Greenbush

Ripped up some muddy trails this past weekend! It was a blast to finally break in the new Fuel and test 'er out in the mud. Even with some slick tires the new ride seems to hold a great line in the grease and fly up the hills. Not much was going on over the holiday weekend so I decided last minute to team up with Gear Grinder manager Rob Boldt and race the 6 Hour Duo WEMS race. After 6 hours of racing we narrowly came away with a victory!

We went with the 2 lap technique because lap times were hovering around 35 minutes a piece. Then the rains came, and everyone knows what happens to fresh cut singletrack in the rain. Rob truly cherished the win!

With a holiday and no work slated for tomorrow it was back on the bike today to once again push beyond the limit. Finished up with some great recovery food and now looking forward to lazy memorial day!

Looks like the Wings are going to be up 3-1 over the B-Hawks...time to go catch the 3rd period. Go WINGS

New Ridez

I have been too busy for bloggin'

But I did get two new bikes recently so here are some photos. My senses tell me my racing season shall be starting soon.

Until then its off to the dump and then time to paint the new bathroom.

Ridin' High on a Piece of Cake

Two words, a number, and some letters: Top Fuel 9.9 SSL

WOW

If you haven't had a chance to test ride this one you ought to make the drive to the Trek Demo Trails this Monday and help yourself. Stiff, Light, Responsive, what more could you ask for from a 21lb dual suspension machine? The thing almost accelerates as fast as a cross bike....more to come after a few rides, until then check out the photos:

My CLIF hook up arrived just in time for some epic rides on the new FUEL!

On the home front things have been busy....we are remodeling our bathroom and our house is trashed! It's ok though because I haven't been home much.

Grand Opening was this weekend at the Sheboygan Bicycle Company and we smashed it! It was a cake walk...got the keys to the new building a month ago and then VOILA a new shop arrives....

No Time

This has consumed all my time.....thoughts racing through my head at 3:30am full days of work, very little riding after last weeks 18 hours. I was blown out anyway. Needed a rest. Thinking about racing this weekend at Evergreen. Probably on the cross bike with slicks. Time to go home and hang with the god....Maybe I can breathe for minute too...

The goods are rolling in though...two sets of pedals,two pairs of shoes, and a Fuel should be here soon!

Re-Cap

I like Paris Roubaix because the strong man wins. It's more like a Mtn Bike or Cross race. The stongest, smartest, and most skillful win with a little luck! My friend Raul Jiminez was right on picking J.A.F. , but he didn't have the skills(maybe JAF should ride with Hermida who won the first mtb World Cup in South Africa go Spain), nor did Hushovd. Hincapie once again didn't have the luck...but could have recovered...he integrated but didn't get back to the front fast enough....maybe his new technique should be "panic" if something goes wrong. Instead it was stay calm and have the team pace him back to the front.....Boonen was back to the front instantly after his mishap. It was fun to watch...I ordered a pizza and watched in Hi-Def at the in-laws after a 4:00 ride, in once again, frigid temps. I wonder if the Belgies could handle Sheboygan's weather?

I finished up the week with 16 hours on the cross bike. Hopefully soon I'll get a road bike and my new Fuel. Andrea is arriving home from Tucson today and will be surprised when she see's her new ride in the living room!


















Defintitely lighter than previous Fuels, but I think it needs the Carbon wheels to get closer to that 20 lbs mark.

This week I am shooting for 18 hours on the bike...hopefully the weather cooperates. Then I'll have a solid month of riding and will start looking at the race schedules! My two new favorite websites are cyclingdirt.org and freecaster.tv .... check 'em out.

I'm back....

Back in the saddle again! It's a little colder than it was in Tucson, but I got some good solid riding in a very short time frame. Andrea had a follow up at Foot Fitness yesterday and received her custom orthotics! She said the Dr. added another 2mm under her shoes and she feels great! I am pumped after riding behind her for the last 10 years watching her ankle, knees, hips, and back do all sorts of crazy things. The doc is also making some orthotics with a lift for her walking and running shoes....I'll update in a month and we'll see how much more comfy she is....

As for me it's back on the bike in WI with lots of layers of clothing. Also back to helping Dano paint the new bike shop. Staying busy has been the name of the game....

Although I did have a relaxing Sunday afternoon and watched Stijn rip up the Ronde for the 2nd consecutive year! I heard he ate a Ham & Cheese at the 4:00 mark in the feed zone....his secret was mustard!


















Any predictions for P-R this Sunday....I heard Hincapie was out eating Ham & Cheese with the same Mustard that team Quick Step uses....

Predictions:

1. Hincapie
2. Boonen
3. Pozzato

Aaahhh Tucson

Loving it the past few days in the sunshine and mid 70's. I keep asking myself why I left this place??? Day 1 was a 2 hour ride from the house to the 7 mile mark up Mt. Lemmon. It was pretty sweet to run into the ACE and have some company most of the way up the hill. I met Jon way back in the day and we always bump into each other in the most unexpected places. Here Jon was reminding me that Mt. Lemmon goes up.

Day 2 was a bright and early ride to Saguaro National Park followed by a very educational trip to see Bill Peterson at Foot Fitness. It turns out Andrea had a 9mm leg length discrepancy. So the doc is going to make some custom footbeds and add 7mm of lift under her left cleat. You could tell an immediate difference in her pedal stroke with just the lift. She is going to ride for a week and try to lose some of the bad muscle memory of being imbalanced and then the footbeds should be ready to rock. A follow up visit and possibly some adjustment to the lift height along with the new footbeds and she should be riding pain free in a very short amount of time! We also spent a little time over at Trek Bicycles of Tucson meeting Candice and Dave and getting a few ideas for the new store.

Today was my first real training ride out here. I put in a solid 60 miles out to Colossal Cave and then to Sahuarita Rd. and back through Rita Ranch. It was an awesome ride and I hope to get 2 more rides in just like it before flying home on Sunday. I sure am going to miss this place...

The DR is in....

We headed out in a blizzard.....drive through the gateway to the west....

and arrived to the final destination in a daze after a brutal pull behind the wheel of the family truckster....

Andrea is going to see this guy tomorrow and then its back to Wisco for me so I can do more work...

Rumor is Andrea has a new Fuel 9.9SSL at home!

Therefore this one has to go......

GRC RECAP & A New Sheriff in Town

The Gravel Rouser 09 has come and gone...here are a few photos from bikbfat.com and full results can be found at Athens Bicycle I had a great time riding and racing with the gang from Appalachia but now it's back to reality....and more reality....but before reality comes fantasy! Plus I hear the new bikes are on their way real soon!
























Next post from the warmth of my old stomping grounds...

The Death Loop

Today was the final stage of the GRC 09! Luckily Andrea did not have to work Monday so we were able to stay in Athens an extra day, race, and enjoy the amazing weather.
More time with mom and dad is always good, plus we had a lot of leftovers to polish off for dinner. Rosco wanted to keep killing the Kong in the the fenced backyard too.

We raced some of the best singletrack in the Midwest...It was the first time I linked all the local trails together for one big loop. I knew most of the sections of trail, but wasn't exactly sure where they connected. With about 5 miles to go I flatted and Pete "Fresh Legs" Kostes took off. 4 guys passed me, but I was able to make it back for a 3rd place sprint finish.

Next on the list of things to do is find a job! I think it's really close to happening, just a few more small details to iron out....

check out www.bikebfat.com for pictures and www.athensbicycle.com for results

Roy Roy

Wrong Way Roy!

That was the theme during the epic at Lake Hope today. Beautiful weather greated the largest Gravel Rouser field ever as we rolled out of Athens towards Lake Hope. We witnessed some classic growling dogs and some red neck local flare on the way to the race course as we roused the gravel for the XC race of the year.

After close to 2 hoursin the saddle we lined up and we were off....I sat second wheel on a brutal first climb to the top of the ridge and when I saw the leader botch a corner I took the lead. I was followed closely by local favorite Ryan Curtis who had just missed out on the victory Thursday night. I slowly gapped him, but continually was getting lost. I had to wait for him a couple times just to make sure I was on track, and at one point in time stood in the middle of the trail for a while completely clueless....Ryan caught me and I thought it might be a good idea to follow the local for a while....soon after he took a wrong turn that took us close to 15 minutes out of the way! Needless to say I didn't win the 50 minute long race after a 15 minute delay! I had a blast though....as we screamed back down the trail we noticed close to 15 other riders had taken the same wrong turn including Andrea who was leading the womens race!

Either way it was a blast and great to be back on some awesome mountain bike trails. We ended up with close to 55 miles off-road! Tomorrow is another 20 mile mtb race, but not sure if we are driving home or not???

After the race we had some bbq'd pork sandwiches with the Athens Bicycle / Gravel Rouser crew and then went home to watch the NCAA Wrestling Championships....this came up in conversation while watching the heavyweights!!!!!!

bang bang!

2009 season has officially started...yes that's right it's Gravel Rouser time. Andrea and I made the drive down to celebrate Christmas with my parents for the weekend! We arrived today just in time for the 6th annual GRC! Tonights stage was an Athens Bicycle Urban Assault Super D style.....

It was like a page out of the euro cross scenes course creation. Start on a fast street, cut through an alley, turn back 90 degree onto a sidewalk, left down a huge set of steps, a couple s turns, a run up, a long straight away and another shortcut through a backyard to the finish. With the huge crowds I almost felt like I was back in the motherland!

I think the locals are pulling for me to lose! Each year they make the course more and more difficult for the out of towners!

I borrowed my dads Fuel 98....Andrea raced too but got lost in someones back yard and ended up at the start instead of the finish! She is two for two now in stacking it up during the TT pre-ride at the Gravel Rouser...oops skills a little rusty after a long Wisco winter.

Stay tuned for more photos and race results.

Thanks for the bike DAD!

ps got some sweet Christmas Presents

Season in Review

2009 plans are in full swing....Gravel Rouser,WCA Road, Joe Martin, WORS, Triple Crown, WCA CX, Cross....lots of options, lots, of training, new sponsors and the original sponsors who have been through the thick and thin. I thought I better recap 08, before moving on....

Many goals were accomplished, dreams fulfilled, and victories achieved. It started off a little slow though...the purchase of a new house in March of 08, didn't have me flying early in the season. Lots of flat tires didn't help the mental attitude. Midway through the mtb season I gave up on the dream and switched focus to another dream of cyclocross and competing in the motherland. I have been racing cross since 97, but many times on a mountain bike. I have always loved the short intense effort. So being mentally fresh at the beginning of cross season was huge. I traveled to MI for the double cross and landed my first UCI podium on the second day. From their things snowballed into an opportunity to race in Europe, a long time goal. With some forced rest in the middle of cross season I was fresh enough in Europe to have solid results and earn a spot on the WORLDS Team. This of course was the highlight of my season and I would love to go back and do it again with my gained experience.

Check out this video from cyclingdirt.org



also check out this post race interview...

I am so lucky to have the sponsors I do, and to have all the people who supported me with donations for my Euro Cross experience. I ended up spending about $1700 of my own money to make it 2X to Europe! Without everyone's support it would have been way more expensive and I would not have been able to do it....now I'll have it with me forever so thanks again for a great 2008 season! Looking forward to '09

Brian

New Sponsor!

Rosco is wondering when CLIF is going to start making dog cookies???

Bailed Out

I bailed out of going to Eagle River because the rain that turned to ice last Thursday night / Friday morning. Figured it would be best to stay home, do the breakfast ride, and some home improvement projects. I didn't want to go up to the anvil trails and bail out on my skis and re-injure the finger that I broke. Andrea bailed out 2 times on the breakfast ride! I didn't bail at all. I was riding the old Merlin! I think I could hop on that thing and do a World Cup MTB race I'm so comfortable with the geometry!

After the ride Saturday morning we decided to have some real fun and scrape layers and layers of what is most likely lead based paint from our register covers! It was almost as fun as scraping the tile & tar off of the hardwood floor in the bathroom. 3 down 3 to go....then we have to paint, sand the molding and mitre the quarter round. We also did a few other energy saving home improvement projects over the weekend. Easiest of which was insulating the hot water heater and pipes which rest on our frigid basement. We walked through Home Depot Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. Everyday we came up with 10 more projects that needed to be done!

On a good note official training for the 2009 season started today! Therefore home improvement projects must stop! I always start official training with a recovery day! So this morning was Yoga and a few push-ups and sit-ups. I'm happy my home improvement project season was a short one this year. This year I am taking less time off the bike than in the last 6 seasons....we'll see what happens.

I don't have my mountain bikes and road bike yet this season as I am waiting for a few sponsorhip deals to click. So the riding will be on the Merlin for a while. I would ride the Blue cross bikes, but have a hard time justifying riding a full Dura-Ace bike with Easton tubulars in the middle of snow storm through 2 inches of salt on the roads.

I am going to be hosting an end of season re-cap / beer drinking festival at the Highland House in Sheboygan this Thursday Night at 5:30pm. All are welcome, I will show a few photos from the European cross scene and maybe share a few secrets & sacrifices, a few stories, answer a few q's, and say a few thank you's to all who donated and my sponsors.

Take me to the River

Yes it's true...I am going on another vacation!

Eagle River here I come!

Fun in the Snow

It's been a while but I have been really busy with unemployment! This weekend was pretty sweet and I spent a decent amount of time outside playing in the snow. It started off Sat. morning with a breakfast ride and some crit racing in my driveway. We finished it off with some figure 8 racing through my front yard. It was a blast. Sunday I went out to Greenbush with Tristan and Street Player for some skate skiing. I was worked over after 1:30. I always end up skiing on the birkie weekend, but never at the birkie, and the trails are always bad because the groomers are racing...note to self.

Other than that it has been back to home improvement :) I replaced a sink in the bathroom and am starting to work on ripping up some ancient tile that was glued down with boiling hot tar from the Roman Empire. We are also scrapping off layers and layers of paint off of all our antique registed covers...not fun...

I'm still trying to sell my stuff to cover the last bit of expenses from my two trips to Europe. Also there are a few more Does Matter supporter T-Shirts available...gets yours today, e-mail me your picture wearing the shirt and you can make the Superfan Wall of Fame!

For Sale

Tufo Flexus Tyres 32C Brand New $160

(one tyre already has glue!)

SwissStop Yellow King RX Carbon Pads $45 Brand New (3 sets available)

brimatter@hotmail.com

For Sale

brimatter@hotmail.com

Crank Brothers 4 TI Short Spindle Egg Beater Pedals $175 Used 2 sets (2ti converted to 4ti with short spindle kit)

Crank Brothers Stainless Spindle & Rebuild Kit $20 wrong box!

USA

I'm back in the USA!

I'm working on getting my stuff together to have a huge end of season sale! End of season in Mid-Feb...shouldn't I be doing base miles.......stay tuned for the sale of the season!

Motherland

I'm back in Izegem! It is sweet to be back at the house. I packed up my Blue bikes, and now we are watching the GVA in Lille on TV.


















We did Barthelona the other day...I found out where all the Ham comes from!

Viva Mallorca!

This place rules....


















Sunset over the Med

Girona

Quick Update:

After the race Andrea, Carrie, and I cruised to Brussels with the rest of the team and crashed in the airport hotel(I actually only slept 3 hours after staying up all night watching the Steelers). I love starting out vacation completely wasted from racing and no sleep! Monday was spent in Brussels checking out Churches, Chocalatiers, Waffles Houses and statues of little boys peeing and of course guys of horses. Brussels was actually a lot nicer than I thought. At night we took a train to Charleroi, which is close to the cheap airport, and we slammed a bunch of frites with a crazy Belgie futbol fan.

This morning we took a flight to Girona and just found a hotel. We are all a little blown out. There is a sweet market across from the hotel where we ate lunch. Now it is time for a siesta and then we will go back to being tourists. Tomorrow we fly to Mallorca where hopefully we will hook up with Ken and Magda from USA Cycling.

Adios

I didn't win, but the Steelers did!

I am blown out in the Brussels International Airport Hotel. Did you see that game? Go Steelers!!! I watched the game solo in the hotel lobby until 4:00am. It was sweet!

The race was pretty sweet too. Andrea arrived just in time along with her sister Carrie. They had their Matter Support T-s and were my biggest fans out there. With the U-23's and other Jr's out there I pretty much had fans throughout the entire course. I'm not sure of the final spectator count, but it was pretty huge. I saw tons of drunk spectators and have lots of good stories to tell....

The race itself was good. I was called up in the last row with only 5 or 6 guys called up behind me. I lined up on the right because I knew Andrea was on the right side of the course! Good logic right? Well it worked....I had a great start and moved up pretty good....as soon as we excited the pavement Jose Hermida crashed with another dude right in front of me. I had to stop to thread between them and was instantly gapped...

I was gassed for the first two laps and then started feeling better....Hermida came back up to me and bridged me up to a group of 5 or 6 guys were I stayed the rest of the race. Shriver was in the group and he was riding pretty strong. It was good to be riding with another US rider. With 2 to go I put in a little effort and coulnd't recover from it and finished towards the back of my group in 49th.

Powers was 35th Shriver was 44th and Page was 52? Trebon ran into a TV Camera boom while riding in the top 20 on lap 1. The women killed it with all 5 girls in the top 20!

I'm sure there if a ton of photos out there, but I don't have time to post any. If you find some sweet ones let me know.

I'm not sure what the internet situation will be during the next week of travel, but if I can I will update. Thanks to everyone who followed my blog, thanks to sponsors, the Belgians who helped us, USA Cycling, Mom & Dad, and all who donated to the cause.

Adios...Ahora Nosotros Vamanos a Espana....

The Countdown's On

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Don't forget to get your B-Matter Supporter T @ Gear-Grinder.COM

As the race approaches I am realizing the long race season will be over very shortly. It is kind of weird to have so much hype and energy in the air and by 4:00pm Sunday Hoogerheide will be back to a ghost town and the race season will be over. I am doing my best to take in every single second! The Jr's are headed to the race and the U-23's will follow shortly. I think some of the Jr's have a legit shot at making a podium! We are going to sneak on the course for our last preview in between races. I was hoping to watch the Jr's and U-23's on TV, but I don't think it will happen.

We just finished another fine dutch breakfast....Pasta and what else....Ham & Cheese!


















I scored myself a sweet blaze/Dutch Orange Worlds hat! It should go great in Eagle River where I hope to get to get some skiing in before the snow melts when I get back to the States.

Our Belgian support crew didn't like the blaze Orange. I think the rivalry between the Belgies and the Dutch is twice as much as OSU vs U of M.

So far the only links for watching the race are at http://www.cycling.tv/ and http://www.universalsports.com/
I think they are going to have some coverage at http://www.cxmagazine.com/, but I'm not sure if it will be video.

That's all....wish me luck. I'm going to need it to do this for a full hour. This just in....I think I found the free link broadcasted from Sporza in Flemish The Real Deal.

Hoogerheide!

We left Izegem this morning and headed north across the border to Hoogerheide! The vibe here is amazing. Lots of guys riding the course, the entire city covered in UCI rainbow stripes, and the Dutch people are loving every minute of it....
















Luckily we are staying away from the scene because it could get pretty contagious and a lot of energy could be wasted. That energy will be much needed come Sunday. So we are shacked up at Hotel Klooster Van Rilland about 12k from the race course.


















So today we rode from the hotel to do a few laps. We signed a few autographs and then took to the course. The course is a sweet loop with a really long cobblestone uphill start. We take a hard left onto the course and do some bumpy grass sections. There are a few good drops and some greasy 180 back uphill corners. It looks like there will be 3 huge jumbotron TV's for the spectators who are not lucky enough to get a front row spot. The course is divided into two sections an upper section and a lower. Most of the ground is hard and frozen. As the weekend goes on and some thawing occurs it could get pretty nasty.

The video below is just a short clip of who I am putting my money on for Worlds!

Motor Pacing on the pre-ride.....killer!
















A couple more days and I'll be right here(just a few rows back)!
Thanks again to all who have helped me on this journey. Thanks to my sponsors Gear Grinder, Hyundai, Blue, TRP, Crank Bros & Oakley! Don't forget to score your Gear Grinder Worlds Schwag!

Story Time

After Euro Cross Camp everyone was dying to know about the crazy fan base in Europe. They wanted to know what it was like to race in front of 30,000 drunk belgies. Unfortunately I had to tell them it wasn't as crazy as you think. In Belgium the fans only cheer for one rider. After their rider goes by it is back to smoking and drinking. Similar to how we in the US love one Nascar driver. Stickers on our cars, ornaments in our front lawns, and 90% of our clothing with our guys name/number plastered on the back. I'd be willing to bet if I went into a Rabbobank I would see Sven or Lars, just like we see #20, #3, or #48. So all in all it was a little quiet racing in front of 30,000 spectators and quite frankly I would rather race in front of US cross fans any day!

So the fine folks at Gear Grinder put their heads together and came up with a sweet idea.....

The Does Matter Supporter T-Shirt! Designed by fellow racer Tom Bender.

You can order you T-Shirt today and maybe even have it at your front door for Sundays mornings race! All proceeds go towards paying off the balance of my EuroCross Camp and the costs of the Worlds trip.

The shirt has a little taste of US culture too. Take note of the Pittsburgh Steelers color theme and the Steelers star marking Hoogerheide on the map of Holland!

Feb 1st is going to be a great day for sports fans around the world! So make sure you are ringing your cowbell in style! Thanks for all the support to the best Superfans in the WORLD!

I wasn't lying

Too Many Ham & Cheese Sandwiches makes a medium skinsuit pretty tight!