Superior Bike Fest the SAGA
Setting.....Brian "Mullet Man" Matter.....blown out in chamois driving around race course trying to find Rob White in the break. We pull over to the side of the road and see a rider from another team blown out of his mind and hiding in the shade. Mullet Man is eating some cold grilled chicken from 3 nights before. Mullet Man walks across the road and asks the other rider if he is OK. Other rider responds, "I'm bonking." Mullet Man offers him a part of the half eaten cold chicken breast on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Blown Out rider says, "That is the best cold chicken I have ever tasted." Then hops on his bike and rides away!
Setting....Tim "The Ultimate Warrior" Drankus.....blown out after crashing. Mullet Man Matter in the next hotel room over. Mullet Man Matter hears some high pitched screaming. Tim "The Ultimate Warrior" Drankus was attacked by a baby woodchuck in his hotel room and proceeded to scream kind of like Mariah Carey. Not really a quote but pretty funny.
Settting...well....I'll let you read this yourself here scroll to the bottom for the quote of the day.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Weekend @ the Movies
This past weekend was like a weekend at the movies...filled with drama, horror, action, & suspense....it goes something like this.......
Superior Bike Fest the SAGA
Starring
Brian "Mullett Man" Matter
Andrea "Nurse Mom" Matter
Co-Starring
Tim "The Ultimate Warrior" Drankus & Elicia "Emergency Room" Hildebrand
Bill Street "Player"
Josh "Euro Trash" Nagode
So Friday morning we loaded up the Hyundai w/ 10 bikes and headed to the land of the Uuuuuppers.
It was a pretty relaxing drive with the normal Subway stop and bathroom breaks. After the 1 hour time change we arrived in beautiful Marquette, MI and checked into the Nordic Bay Lodge....a really sweet hotel.
Then it was off to the Superior Bike Fest for stage one the Twilight Crit. The night started pretty sweet with the mtb street races and Phil absolutely rockin' the white short jean shorts.
Street Player looks to be swinging the wrong way.
The night quickly turned bad as Elicia ER Hildebrand earned her co-starlet name on corner 3 of lap 2 after blazing the manhole cover and managing to high side on a road bike. There was some blood and some visible bone...from what I heard it was pretty Spectacular.
Not really knowing what was happening it was to the start line for my race...
Some bad team tactics and 40 or so efforts later I rolled across the line in 6th. It's a bummer when you finish a race at 10:30pm at HR 191 then you are unable to find food and can't fall asleep beacause you are still pumped.
Saturday Morning the alarm blazes bright and early after about 4 hours of 'rest' and it's off to breakfast at the Nordic Bay and then another 100 miles on the road.
The race was better than the previous night. After rolling up the first big climb the attacks started coming. PCW was playing it smart and was represented in every move. Finally a solid one stuck but no PCW....I was ready to launch across and was going fast to the front, but noticed Priority Health was watching me...so I rolled to the front and launched Rob White off. The move was solid and the gap grew fast. The situation was even more ideal when Josh Nagode went in the chase group, yet none of the top 3 in the points were there. With the main field traveling really slow I decided it was best to not finish and save some for the mtb race and the circuit race in Sunday.
At that time I went back to the Hyundai to see Tim "The Ultimate Warrior" Drankus looking like he just got caught in the back alley of a rough neighborhood. I guess he went down pretty good and then got ran over by a few people....Nurse Mom was there to help him out and I think he will recover. Then we rallied the Hyundai and found Rob out on course...In about 10 minutes we threw at him all the water and gels he could handle. Andrea was driving like a pro in the Tour...I was feeding Rob every chance I had out the window. He looked solid and took home the victory. We almost took down the start/finish banner with bikes on top as we drove through the finish following him all the way home for the win.
PCW was looking solid holding the overall points after the road race...all we had to do was hang on Sunday for the win. No problem right?
First of all there was a sweet mountain bike race to do. Again Marquette, MI has some really sweet trails. Key word being 'flow' You can just rip the downhills and not be worried about anything too crazy because the trails just flow.
The climbs are hard and long. Miles and Miles of trails that need to be ridden. I was killing it in the race...big dogging the climbs and ripping the descents. I won. Within seconds of finishing my mtb was loaded into the Hyundai and it was 15 minutes until the start of the circuit race. I drove fast, switched shoes, switched bikes and rolled to the start of the circuit race with mud on my legs. I was spent, but PCW had the leaders jersey.
Meanwhile back at the mountain, Nurse Mom was killing it on here way to a 2nd place finish in the womens race. She was a little blown out from being Nurse Mom all weekend, but used her old school Norba skills to kill the descents and finish with the silver.
Sarah Lukas of PCW stole the last podium spot finish 5th.
Back to the circuit race and its off....
The lap is about 2 miles and has a pretty tough climb. Lap 1 I had to roll across the line first to get some props from the announcer and some team exposure. Lap 2 after the climb I was feeling good so Josh set me up for an attack and I was gone...perfect now my teammates can just sit and cover moves. Two priority guys bridge to me and I sit in and enjoy the free ride while defending the jersey. Now it's really set....2 guys pulling me and the rest of PCW has a free ride in the field. I'm not sure what happened next, but #2 in the points another Priority Ride, my buddy Derek Prechtl, and another strong dude bridge the gap. Where was PCW, what happened? I'll never know, but they missed it and the only thing I could do was sit and hope they made it...it never happened and I ended sprinting to get 4th. At least I beat Derek after doing a mtb race earlier!
Needless to say after the second race I was spent, Nurse Mom was still in chamois, Josh Euro Trash was blown, Bill Street Player was still pumped for some reason, and the Ultimate Warrior added to his pain by getting sunburned on the road rash.....it was a classic race weekend for the
Record Books.
On the drive home Elicia ER Hildebrand almost put a few cars into the ditch...maybe we shouldn't have let her drive with only 1 arm, 4 shots in the ass, and some prescription pain killers....by the end we all made it home and will be ready to do it again soon.
The End
Closing Credits
Thanks to all our sponsors, PCW, TREK, Hyundai, Oakley, Crank Bros... Thanks to the Superior Bike Fest race promoters, and Thanks to Lorin and Trish for the photos.
Superior Bike Fest the SAGA
Starring
Brian "Mullett Man" Matter
Andrea "Nurse Mom" Matter
Co-Starring
Tim "The Ultimate Warrior" Drankus & Elicia "Emergency Room" Hildebrand
Bill Street "Player"
Josh "Euro Trash" Nagode
So Friday morning we loaded up the Hyundai w/ 10 bikes and headed to the land of the Uuuuuppers.
It was a pretty relaxing drive with the normal Subway stop and bathroom breaks. After the 1 hour time change we arrived in beautiful Marquette, MI and checked into the Nordic Bay Lodge....a really sweet hotel.
Then it was off to the Superior Bike Fest for stage one the Twilight Crit. The night started pretty sweet with the mtb street races and Phil absolutely rockin' the white short jean shorts.
Street Player looks to be swinging the wrong way.
The night quickly turned bad as Elicia ER Hildebrand earned her co-starlet name on corner 3 of lap 2 after blazing the manhole cover and managing to high side on a road bike. There was some blood and some visible bone...from what I heard it was pretty Spectacular.
Not really knowing what was happening it was to the start line for my race...
Some bad team tactics and 40 or so efforts later I rolled across the line in 6th. It's a bummer when you finish a race at 10:30pm at HR 191 then you are unable to find food and can't fall asleep beacause you are still pumped.
Saturday Morning the alarm blazes bright and early after about 4 hours of 'rest' and it's off to breakfast at the Nordic Bay and then another 100 miles on the road.
The race was better than the previous night. After rolling up the first big climb the attacks started coming. PCW was playing it smart and was represented in every move. Finally a solid one stuck but no PCW....I was ready to launch across and was going fast to the front, but noticed Priority Health was watching me...so I rolled to the front and launched Rob White off. The move was solid and the gap grew fast. The situation was even more ideal when Josh Nagode went in the chase group, yet none of the top 3 in the points were there. With the main field traveling really slow I decided it was best to not finish and save some for the mtb race and the circuit race in Sunday.
At that time I went back to the Hyundai to see Tim "The Ultimate Warrior" Drankus looking like he just got caught in the back alley of a rough neighborhood. I guess he went down pretty good and then got ran over by a few people....Nurse Mom was there to help him out and I think he will recover. Then we rallied the Hyundai and found Rob out on course...In about 10 minutes we threw at him all the water and gels he could handle. Andrea was driving like a pro in the Tour...I was feeding Rob every chance I had out the window. He looked solid and took home the victory. We almost took down the start/finish banner with bikes on top as we drove through the finish following him all the way home for the win.
PCW was looking solid holding the overall points after the road race...all we had to do was hang on Sunday for the win. No problem right?
First of all there was a sweet mountain bike race to do. Again Marquette, MI has some really sweet trails. Key word being 'flow' You can just rip the downhills and not be worried about anything too crazy because the trails just flow.
The climbs are hard and long. Miles and Miles of trails that need to be ridden. I was killing it in the race...big dogging the climbs and ripping the descents. I won. Within seconds of finishing my mtb was loaded into the Hyundai and it was 15 minutes until the start of the circuit race. I drove fast, switched shoes, switched bikes and rolled to the start of the circuit race with mud on my legs. I was spent, but PCW had the leaders jersey.
Meanwhile back at the mountain, Nurse Mom was killing it on here way to a 2nd place finish in the womens race. She was a little blown out from being Nurse Mom all weekend, but used her old school Norba skills to kill the descents and finish with the silver.
Sarah Lukas of PCW stole the last podium spot finish 5th.
Back to the circuit race and its off....
The lap is about 2 miles and has a pretty tough climb. Lap 1 I had to roll across the line first to get some props from the announcer and some team exposure. Lap 2 after the climb I was feeling good so Josh set me up for an attack and I was gone...perfect now my teammates can just sit and cover moves. Two priority guys bridge to me and I sit in and enjoy the free ride while defending the jersey. Now it's really set....2 guys pulling me and the rest of PCW has a free ride in the field. I'm not sure what happened next, but #2 in the points another Priority Ride, my buddy Derek Prechtl, and another strong dude bridge the gap. Where was PCW, what happened? I'll never know, but they missed it and the only thing I could do was sit and hope they made it...it never happened and I ended sprinting to get 4th. At least I beat Derek after doing a mtb race earlier!
Needless to say after the second race I was spent, Nurse Mom was still in chamois, Josh Euro Trash was blown, Bill Street Player was still pumped for some reason, and the Ultimate Warrior added to his pain by getting sunburned on the road rash.....it was a classic race weekend for the
Record Books.
On the drive home Elicia ER Hildebrand almost put a few cars into the ditch...maybe we shouldn't have let her drive with only 1 arm, 4 shots in the ass, and some prescription pain killers....by the end we all made it home and will be ready to do it again soon.
The End
Closing Credits
Thanks to all our sponsors, PCW, TREK, Hyundai, Oakley, Crank Bros... Thanks to the Superior Bike Fest race promoters, and Thanks to Lorin and Trish for the photos.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Up Nort' Old School
Back in '96.....
After graduating from High School I had a lot of time to kill....
I was into riding and into racing, and occasionally would be up for catching some air...it was this photo that launched Skyler Reeves modeling career!
In 1995 I had finished 2nd at the Norba National Jr Expert race in Traverse City, MI. If I could manage top 5 in Helen GA two weeks later I would be on my way to Germany for Junior World Championships....I finished 30th or something in one of the muddiest races in history.
Back to 1996...I finished 4th in Helen Georgia....2 months later if I could finish top 5 in Traverse City I would be on my way to Australia for the '96 World's...time to start Traverse City prep....
One of the coolest courses ever....tons of fast flowing singletrack, long climbs, fast descents, and the water jump!
To this day I think I am one of only 3 people in the history of the universe to clear the water jump nude!
Anyway I had a ton of time on my hands after graduating so pretty much every weekend between Helen and Traverse City a group of us made the 4 hour drive "Up North" from Pinckney to Traverse almost every weekend.
Then this happened
After graduating from High School I had a lot of time to kill....
I was into riding and into racing, and occasionally would be up for catching some air...it was this photo that launched Skyler Reeves modeling career!
In 1995 I had finished 2nd at the Norba National Jr Expert race in Traverse City, MI. If I could manage top 5 in Helen GA two weeks later I would be on my way to Germany for Junior World Championships....I finished 30th or something in one of the muddiest races in history.
Back to 1996...I finished 4th in Helen Georgia....2 months later if I could finish top 5 in Traverse City I would be on my way to Australia for the '96 World's...time to start Traverse City prep....
One of the coolest courses ever....tons of fast flowing singletrack, long climbs, fast descents, and the water jump!
To this day I think I am one of only 3 people in the history of the universe to clear the water jump nude!
Anyway I had a ton of time on my hands after graduating so pretty much every weekend between Helen and Traverse City a group of us made the 4 hour drive "Up North" from Pinckney to Traverse almost every weekend.
Then this happened
Photo was a few days after the fact so I had healed a little, but here is the story...
Weekend before Nationals following local legend Derek 'Tinker' Prechtl on one of the many high speed singletrack sections. Puttin' the hammer down, breathing hard, pounding heart rate, getting dropped, stand for a slight climb, look up to see how bad I'm getting dropped and WHAM!!!
Low branch across the trail straight across the face....like Hulk Hogan clotheslining Rowdy Roddy Piper in Wrestlemania 2....I was down and blacked out. I didn't even see it just down. When I came to senses there was blood dripping down my face, I was laying on my back looking up at a lot of trees. Nobody was around and I was in pain. Tinker had dropped me and kept going...my Briko sunglasses had smashed...I was still hurting and bummed about the shades.
Eventually my buddies came back to find me....we rode to the club house of the Shanty Creek golf course, went to the bathroom and started the clean-up process. My buddies were laughing hysterically at me....I was still in pain, they thought it would be a great idea to clean the cuts with rubbing alcohol and toilet paper.....Now I was in even more pain, almost crying/ moaning in pain and a group of uptight golfers walks in on us the the bathroom and gave me the look like, "Wow your buddies just kicked your ass and now they are laughing at you" Then they left and I'm sure they thought my buddies were going to continue kicking the crap out of the queer in spadex. All in all it was pretty darn funny 10 years later.
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To end the story I was really nervous for the race...got wasted...but was able to go to Australia due to other good results from the remainder of the 96 season. Australia was sweet except for a bad case of food poisoning half of the junior racers caught. I remember hurling at 2:00am being on the other side of the planet sleep schedule all messed up, but that morning I saw one of the best sunrises ever over the Pacific.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Up Nort'
WORS # 4 went down this weekend...I also went down
after leading 4 out of 5 laps I tangled with a lapped rider and lost contact with Jesse...He proceeded to kill it putting 1:30 on Marko and I in the last lap. It was a little painful for a while trying to catch him, but soon I realized he was gone and went to damage control mode to make sure I could get 2nd. It came down to a sprint that was kind of easy to win considering Marko was on a ss. A short lap did make for a lot of lapped traffic at times, but overall one of the better challening mtb courses on the WORS circuit.
Speaking of challenging courses...Ican't wait to hit some of those downhills in Marquette this weekend. I might be a little tired by the time the mtb race rolls around considering I haven't done a 100 miler all year, and haven't raced even 2 days in a row nevermind 3 but it should be pretty fun to rally the best downhill in the Midwest. I saw the circuit race doesn't start until 11:15 so maybe I could do both and get 4 races in over the weekend!!!
Here is a sweet one from MarquettePhoto.Com from last years SBF
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
In The House
Over the weekend I did some training and went to Madison for a wedding, When in Madison I had to go watch the ss bros at work in the West Side Store and check out the new madone. The thing looks sweet. I can't wait to crank one of those down Lakeshore Dr.
It was a sweet wedding, but by the time I was back in Sheboygan Sunday I was 100% Blown Out. Monday it was back to work.
Lunch Break was the best part of the day! Hopped on the scooter and cruised down to the new Highland House in Sheboygan. Highly recommended...Great Food, Sweet View, plus they are a proud sponsor of PCW. Gotta check it out
That's it for today....time to start the prep for WORS # 4 in Phillips!
It was a sweet wedding, but by the time I was back in Sheboygan Sunday I was 100% Blown Out. Monday it was back to work.
Lunch Break was the best part of the day! Hopped on the scooter and cruised down to the new Highland House in Sheboygan. Highly recommended...Great Food, Sweet View, plus they are a proud sponsor of PCW. Gotta check it out
That's it for today....time to start the prep for WORS # 4 in Phillips!
Friday, June 08, 2007
rambling man
After watching 24 SOLO I had to get my hands on a copy of Off Road To Athens...it was not quite as good as 24 SOLO, but still pretty sweet. Any movie of mountain bikers going for it through the mud and rain with overly dramatic music will get my blood flowing...unfortunately this movie left me with a real bad taste in my mouth....USA Cycling...
I know the point has been made, but c'mon. What are these guys doing? Back in the 94, 95, 96 era mountain biking was huge...tons of people walking around the pits at a Norba, Fans at the farthest points out on a course in full power screaming like it was the finish line, and huge numbers of racers....10 years later and USA Cycling seems to kill the sport... In between I had some fierce battles with USA Cycling and the officials...
I remember battling w/ Stefan Girard as a U-23 rider trying to make the national team, I remember an official telling me I should have raced faster after finishing in the top 20 in a short track when they bombed the results in West Virginia, and I know I was a part of many more battles...
But If I had been battling for the Olympics and lost becuase of a lame procedure and horrible communication I would be really really mad.....
At least Don Edberg has his shit together! Props to WORS and theire huge success, hence my willingness to compete and support in the WORS series.
In other news Mighty Ducks win Stanley Cup....Stanley Cup has to be one of the best ways to finish the season and the best celebration of the 4 major sporting events....NHL, NBA, MLB, & NFL........
Now I will be watching Basketball....my parents lived in Cleveland for 4 or 5 years so GO CAVS!
I know the point has been made, but c'mon. What are these guys doing? Back in the 94, 95, 96 era mountain biking was huge...tons of people walking around the pits at a Norba, Fans at the farthest points out on a course in full power screaming like it was the finish line, and huge numbers of racers....10 years later and USA Cycling seems to kill the sport... In between I had some fierce battles with USA Cycling and the officials...
I remember battling w/ Stefan Girard as a U-23 rider trying to make the national team, I remember an official telling me I should have raced faster after finishing in the top 20 in a short track when they bombed the results in West Virginia, and I know I was a part of many more battles...
But If I had been battling for the Olympics and lost becuase of a lame procedure and horrible communication I would be really really mad.....
At least Don Edberg has his shit together! Props to WORS and theire huge success, hence my willingness to compete and support in the WORS series.
In other news Mighty Ducks win Stanley Cup....Stanley Cup has to be one of the best ways to finish the season and the best celebration of the 4 major sporting events....NHL, NBA, MLB, & NFL........
Now I will be watching Basketball....my parents lived in Cleveland for 4 or 5 years so GO CAVS!
Monday, June 04, 2007
W - Take 2
It's hard to update a blog from work....craziest thing....customers keep coming in and interuppting me...dang
Anyway it's been a week since the last update....the worst thing about vacation is getting back to work and picking up the missing pieces....
The best thing about vacation was not being at work for a week and I only got 3 phone calls from work while I was gone...not bad
The real best thing about vacaction was mtbing here and here.
Lots of relaxation, good food, read a sweet book called 'Population 485' about Wisco. Also did some brutally painful VO2 intervals in a rain storm on thurs.
We cut home a little early because we weren't sure what to do with Rosco during the race. So it was home Friday, prep Sat, Race Sunday.
After all the rest I was ready to go for WORS # 3 Marathon style.
Anyway it's been a week since the last update....the worst thing about vacation is getting back to work and picking up the missing pieces....
The best thing about vacation was not being at work for a week and I only got 3 phone calls from work while I was gone...not bad
The real best thing about vacaction was mtbing here and here.
Lots of relaxation, good food, read a sweet book called 'Population 485' about Wisco. Also did some brutally painful VO2 intervals in a rain storm on thurs.
We cut home a little early because we weren't sure what to do with Rosco during the race. So it was home Friday, prep Sat, Race Sunday.
After all the rest I was ready to go for WORS # 3 Marathon style.
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The start looked like that....Doug, Jesse, and I sharing the workload....
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Then we finished Lap 1 it started raining and we lost Doug...it looked like that....
End of Lap 2 Jesse throws down a big attack....Mike Phillips is there, then gone, then back again, Chris P and I bridge the gap.
Lap 3 gets really muddy and fatigue starts to settle, we are catching lots of lapped traffic. I take some pulls through some singletrack. A lapped rider crashes into me, I get up pass him, then hear Chris or Jesse battling with the same guy... I pop out of the and go to TT mode...
Last lap is painful but I kept going faster and faster to take my 2nd Wors win of the season.
I was blown away when Marko finished 2nd only 1:00 min back...he must have been killing it or maybe not cause I found this picture....
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To me it looks like my wife yelling, "On your right" while in the big dog and passing Marko in the mud...maybe not though....
here are some HR numbers, wind speeds, lap times, temps, and maps to study for the tech geeks from the Garmin
Props to Andrea for getting 2nd overall in SPORT after graduating from Nursing School and not really riding for 4 years.
Thanks to Rusty for the photos...
The sad part of the day was when Michelle Tim's wife watched me ride by in the lead, said nothing, then proceeded to cheer for Mike and Chris...2 non pcw racers....heartbreaking...
Sunday, June 03, 2007
W
I scored a Win in Wausau for the first of the Marathon races, It was raining. muddy and I had it in the dog a lot. Full race report tomorrow....now it's off to the utility tub to clean muddy clothes...
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