Killing It...

Feeling the pain today? I am ...after a brutally hard, physically demanding race I am happy to be back home and not at work. Luckily after the race we had a 40 minute drive back to the cabin in Eagle River. It was awesome to not have to sit in the car for 3.5 hours after such a hard race. We cooked up some grub and watched the Steelers pre-season game. It was perfect.





















The race was close to perfect also except for those darn crickets. Jesse and I kept hearing these crickets out on the course. It was a little weird....he said something about his brakes...I really couldn't hear him...after the race my rear wheel/brake would explain those funny noises.

I thought I was going to have a rough race after 5 racing weekends in a row. Last weekend at WORS cup I was coming unraveled right before I flatted. The fatigue of 24-9, WORS, then Ore To Shore had set in...then my dog got in a fight and got his ass kicked, Andrea was out of town, and I was busy at work. More than anything I was freaking about the dog. I didn't want him to die while Andrea was on vacation and I had to sign the death waiver as he went under for his stitches and he had to get a drain for the puncture wound on his chest.



























Anyway it was a crazy week...after WORS Cup it was time for some relaxation and prep for the marathon. One long ride with Tristan, Spiro, and Erich Ponath and lots of rest and good sleep was the ticket. Plus it was nice to have Andrea back home.

The race started fast with Mike Phillips killing the lead out. I knew I had 3 miles to the singletrack so I just sat in on the road leadout. I went into the 1st singletrack about 7th or 8th. Slowly moved up to Lalondo's wheel where I remained the majority of the race. We settled in with Mike in charge and Marko dangling in 4th. By the end of the lap Marko made contact and the 4 of us rolled out for lap 2. Jesse took the lead in the singletrack and he thought we were laughing at him while watching him bounce off all the bumps. Really we were dropping Mike who may have started way too hard. Then it was 3...Jesse continued to pull on lap 3 through the majority of the lapped traffic. Lap 4 it was on...I thought I had a chance to win, but the lack of fluids had my legs in full cramp starting the last lap. I pushed through the pain, but had no water the entire last lap. I went to the front as much as possible, but Jesse seemed to feel no pain. In some spots I felt I could ride faster, but I think his fitness was superior at the end of the day. I finished 13 seconds back and Marko was another 20 behind me...with his hands torn back. I hope he can recover enough to hold the bars for SSWC. 2nd place was enough to win the inaugaral WORS Marathon Point Series.






















Today I am feeling some good pain from the cramping of the legs. My back is hurting and I woke up at 5:00am this morning because I couldn't lay still anymore. I Love this stuff...Thanks to all the sponsors...PCW, TREK, Oakley, Crank Bros, Hyundai, and thanks to WORS and the Rhineland crew for a great race. ps....gotta love the Steelers hyperlink

WORS

Another one in the books...with rain in the forecast and a new venue I wasn't sure which bike to race. Top Fuel 9.9 or Elite 9.9 I ended up with the Elite 9.9 on the start line.





















I figured it would climb better and handle the mud a little better. I had a good start and filed into the woods just ahead of T. Brown. 1/4 of the way into the lap the lead group of 5 was set with Chris P. dangling on and off.



















The 9.9 was a good choice in the end but a flat tire derailed my efforts in the middle of the 3rd lap. I was starting to feel the pain and Jesse was already out of sight when it happened. The tire change was smooth except for the nut on the tubeless valve core. The thing was impossible to get off in the mud. Soon I was chasing solo and caught Jesrin with 1 lap to go. I ran out of juice and finished 9th on the day.

No racing on Sunday which bummed me out after staying in Wautoma Super 8 Saturday night. It seemed that everyone was bailing on day 2 and I might have had a shot at the top 5 in the GC and was looking forward to some redemption from the flat. The race was cancelled though and might be rescheduled at a later date.

At least I got to go home and hang out with Andrea who had just arrived home from a week long back pack trip in Cali.

PROJECT M

Went to Trek WORLD yesterday with Mike Verhagen....it was a blast.

Did some really cool things, took a tour of the factory, did some demo rides on the new Fuel EX and the Superfly, and saw a ton of friends.

Here is Pete from Athens Bicycle and myself.

The coolest part of any Trek event is listening to John Burke speak. His motivation to be the best always has you walking away striving for more. This time around it wasn't all about the products, but it was all about the people. The people of the world.

1 World. 2 Wheels. The Trek Commitment.

It's all about getting more people to ride bikes. Which makes people healthier, makes for less traffic, less congestion, and less pollution. Simple, yet brillilant. When the speech was over it was time to head over the the fields for the annual kick ball tournament. Normally Trek has charter busses to transports all the dealers from location to location. This time there was over 1,000 Trek Lime bikes with helmets, and front and rear lights. It was the biggest group ride of my life. All around the streets of Madison making a big statement.

We had a ton of fun testing the full capabilities of the Lime

Who can name this guy with too much skill and not enough common sense?

They even had Hula Girls....Mike and I unfortunately had to go home early.

Ore To Shore

2nd place in the 07 version of the Ore To Shore....Minutes before the race on the warm up I had a 3 inch nail directly in the top of my rear tire and it was clicking my frame. I had no idea what it was. After stoppiong and discovering the nail I was pretty bummed. The Stans sealed the hole, but I wasn't confident it would hold for another 48 miles. I went back to the car and Scott KJ gave me a tube. Thanks Scott. The race started and we were off. Last year I was in bad position at the bottom of the luge climb...this year I was up and over no problem with Doug Swanson and Mike Simonson. The three of us had the gap and the race was set.

























One little bobble 8 miles into the race on the power line climb was enough to let Simonson get a gap. After running a few feet I was back on my bike and Simonson was drilling it...I got by Doug and slowly bridged back to Simonson it took a while and it was painful, but I made it. Then I was attcked by a mtn lion. It was crazy. The thing flew at my from a cliff ten feet above my head. It was silent and all the sudden I was on the ground. I could feel its breath, but my helmet saved me. I remembered the Tarzan books I read a few years back and went for the jugular. After a 2 minute struggle it ran off and I was back on the bike jacked with adrenalin and started to chase again. Then there was this huge bear... Anyway that would have been cool but here is what really happened. Less than two seconds after contact Simonson was on the power and I was gone....from then on it was a 35 or 40 mile individual time trial. I would have tried harder to bridge to Mike again, but his wife kept telling me whoppers out on the course...like he wasn't even trying and he is 15 minutes ahead of you!!! At least she made me laugh out there when I was scared about being attacked by another wild animal. It was a little lonely out there, but I was happy to finish 2nd. Here I am telling the reporter from the Mining Journal about the Mtn Lion...for some reason he didn't print it in the story.




































Each ten miles Mike was putting 1 minute on me and finished around 4 minutes up. Mike Anderson was 3rd. He is the guy who I battled with in the mtb race of SuperiorBF last year. Russ Tiles finished 4th and the Tandem was a non factor with another flat. Full Results here. Sara KJ won the womens race. Good job again Sara. Here is the GPS and here is the map in motion....it screwed up a little in the beginning for some reason. For more pictures check out mqtphoto or here. Then there was the after party...but that's another story and another post for another day....yes it's true Simonson can play the drums...

History of the Triple Crown

The Triple Crown. Three intense mass start point to point races in the midwest. Ore To Shore, Chequamegon, & The Iceman. Marquette, MI - Cable, WI - Traverse City, MI. 48 miles, 40 miles, 28miles. Each race is shorter, but seemingly harder. I have competed in 20 of the point to point races. Officially the Triple Crown has only been around since 2000. This weekend will be the 8th edition of the Ore To Shore. Blogger trivia??? Who created the Triple Crown? Was it me? Chequamegon started in 1983, Iceman started in 1990, and Ore To Shore in 2000. Since the beginning of these races there has been Tour Champions, World Champions, Olympic Athletes, and multiple National Champions.





Here are some impressive Triple Crown Stats...





4 x consecutive Iceman winner Cecilia Potts


3 x consecutive Iceman winner Elise Harrington


3 x consecutive Chequamegon winner Steve Tilford


3 x consecutive Ore To Shore winner Derek Prechtl


4 x Iceman winner Kelli Emmet


3 x Iceman winner Scott Quiring


3 x Iceman winner Steve Tilford





Here are the few elite riders who have managed to pull victories in 2 out of the 3 races





2006 Mike Simonson - Ore To Shore & Iceman


1999 Scott Quiring - Chequamegon & Iceman


1993 Gene Oberpillar - Chequamegon & Iceman


2001 Steve Tilford - Chequamegon & Iceman


2002 Steve Tilford - Chequamegon & Iceman


1995 Jeff Hall Chequamegon & 2003 Ore To Shore


1999 Kyia Malenkovich Chequamegon & 2002 Ore To Shore


2006 Sara Kylander Johnson Ore To Shore & Chequamegon





side note - Sara Kylander Johnson was the first rider who had a chance to win the Triple Crown since I won all three races in 2004 and the Triple Crown was born....she finished 2nd at the Iceman.





Does anyone have the legs to pull it off in 07?

Strawberry Mocha Frappaccino's!

This picture of Drankus definately made me think of the tragic gasoline fight in Zoolander....

Here is Tim's best Blue Steel...

More Racing

This weekend was the Alterra WORS race in Milwaukee. I was 3rd. First lap I felt really good playing it smart getting to know the course and trying not to crash in the slippery sections. I was following Mike the local legend who I figured knew the hot lines better than anyone else.































Starting lap 2 Jesse powered up the climb with his singlespeed and I thought to myself...I should go with him...no it's too early and too hot. Looking back I should have done it as Jesse killed it the rest of the race and won by 2:00 minutes. After Lap 2 I decided to go and dropped Mike and Marko. I was feeling good. Marko was back with me starting lap 4 and I knew it was going to be hard to shake him. I tried on the slight downhill, but then got some crap stuck in my rear der.

I tried again in the last singletrack, but too many lapped riders. Marko brought the pain on the last climb. I was watching him go harder and harder and was smiling to myself thinking wow that must hurt. I hopefully saved enough gas for the big one this weekend up in Marquette. Still blown away that Creepy and Darkness go so fast with 1 gear. Imagine if Darkness cut a mullet...he might even then have the power to beat Jesse.

24 - Pain

Not only does the Pain last for 24 Hours, but it gets better...for another 4 days after the race it is fatigue in the legs and really sleepy in the brain. After the race I went for a Subway(last year I had 24-9 of Subway 6" sub after each lap) and could hardly get the words out of my mouth while ordering. This year I actually thought about a menu before I was driving to the race. Bagels, lunch meat, vanillia pudding, pretzels, bananas, and lots of water. Karl and I rolled out of Sheboygan at 7:00am to arrive in Wausau in perfect fashion 5 minutes before Darkness was making his mad dash away from the finish line. After he split we rolled the PCW car over to the Trek area and started unloading. It was pretty nice to be in with the Trek guys with all the necessary tools, bike stands, tents, and chairs you need for a 24 hour race. Soon after getting unpacked I was setting up my 8 - 10 man tent. It's all about the operating room. One Deluxe Luxury Therma Rest, One Sleeping Bag, and 7 PCW Kits. After getting situated I had time for a bagel and then it was off for Lap 1. No pre-ride, I figured 24 hours to get to know the course. It was sweet...somehow they managed to link together about every sweet singletrack I have ever ridden in Wausau...After my first lap we had a 4 minute gap over the Velo Rochester Team from MN. Jesse was busting out some incredible lap times. The next 20 hours kind of blurred together. I remember Doug looking dilarious singing lots of Beach Boys songs, I remember Karl giving Marko shit for not smiling, and I remember thinking Jesse did another really fast lap. My night laps went really well...1:03 and 1:03 consistent and smooth. I was happy to see the morning sun on my 5th lap as I started out 25 seconds from lapping the 2nd place team. Soon after the first single track I had caught and lapped the rider from MN. The next 4 laps for our team were basically victory laps. I had the last leg and rode a conservative 1:10 lap. I was pretty happy to be finished and even more happy to pull on a 2nd Stars and Stripes. Thanks to everyone who helped along the way. Next up is Alterra WORS in Milwaukee. Todays ride went really good and I'm ready to do battle w/ 3 national champs this weekend. Racing in Wisco rules! Getting the mental game on for O2S!

One other thing that was pretty sweet. There was this mysterious Pizza in the Trek Team tent when I arrived to the race. 24 hours later John Poz ran over with that frantic look on his face. He said, "Does anyone know where I can get some pizza, Chris Eatough is dying for some pizza?" We gave him the box and he ran away pumped as a kid in a candy store.