Midwest

Midwest racing is fast.....Midwest racers are strong, but I think they just don't get the credit they deserve. US National Pro Road race results..... MI Brent Bookwalter 4th WI Matt Bucshe 5th. Thats impressive.

Same goes for the MTB'ers and Cross'ers....we have solid competition week after week all season long. Yesterday was another perfect example.

WOS #9 Green Bay:

7 guys in the lead group 30 miles into a race. I made my move somewhere in the middle of the last lap. Jesse was the only one who could come with me...I stayed on the gas to keep the gap growing and Jesse played it smart and saved just enough juice to come around me at the finish.

Andrea finished lucky #7 again.

Now its my favorite part of the season....training is shorter but more intense....racing is faster with more pain, but its over a little sooner. Recovery consists of a bowl of chili and Sunday Night Football in the recliner.

Less training = more commuting!

pre-season

Did you see that football game last night! The Pack is looking good! My pre-season is looking good too....check it out

I wonder if sniffin' glue would make you fail a doping control?

Cross Training

It's the perfect combination of running & riding....

And of course rest....

Rosco is taking a rest week right now too....

FOR SALE: It's looking like I'll be aboard the new NORCROSS this season so it's time to unload the CXC's.....let me know if your interested sz LG = 57cm top tube. Used for one race! brimatter@hotmail.com

Mid-Season Break

I love it that my mid-season break consisted of a full blown crazy 90+ mile race around Lk. Winnebago! I'm not so sure how that will bode come Mid Dec when I'm racing cross through the mud in OR. That's why I think I'm going to take another 10 days or so of the bike......

Race the Lake was another scary classic with a little more competition it seemed a little safer as there were no guys or gals on Tri bikes towards the front of the group. I heard one big crash at the top of the lake and another on the way back towards FDL. Luckily I wan't near either of them. At one point a dude in a recumbant went flying by us and put the smack down on the group. He couldn't climb though. I was feeling pretty good, but was in bad position once and had to close a good gap.....unfortunately it was probably the energy I needed for when the real move went....I ended up 9th.....

The rest of the weekend was spent eating paint chips.....nothing like scraping, sanding, caulking, and painting windows that have been neglected for the past 30 years! More home improvement projects on the horizon during the next 10 days. Andrea and I finished the weekend off with some live music and dinner at the Highland House in Sheboygan. Mmmmmmm

"I Love GOOOLD"

Well, I have to start off by saying the Gold Diggers cheerleaders at the start line was a first.

I didn't win the Golden Bike, but I won my third big rock and my third piece of bike furniture!

In the end it was Myself and Mike Anderson. Watch out for that kid....he's only twenty and was 3rd last year at Iceman and now 2nd at O2S.

We started off the trip Friday morning with a fully loaded Hyundai team car. We arrived to Marquette in time to see all the regulars in the parking lot telling war stories of sand, rain to come, and gear ratios, chain rings, tire pressure etc.....

My pre-ride went well and then it was off to the Pasta Shoppe with Tristan, Jamie, and the new baby. That place is the secret to racing fast in MQT. Mmmm

We crashed at the Holiday Inn and had a delicious buffet breakfast in the morning. Doug was drinking coffee creamer for power....

The race started fast on the pavement with Lummis and the Tandem trading pulls. I made it to the first climb in 3rd on Doug's wheel. We crested to first climb with 5 or 6 riders, but then sat up....the group swelled. It must have been 70 riders strong through Ishpeming....an Ore To Shore 1st. Lummis picked up the pace parallel to the train tracks followed by Tristan. We hit the power climbs at 8 miles in and Mike A. got a gap. I waited a split second and then went around Doug and bridged. By the time I made contact with Mike we had about 15 seconds. I took the lead at the next section, put my head down and went. Mike and I traded pulls for a while and that was all she wrote. The Fuel was flawless the entire race and we ended up 5 minutes ahead of number 3.

Other race notes.....Andrea was 8th in the womens field one spot better than last year! I was bummed that Simonson and J. Lalonde didn't make the race....the competition was the strongest yet at O2S, but without those guys a little something was missing.

Thanks to all the O2S volunteers and staff for putting on a great race. Thanks to all my sponsors especially Gear Grinder, Trek, and Hyundai. And finally thanks to Lorin and Trish Riutta who provided the pictures and showed us the top secret new trails in Ishpeming Sunday morning!

lazy river

Another WORS race in the book.....this time I finished 2nd just over 1:00 back. With a $50 prime to start things off at the top of the first climb the start was furious! I settled in 3rd behind Guerra and Macej. Soon I realized I had too much tire pressure, not enough tread, and I didn't have a clue where I was going in the singletrack. It's tight and there are lots of blind corners. I was gapped, but thought they were just around the next corner. Mike P was on my wheel and asked to get by...I thought - great a local who can bridge me up in the singletrack. But instead I was dropped again. When I came out to the first climb the leaders where easily over a minute up on me and I realized oops.....I better get going. I was climbing really strong and making time, but couldn't get into the rhythm of the snakey singetrack to save my life. Somewhere in the middle of the 3rd lap I caught Mike, crashed, caught him again, he crashed, got a stick in my der. stopped, caught him again and finally dropped him to move into 2nd place. Guerra was still :45 seconds up. The efforts had to be huge on the climbs which ended up hurting me on the last lap. After the final singletrack I put it into damage control mode to preserve my 2nd place. Congrat's to Guerra on a hard earned first WORS W. Andrea finished up 7th. I was pretty blown Sunday night, but spent monday paddling up the Sheboygan River w/ my dad in the kayak's. It works for Adam Craig right? Next up O2S. Until then....