Athens, OH

We made it to Athens, OH Monday after a long 9:30 drive. Tuesday was the first real training day of the season. Tristan and I busted out 4 hours in Athens. It was an awesome day to be out riding with temperatures just below 80 degrees. I even got a little bit of sunburn on the pasty WI winter arms. The Garmin Edge 305 was pretty sweet doing a real training ride...check it out...

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2240572

The other day when I saw the map of my ride in Sheboygan it was a square with almost no elevation gain.

Unfortunately Tristan did bring a little bit of amateur hour to Athens of day #1. Approximately 8 punctures on the ride and it took us 5 hours to ride 4 hours. Needless to say I did charge him a lot for each patch he used. Lesson of the day...always have a patch kit with you.

We had a few close calls with the rabid dogs of Southeast Ohio, but no missing flesh. One dog did put in an impressive 30+ mph effort for 1/4 of a mile and almost caught us...another 4 hours today and then the Gravel Rouser!

It's On

I'm starting to feel a little better. I managed a few hours on the rollers yesterday and an hour this morning. Maybe it was the idea that soon I will be headed to 65 degree temperatures. The training can official start now.

Yes it must be that time again....































Spring Break is here and its off to Athens, OH where the red necks and backwoods hillbilly's love mtb stage racing. The Gravel Rouser 07 is just around the corner and the great folks at Athen's Bicycle ( www.athensbicycle.com ) are promising great number plates again! This year the event promises to be even bigger with a four stages, more competition, more prizes and a ton of fun.


check out this years race flyer... http://www.athensbicycle.com/info/2007/07_Rouser/index.html


check out last years race flyer...
http://www.athensbicycle.com/info/gravel_rouser06.html


here are some pictures from the GRC 06


































The Sundown TT


































The 2006 Gravel Rouser @ Lake Hope

My first Rouser was in 05...

the 05 race flyer
http://www.athensbicycle.com/info/gravel_rouser05.html


here are some pictures from the 05 Rouser











































Check out the sweet trailer!










































I hope there is more babes in 07!











































This family was crazy! 50+ mph on the descents with the little girl barely hanging on the handlebars.

Stay Tuned fro updates from Athens, OH (a really cool town)

Under The Weather

I don't know if it was all the shoveling I was doing or the fact that Andrea was sick all week, but I am now officially in the hurt locker. Tight chest, runny nose, and nasty cough...oh well. I have been pounding the Yerba Mate, Garlic, Echinacea, Vitamin C, and Zinc. Hopefully it will go by fast, because the motivation to train is here in full force. Until I am ready it's time to go rest and dream of warmer places.

Mazatlan..post race party after 2000 World Cup...can anyone name mi amigo?

The BIG Tease

The snow melts and 3 days ago I felt like I was here....






















Now I am back in the basement on the rollers watching, with 6" of snow and the local news is telling me to prepare for a storm that might have the same effects and World War IV...."stock up on groceries" "at least 2 weeks worth" "buy propane" "don't leave the house" "....." on and on...

Last wednesday I put in an awesome 2:15 on the cross bike with Andrea and Tristan in near 50 degree temps. I was a little overdressed, but enjoyed every bit of fresh air. It was my first ride with the Garmin Edge 305...the thing rules. I can't wait to start more workouts and use it to full capacity.

Official training is just around the corner and I'm happy to be doing something a little differet this year. I have only had a coach once in my life and it was very beneficial.































In 1999 when Skyler Reeves & I first moved to Tucson we lived with 2 Czech racers and 1 Slovak along with Klement Capliar, a Czechoslovakian cycling coach and Hayes Brakes team manager, who took me from a mid pack Sr. Expert racer to winning Semi Pro,


































to a top 20 Norba Pro. Unfortunately I only worked with Klement for 9 months. He was hugely instrumental in my cycling life, but he was a little, let's say, hard to work with...he was also an awesome chef...life with the Euros is a whole stroy in itself...



























This particular picture Skyler and I wrote up the 1999 - 2000 Cyclocross World's results on an Excel spreadsheet with Americans sweeping the Podium in all events...they bought it for about 3 days...it was hilarious...anyway



In 2007 it will be a new coach and hopefully better results... Check out www.momentumendurance.com ...TJ is a good friend and teammate, but I know his knowledge and an outsiders perspective will bring some positive changes to my training regime directly affecting my speed, performance, skills, results, confidence, training, routine, and mental state.

Forget the Mental Prep

This past week I realized it has nothing to do with mental prep. So I did a few push ups did a few sit ups and headed out for a few miles on the bike. I figured my body is rested, my mind is ready, so why not start getting ready for the season. I have my basement set up with some rollers a trainer and a tv with dvd player. It is a pretty sweet set up...I'm also thinking of picking up a Garmin Edge 305 for training purposes. I love the new technology and it makes those long base rides a little more do-able when you have some cool graphs to look at when you get home. I also plan on downloading all the WORS courses to a computrainer at Bike N Ski so next year we can all train on the WORS courses indoors! I'm pumped about Tour of California...why can't a stage go here...

Big Bear rules and there is some sweet climbs...

My fastest days were definately in 2002 in CALI -

ALS Spin-A-Thon

Motivation is starting to grow for the season....I rode Saturday at Synergy for the ALS Spin-A-Thon. It was pretty impressive. Lots of people riding, lots of free food, and lots of money raised for Lou Gehrigs Disease. The money raised went to the Blazeman foundation, a guy who completed the Hawaii Ironman with ALS. I only rode for an hour, I would have done more but I was at work the majority of the day. A few guys rode the full 16.5 hours....not really necessary for me. My next door neighbor from Pinckney who was partially to blame for getting me into mountain biking died from ALS recently so I was happy to go bust out an hour in honor of Art Schramm. It was my first ride on my new road bike, it felt fast, I was on rollers! Sunday finally warmed up a little so I went out for another 1 hour ride, this time hit the trails on the beach on the cross bike. It was good to get some fresh air. This morning I did another 30 min on the rollers then came in to work. New Crank Brothers pedals arrived today...I'm pumped. All three new bikes will be dialed by March 1st...the official start of the season.

I decided not to party saturday night at the Synergy Dance....but I do have some Old School Disco pictures...does anyone know where they still have a Disco Night?

Back in the day I could realy pick up the babes with those shoes! It was harder too choose my outfit than to get the ladies to dance with me!

Can anyone name the 2 Disco superstars? Unfortunately many Disco nights ended with torn crothes of the 70's Polyester pants...it was only cool if torn while money was being stuffed down them or if you just broke loose in a major dance circle...

Super Bowl

Super Bowl Party = Super Bad Driving Conditions

I decided to go for it and last weekend made the trek back to my hometown. Pinckney, MI home of the Potawatomi Trail. It was a brutal drive as you can see in the picture...I was able to snap a pic when the snow let up for a while. If we had this much snow in Sheboygan and it wasn't freezing balls I would be doing a lot more skiing.

It was awesome to go back to MI. I got to hang out with my best friend Andy and his wife Jill and their dog Ceci.

I got to see some other high school buddies, went out to eat at Zukey Lake Tavern ( a Pinckney classic) got to see the old neighborhood, and I got to go hiking on the Poto....not quite the same as riding, but it definitely brought back some memories. Getting T-Boned by a sheriff in a truck w/ Mesko, setting blistering fast laps, chilling by Silver Lake checking out the babes and eating French Fries, and crashing on a beer can after trying to nail it with my front tire.

The big game was good, the commercials were good, but it wasn't the Steelers. Driving through Chicago had to be embarassing for Bears fans, the day before the big game and I drove through town to see two cars with bears stickers and one business with some bears flags on top of the building. That would never happen in Pittsburgh or Green Bay. The Bears deserved to lose. The bears still suck! On the way home after the Bears lost I saw equally as little Bears Fans support. I also stopped at TJ's on the way home and bought some $2 chuck, french roast, and lots of dried fruits and nuts. Celebrity sightings at TJ's included Roberto Gaggioli in the Monex Team car and Frank Pipp.

Time is running out and its almost time to start some base building for the season. This weekend I will be at Synergy doing a spin a thon to raise money for ALS (Lou Gehrigs Disease) If you want to donate money stop by Bike N Ski, Synergy or you can pay brimatter@hotmail.com through www.paypal.com. After the spin a thon Synergy is having a dance party. Who knows maybe I will have to bust something out! My two new mountain bikes and a new road bike are almost dialed and ready to start another season. Now I have to start the mental prep.

The Commute

I might be heading to MI this weekend for an old school reunion w/ some high school friends and a super bowl party...no I'm not riding my bike there...

Answer

Some good guesses...I'm impressed with the Catera guess....not quite right though....#35 was an Aussie - Luke Stockwell....also pictures....Me, Steve Larsen, Dave Wiens, Tinker Juarez, Travis Brown or Mike Lee off to the left behind #35, Jeremiah Bishop, XX ( Daryl Saul ) & ex Michigander Dan Gillespie...one guy way back there I'm not sure who he is....anyway back in the day I thought it was a really cool photo and I taped it to the front of my training diary. One of these days when my scanner comes back I will copy some pages of the training diary when I used to train a lot....they are pretty amusing to go back and look at...a lot of the days were like this 110 miles, really tired, cold stone creamery and the name of a movie I watched at night. The commutes have been cold...Monday was 10 degrees and snowing...I have some good pictures I'll throw up of the commuter soon....back to work

I'm Back

Last week was crazy...I think being at Trek University and listening to John Burke talk was almost like I was brain washed. I put in close to 60 hours work last week and couldn't stop thinking about it....hence no updates.....after a few football games yesterday I realize its time to chill a little. Before the next update I'll let Tristan stay busy with this photo. Unfortunately someone has my photo scanner and left the country so this photo is actually a picture of the photo itself! Think about that and then try to guess who is present...winner gets a really cool prize to be delivered at WORS #1

VERSUS

Not the new TV station that isn't going to cover the Giro, the Vuelta, or the Tour...not the TV station that shows lots of Bull Riding or an occasional hockey game.

I'm talking about -VS- like

Ali -vs- Frasier
Packers -vs- Bears
Husband -vs- Wife
Michigan -vs- Ohio St
East Coast -vs- West Coast

and of course Old School -vs- New School

here it is...

Old School:

My First Race!




















1993 Garland Hammer
11th place beginner 18 & under
Haro Impulse w/ Triple Triangle Technology & a Rock Shox Mag 21...sweet neon matching helmet, white cotton knee high socks and a white tee shirt!

-VERSUS-

New School:

2007 Top Fuel 9.9 w/ new XTR

Can you say sweet! 22lbs out of the box! I am pumped and needless to say today I am not going old school...Elite 9.9 Hardtail should be here next week! Heading to Madison for Trek University Mon & Tues...also should be sweet...

Tristan is the Man

Everyone should help the guy out...he is the man...he went for it and he succeeded.

This is your great chance to get your name on his blog! I already sponsored the ride were I ripped his legs off.. (It doesn't count that I was on a moped, c'mon its my off-season)

www.tristanschouten.blogspot.com

Congrats to Tristan for making the WORLDS Team

Winter

Winter has finally arrived...this past weekend we left Sheboygan and it was 50 degrees. We went to Eagle River in search of snow and a more winter like atmosphere. We found a little, but when we came back to Sheboygan the warm temps had dissapeared and the frigid air from Up North followed had followed us home. However the sub-zero temperatures have not deterred my plans of commuting to work all winter. So far I have only driven to work 3 times. Once was to switch cars with Tristan, and the other day I had to bring in my new road bike so I had to drive. I have over a month in of commuting 7 miles to work and 7 miles home. This mornings commute was brutally cold with temps in the low 20's, but luckily I had a crazy tailwind and covered the trip in a record breaking 19 minutes. I am proud to be a commuter, saving the environment, saving gas money, and saving some unnecessary miles on the Hyundai. After a week you get into a routine and it's not that bad. Just a little extra time and some planning and you to can be a commuter!

I have also been hitting Synergy once or twice a week for Yoga or Gravity strength training. Now that the New Year is upon us it is time to start setting some goals. So far the only thing I have come up with is more sit ups.

More Old Pictures

Style?

Can you name these guys?

Mad Skills Who is it?

Dr. Decarbon Video

The Doctor is in the house!

Here it is...





Top Three from the Retro contest in no particular order!

Rockin' In The New Year

Happy New Year - Old School Style (of course)

New Years Eve - We had a Mexican Fiesta and watched the Pack destroy Da Bears. I was in bed at 10:30. I did enjoy my last trip of the year to Cold Stone Creamery. One Pint of Dark Chocolate Mint w/ White Chocolate Chips, Dark Fudge Chunks, and crushed Candy Cane. One Pint of Sweet Cream Ice Cream w/ Brownies, Butterfinger, and Oreo. Mmmmmmm

New Years Day Ride - Urban Assualt of Sheboygan...we took some stairs, we broke some rules, and we laid some tread. All dressed up in our finest retro cycling clothing. It was pretty sweet. Unfortunately I didn't have access to my full arsenalt of clothing(the majority of my good stuff is at my parents in Athens) however I did score a sweet full wind suit by Hind, and old school Trek Helmet and some of the most neon goggles you have seen.

We ended up with 20 miles on the day and a good time was had by all. Check out the AM/FM duck taped to my stem. We were blasting the classic rock the whole ride. Spiro would have loved it...and of course you can't go Retro without duck tape. Andrea was sporting some sweet purple tights with a matching fanny pack.

The best part of the day was when Dr. Decarbon biffed it at the skate park. I'm going to try to link up a video soon