Wisconsin

Andrea, Rosco, and I made it home Monday night! It was great to be home and sleep in my own bed after practically 5 months of being on the road. Only bad thing about it is that I am leaving already tomorrow to do Barry Roubaix and go visit friends in MI. It's not bad that I get to race and visit friends, just bad that I have to leave home again so fast. I can't believe we have already been in our house for 3 years.

This morning I was looking through old Gravel Rouser pictures and they all seemed to coincide with major household events. Buying the house and then turning around and leaving for Gravel Rouser was a classic 3 years ago. 2 years ago we were redoing our bathroom and last year when we returned from Gravel Rouser it was about a month spent in the attic doing vents and new insulation. As soon as I get home from Barry Roubaix its on again. 45 degree angles means its time to re-do all the molding in the house. There are still huge sections of the wall that don't have any molding at all. It should be a fun job! Our furnace is also on the way out so it might be time for a new one of those too.

Andrea was back to work yesterday and had an awesome day. It seems her boss at work is top notch. The nursing staff got Andrea a welcome back to work bouquet of flowers in a smiley face coffee mug...pretty sweet.

I was welcomed back with a crap ton of cheese, venison brats, and venison dogs from my good buddy Wally! I however will not be returning back to work. It's time for something new for me and in the mean time I'm going to give it a go as a stay at home dad for Rosco! I guess I'll also try to figure out how to be a faster bike racer too! Updating blog's doesn't make me fast so thats it for now...

Headin' Home?

GRC 2011 is in the books. Again the crew from Athens put on a great show and we all had a blast rousin' the gravel and gettin' ready for spring....too bad Andrea and I are headed back to the great white north where its not going to be spring for another month or two.

Saturday we logged in a solid 55 miles of dirt roads and a singletrack race at Lake Hope. Highlight of the day was dad making his first journey out on the gravel for the year and his first stage of a Gravel Rouser. Local OU collegiate race Derek Bissett made me work pretty darn hard for the win....he had some serious skills on the descents and was pretty strong at the beginning....luckily for me he chose poorly with a single speed and suffered on the last few climbs towards the finish. We finished the day off with a GRC BBQ and then topped it off with some NCAA wrestling!

Sunday morning we were at it again for the best singletrack in the area. Sells Park / Strouds Run is amazing. A little soggy, but amazing. After, we said our goodbye's and headed home to bust out some laundry and clean some thrashed mtb's. We started a little packing and had one last good night hanging with mom and dad. Tomorrow morning we hit the road....

I haven't been home for more than 2 or 3 days in a row since Iceman! Pretty cool that I can pull that off...living the dream....but really looking forward to being home. I have a list of home improvement chores that is a mile long! Just so I don't get shell shocked I am going to take a little trip to Michigan for Barry Roubaix 4 days after I get home! I'll be on the road again before I know it....

Grabin' and Gettin' er done

The Grab N Git was tonight....start at the shop. 5 unknown stops. Grab a map and git pedaling. I've been unsuccessful in this even multiple times, but this year I was ready! The Top Fuel was back in working order and with 6 years experience I felt I knew my way around town pretty good. I grabbed my map and had my route planned. I knew exactly where 4 out of the 5 stops were and I had a darn good idea of the location of the finish line.

I took off and I was right behind multiple time Grab N Git winner and local legend Jim Schulz. I followed him for a little bit before attacking him before the first big climb up to stop number 1. I got a gap but he knew a secret shortcut to stop number 2 and beat me there. I followed him to stop number three (which was by far the hardest to find) but the most fun with the random article of clothing! We worked together to find the stop with 2 sets of eyes being better than one. After that I knew the next 2 stops and the finish and tried to drop Jim as much as possible, but each time I veered off the path he would take a local shortcut and pop out ahead of me. Jim sucked my wheel all the way to the finish after the final stop. Rumor is I won, but nothing official yet! We pretty much tied at the finish line, but the real winner is determined by stop number 2's lucky or unlucky cork. Time bonus or time penalty can make or break your Grab N Git and usually end up doing just that!

ps - Jim was rocking the Portland w/ 700c's and I was on the Top Fuel 9.9

This morning I pedaled out to Lake Hope with Pete and marked the out and back route...rumor is the actual race course is going to be well marked this year, but I'm sure the locals are doing everything possible now to help me get lost out there! Whatever happens it'll be fun.

Rousin'

Well it's that time of year again! Gravel Rouser 2011 is upon us...

We've been in Athens for about 10 days now. The weather is finally coming around just for the GR! I've done a few good road rides and a few good mtb rides until 2 days ago when I was riding the Thunderbunny trail and before I knew it my r. der. was upside down and ripped off of my bike. major bummer. Luckily the fine folks at Athens Bicycle have a brand new r. der on the way and in no time I'll be back on the horse.

Tonight was the St. Patty's Super D and without my trusty steed I had to turn to a familiar friend. Dad's old Top Fuel 98. It's been there before and has proven a worthy champion on more than one occasion at the Gravel Rouser. With a little TLC it was up for the task again tonight! Although the competition keeps gettin' a little closer. Tomorrow I'll be going for my first Grab N Git stage win.....wish me luck I'll need it!

ROAD TRIP

OUCH - That hurt....we packed up Monday morning to leave Tucson. We arrived Friday night in Athens. 2,300 miles in 5 days. 5 days in the car was pretty brutal. Rosco was a trooper.

Our first stop was another section of the AZ trail for our last mtb adventure in the desert w/ the Buermans and Massey's. We crashed the Buerman's condo in Mesa for Ann's 50th birthday Monday night!!!

Tuesday morning we killed some time in the morning so we could go out to lunch with another friend from Pinckney who resides in AZ.....Brad Palumbo. From there it was up to Prescott to visit yet more friends from Pinckney. The Reeves just purchased a new house in Prescott, AZ and were happy to have us as guests. We went for a little hike and then went out to dinner for our last burrito in AZ.

The next morning we were off to the Grand Canyon - WOW!

After the trip through the Canyon we drove about 8 hours to Albuquerque, NM. Another 12.5 hours to Joplin NM the next day. Yesterday was the final day in the car....another 12.5 hours in the car and we made it to Athens. Next up Gravel Rouser followed to Barry Roubaix! Final thoughts.....another sweet vacation is coming to an end.