The End of the Beginning

It's been getting closer and closer to the right feelings to officially start training for the season. For the last month I have done approximately 1 ride per week and 1 run per week. The majority of my time has been spent getting the house fixed up with new attic insulation, attic venting, gutters, and a central dehumidifier. We also found some new home owners and car insurance along with refinancing. Right now the guys are blowing in the new insulation, tomorrow morning we close on the refi, and tomorrow afternoon the new gutters and gutter helmets should be working in fine fashion. It was exhausting and I'm glad its done.

Andrea and I are taking a quick weekend trip up to Eagle River for a little mtb skillz practice, and some major relaxation. Upon return everything should be in order to start the season with no distractions. I'm figurin' I better start with a fitness test at Iola! Nothing like racing into shape....

I'll leave you with a few good pics from the brick and mortar removal and time spent in the attic...

Father In Law Of The Year

My Father In Law is once again in the running for F.I.L. of the Year Award. Right now he is up in the attic pounding away at some brick and mortar attempting to open some access to the soffit's. For some odd reason the builders completely closed off the attic with tar paper and brick and mortar.

Yesterday I knocked out the brick and mortar between every other floor joist in the front. I basically crammed myself into the corner and with all my power held up a hammer drill and attempted to break things up. Then I switched to a crowbar and regular hammer to finish the job. Only if it was as easy at that sounds. I only hit my head in the corner of the attic on 15-16 nails. My ribs are bruised, my forearms are slivered and I'm in some serious pain everywhere else. This morning before work I went and did 1/3 of the back side of the house. It's not fun work......

I did manage one bike ride thursday morning. 2 hours with Bill Street Player. Hopefully I'll finish the attic this weekend and start riding on a regular basis. The insulation guys are scheduled for a Wednesday blow in, the gutters should be installed shortly after that, and then we are ready to sign the papers for the refi closing of the house. Then all projects come to a halt until 2011 and I'll drop the tools and pick up the bike.

FOR SALE: RACE FACE CARBON RISER BAR $50 taken off of the new Top Fuel

FOR SALE: 2010 Fox Float RP-23 w/boost valve, rebound, new "Race Cam" Pro Pedal; 6.5x1.5" $300 taken off of the new Top Fuel

Back 2 Work

Busy is the name of the game these days. I'm trying to get faster on my bike by watching Fabian Cancellera crush the competition week after week......plus Roger Hammond got 4th at Roubaix today and I beat him at the cross race in Baal in 2009....so that means I'm ready to race right?

The past 2 weeks has consisted of refinancing our house, getting an appraisal, switching car and home owners insurance, getting new gutters, central dehumidifier, venting for the attick and of course new insulation. After about a million phone calls I think everything is lined up to happen this week. Hopefully when its all over I can start riding my bike. Today was frickin' awesome outside but I spent the majority of the day bent in half removing the old insulation. The pink stuff was easy to get out....it was the vermiculite w/ asbestos that I was not having fun with. Anybody have any suggestions on how to get rid of that pile of crap on the side of the house?

I did manage to sneak in a 1:30 ride over to Evergreen Park for a little time on the MTB....and last weekend Tristan kicked my ass for 4 hours on the road......so that at least counts for 2 rides in the last 3 weeks!

On top of all that other crap mentioned above the bike shop has been killing it with the big Trek Fest Spring Sale. The boss man says the sale must go on...so if you want a screaming deal stop in before Wednesday.

My back is killing me....and now I have to lug the shop vac in here and suck out the rest...wish me luck.

takin' it home

We finished up the Gravel Rouser last Sunday. Only 13 riders showed for the 4th and final stage, the Strouds Run Death Loop, after 3 days of racing we all had some tired legs. The trails at Strouds Run are amazing and we had another day of awesome weather. The crew at Athens Bicycle has done an amazing job over the years developing the trail system in town. So we all met in the parking lot, did a group warm up, and then ripped some singletrack. The climbs in Athens are steep....here is a good photo of Andrea showing the guys how to climb to the top of the hill.

After the days race I squeaked in one more ride with dad. Monday morning was the painful drive back home. Its amazing how 30 hours out to Tucson went by in the blink of an eye, but the 9 hours from Athens to Sheboygan seemed like an eternity.

So we've been home for a little under a week. Its taken a little time to get settled in....a week off the bike was definitely in order. I needed a little time to organize new gutters, new attic venting and insulation, and possibly a new central dehumidifier. Also needed little time to get back into the swing of things at the shop too. I'm looking forward to getting the bikes dialed next week and coming up with a master plan for training and the race season. Pretty soon its time to let the games begin for 2010.

Thanks to the Fat Kats mtb club for one final donation for last years cross campaign and thanks to the boss man at SBC for letting me take some time away from work to straighten out after a long, long season in 09.

2010 looks like its going to be a good one though with our first trophy proudly displayed over the new fireplace!

Rousin'

Another double victory for Team Matter....throw in a little road kill and ya win a duck!

The weather was beautiful in Athens today.....couldn't have asked for a better day of riding with a bunch of great people. Thanks Athens Bicycle

Rumble in the Jungle

The 2010 season kicked off last night at the Gravel Rouser Classic. Stage 1 was the Rumble in the Jungle downhill TT. If ever there was a course where there was a local home field advantage this was it.....

The course was 1 mile in length and started slightly above 1000 ft elevation and finished just below 600ft. The course had an old school feel to it.....it started straight down the fall line of the hill.....a muddy, leaf filled, eroded rut, with lots of blind drops off rocks and roots, the locals call the drop 'the mean and nasty'. Then the trail traversed the mountain in a much more imba friendly fashion, only to drop once more down to the finish. Andrea and I both came home with our first victory of the season!!! The Top Fuel was the bike of choice to be able to take the big hits, yet still pedal with efficiency on the traverse.

Tonight is the Grab & Git.....visit Athens Bicycle for details and full race results or check them out on Facebook for photos.

Before the big race I got in a solid warm up ride w/ dad on his new Steelers themed Madone.

the drive

We finished up our last two days in Tucson this past weekend with a bunch of time in the dirt....luckily we hooked up with a high school buddy, Jason Massey and his dad Dennis(former soccer coach) for a good ride on Saturday. I also hooked up with Kevin Clegg for a sweet ride earlier in the morning that same day. On Sunday Andrea and I squeezed in one final ride on the Sweetwater trails before loading up the car and heading back home.

30+ hours and 2,000 + miles.....it's always tougher heading back to the Midwest rather than heading out west. And little did we know.....

8 hours into the drive we cruised through Albuquerque NM. It was 8 pm and I was ready for another 2 hours of driving before finding our first dive of a motel. Unfortunately things were about to take a turn for the worse...

As we were leaving Albuquerque we saw a highway sign that read 'Winter Driving Conditions Ahead'. Being from WI it didn't really phase us....an hour later we were slowed to 10mph by the worst road conditions I had ever seen. 3 inches of snow = 2 inches of choppy ice on the HWY.....the snow removal techniques in WI are far superior than NM.

We pushed on for another hour at 10mph until we saw the brake lights. 2 or 3 cars in the ditch and 2 jackknifed semis on the West bound side of I-40. Then traffic came to a halt. We were at a stop for a good 45 minutes. Once they finally cleared the truck on the East bound side we tried to get off the road in Moriarity NM. Every hotel was full, every parking spot taken. It's now 11:30 and we pull back on to the HWY....another 20 minutes of driving at 10mph with semi's shredding the hwy at 60+ mph almost blowing us off the road. These guys must have been watching Ice Truckers on the History channel, but clearly didn't have the skills. By midnight we were stopped again....by 1:00am we turned off the car and tried to sleep. Freezing temps and 30mph winds kept the car rocking back and forth and kept Andrea from going outside to pee. She used her resources and turned to the dog dish. At about 3:30am an officer knocked on the window and we fired up the car. Another 10 minutes down the road we arrived in Clives Corners.....along with 200 other vehicles we battled for 100 parking spots and finally settled in for the night.

So there we were....4 bikes, Andrea, Rosco and myself crammed into the 2 door Hyundai Accent w/ 4 weeks worth of gear and 3 bags full of groceries. Luckily we also had a full tank of gas to keep us warm. It continued to snow and by 6:30am we were awaken by the sound of rumbling trucks and honking horns.

By 8:00am my inner WI lumberjack had arrived and one by one had to start pushing cars singlehandedly out of the parking lot, just so we could make an attempt ourselves. After I cleared out 2 or 3 cars, Andrea had a go at it with the green machine....great success. I wanted to hit the road, but stranded women and children were still stuck. Another 2 or 3 cars clear and we were down the road. I was soaked, cold and wet......one lady was in a puddle of water 6 inches deep, and the other lady really wanted to be heavy on the gas and managed to spin herself 2 inches deep in the ice...in the process soaking me and my clothes with wet snow.

Mind you I had just left from Tucson and was wearing shorts and t-shirt.....you know how men and women have distinct body temp differences....well Andrea likes to wear her jeans in the car along with a sweatshirt and down jacket even though it is 80 degrees in Tucson and I am getting blasted by the sun sweating like crazy....thankfully she let me borrow her jacket that cold morning. I had no way of getting to my clothes or camera as they were buried in the back of the car.....yep...no photos to document the epic night...just memories.

That day on the hill in Clives Corners will go down in history....

One more week

The time has been flying now that I have a mtn bike here in Tucson. The riding opportunities are endless....I need to stay longer! We have 6 more days in Tucson and are going to try to cram in as much time on the bikes as possible. Last week I ended up with over 18 hours on the bike! I wasn't even trying....just out riding and having fun. I'm hurting today though....

This morning was 46 and raining and I spent most of the morning in bed drinking coffee and surfing the net....I'm close to finishing a really good book called Of Tigers and Men; Entering the Age of Extinction. As soon as the rain clears up we are off to the park to play with Rosco. He has had the week off with a thorn in his paw that he won't really let us pull out. Yesterday we finally got it....now he is feeling frisky again!

I spent the majority of the weekend on the mtn bike, testing out the new XX, and riding the new trails on the west side of Tucson. Saturday after a 3 hour ride on the road with Andrea I hopped on the Fuel and went to explore some new trails off of Sweetwater Rd. I could hardly wipe the smile off of my face.....perfect desert singletrack, beautiful scenery, and just technical enough to keep you on your toes.

Sunday I went out for another 3 hours on the Fuel w. TJ and Chloe. This time we headed over to Star Pass, but quickly cruised over to the other side of Ajo Hwy(Tucson Mtn???) The trails here were quite a bit more technical. One loop in particular was really good, but wasn't finished so it was an out an back...TJ had recently run into the trail builder whose goal was to only have 10 guys in the area clean the trail! The Fuel and Trav's new Superfly 100 were able to clear everything except 1 tricky uphill turn with a huge boulder in the middle. With a little practice we both could have done it.....

As far as the XX goes...I'm liking it...last years Fuel was spec'd with XTR and an FSA carbon crankset.....the front shifting never seemed quite right....the XX is perfect and the gearing seems really good(42-28)(11-36). In the big, big the chain line is the best I've ever ridden. The testing will continue this week....I'm still trying to dial in Fox's RP23 with 'pro-pedal'....I really liked the carbon DT rear shock on last years fuel that made the bike feel like a hardtail. The new FOX F1 seems to stack up pretty good against last years Rock Shox World Cup, but I was really wanting to try that new hydraullic lock out. More trail riding to come and more testing is in the really near future! Until then I'm hiding from the rain...

Fantasy Time

Things in the desert are going great. I really needed a little mental break to recover from last season, all the work on the house, and then the skin cancer. It is pretty darn nice to hang out and enjoy life. I have been riding a lot, but not training, playing with Rosco at the local soccer fields in the afternoons, and then spending some quality time eating good food and watching movies with Andrea.


















On Monday we took a trip into town to visit Dave at Trek Bicycles of Tucson. My new Trek Top Fuel 9.9 SSL arrived!!! It's sweet. I'm not too sure about the Sram XX stuff, but I'm going to test it out today. I think I'd rather ride Shimano, but we'll see. I'm most pumped about the super light weight Bontrager XXX carbon wheelset. Andrea and I are heading over to Fantasy Island for the first true off-road ride of the year soon.

It's been a long time since I have been on a mtb(Iceman) and even longer on anything technical(Vermont 2004). We'll see how rusty the skills really are.

I'm still waiting patiently for my photo opp with a coyote. I got a good one of a road runner the other day.

Tonight we might try to hit up Cafe Poca Cosa for the best Carne Seca Burrito in town!

Fun in the Sun???

As most of you know I am down in AZ enjoying a little time away from the Wisconsin winter. However I just spent the last hour with nurse Andrea pulling stitches out of my head. The Arizona sun isn't always the best for you. About a month ago I went to the doctor and he noticed an odd spot of skin on my face. Long story short it was a small spot of skin cancer. A couple days later I was on the operating table as the doc was cutting a nickel size hole in the side of my head. There are three types of skin cancer and luckily for me I had the least damaging type. All of the cancer was removed and now I'll have a solid 2 inch scar as a reminder.



















The first thing that came to mind was this article in Velonews a while back. The doctor told me that most likely the damage to the skin was done between the ages of 10 - 20 years old. When I was a Jr. and the next few season of traveling the country racing in the mini-van it was more important to become a bronzed god than to race fast! I guess I was young....over the past 5 or 6 years I have been very very aware of the sun intake while training, but it was too late. Lesson learned....SPF 45 is your friend.

So here I am back in the sun, but this time around I'm being extremely cautious. We left Wisconsin 8 days ago and spent 3 full days in the car and 2 nights in some shady hotels. Rosco, 3 bikes, and some food all loaded into the little Hyundai Accent 3 door! The only bummer was the lack of cruise control.

We rolled into town last Friday evening to the sounds of Coyotes howling and some snorting Javelinas in our backyard. The next morning we headed out for a ride and saw a Bobcat within 15 minutes of leaving the driveway...pretty awesome.

I only have my cross bike down here right now, but its getting the job done. I've got in 5 solid rides, the new Bontrager Classics w/ Saris Powertap can pretty solid and am having fun studying the power data! Yesterday I found out my new Fuel 9.9 SSL is available and its shipping to Trek Store of Tucson! Can't wait to build 'er up and rip some desert singletrack.

We are planning on staying another 2 weeks and then heading over to visit mom and dad and partake in the Gravel Rouser Classic! Until then we'll be enjoying the sun with plenty of SPF 45.

Rainbow Colors

I wonder why the Olympic Rings and the Rainbow Jersey stripes are the same colors? Looking forward to opening cermonies and some XC Skiing!

Plans are slowly coming together for the Tucson trip. It looks like we finally found a good place on the west side of town off of Silverbell Rd. I can't wait...the first year (back in 99) I was in Tucson I trained on the west side with the guys from Slovakia and The Czech Republic. I bet they were pretty pumped on Stybar winning!

This is a pretty sweet video you should check out....

I've been doing a little more skate skiing, should hit up the breakfast ride this weekend, doing some Yoga, and before I know it should be in Tucson clocking some miles on the new Bontrager Classics wheelset laced up with a Saris Powertap Hub!

The Dungeon

Well the work on our basement has almost come to an end. It was pretty much a 4 step process. Scrape the old paint / calcium deposits off with a wire brush, scrub the walls with an Etching solution, patch the wholes and cracks, and finally paint. After 3 weeks straight of at least 2 hours in the basement we have 2 coats of paint applied. I'm happy to be almost finished, but I think its going to need a third coat...now that the basement is pure white it looks more like a looney bin than a dungeon.

I started doing a little cross training after a month off. 2 times out to Greenbush for some skate skiing, a couple runs, and some yoga. Nothing serious....I like to ease into things! It's looking like less than a week and we head to Tucson! Things are not busy enough at the shop, so I figured I'd head south for some spring training.

I just finished a batch of my famous Guacomole so its time to go find the recliner and watch the big game. My call....Colts in a half. I'll be fast asleep before the halftime show is over...

WORLDS

Are you ready for the WORLDS? I am...although this time around I'll be riding the couch! I'm a little bummed not to be racing this year, but the US team is the strongest ever and the best 5 riders are representin'. I was pretty well spent by the end of the season and am definitely enjoying a little time off the bike.

I am however looking forward to next season. I'm already got a new Saris Power Tap SL +. I'm dialing up new sponsors, and dialing in a place for some spring training. A new Madone 6.5 Project One has been ordered, a new Top Fuel 9.9 is on the way, and the motivation is starting to come around.

First we better finish off this past season with some predictions.

Elite Men:

1. Nys

2. Stybar

3. Vantornout

Elite Women:

1. Nash

2. Compton

3. Vos

U23:

1. Meeusen

2. Jouffroy

3. Szczepaniak

Jr.

1. Boros

2. Van Der Poele

3. Lasak

Super Sunday 2 weeks in a row for me!

Keepin' Busy

More time in the basement scraping the old paint and efloresence off of the cement block walls and full time at the shop doesn't leave much time for anything else. Thankfully I didn't have to work this weekend, but I was still busy as can be...

Saturday morning breakfast ride on the commuter cross bike in 37 degrees and a light mist. It was the first time I have been on the bike since the race in St. Niklaas. That's three weeks off the bike and the legs were feeling it for sure.

After the ride it was Granpa Hildebrands 90th birthday party! The entire Hildebrand clan was there in full force to celebrate. After the party we hit up Lakeshore Lanes for a Bacon Cheeseburger and the big after party.....7:00pm. We bowled 2 games and I rolled a 140 and a 146! Andrea rolled a 97. Much better than in Izegem!

This morning was an early trip over to the in-laws so I could watch Hoogerheide WC live. It was an awesome race and after Prince Niels got the W, next weekends Worlds is wide open.

This afternoon might be a little more work down in the basement......but I think I'd rather ride the couch and watch some football......I'm catching a slight wiff of Belgian Waffles with the last of the Belgian Chocolate so I better head downstairs!

hmmmm

Cowboys or Vikings?

This looks like fun doesn't it....

FOR SALE $2350 w/o wheels $2500 w/ wheels

The New Year

I'm back.....back from Belgium and back from a mini vacation up to the cabin in Eagle River for some much needed r & r...

I made it home with little troubles from Belgium. Needless to say the last 7 days and 5 races had me pretty hurt. The 8.5 hour flight and the all nighter after the last race didn't help things either.

My best cure for the jet lag was a quick trip up north for some perfectly groomed XC ski trails. Andrea Elicia and I slapped on the striding skis and went and got all the fresh air one

needs.

As far as the racing goes....I'm happy to be taking an extended break and calling it a very successful season. The WORLDS team is pretty stacked this year and its looking like I will not be on the team. The camp was a lot different than last year. The racing was twice as hard due to a different schedule and the conditions. Things started a lot faster with a race 2 days after arriving instead of a week to get adjusted like last year. The mud made for a lot less recovery time and much more time cleaning and doing laundry. Overall my results were very similar to last years camp, but again I learned a ton and will come back to next cross season with more confidence and more knowledge of cross.

Now it's time to get some sponsorship dialed in for next year, get back to work at the bike shop, and come up with a plan for next race season. Oh yeah...I have about 9 months of home improvement projects that I need to cram into the next 1.5 months before I start up the base miles again.

I will be selling both of my cross bikes from the season so anybody interested in a Blue Norcross 56cm should send me an e-mail.

Thanks again to everybody who helped along the way in 2009. Can't wait to give it another go in 2010!

Sint Niklaas

My final race of camp is complete. The bags are packed. The bikes are packed. Hopefully they are underweight. 6 or 7 of us leave tomorrow at 3am. 5 hours from now. The others are going up to Holland to race Boom and then leaving on Monday. I'm hoping for an all nighter and then full 8 hours sleep on the plane. I arrive in the US at noon and then to Chicago by 4:00pm. Needless to say I'm pretty pumped to head home and see Andrea and Rosco.

Earlier 9 of us cruised up past Antwerp to Sint Niklaas. The race was pretty good. Last year I struggled on the big loop around the lake. Maybe it was my tire selection last year, but this year I had a full arsenal of tires and wheels to choose from. I opted for the EC90 Aeros with the Dugast Rhinos. I was happy with the selection. The course was a little different than last year and I like it much better. Instead of a full loop around the lake we made it half way around and then looped back. There was a huge flyover, some steep icy climbs, steep muddy drops, slick off-camber sections which shot you towards the frozen lake, sand, beach, steps, and of course cobbles.

I had a good start and after a lap was battling in a good group. Pretty close to zero mistakes, perfect tire pressure, and pretty good legs considering this is my 7th race in the past 2 weeks and 5th race in the last 8 days. I'm also fighting a little bit of a cold, but have been pretty good at pounding the Zicam, Vit C, and Echinacea. I finished 26th. Less than 4:00 min down on the winner.

Final Ham & Cheese count is 20! Not too shabby!

Again I would like to thank all my sponsors and those who have donated $ and bought T-Shirts. See you back in America....

Sven Nys is the Man

Today was the Sven Nys Grote Prijs in Baal(home of Sven Nys). It was one of the hardest cross races I have ever done. Thick mud with some technical descents and steep drops. Slow thick muddy climbs. A lot of running and huge time gaps. Thijs Al a winner of World Cup last year was over 6 minutes down on Sven. The results might look a little off ..... I finished 29th and 4 laps down according to cyclingnews.com, but I know I beat the dude who was 28th and I saw the sign with 2 laps to go, but thats Belgian racing!

One more race to go....It's been a tough camp on the equipment and the body. A little bit of a sore throat brewing, but I can definitely make it through one more race. Tomorrow is the race in Sint Niklaas. I'm sure it will be broadcasted live, but I'm not sure where. If you know you should post the link in the comment section.

Time to go advance the laundry....then bed.

Thanks for reading....

The Warming Van

It's all about the warming van.

Here is the link to the GVA race in BAAL tomorrow. We race at 3:00 pm which is 8:00am central and 9:00am eastern.

It should be another good one...temps are dropping and snow is in the forecast.

Happy New Year!

When Cyclists Go Bowling

I have a feeling there are going to be a few sore bodies tomorrow. Today in Belgium we hit the lanes. It was funny to see the competitive side come out of cross racers, but in a different sport. Yannick the Jr from Germany was the big winner, followed by Wells and Steve Fisher. Zach McDonald won the Green Jersey for fastest ball at 39.09 kmh. Joshua 'Homeschool' Lehman won the Polka Dot Jersey for most gutter balls, and I won the most aggresive rider jersey with a 10th frame through the legs strike! A couple guys blew out their backs, some hurt their thumbs, and definitely an injured wrist or two.