WELCOME

This morning I woke to a gaggle of geese flying south. Cool temperatures and to the excitement of my first ride on the new cross bike! We even saw some leaves changing colors on the drive home from Marquette. Which means cross season is here! I can count the workouts remaining before the first cross race. The tires are stretched the gluing will commence soon.

The start of a new cross season also means the start of some new relations. After 3 good seasons riding Blue cross bikes I am moving forward to continue my great relationship with Trek Bicycles. As soon as Trek came out with the Cronus last year I was pumped. Unfortunately last year by the time the bikes were available I was already committed to Blue. Well this year TREK is in 100% in and I already have two identical Cronus CX Ultimates built and ready to rock. With the help of my friends at Shimano and some brand new Dura Ace 7900 parts these bikes are going to kick ass!

Another new sponsor who is on board with 100% support this year will be HED wheels. During my trip to Tucson last winter I had the chance to test out a few wheels on the road. A couple of months ago HED called me(which rarely happens in the sponsorship world) and offered full support in the wheel category. I am currently dialed with 2 sets of HED Stinger 5 carbon wheels for the fast and dry racing. Even more exciting is the opportunity to ride the Ardennes SL aluminum wheels when it gets a little nasty. The confidence from having a solid aluminum, consistent feeling braking will be huge. They even hooked my up with some Ardennes SL clinchers for training!

Last year I struggled in Euroland with my brakes/pads/wheels in the mud so I will be testing out a few different brake options along with the Ardennes wheels and I should be a lot more confident.

Enough with the BLOG...time to go ride!