Home Ownership Rules!

Rules? Like Yeah this rules...or like rules to live by...

1. Don't buy a house or start a remodeling job at the beginning of bike season....

1. Buying your own house after paying rent for 10 years is pretty sweet....

2. Don't argue with your spouse over paint colors...just paint...

2. Ordering a pizza and watching some basketball after hard days work on your own house...

3. Don't eat too much easter candy when not riding your bike a lot....

3. Eat lots of easter candy to ward off the bonk from sniffing paint all day...

Yeah in the end everything has been blending together...this past week after Gravel Rouser has been crazy...leaving the old house at 7am and not returning until after 9pm. Packing three sets of clothes just to leave for the day. Once again I have acheived blown out status, but I am having fun and we are making good progress on the house. More pictures soon.

I did manage to ride 3 times this week and hoping for a 4th ride tomorrow before the final painting push. Until next post...I hope you are riding more than me...

Gravel Rouser Epic

Yesterday was the Gravel Rouser! Shouldn't that mean Spring Time is officially here. Maybe in OH, but today we are driving back to Wisco where old man winter might linger for another month or two...always a little depressing going home after vacation...even more so with fresh snow on the ground.

The Gravel Rouser Lake Hope Epic was another for the record books. We gathered at the W. State St. ball fields for the 20+ mile dirt road ride out to Lake Hope. Right off the bat Duncan w/ his rockin' mullet jumped out to the lead in the road kill points competition. The ride out was great and we even took some local short cuts.

The points competition heated up when Mike Boyes tied things up with this sweet score...

When everyone arrived at Lake Hope it was time for the real racing to begin. 8 miles of the best singletrack in the midwest. I started off 3 wheels back and slowly made my way to the front. On one of the climbs I pushed the pace and only Ryan Curtis could hang. Ryan took the lead like any local would and pointed me in the long way around an option section! I bided my time and followed him on the technical descent until he took a corner a little too hot and the wet leaves unhooked his back wheel. I cruised it on in for my second stage win of the 08 Rouser. More photos & GPS route to come soon.

Finished off the 4.5 hour day in some rain with Joey and Mike hoping to score some last minute roadkill and win the weasel, but it looks like this is the closest it will ever make it to Sheboygan...

Bunny Ears

Day Two: Gravel Rouser Grab & Git City Scramble

Earlier today we suited up for stage 2....Elmer Fudd and the wabbits was our theme of the day. Operation goal; Kill The Wabbit....

We started off at Athens Bicycle and at 5:00pm sharp maps were handed out and the scrambling begun. Just like a scared rabbit we were off to the first of 5 check points. Andrea, Elicia and I decided to stick together and work as a team. Andres is very directionally challenged and it was a necessity, if I ever wanted to see my wife again, that I made sure she stayed nearby....Elicia is not that much better. We struggled a bit with the first two stops, but after that it was smooth sailing. Stops 3, 4, 5, nailed down, no wrong turns, and a couple of shortcuts. In the end it was a massive 6 up field sprint to the house....I managed to be the 2nd to arrive, followed by Duncan, and Elicia....Corey, Kevin, and Andrea did some Hockey fighting no blood was spilled. Mr Fast even had time for a beer before winning stage 2. In the end after time bonuses and time penalties I finished 7th. Elicia won the womens race and Andrea was 5th. One day a cheesehead will win the Grab & Git....

All eyes on this prize for tomorrows epic stage to Lake Hope!

Thunder Bunny

Gravel Rouser 08....Lovin' the Easter Bunny

















The 2008 version of the Rouser kicked off last night with the Thunder Bunny Time Trial. A 2.5 mile off road tt that truly tested your handling skills. As I was riding my dads Trek Fuel 98 I realized it was the first time on a mountain bike since 100ft past the finish line of the Iceman. With 2 days of rain and massive flooding in all of Ohio I was ready for a muddy day on the bike. The crew down in Athens does amazing work on there trails and it could have been a lot worse. I was the 2nd rider off and instantly the HR was pegged as I was climbing the muddy switchbacks. The Bontrager Revolts were not the tire of choice, so I dropped the psi to about 20 and started to let 'em rip on the descents. My time was just shy of 15 minutes and it was pretty painful at some points, but I was able to pull out my first win of the season for team Gear Grinder. No new team clothes yet, so I had to go Athens style with the Hunter jersey and the clear Oakley Radar shooting glasses.

Tonight is the Grab & Git...a scavenger hunt around town and inside scoop is that race promoters did all they could to take away the local advantage...

Rain

We made it to OH! Only to be greeted by rain and flooding! Good thing I brought the rain jacket! With double fenders, double booties, and the double visor we managed two 3 hour days. The first was slightly painful w/ temps in the 40's and a hurling wind. Day 2 was much nicer as the temp increased to the mid 50's and the wind died down. The riding here is still amazing with all the climbing and the endless number of different routes.

After Tuesdays ride we had a homemade pizza and then cruised down to Ohio University for a Bobcats B-Ball game. Just what I needed to get in the mood for March Madness. Gravel Rouser starts tonight....it's going to be muddy.

Forget the Baby Steps

Go Big or Go Home....

We bought the new house on Friday and are leaving for a week vaction later today....bad timing I know, but its Gravel Rouser and warmer weather.

So with one weekend to work on the new house we had to go pretty big. The muscles are feeling it today.

Now it's off to OH for Gravel Rouser 08...can't wait to see the number plates!

It's On

Day One: One Key To Rule Them All

Before: 1950's White Shag!

During: Thanks for the help Rosco!

2 More Days

2 Days and counting until we close on the house! If anyone wants to work for free don't hesitate to call me! We have carpet to rip up, furniture to move, and plenty more elbow work, so really call me. We took the final walk through the house yesterday. I am pumped. Now that the personal property of the seller is gone the house looks a lot nicer. We also discovered all hardwood floors under the carpet.

Eagle River was a pretty well timed relaxing weekend. We stopped by the warming hut on day number 1 to feed the birds. I skied all three days including a 40k day on Saturday. That's all for today....need to start making more phone calls...todays agenda is switching over the electric and gas, calling a floor restoration guy, and going for a bike ride!

All Of The Above

8 Days and counting until we close on the new house. My brain has been scrambled lately. Yesterday Andrea and I went and looked at paint and flooring samples. Mind boggling to say the least. Then they tell you how much it is going to cost! Lets just say winning the triple crown doesn't cover stuff like that...

Anyway I am pretty excited about moving into the new house, but at the same time I just want to bust it out, get in there, and start to focus on riding my bike. We are taking a little breather this weekend to forget about things and heading up to Eagle River. We haven't made it up there at all this winter.

This photo was taken back in 2003!

I remember when I headed up for the first time with new skate skis. I had no idea what I was doing and Andrea put the hammer down on me with her classical skis. The next year I went up there with Schaning and we skiied 35 or 40 k and I was blown out. After 5 years I think I finally nailed it down. Now if I could just muster up some motivation to wax those things I would be Rockin' like Dokken.

Rosco is pumped to go to E.R. It has been a long winter for the little guy.

The Dog

Big Ring or Chicago Style?

The fitting seminar ended up on a great note....but we better start at the beginning.

Back to the Pie!

Mmmmm

Day 1 like I said was Anatomy and Tooling...

Day 2 was more hands on and we learned how to test some flexibility. Hamstrings and hips were the main determing flexibility factors with position on the bike. We did some angles from the torso to the humorous and the angle of the sacrum. All very interesting....it really boils down to how each body works on the persons bike.

Then it got good when all the students left and the big guns AOM and T-DA flexed their muscles and started some custom fitting.....

T-DA probably imporoved his position more than anyone during the entire 2 days...check it out

Watch out WORS 08!

I pulled out of the parking garage just in time for some food.....a true Chicago Style Hot Dog!

With motivation high after a newly found saddle postition I did the breakfast ride this morning and felt awesome. We finished up the ride through Black River to check this out....

I wonder if Tristan thinks he's moving into our new basement?

PIE

Pie - 3.14 or Chicago Deep Dish?

Day One of the bike fit seminar was pretty cool. Lots of anatomy education and tooling education. Today will be more hands on bike fitting. I'm pumped.

More to follow after the weekend. Breakfast ride or ski race?

Quest 4 Knowledge

I am getting pretty pumped to head down to Chicago this Thursday & Fri for a Michael Sylvester Bike Fit Seminar. I will be heading down Wednesday night and staying with a friend from MI. It looks like plenty of the Trek yahoos will be in attendance and I'm sure fun will be had by all. Yoga and bike fitting! Nothing like getting paid to stretch and learn to fit people so they can ride faster! I have never put faith in bike fitting in the past and many of you know I am the kind of guy who will raise my seat 2 cm before the start of a race and let 'er rip...but I'm getting old and anything to help me go faster will do. I am also pumped to be able to start offering fit services here.

This past weekend I did some serious training. I ended up skipping on the breakfast ride for my own version of the Birkie. Tristan, Drankus, and I loaded up the new Sonata and cruised out to Greenbush for 2:30 hours of pain. We met up with the Schwallers and had a blast. The skiing was perfect and was almost as exhilerating as ripping that perfect piece of singletrack. Check out my form in the photo below!

Sunday was my first ride outside in quite some time. Andrea, Elicia, Dano, Street, Josh, and I went for a not so bad ride. It was still below freezing, but the sun was shining and the roads were pretty dry. The legs didn't really respond after Saturdays ski.

This is becoming more of a scary reality!

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This did become of reality...for my dad!

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It's even Steelers colors!

The Title?

It's bad when you can't think of a title for your blog post. I guess the only title I am really thinking about is this one. Yes that's right my first race of the season is approximately one month away. I guess that's bad considering I have not been on a bike since my California vacation. Even worse considering I don't even have a mtb bike yet this year! I hope the skiing is enough to stay in shape. I have also been getting crazy with some self hypnotism. We'll see how that pays off down the road....I'm always afraid I'm gong to fall asleep and never wake up?

I have been busy at the shop blowing out all of our winter inventory and preparing for the upcoming bike season. We have been pretty busy with ski rentals so the prep for spring is going slow. I have also been trying to get pedals, wheels, helmets, etc ready for the upcoming race season.

My big decision this year is going to be stick with the tried and true Bontrager Race X Lite wheelset or maybe try the Shimano tubeless road system. I have been doing a little research and the fact that Hutchinson is also making tubeless cross tires excites me. I guess in the end it comes down to $$$.

I think I am gong to be riding a Madone 5.2 Pro, a Top Fuel 9.9 (hopefully a 2009 prototype), and a Superfly! Riding a bike called Superfly means no more Blades and no more mullets.....because that stuff is not fly at all.

Maybe a breakfast ride tomorrow to start logging some miles on the bike?

what to do?

Yesterday was a long day being stuck in the house for 24 hours. I didn't venture outside a single time except to pull the car into the garage so it wasn't a Sonata Popsicle this morning. I did manage an hour on the rollers down in the basement. It wasn't quite as fun as the 1.5 hour ski I did Saturday night with perfect snow conditions and a good group of guys. I had some time yesterday to look up plane tickets to Tucson and they are reasonable! Andrea and I are waiting to here back on the house after we put in a second offer. Back to work today and hoping for more snow to keep up the skiing. It seems I'm finally getting it after 5 years, but I'd reather be in AZ!

Watched Tour of California yesterday. Pretty standard results....I was impressed with Garrett Peltonen and surpised Tommy D was so far down. Maybe he is focusing on the Giro with his new team. Another impressive ride was thrown down by Cippo...can't wait for him to beat Boonen in a sprint at 41 years old. I'm pumped to start riding myself, but being patient is key for myself this time of year.

The Motherland

This past weekend I made the trip back home to Pinckney MI for some quality time with old friends and a 30th B-Day Party. It's always great to drive through the old neighborhood were we terrorized all for 18 years growing up. It was back in the day where kids actually played outside and were not glued to cell phones texting and what not. It was quite sad to not see a single kid outside in the old hood. Not a single kid on the old sledding hill. Not a single kid building a snow fort. Not a single snowball flung from a tree at a passing car.

Dinner on the way home....Baby Ruth, MVP Meijer Brand Sports Drink, Motor City w/ Attitude coffee, and a couple Jack Links beef jerky! Bring on the 2008 season!

The best/worst part of the trip was the drive. Only a seasoned veteran could have made the epic trip. On the way to MI I picked up a friend in Chicago. I navigated the ghetto's and fridays rush hour traffic to arrive MI at 1:00am. Saturday we partied with some Detroit dance moves and with 5 hours sleep started the epic home. Lake effect weather was in full effect as we approached Jackson, MI and traveled at about 5mph for the next 4 hours. It was the absolute worst driving conditions I have ever season. I could have traveled faster on ice skates. White out conditions with gusty winds on a 1/2" sheet of ice had 29 cars in the ditch on a 60 mile stretch of I-94. Hockeytown had spread to I-94 as semi trucks were cross checking sedans and lots of off sides calls had multiple people in the penalty box. The new team car (Hyundai Sonata) was solid.

Maybe if they weren't driving on the wrong side of the road!

PBR ME

You know its bad when -

1. The local skis shop closes early.

2. Every other block has a car stuck on at least 2 corners.

3. There are absolutely no PBR signs illuminated along all of Michigan Ave and Business Dr in
Sheboygan at 5:30 pm.

4. Your back hurts more from shoveling snow than from the Smokin Spoke Marathon '07

5. The dog won't go outside to take a leak!

Hmmmmm?

Well the big question is on my mind. It's been 2 months since my last race and the end of the 2007 season. The process is starting up again. The sponsorship is lined up, the bikes are on the way, and now it's time to get the training and racing schedules going. I'm shooting for a month of occasional riding, yoga, and some weight lifting. Then its go time. March 1 looks to be the beginning of the training season for me and lots of base miles are in my future. Tucson plans are in the making, but I'm not sure if they will go through....I guess it depends on this.

This past weekend I did end up on my bike for my first breakfast ride of the year. I also took my first spill of the year as the snow was covering lots of ice on the frozen beach. Lots of guys went down and I'm happy to get the first crash of the year over with. After the 10th crash we headed for pavement. I ended up with about 2.5 hours. Not too shabby for 2 months of sitting on my butt.

Sunday was a day set aside for the Superbowl. A relaxing morning of checking e-mail and warming up for the big game with lots of Tecmo Bowl. I made a pretty good double batch of Southwest White Chicken Chili w/ some homegrown mushrooms added in for good measure. Batch number 2 was made with chicken satan for Andrea.

Before the game Tristan and I went out for a ski. I think its time to wax my skis as my avg hr was above 160 for the 1 hour....it felt like someone had installed a brake system on my fischers. Not fun. The game was great for all football fans, the commercials were avg, and I finished the night asleep on the couch with a post game show lullabye.