BPW

Bike Path Warriors.....

That was us on day 2. Crushing the bike path in Belgium. A fine bike path it is. It was an old railway and now they converted it to a bike path. It was pretty much the only place where it was safe to ride. Every other bit of Belgium was cover with a thin layer of black ice. The bike path runs parallel to the hills. Each of the famous climbs in Belgium can be found at the base of these hills.

Our pad is pretty sweet. The Hof Ter Kammen. A sweet bed and breakfast about 3km from the Koppenberg and 3 km from the Oudenaarde Centrum.

Lyne from Podium Insight arrived yesterday without her bags. Marks bikes arrived lat night just in time to be built up and head to tonights race in Antwerpen. I'm not quite so sure, but you might find a streaming TV link at www.cycling.tv

Back In Belgium

I knew things were going to be good when we checked in at United Airlines and the charged us $0 for the bikes, wheels, and luggage! I couldn't beleive it....then I got on the plane...business class was just as sweet as first class, except there was a guy next to me. 3 course meal, wine, desert, post dinner liquor, and of course a full recline!

We arrived on time w/ all of our luggage. Mark didn't get his though...bummer. We arrived in Oudenaarde hit the grocery store, built the bikes, and went for a little spin.

Now its time for bed....a little lack of sleep setting in now.

Pic's tomorrow!

Nationals

The biggest and best US race of the year and it was over before I knew it...

First of all I'd like to say 'Job Well Done' to the crew who was behind putting on the race in Bend. The course was awesome. The venue was awesome. The spectators were awesome. The weather was awesome. All in all the best CX race I've ever been to in America.

For me it was over way too fast.

I started good. Was 7th or 8th off of the pavement. I was a little cautious on the right hander before the pits because I didn't want to case a rock and flat. The next corner and the race was over. I crashed into a few riders who piled up in front of me and went down. Travis Livermon crashed into the back of me and his foot went through my rear wheel. We were both calm and by the time I got his foot out of my wheel we were in the 50's. I pedaled once and heard the broken spoke flapping against the frame. I pedaled twice and the spoke got caught under the chain and in the cassette and began to wrap around the hub. I kept pedaling because I was going forward. As soon as I hit the first pavement I had to soft pedal just to make it to the pits then I was in 70th - 80th 90th....as soon as I had to pedal hard to make it up a little hill my chain skipped over the spoke...I coasted and ripped the der off. Game over 1:30 minutes into the race. A little bummed, but I know stuff like that happens and it doesn't happen to me too often so I'm lucky in that respect. I'm also lucky because I get to do it again this weekend in Europe!

The guys at Blue kept the bikes clean all weekend and were going to work the pits for me, thanks. Also have to say a huge thanks to my cousin Mike and his wife Terri and daughter Marley who put me up in Portland for the week and allowed me to use their van to drive to Bend and back. They had a sweet place and I was able to fully relax and train to prepare for the race.

Next update from Oudenaarde, Belgium! Waffle Time!

Even more thanks to those who donated:

Paul Warloski

Mom & Dad

John & Nora Beck

Jessica Gammey

Renee Callaway

Dan Schuster

Mike & Chris Hildebrand

PORTLAND

Friday...a full day of travel started with a little panic as both of my seatposts were frozen into my frames as I was packing to leave for the airport. Smart thinking from Andrea had the problem solved in no time and soon I was off for the adventures of travel with bikes, wheels, and gear bags. I thought I got off pretty good with only $165 fee from United. $25 for the first bag, $35 for the second bag and an extra $100 because it was overweight. They didn't even charge me the bike fee??? 70lbs for my 2 bikes and my double bike pro case. I carried on my duffle bag and back pack only to check my duffle bag at the gate anyway...but at least it saved $100 for the 3rd piece of luggage. Milwaukee to Chicago - 3 hour layover and then Chicago to Portland.

My good buddy Garett Heitman and Papa Heitman were waiting for me at the airport with smiles. It was awesome to see them both. Last time I saw Papa Heitman I was probably 20 years old racing semi-pro at the Norba at Snowqaulmie Pass in WA. Last time I saw Garett was 7 years ago. We had a blast hanging out in downtown Portland!

The racing wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but it was somewhat solid. 15th Saturday which was good enough for 1 UCI point and another 15th Sunday. My worst USGP results of the season... I thought Saturday was a rough day because of the travel on Friday, but the legs weren't there Sunday either. Sunday felt better but pretty much raced the whole day by myself. I missed the chase group on lap 2 and watched them put 5 - 10 seconds on me every lap. I was really hoping for 5 spots better and a top 10 overall. Instead I finished out the series with a 13th overall 6 USGP points from 10th. Not bad for my first full season of USGP action, but I know I can go better.

I think I have raced every weekend for the last 2.5 months. My legs definitely felt a little stale so I'm looking forward to a full week of rest. I'm staying with my cousin just south of downtown Portland. The rest started off really good last night with a Steelers divisional rivalry win over the Ravens! Time to go clean the bikes...

Thanks again to the growing list of Matter CX Supporters:

Bruce LeBlanc

Amy Dykema

Paul Weaver

Jason Lummis

Jim Michler

Ned Purtell

Jenn & Max Finkbeiner

Steve Cudnoski

Ben Wilkinson

and of course all my sponsors!

Training = A Day At The Beach

The Kocksijde World Cup venue " ain't got nuttin' " on Sheboygan when it comes to riding on the sand! Todays training consisted of 35 miles on the beach. It was 25 degrees outside the majority of the day with a pretty solid west wind at 10-15 mph. Light snow flurries. Kind of just like Belgium right now.

What to do? The same old boring ride again? Sometimes it feels really good to do something completely different. Taking the cross bike on the frozen beaches of Lk Michigan is your answer. It's like your riding on the moon. Its cold, its windy, its isolated....just you and some birds, some frozen fish, and if your lucky some deer or a bald eagle.

It was a J-TREE kind of day. Citrus Embrocation on the legs, Spicy Cinnamon on the lower back, and the J TREE SPF Winter Stick for the face. Gotta have some SPF when you go to the beach.

My days of training at home for the 2010 season are coming to a quick end. It was sweet to finish it off with a perfect beach ride...so perfect I even ran a road tire on the back. I'll be on the road all but 2 days in December...wish me luck!

Jingle Cubed

3 days of racing in the legs and I'm feeling pretty good. I never felt like I had the snap over the weekend so I rode steady the entire weekend and never pushed it over the limits. Hopefully that means I can recover good from the last three days and get a little rest and relaxation at home before heading out to Portland. I'm pretty excited to head out and hang with my old school buddy G-Heitman from Clif Bar.

After that I will be staying the week in OR to prepare for Nationals in Bend. Next update from Portland....until then you can check out this.

Thanks to the following fine folks for donating:

Bruce Leblanc

Amy Dykema

Jason Lummis

Paul Weaver

Jim Michler

Ned Purtell

Another huge thanks to all my sponsors for their continued support. And a huge thanks to John Meehan for putting on another great weekend of racing in the Midwest!

Jingle Cross Day 2

Jingle Cross day 2 started Friday night after the race. We were pretty pumped to be hooked with some host housing. I found the house after Fridays nights race. I had to pee....I opened the door to the bathroom which was actually the basement, and CUJO came charging out. It scared the shit out of me. Luckinly CUJO aka Rosie was a friendly dog and proceeded to pee all over the place. Maybe thats why she was in the basement....back in the basement with the dog and as soon as we went to bed she started whimpering, whining, crying and barking all night long...

With slightly warmer temps and some sunshine melting the icy ground I opted to switch wheels and go with the mud tires. It was a good choice. No crashes except for everyone around me. Somebody came in way too hot on the first corner and took out Cody Kaiser who broke a spoke and then crashed into me....we both managed to keep it upright, but we smashed through some course stakes and course tape. I think I was in 35th around the first half lap...not good. At this point with a C1 race the following day I instantly decided to take it easy and just ride a smooth tempo and see how far I can move up. I saw 3 guys crash trying to bunny hop the barriers. I never went over the red, never pushed it too hard on the run, just kept it steady and rode up to 9th place by the end of the race. Another 9th, not what I wanted, but today is the big day...

Watching the Superprestige this morning and drinking coffee....another good morning. Looking forward to 5 days at home before flying out to Portland.

Jingled

Another quick one day turn around at home and the Hyundai was loaded again. Again Elicia and I were headed south, but this time only a 5 hour drive. I think if Sven Nys had to go 5 hours to a race he wouldn't do it.....and I think 5 hours is my back yard. We left home around 12:30 and arrived to Mt. Krumpit in all its glory under the lights at about 5:30pm with 2 hours until race time.

A quick trip over to registration, followed by 15 minutes of digging through my bag to find the right clothing. I managed to get one lap on the course before the pro womens race. It was icy and cold. The course was pretty sweet though with a new flyover and a crazy descent down Mt. Krumpit.

Back to the car to get a good warm up on the trainer, a quick swap of the clothes and to the start line. It was the deepest field ever at Jingle Cross. I had a solid start 5th wheel for the first 2 laps. At the top of Mt. Krumpit on lap 3 it started going downhill. Chris Jones crashed in front of me. 4 guys went by. I started trying harder then crashed on an icy gravel road. one guy goes by me. i try to bridge the gap back to Wells and I crash again going down Mt. Krumpit....flustered i have to take it easy for a few laps. I ended up passing 4 guys on the last lap to finish 9th.

I smashed my knee really good on one of the crashes. Hopefully it loosens up a little after a lap or two today. Tristan is still gluing up his tires...

Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

I'm hanging at the in-laws getting ready for a killer turkey day dinner. This will be the second in 3 days!

After Sundays repeat win in North Carolina, Elicia and I headed back to Athens for a little vacation. Andrea had flown in to Columbus that morning and was able to hang with the crew from Athens Bicycle while E and I were racing. Monday after the double race weekend was pretty much a wash. I was smashed...and had just enough energy to head out for a ride in the near perfect temps with my Dad, A & E.

Tuesday I was feeling a little better and spent the day getting caught up on some bike maintenance while Andrea and Elicia made killer Turkey dinner #1. They cooked up a fully Vegan dinner that was tied for the best Thanksgiving feast I've ever had!!!

Back in Tucson in the year 2002 I smoked a Turkey with Mesquite from a tree in our back yard. It was amazing.

Next up....Jingle Cross! See you there.

NC GP

A last minute change of plans before driving down to North Carolina. An unexpected guest decided to join me....my favorire sister in law in the whole world! So we loaded up the car with 4 bikes(one for Andrea who is flying down to Columbus) and drove to Athens to 'train in the mountains and hang with mom and dad. We arrived late Wednesday, checked out the new Athens Bicycle Thursday morning and then found the steepest road in Athens county for a serious interval session. Friday morning we were back in the car and headed further south to Hendersonville. We arrived in time to check out the course and then back to the Red Roof Inn for some relaxin'.

The race was good. I liked the course, but didn't think it was going to turn into that much of a road race. A little wind and some longer open sections made it hard to drop people. With 1/4 lap to go I jumped into the woods first. Frattini passed me before the climb and I waited until the last 20 meters to go around him for my first UCI win! Elicia finished 17th just out of the money.

We celebrated the old fashioned way with a night at the gas station laundromat, some burgers, and some more time chillin' at the Red Roof INN.

FT. Collins - new BELGIUM!

Like I said in my last update. Belgium, It's ON!
















I had a little taste of some true cross weather and mud this past weekend in Ft. Collins, but the air was a little thinner. I did manage to finally crack the top 10 on Sunday and I'm sitting 12th in the USGP points, just 3 points away from a top 10 in the series!
















Sheboygan was represented in full force!

It's a really quick turn around before I leave tomorrow morning. So I'll leave you with a couple photos and hopefully another update from Athens OH in a few days.

I have put up a donation link below for those who want to help. This year I'll be staying with Mark Lalonde. We are renting our own guest house, renting a car, hiring a mecahnic, and trying to figure things out on our own! It's a bit more challenging than EuroCrossCamp, but its going to be pretty cool to stay at the Hof Ter Kammen a kilometer from the Koppenburg in the heart of Flanders!

Another huge thanks to Bruce Leblanc from the Flying Rhinos cycling club in MI for donating another set of frequent flyer miles to get me over to Belgium.

and so it begins

The next 2 months will be a whirlwind...and it's already started! Iceman was an amazing weekend. Thanks to everyone who sent e-mails, facebook messages, and congratulations my way.

Sunday was a long drive home from Traverse City. We made it just in time to leave our muddy clothes in a heap on the basement floor and then head over to the Hildebrands for a Packers ass whooping over the Cowboys! Monday was spent cleaning up the mess from the weekend and swapping bike parts from the Elite 9.9 back to the Top Fuel frame. Tuesday I was able to push through 2 hours of pain on the bike and then Wednesday I got in a solid cross practice and started packing for Ft. Collins. It was a brutal 16-18 hour drive in the Gear Grinder team van. We made it to DIA just in time to pick up Tristan from the airport and and head up to check out the course. More snow, mud, and cooler temps are in store for the weekend.

The rest of the season:

On the drive up I booked my tickets for my 3rd Euro CX campaign. This time I'm flying solo. No Eurocross Camp. I'm just looking for a little bit of a different experience this time around. Mark Lalonde will be joining me and hopefully Andrea and Elicia will be there also for moral support. I have reserved a house in Oudenaarde about 1km from the base of the famous Koppenburg climb in eastern Belgium! More to come on the Belgium trip...

Before that I have to race 2 times this weekend. Drive home Sunday and Monday. Unpack and repack on Tuesday. Drive to Athens OH on Wednesday. Drive to North Carolina on Friday. Race 2 times and back to Athens on Monday. Thanksgiving on Tuesday. Back to Sheboygan on Wednesday. Thanksgiving on Thursday. Jingle Cross for three races on Fri, Sat, Sun. Portalnd the next weekend for the USGP finals with an extended stay for the week and then out to Bend the following weekend for US Nationals. Fly home from Bend on Monday unpack and repack on Tuesday and fly to Belgium on Wednesday. Race the Scheldecross on Thursday in Antwerpen and then probably proceed to get my ass handed to me, because I can't see straight, for another 15 days in Euroland! I can't wait! This is what I trained for all season long!

THE TRIPLE TRIPLE !!!

I figured if I made up the Triple Crown I'd let my dad make up the TRIPLE TRIPLE. 3 times Ore to Shore winner. 3 times Chequamegon winner and now 3 times Iceman Champion!!!

First off I have to thank my family. Andrea, Mom, Dad, the Hildebrands.....without a support group like that I'm not sure I could do it....

The weekend started like most...loading up the Hyundai Touring and pulling out of the driveway with bikes on top and the back loaded down. Andrea and I decided to leave Sheboygan a day earlier this year to spend a little time in TC...check out some wineries and not be quite so rushe

d the day before the race. I pre-road the course from Williamsburg Rd (12 miles to go) on Friday afternoon in a blizzard. Luckily Cole House was out there also and we got to practice drafting a little, sliding the bikes in the snow, we played around with our tire pressure, and most importantly dialed in the finish.

Going back to Michigan and the Iceman isn't only about racing for me....its also about going back to the roots. I grew up racing bikes in Michigan and tons of superfans were out there cheering for me.....Each year we go out to dinner with our closest bike racing friends from MI and we did the same thing Thursday and Friday evening. Carbo loading and lots of old school stories....even this one came up a few times from Iceman 1999!

The race: I could get lengthy about this one...but I think the camera work says it all. Tristan and I were smart. The big dogs were watching each other and the locals came home with the prize money! The best part of the race??? Attacking Wells, JHK, Schultz and JB? Winning my 3rd Iceman to match Scotty Q's record? Winning a true Iceman with mud and snow? Seeing Andrea at the finish? Getting tackled by Ton's of Fun during a Cycling Dirt Post Race Interview? Who knows....but it was an awesome weekend!

The bike: Trek Elite 9.9 SSL a last minute switch from the Top Fuel and it was worth it....for sure. I received a new frame in the mail on Tuesday. I ripped apart the Top Fuel as fast as possible only to realize the 2011 Treks have a tapered 1.5" headtube. Ooops its not going to work...stress...what can I do. Luckily Cane Creek makes an adapter and Wednesday it arrived. I finished building the bike by 3:00pm and was on the phone with Tristan heading out to Greenbush 10 minutes later to shake it down and get in my last set of intervals. Home after dark to clean the bike and start packing to leave. Check out the sweet rear brake line routing...when in doubt zip ties, electrical tape, and more electrical tape!

The party: It was on: Bells Beer Sunset on the season. Andrea and I finally left the race course venue at about 6:30pm after Dad took a shuttle to go find his car. Hopefully the defending champ gets a parking pass next year! We had a quiet dinner with Andrea's Aunt and Uncle and the Schouten's in the Grand Traverse Hotel. After dinner we hit the Power Wash at about 10:00pm to clean the bikes. 11:00pm - party time. No party bus this year, but it was still pretty sweet once again mixing it up with all the Pro's.

The aftermath: As tradition goes we met up with everyone at the Omelette Shoppe for breakfast Sunday morning. A standing ovation, a free breakfast, autographing papers. It was pretty cool. Driving out of town people were honking there horns and waving copies of the Record Eagle out the window!

Gotta Love It!

Again thanks to everyone who helped along the way. Rob Boldt for some cold and windy motor pacing sessions. Elicia for a post motor pacing session massage... THE Iceman, cyclingdirt.org, Gear Grinder, Trek, Hyundai.....and many many more.

Halloween FUN

Legs really didn't feel good all week. Especially on Thursday when I was doing some motor pacing. Thursday night I signed up for a massage in exchange for a dirty bike cleaning. I think it helped. Fridays main goal was to drink as much water as possible and ride my mountain bike for 30 minutes. Yes I still have a mtn bike(and I'm going to race it next weekend)! Mission must have been accomplished because I felt half way descent in the race. I made the decision to practice some bike swaps while dressed up as Rick 'Wild Thing' Vaughn. It was going pretty good until things got a little stretched out half way through the race. I had to work pretty hard to close a 10-20 second gap to Marko. I made contact with 2 to go, recovered for a lap and then made my move with 1/2 lap to go. I didn't have much left in the tank. It came down to an uphill sprint into a headwind....I was at the front. Marko jumped I responded, but not quite fast enough. Can't wait to do it again tomorrow!

Can anyone guess which pumpkin is mine??

USGP - KY

Another weekend in the books! USGP Louisville. 12th place on Saturday and 11th on Sunday. Best part of the weekend was the Packers win on the radio dricing home through Chicago! Second best part of the weekend was listening to Frattini yell across the parking lot, "TREESTON TREESTON I SORRY" Then he touched his heart! Frattini crashed after attacking Wells with a 1/4 lap to go and took Tristan out. You can check out the post race interview here....

Thanks to all the midwesterners who cheered and helped out in the pits.

UCI3 #3

Bio Wheels day 3 - First off, thanks to Mitch at Bio-Wheels who took a huge amount of time to put on 3 days of racing from 8:00 am - 5:00pm each day. If you didn't make it to this even this year, you gotta check it out next year.

Day 3 was another really solid race. I had a great start and felt really comfortable on the bike following Powers on the prologue lap. The first lap was pretty comfortable too, but starting the second lap I took a bad line through the uphill sand pit and got gapped off. I had enough to make it back to Wicks and Wells, but not enough to go back up to Kabush or Jones. The video shows it perfect. I recovered in the second group good enough to finish up 5th place. My best result ever at a C1 event.

I know I am strong enough to ride with the lead group, but I really need to figure out how to get past that 10 minute mark.

The drive home wasn't too bad. Steak'N'Shake french fries and a strawberry malt, Coke, Sour Skittles, and a Butterfinger. We arrived a little after 12:00 and was in bed by 1:00.

Didn't even have to clean the bikes today. Just a little dusty.

Thanks again to GearGrinder for the use of the team van for the weekend....it made it so much easier. Thanks to Blue and Easton, the bikes worked great all weekend.

UCI3 #2

Day two actually started with a rough end to day one. So I got some blisters on my hands.....yea it hurts but no big deal right. So its 10:00pm I'm tired from racing and waking at 4:00am. I'm ready for bed. I think how about a band aid on my blister before bed. It burns. Bad. My feet start itching. I've got to get this stuff off my hands. I go to the bathroom wash my hands, I'm hot, rinse my face with cold water and go to lay down. My heart rate quickly goes from 50 to 120 laying there. My asshole starts itching, my legs start itching, my hands and lips start swelling. I tell Tristan and Bill somethings wrong. They ask whats up and realize I'm slurring my speech and making no sense. I barely ask them to call the ambulance. I ask Tristan for a cold wash cloth for my forehead. He brings it back on two seconds later I say I'm going to piss my pants. I stand up and feel like I'm going to vomit. I crawl to the bathroom on my hands and knees and am ready to barf, but before I can I almost shit my pants. I drop the pants and everything all comes out at once. The emt's show and think we are huffing mastik tubular glue and drinking mineral spirits. They want me to get in the ambulance, but no way thats like $500 and I only won $120 for 5th place earlier in the day. Tristan and Bill drive me to the ER where we wasted 2 hours for really clear answers and a bit of benadryl. There goes $750 to the hospital. Oh well at least I didn't die, because for a while when my ear were ringing and my lips were swelling I was just waiting for my throat to start to swell.

After a late night and some good lack of sleep the motivation wasn't too high to start the race. More than anything I just wanted to be able to hold onto the handlebars. I was afraid of anything that I did the day before, drink mix? recovery drink? what caused that freak out? dinenr? who knows? Jessica from My Wife Inc came along with some "Vag Spray" to spray on my hands. I thought I better man up and race my bike. I was ready and felt halfway decent in the warm up. Then I skipped my pedal on the start line and filed of the pavement in 17th place. Ooops. It pretty much was game over from there. I slowly bridged up to Wicks with Troy 5 seconds up and the group another 5 seconds. Somewhere Troy bridged and Wicks and I didn't. I rode around with Barry for the first half of the race and then he disappeared. I finished it up solo in 8th. Hopefully a good nights sleep and good legs tomorrow.

UCI3 #1

It was a good day, a long day, but a good day. It started with a 3:45am wake-up and a long drive in the GearGrinder van from Sheboygan to Covington KY. Bill Street Player, Tristan and I shared the driving, so it wasn't so bad.

The race was exact opposite of last year. Dry, dusty, and bumpy. I had a solid start in the front row and filed into the course in about 8th place. I moved up to 6th place and was following Chris Jones for 2 laps. He was struggling a little and I gapped him on the triple barrier ride/run. I was 5th 10-15 seconds behind Kabush for the next 45 minutes. With 2 more days of racing to go I didn't really want to drill it to catch him. The last 15 minutes I started to feel the pain in my hands. With 3 laps to go I had to stop racing because the blisters were so bad. I couldn't hold the bars. My yellow bar tape had red blood stains on the tops and the drops. I faked it as good as possible and finished 5th. Pretty happy, just hoping the hands heal up quick.

Thanks to the cxfestival.com for putting on a great race. Thanks to GearGrinder fo the team van. We're riding in style! Check out www.podiuminsight.com for more great pictures.

The Domes

Ouch...it was a 3:00am wake-up call this morning. Andrea and Elicia are off to California for a friends wedding. I was the chauffeur. I'm tired, but I'm also a bachelor for a week so there will be plenty of couch time today watching football and taking naps! First I better go do a workout....or maybe a nap first...ive got all day to decide!

Yesterday was the first local cross race I have done in a few years. It was perfect timing and the guys/wives of MWICROSS put on an awesome event. The race was held at the Milwaukee Domes. There were superfans, there was rain, sand, barriers, and even cupcakes! Everything you could ask for on a saturday afternoon.
The race started with the top 4 guys overshooting the first corner. Carbon wheels don't stop fast in the rain. The next corner further down in the field it looked like a bike race on a slip and slide course. Mark quickly went to the front to stay out of trouble and I followed. Mark pulled the first 2 laps and then I took over. My legs felt similiar to the day of Cheq. Strong, but no snap and cold. I pulled for a lap and a half before Mark took over again. This time I felt really comfortable following him. A lap later I was at the fron again and went pretty good up the steep climb in the course. A gap opened, I went hard and gained 10 seconds advantage. The next 2.5 laps I maintained the gap and took home my first cross victory of the season.

Next up is the UCI3 in Cincinnati. The competition is stacked this year. The race courses are rumored to be improved, the payout is top notch and equal to men and women. Register today and I'll see you there.

Fall Fun & Home Improvement Time

Lots has been going on after the USGP last weekend. First off all we chopped down a huge, half dead, maple tree in our front yard that was hangin half over the house. It was pretty crazy watching the guy 100ft up in the air swinging around on ropes like Tarzan with the entire house shaking as piece by piece of the tree hit the ground.

After the tree was down it was up to me to stack the wood and clean up the mess. Each of the logs had to weigh close to 80 lbs and my biceps are still burning as a I type. And yes that stack of wood is 4ft deep by 6ft tall by 8ft wide w. just a few smaller logs in front.

A couple hard training rides thrown into the mix. Plus an awesome Wednesday night Trek Mountain Co-Op group ride to preview the WORS race course. The ride was awesome with about 30-35 people in attendance. The Papa Johns pizza and home made brew afterwards topped off a perfect fall bike ride. Thanks Trek.

Thursday morning I decided I needed to head out for a longer ride to get better aquanted with my new Norcross. It was the best day of the year for riding. The leaves were changing colors, the temps were perfect, and the legs felt great.

Now I'm off the Nyhoff Custom Gutter & Aluminum in Oostburg to check out new vinyl siding for the house! Gotta love it...