meadow behind Boyne for a gorgeous evening ride...the last WNR of the Summer (Autumnal equinox is 9/22.) With the days getting shorter, we are starting the rides a little earlier & with good reason, it was getting pretty dim by the time we returned @ 7:30! As for the ride, we mixed up the planned route a bit to head straight for the new downhill section which is getting some traffic & is showing some signs of wear & tear but is just too sweet to pass up. We followed up the single track climb & opted to try a new section on the return (trail 13 according to Boyne) & it turned out to be a much nicer path than climbing up the "Shower Head" hill. We even saw a couple other riders enjoying the sweet single-track, two riders had their ride cut short with a broken/loose crank & Rob & I caught up to JB & Jeff Ford who must have had a great ride because they were gone before we started & finished after us (nearly 2 hours.) It's nice to see other riders out having a good time. As for next Wednesday, we have chosen to ride the NCT starting at Kipp Rd. We're starting early - 6:00 to make sure we can see our way home. We'll be riding with lights soon enough.

Note From Chandler Hill

I picked up Chris and Matt yesterday morning for a little jaunt south over towards Maxwell Road. The weather was a balmy 58 degrees with a slight drizzle, and that's pretty much how it stayed for most of the day. From there, we rode the N.C.T. south to Thumb Lake and back. Chris affectionately refers to this ride as the 24 miles of pain, but either I'm getting stronger or the hills are getting smaller because it really didn't feel nearly as bad as normal. Even after some major overindulgence the night before at Short's and LuLu's down in Bellaire. For those that haven't had the pleasure, the ride is one of the truly epic rides in the area. Packed into those 24 miles are 4,916 feet of climbing and almost no signs of civilization to be found. The trail crosses one dirt road and one paved road. Other than that, you've pretty much got the woods to yourself. It's got great singletrack, great climbing, and even a few sketchy/scary little bits to boot. We did spot some other riders for the first time yesterday, and they were getting ready to ride a smaller section at the south end. It was nice to see some other riders on the trail. The geared Quiring 29ern that I'll be using for the race (I just couldn't decide what gear to run for the damn singlespeed, and I just paid a good chunk of dough for the geared bike this spring specifically for racing so that's what I'm taking to the race) performed really well in spite of nasty wet and messy conditions. Overall I feel pretty good. I'll take it easy now leading up to the race, and I'm fairly certain I'll be out of luck for any internet access over the coming week so this may be it for a while. Rest assured I'll be having fun and doing my best to represent for the team and for Michigan with our neighbors to the north. In the meantime, ride well and be good. WNR @ Boyne this week (in the field not the Bartley House) @ 6:15. I won't see you there because we'll be across the border by then. Over and Out.

Countdown

One week from today I'll be right in the thick of it. I'll have one stage under my belt and be getting ready for the start of stage two. I'm really excited. Since it's my first foray into the world of stage racing my only real expectation is to have three great days of good epic riding. There's not really anything else I can do from my end. The bike appears to be in good working order. I put a new cable on the rear der. and trued up the front wheel. Both repairs have worked flawlessly so far after a few hours of riding. I'll do a long ride tomorrow with the boys down at Chandler Hill, but after that it'll just be a couple of easy spins and resting for me. I'm pretty sure all interested parties have been informed, but on the off chance no< the ride tomorrow is starting at the Maxwell Road trailhead of the N.C.T. @ 10:30. Have a good weekend.

Hugh's Humongous 50/50

For a new option this year Benson, Roy (Hugh's brother), and I set off from the start @ 8:30 for a 50 mile mountain bike ride. I decided to add a little extra punishment and ride the singlespeed. It was a great day for riding with cloudy skies and temps. in the high 50's and low 60's. The ride ended up being 47.4 miles with 5693 ft. of climbing in just over 4.5 hours. I topped off my bottles, grabbed a banana and some fig newtons and swung my leg over the road bike and set out for the second 50. In retrospect I think I should have done the road section first. I just don't like road riding nearly as much as mountain biking. So after spending all morning ripping up sweet singletrack, it kind of sucked to be on the road with all the cars and sh*t. At any rate, I bailed after the first 25 mile loop on the road. Still I ended up with just under six hours in the saddle, and since this was more prep. for the stage race than anything else I'm happy with the way things turned out. Plus, I'm feeling good enough to get out again this afternoon. That's nice. WNR @ Bartley House this week for a 6:15 start. Hope to see you there. Thanks for reading.

Happy Labor Day

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. I labored, so mine wasn't that much fun. But the best part of the year is here now, so let's all make the most of it. I certainly plan to. I'm ready to start putting the final touches on my preparation for the big canadian adventure. I'll be putting in some more hours during the week, and the next two sunday's have some big rides scheduled. This sunday is Hugh's Humongous 100. I will do 50 of those on the dirt with only one gear. The sunday after that will be a long ride somewhere with the boyz. I think right now we're leaning towards the 24 miles of pain section of the NCT that includes the infamous Chandler Hill. The other option is the NCT from Kipp to Sturgeon. Either one sounds good to me, so I might just leave it up to Benson. The wednesday after that we'll be hitting the road for the great white north (actually the race is about due east of here, but we do have to head north initially in order to get there without a boat). In unbike related news: I went sailing with JT yesterday on his new boat, and it was awesome. The wind wasn't even that great and it was hotter than s**t, but I still had a great time. We have plans to go again next tuesday, and I'm looking forward to it already. WNR @ HQ tonight. Bring an appetizer to pass. Oberon currently on tap in the shop. See you there.

It's Been A Long Strange Summer

It's almost over, and I can safely say this has been a very long and strange summer. On the store front, I feel like I've been on a carnival ride that speeds up almost to the point of self destruction every few days before slowing down to a barely manageable pace. Only two weeks left now, and I know I'm going to make it. My new training regiment has paid off in spades, and I'm feeling really good. Power output is up and body weight is down. I'm in the midst of a recovery week, and I'm actually finding it hard to take it easy. Today is the first day off the bike since before the Ore to Shore. I know deep down that this recovery period will pay off in the long run. I've got Hugh's 50/50 ride in two weeks (50 miles on the dirt + 50 miles on the road), and then I've got two more weeks before the big shakedown in Canada. I think my ability to maintain even a shred of sanity this summer is definitely the result of bicycle commuting and yoga. That's all to report for now. WNR @ Larks Lake trailhead of the NCT. Until then, thanks for reading and keep the rubber side down. Over and out.

Quick Ore to Shore Recap

I'll have to keep this short because I have to get back to work this morning. Rain the night before made for a nicer course than last year, but the slippery stuff in the beginning did lead to a couple of not so serious (but time consuming) crashes on my part. Fortunately I was able to keep my head in the game and kept a good steady pace going for the first 35 miles or so. From there I was still feeling pretty good so I really put the hammer down. I passed a ton of people in the last third of the race and came in at 3 hours and 14 minutes. That's almost 20 minutes faster than last year. I was definitely hoping to have cracked the top 20 in the 30-34 age group after coming so close last year (23rd). The nice girl at the timing table handed me my printout, and I had to ask her if she was sure itwas correct. She said it was. I ended up 8th out of all the other 30-34 year olds. Needless to say, I'm really happy with how the race went down. It gives me a great boost to keep the volume up in training for Hugh's Humongous 100 and the stage race in Canada just over a month away. Other team results: Hugh 3:01 and 5th in the 50-54. Doug 3:08 and 11th out of all the singlespeeders. WNR @ Boyne this week. Start time 6:15. See you there. Over and out.

Final Prep for O2S

My final preparations for the Ore to Shore this year were definitely in keeping with my new training philosophy. In years past I would have ramped down my hours in the saddle and tried to avoid any extra manual labor this year. This year I took the exact opposite approach. I've still been riding a fair amount. And I took on a few extra projects around the house. They turned out to be big projects and now I'm really starting to wonder how good of an idea it was (at the same time I really didn't have a choice). I started off my chores by stacking ten cords of wood for the winter. When I ordered it a couple of months ago, I really didn't take the race into account. But at least it's done.



My second big chore was to rip out all of the carpet in our home tuesday. It took me the whole day, and it was one of the most disgusting/physically hard homeowner job I've done to date. My body is really sore in a few new and interesting ways. But I needed to be ready for our new hardwood floors that are going to be installed monday. Jamie called last week to let us know he'd be ready to start next week. So I had the option of doing it tuesday, or waiting to do it when I get home from the race on sunday. Now that I've done it, I'm sure I made the right choice. It really sucked, and I would have been even more miserable if I'd had to do it on sunday.



So to make a long story short, I'm sore but feeling okay at the same time. I've been feeling really good on the bike for a couple of weeks now, and I'm mentally ready for the task at hand. I'm just going to give it a really good push at the start up until the top of the bobsled run (20 min. in) and see how I'm feeling. If I'm feeling good, I'll put the hammer down and make a race of it. If I'm not, I'll back off a tad and see how the day unfolds.

WNR report: Good turnout, and exactly one year since that bi**h ran Chris over. We all celebrated with a little extra beer and were thankful that Benson's still able to ride with the big boys. Have a good weekend everybody and ride well. I'll do my best.

Anniversary Ride

The Wednesday Night Ride August 6, 2008 also marked the one year anniversary of CB's car attack/crash. In honor of the day, Chris, Doug & Kurt got an early start for the Pro-Loop/Pre-ride. Kurt had a minor issue with a rock which caused his tire to unseat & lose air, luckily the trio made it back to Terpening Station & Pete had a spare wheel in the stable. The official ride group included the aforementioned trio plus Pete, Rob & Matt. Along the ride, we made our regular stop in the field before the sweet downhill & CB noted that at this time last year he was getting hit by the SUV. After the ride, we all enjoyed a wonderful meal prepared by Sarah with help from the gang. There were a few added to the social & dining crew including Marcus Q, Jess, Amber, Sonya & Marcus, Scott, Katherine & Mitchell, & Zach. Thanks to everyone for coming out to ride & share in the day.

As a follow-up to a post-dinner discussion on proper Cycling Hand Signals. Since we couldn't come to a consensus, I did a little research and have to acknowledge my ignorance in the matter and have included examples of correct signals here:

Under the terms of the Vienna Convention on Traffic, bicycles are considered to be vehicles and cyclists are considered to be drivers...so ride like a driver & Share The Road.

Good luck to the Ore to Shore riders this weekend & to Katherine & Scott on their nuptials 8/8/08 & their reception Saturday. Next week's ride is at Boyne at 6:15!