Friday, December 29, 2006

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Athens, OH

We made the drive in record breaking time...8 hours 45 minutes...it's all about Chicago and at 7:00am Christmas morning you can cruise through the windy city pretty fast.






We made it to Athens Christmas night in time for an awesome ham dinner, opening of some presents and some NFL football. Tuesday we spent the day exchanging some gifts, buying a dvd burner for dad's computer and installing it, making homemade pizza, and going to the movies. We saw A Night at the Museum w/ Ben Stiller...it was pretty good.











Today we went for a sweet ride on the ridges (check out that climb behind me dropped into town to say Hi to the guys at www.athensbicycle.com, and cruise the cobbled streets of downtown Athens. In the afternoon we went for an amazing hike at Old Man's Cave. It's just outside of Athens in Logan and it is pretty cool. We took tons of pictures, but they don't do justice.

We went to the Rio Grande for some mexican food that was muy bien, and just finished watching Ricky Bobby Go Fast! Speaking of Go Fast it's already time to go home tomorrow. Another long drive and then back to reality in Sheboygan...more pictures to come when I get back to Bike N Ski.























ps...the Oakley flannel "fits in" as good in Athens as in Eagle River!!! My favorite picture of the vacation.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Happy Holidays



Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from Brian, Andrea, & Rosco

Next update from Mom & Dad's house in Athens, OH

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Photo Blog



<----My Dog 'Rosco'



Elicia's Dog 'Ollie'



Skyler Reeves - Super Model
Old Traveling / Training Partner
AMP Research








The Best Ever?















That's Me - Old School 1994











The Miller Lite Man












The Game The Dude







The Sheboygan Commuter






<---The Deer Tail

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Relaxing Weekend



Eagle River, WI is one of the coolest places around. It's quiet, relaxing, and you can truly enjoy the great outdoors. While everyone else was racing cross nationals or scavenging the net for the results I was maxin' and relaxin'. We drove up early Friday morning, ditched our car in Green Bay, got a ride the rest of the way with Andrea's parents. We arrived at the cabin around noon, had some lunch, then went for a sweet hike. Saturday it was a 5 mile trail run, followed by a really good dinner with some 2 buck chuck Shiraz, and watched Christmas Vacation around the fireplace on the 13" tv...(almost as sweet as my big screen in an old school sort of way). Sunday morning we woke up bright and early and drove to Lambeau Field. Check out the Oakley up Nort' Plaid ....check out the hunter orange gloves(found in the dumpster same day I found the packer hat)




The best part of Lambeau is the smell of the brats when you get out of the car for the first time. The cheeseheads, dudes w/ no shirts, and the bra truck is pretty sweet too. I bought 4 tickets from Paul Weaver and sold 2 to Brian Schwaller and his girlfriend Angie. Andrea's dad and I had the other two tickets. It was a blast and the Packers won!!! Favre broke Marino's all time completion record! History was made and we were there.

My new effort to save the world is commuting to work...my motivation is a new guy at work...pictures of the commuter bike to come soon.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

CX Nationals Predictions

2004 Collegiate Nationals

The big weekend is upon us....I am predicting this is the biggest cycling event of the year in the United States. Cross is awesome, cross is growing, cross is huge, cross is muddy, cross is painful, and cross can be very cold. However this weekends weather in RI looks to be a little dissapointing for harsh cross conditions.

Quick note...I'm at work...when I order from QBP I always ask the sales rep about Jeff Hall...then I ask him to tell Jeff he will be in a world of pain next time I see him...todays sales rep just told me Jeff rides all night long...i told him that is why jeff beats my every once in a while...i think the sales rep thought i was crazy...i think it is pretty amusing!

Back to cross....

I'm slightly bummed that I'm not going, but at the same time I am happy I didn't have to train for the last month when there was 8 inches of snow on the ground. Instead I will spend the weekend in Eagle River and on the way home stop by Lambeau Field and watch Brett throw some lasers.
Predictions for the 2006 CX Nationals
1. Ryan Trebon
2. Barry Wicks
3. Tim Johnson
4. Jeremy Powers
5. Todd Wells
6. Tristan Schouten (needs to be muddy to crack the top 5)(I hope he proves me wrong)
7. Mark McCormack
8. Matt White
9. Erik Tonkin
10. Jonathan Page
18. Doug Swanson (I hope he proves me wrong)
Last time I was at Nationals...I was 30th starting from the back...



Results


Check out 7th place...I wonder how he'll do this weekend???

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

My First Norba Podium

Can you name this crew?



My first Norba Podium was back in 1995 at Shanty Creek.


It was quite some time ago and I don't remember all the details, but it was one of those races where I was in the ZONE. Even the day after the race I remembered very few details. Here is what I remember:

1995 was all about the Mojo...whether it was on your person(Missy Giove's dead pirranha), on your helmet, or on your handlebar.

The road runner was with me that day!







I remember being at the Grip Shift box van right before the race getting new cable and housing. Today I would never make a change to my bike that close to the race, but I had no clue.














I lined up next to JHK, I was confident I was going to win, I had no idea the caliber of the competition. I was the best Jr. in Michigan so I was going to win the Norba in Michigan, right? Two years later JHK told me something like he wanted to fight me because I was really cocky on the line...I don't remember saying anything.












I don't remember the start I don't remember the first climb. I remember a few people cheering for me on the last lap right before the water jump.


The course was 2 long laps...somewhere during the back lap I remember JHK stumbling around. It was really hot that day and he said he over heated. After the water jump there was a long sandy descent and I was on the gas trying to gap 3rd and 4th place.

Next thing I know and it was over. Needless to say I was really pumped. I had no idea there was even a dude up there in first place. It was my 3rd Norba National. The year before I had raced at Shanty Creek, and a month before I raced at Mt. Snow.


It was this race that started my career of almost 10 straight years of the NORBA circuit. It was also this race result that landed me on the Devo team for the 96 season. It wasn't always this pretty though...stay tuned for the first race of my career report.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Breakfast Ride


but I didn't eat with the group...had to go home early so i could go to work
get ready everyone....








I workerd 40 hours last week!!!!!!!!!








with a few more hours today i'm on my way to an 80 hour paycheck...



that's the most i have worked in a long time...unless you count riding a bike...


my theory: work as little as possible to have as much fun as possible...


no old school pictures for this update...sorry

but check out Andrea's ride....1995 Merlin Ti 1 x 9 w/ full fenders



breakfast day temps 15 degrees into a stiff headwind on the way out - up to 29 degrees with a sweet tailwind on the way home...i bonked and feel like i lost a lot of fitness 'fast' after cross state championships...sometimes it's good to be fast sometimes it's not




brian schwaller leading the group...next week sunday Packers vs Lions at Lambeau
we'll be there

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

First Skate

Last weekend update:

Friday: Sheboygan gets nailed by an Oklahoma Hooker 8" of snow accumulation....I was watching the WTMJ News and the weather man called the storm an Oklahoma Hooker...I thought it was great! My previous favorite storm was the Alberta Clipper.

Saturday after a long day at bike n ski I worked up the energy to get out the skate skis and hit the trail. Skiing at night for the first time in a year was pretty nice. I went out with Andrea and Mike V our neighbor. Check out that sweet packer hat...I found it in a dumpster.


After skiing we went to Jalisco's, the local Mexican restaurant, for some good grub and la musica. Saturday nights they have a small mariachi band...they rocked. I almost requested Feliz Navidad by Julio Iglesias, but after hearing it 10 times a day on the radio I passed. I ordered some Gorditas and they were excellent. I am a huge fan of Mexican food and there are 3 great places in Sheboygan. El Camino, Jalisco's and La Raza. After living in Tucson I have pretty high standards for Mexcican, but theses 3 fine establishments are primero.


Sunday: Another session of skate skiing w/ a big crash that really hurt my hip/butt when I landed on some ice...I just don't understand the people who think its cool to walk right down the middle of the groomed ski trail. In the evening we drove down to Mequon to the Highland House for the PCW Team Banquet. Everyone was there and the free beer was good. I had a Sprecher root Beer. PCW had big plans for the Superweek race in Sheboygan. And PCW is going to be selling there very own coffee. Check out http://www.pcwcycling.org/ for an order form and prices.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

WEIRD AL FLASHBACK

??? Weird


This mornings workout consisted 3 cups of Trader Joes French Roast coffee, a one hour Yoga class at Synergy, and a 20 minute run. For the first time in a long time I decided to use my IPOD. It was pretty cold in WI and the motivation was low so I figured the 80's would be a great genre to help me get through the final phase of training.

As I was finishing the run Weird AL "Eat It" started playing and the flashback hit me....

The setting...1996 somewhere in CA

Back in 1996 I was on the Rock Shox Jr Development mountain bike team....check out the old school picture....anybody recognize the two superstars who are still faster than me? Anybody recognize me?

Also on the team was Miles Jay, I'm not sure what he is up to now, but after one of the Norba in California I stayed at his house before flying home to MI. When I first walked in the house there was lots of guitars, lots of records, and lots of pictures of Weird AL. It thought it was rather strange. This was 10 years ago and I still remember it vividly. It turns out Miles Jay is the son of Stephen Jay bass guitarist for Weird AL!



Simply Amazing. When Miles' dad got home it was late, but he had some steak and we went for a sweet bike ride, with no lights, 20 minutes into the ride we went down a crazy descent and came out on the Pacific Ocean. Steve Jay stoked up the fire and cooked one of the best steaks I have eaten in my life right on the beach. The ride home was really really dark and it seemed like it took a long time. I also remember feeling as if I was facing east. It was sweet. Two weeks later 8 Weird Al tickets w/ backstage passes showed up in the mail. A week later I was at the Fowlerville Fair in MI partying backstage with AL himself! That's it...

Monday, November 27, 2006

I'm Free

The last 12 weekends in a row I have raced except for when I was really really sick two weekends before Iceman. This past weekend was the first race weekend with no required training and no racing and it felt pretty funny. When I had nothing to do I felt like I should be getting ready, preparing, cleaning, doing something to make me or my equipment faster. Fortunately it didn't take long to find the recliner and the remote to the big screen and RELAX, watch some football and eat some chili. I'm prety sure the season is officially over. There are a few more races on the schedule, but it's not the end of the world if I miss them. It's the time of the year to start up again at Synergy, ( www.synergyteamworkout.com ) do some Yoga, and hope it snows. This weekend is the end of the season party for PCW. We'll see what next year has in store.

Also for sale from the garage...$450


a pair new of Race X Lite 700c's just like these except they are black. Let me know...
soon I will have another pair, but they will be Aero...also $450