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Eagle River Here I Come!

Rollin'

Yesterday was hmmmm.....

Not sure what to think. Up at 6am....5 hour drive. WORS #9 Border Battle.

I was not in the best of mental states, still a little bummed from the O2S flat tire. The 5 hour drive and late arrival didn't help. I rolled around the course a little and wasn't thrilled about the start or the following bumpy field. I knew this was bad as I was rolling to the line so I told myself....."forget about it and just go....you didn't drive 5 hours for nothing."

So Don yelled GO......I attempted to move up, but was boxed in....not a good course to be boxed in....midway through the first lap Chris P and I hooked up and started ripping the trails....it was more like a fun group ride as I was judging Chris on his style points(or lack of) until we caught a group of 10 at the end of lap 1. The course was top notch(which helped my mood). Lap 2 Chris and I moved through the field pretty quick and then we checked out with Jesrin in tow. Middle of lap 3 I started feeling really good. Chris bobbled(tried to crash me) and I went to the front.


















(thanks to mountaingoat for the sweet photo)

I started going really good(possibly the best I have felt on the bike all year). Sova was out there giving me some time splits and I caught Mike P just in time to sprint him to the line for 3rd.

All in all it was a good day(really frickin long drive, but the course was cool enough to make it worth it) and the motivation is back to begin the final countdown for the FAT TIRE.

After the race I went to Margarita Loco w/ Bill Street, TJ, SOVA, and WOODY. Nothing like a crazy burrito after a mtb race!

The Rings

My predictions:

1.Absalon

2.Sauser

3.Paulissen

4.Nys

5.Craig

1.Dahle

2.Premont

3.Chengyuan

It's cooler near the Lake

The last few days in Sheboygan have been awesome. Perfect weather with a cool breeze rolling of the Lake right through the front door....too bad this means the end of summer is approaching. The leaves will soon start to change colors, the road bike will go away, and the cross bike will arrive soon. Before putting away the road bike I had to do one last road event of the year. In a last minute decision(only because I didn't know about the race until 3 days before) I decided to do a ride/race around Lk Winnebago.

I wasn't really sure what to expect with open roads, expected finish times of 7 hours for 92 miles, and road bikes, mixed w/ tri bikes, mtn bikes, tandems, and anything else that had two wheels. Oh yeah....there was some money on the line too!

So I rolled out of bed Sunday morning at 3:30am. What am I thinking.... I forked over $90. What am I thinking..... Then loaded up the car for Fond Du Lac. The 5:50am start time had me a little dreary for the ride up the west coast of the Lake. It was a nice steady tempo set by some tri dude who wanted to win it in the first mile. Luckily he was steady enough for me to enjoy the beautiful sunrise over my right shoulder. Soon enough we headed into Oshkosh where it turned from steady tempo to crit national cahmpionships....Andy Crater was crushing it around the corners. It got a little crazy with some grated bridges, cones, and traffic islands. This continued for a while through Menasha and some other towns and then we hit the one climb on the course at High Cliff state park. Crater again crushed it to split the huge group into a lead pak of about 12 riders including Spiro and TJ Woodruff. A group of another 12 bridged 10 miles after the climb and then it was 30 more miles of headwind and 35mph tempo set by dudes on Tri bikes. Crater jumped the sprint early and I reacted a little slow but was able to finish 2nd.

All and all it was a good day. I ended up in the recliner with my eyes shut watching the Olympics the rest of the afternoon! Thanks to Gear-Grinder, Trek, Oakley, and Tristan for the sweet wheel hook up. I'm feeling the pain today after a hard effort yesterday and not enough sleep, but not as much pain as this.

Mid Season Report Card

Hopefully all the bad luck is behind me and my favorite part of the season is right around the corner....my fitness has jumped to the next level over the last month of hard training and I'm mentally ready to start winning some races!

Ore To Shore....with high hopes I set out to Marquette to attempt my 3rd Ore To Shore victory. Everything was going to plan as I started and led the lead group over the first climb of the race. On the following fast descent I hit a rock and was slowly losing air....I was hoping for the Stans to do its magic, but it was a no go. I rode the slow leak for a mile and told Doug my plan...I chagned the flat on the city streets and struggled removing the Stans rim strip and struggled again putting a 26" tube into the 29" tire. According to GPS it took about 3:15 to change. Back on the bike to pass close to 100 riders and make my way up to 7th place. I was consistenly closing on the leaders and even saw Doug on the long pavement climb, but ran out of gas from such a long hard solo chase. Here is the GPS data.... ps...Trek and Fisher had 7 out of 7 bikes in the top of the Mens field!!! Andrea killed it in the womens race pulling off her first ever top 10 triple crown!

Sun Burst.....with high hopes of redemption from yesterdays flat tire I made the short drive to Kewaskum for another WORS race. With all my Gear Grinder clothing covered in iron stained mud I was forced to go incognito! The Ride Club mad its first appearance at the front of a WORS race...I sacrificed a call up, because even Don didn't recognize me.....We were off jus as fast as if we hadn't raced 48 miles the day before and after 1 lap the race was decided. It was either TJ or myself for the win. Half way through the race my headset seized ???? and I had to be very cautious on the descents. TJ opened a 10 second gap while I was trying to figure out what was going on....Stem was tight, steering was horrible...oh well keep going. I bridged back up to TJ and we battled the remainder of the race...on the last climb we changed the lead 3 or 4 times and I almost crashed both of us on the steepest part of the climb with my headset all messed up. Later in the lap my front skewer opened...bad luck continued however I wouldn't have been able to outsprint TJ with a bad headset. Oh well it was fun and the course reminded me of a cross race with a mountain bike climb. Here is the GPS info... ps Fisher Superfly 1, 2, 3!!!

It had to be pretty funny watching TJ and I battle on rigid 29ers....we were both bouncing all over the place and the first lap we descended the singletrack like it was our first time on MTB's. By the end I think we had it figured out pretty good though!

Thanks to all the sponsors...Gear Grinder, Hyundai, Trek, Fisher, Oakley, Crank Bros

Showdown

Today was my first real battle of the season and my first battle with TJ on the bike. TJ won his first WORS race and I was second at Sunburst....yes that was me in the RIDE CLUB kit...all my Gear Grinder stuff is still dirty from O2S. A little redemption from the flat tire, but still some problems with the bike.....full race reports and photos to come soon...

Unlucky Seven

7th at the 2008 Ore To Shore...

5 minutes down on the leader after a flat tire 5 miles into the race. Results are up on www.itiming.com. I am dissapointed with the bad luck this year, but can only use it was motivation to train harder on go faster at Cheq. Maybe I'll get some redemption tomorrow at Sunburst!

SCORE

Check out the new addition to the family. My dad's middle school ride!!!

TIME + MILES = FUN

This past week was pretty good! I put in a lot of Time relaxin' by campfires and sleeping under the stars.

I put in a lot of Time hanging with family.

I put a lot of miles on the car and even a few miles on dad's new kayak.

Kayaking works for Adam Craig right?

Even better was not a lot of time at work and the perfect amount of miles and time on the bike. Mission accomplished in training prep for O2S and even did a few intervals in Cali for some icing on the cake. Here's the favorite photo from the week! Notice the smile contradicting the "Life is Crap" t-shirt!

See you in Marquette!

Quiche

Quick update following the WORS race yesterday at Alterra. I finished 5th and Andrea was 6th. My race was pretty good! I had a good start and was following Jesse on lap 1. On the climb a few guys passed me. A small gap opened in the last singletrack and going through the start/finish I was in no mans land. Coming off a rest week I didn't have the gas to jump across so I set a good tempo and cruised in for my best WORS race of the year.

In other news Bennet Vandergenugten won the BNS Tour De France point competition...then he did a sweet blog update...check it out!







Now we are off for some secret training for the week at Firefly Lk...next up O2S!!!

BNS TDF Points Competition

In the 2nd annual BNS TDF points competition its all coming down to the final TT. After TT#1 it was EVIL E Hildebrand. After Rest Day #1 I took a commanding lead. After rest day #2 it was Mike Ver who took charge. After todays queen stage the reigning champion took charge and holds a solid two point lead over the rest of the field. After picking todays winner I moved into a 2nd place stranglehold with BVDG Can Andrea hold on for her second consecutive win? Saturdays TT will hold all the answers. Stay tuned......

All aboard!

Check out 1 WORLD 2 Wheels and do it for real!

Also check out the all new live Gear-Grinder Website and buy some new clothing. I was lucky enough to get some free samples and the stuff is awesome. Recycled cotton and recycled bamboo t-shirts, and recycled bicycle tubes for wallets and belts. Do it for real!

Also help IMBA save some sweet singletrack. Do it for real!

I'm gonna!

Can't take the heat...get out of the KITCHEN

Busy at it...but sweet to take a day off of work.

"It's a Jelly"

A quote from Strange Brew one of my all-time fav's. Really when thinking about this blog update I was going to title it jealousy, but that's not the right word.

About 1 month ago I entertained the idea of going back to the East Coast for some NMBS action. Yesterday I talked with TJ after the race and it made me think a little. The last time I did a Norba was 2004. I crashed out of the race at Mt. Snow with a separated shoulder and then had to watch the Short Track from the sidelines the next day. That's not really how I wanted to end my Norba career, but I followed up that crash with some rest and with a W at Ore To Shore and the rest is history.

One of these days I will head out for another national level race, but the timing wasn't right this year. With the purchase of our new home, and a late start to the season, I needed these two weeks to complete a good training build. I also had to paint the kitchen! Today I got some new shades that will be enough motivation for this week of hard training and the Holy Hill road race on Monday.

I hope the WI crew rips it up in VT.

Fact: I have done the NORBA in VT 10 times~ I still know the race course like the back of my hand. I have only done the nude crit in VT 3 times. It's not quite as technical.

It's all good!

As my good buddy Glenner the UPS man would say, "It's All Good!" That's what I was thinking as I was driving home from Eau Claire last night. I was not thinking that as I was descending towards the small river crossing in the race and very quickly losing tire pressure. I rode as far as I could hoping it would seal and looking for a place to pull off the lengthy singletrack section that would not impede other racers. I quickly attempted a shot of big air in hopes the bead would seal, but no go again. So I went for the tube, poored stans all over my front rotor, and was off and running again. Needless to say I was pretty far back being so early in the race and needless to say my front brake was not the best with a liquid latex coating. Anyway I knew I needed to race to I put on the game face and made the best of my situation. I raced hard the entire race, had high HR numbers, and finished in the money. Take away the 3 or so minutes it took to fix the flat and I could have been racing for a top 5.

Andrea killed it! Once again she made the podium and brought home more money that I did!

I'm not liking the view from the podium way over here, but I'm confident the fitness is getting there and the training is going good. Good luck to the top 5 who are heading east this week for some national racing.

Hangin' @LT

With no race last weekend I have had some time to do some quality training. Lots of 20 min LT intervals. Yesterdays session almost ended in a blaze of glory as I finished in a crazy lightning storm with power lines shooting sparks like it was the 4th a few days early. Not cool.

I also had a little time to relax and finally got to watch KLUNKERZ in full. It was sweet and brought back some of my old school memories...first one was this....Sport Overall Champion 1994 w/ the man himself.
















Or the days of racing in T-Shirts against Mesko...
















Or my first World Cup in 95 Helen, GA...



















Can you name the top 3?


On the homeowner front it goes like this: Painted a kitchen ceiling, mosquitoes, raked a small pile of leaves, mosquitoes, thought about mowing the lawn(didn't), and more mosquitoes.

New Gear Grinder apparel is almost ready along with the website...soon to be seen on a podium near you! Off to Eagle River for the holiday weekend and then over to WORS for the Firecracker!

As spoken by HB himself, "LATER DUDE"

SBF The SAGA Continues

So Superior Bike Fest went down again and it was just as action packed as last year! Not quite as much road rash and blood and not quite as much prize money won, but we still did pretty good. The main characters making a return include:

Brian (no mullet this year) Matter, Andrea (Nurse Mom) Matter and Elicia (ER) Hildebrand

New to this years edition were

Tristan & Jamie (we just got hitched) Schouten

It started off really bad as I was two miles from the cabin we rented for the weekend and the 5.0 was rolling behind me....luckily the officer let me go with a warning....

Then the real speeding began as the Twilight Criterium was off in full force. The first 3 laps were possibly the hardest effort of my life as my lungs were crying for relief and I thought the break would go...but it didn't. A few more hard solo efforts off the front and I was rewarded with 6th place(one spot out of the money). Tristan was 9th. ER used her mad skills and didn't high side it like last year . She pulled off a top 5.

The night went south when at 12:00am the 5.0 was rollin' again! This time it was 62 in a 45 and there was no respite. $100 down the drain and its a loosing money day. We went even further South when we missed our turn and started driving back towards Sheboygan. Now it was really late and I was a little bummed. 100 miles was sounding like pain the next morning!

Bring the pain was the motto for Saturdays race. Elicia brought too much and ended up back at the ER after a bad crash took out half the womens field. She was able to get up and finish 5th, but after seeing a local chiropracter decided to head in for some X-Rays. Sore neck and bloody elbow didn't allow her to race on Sunday. Tristan and I missed out on the road race when a group of 6 rolled away on the first climb and it was game over...lame road racing tactics were the name of the game for the rest of the race as 2 and three riders skirted away at a time. Tristan was 9th and I was 13th. Andrea and Jamie spent the day cooking, handing up bottles, looking good, and getting ready for day #3!

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY: The day to bring the pain....

And the pain started when I stepped out of bed...

After breakfast we loaded up the road bikes and the mtn bikes and headed to MQT Mtn..the home of the best trails in the Midwest. We started and it was pretty much a three man race. Mike Anderson, Tristan and I. Half way through I launched an attack that I thought was sure to win me the race, but Mike was ablbe to gain time using my old Fuel on the long technical descents while I was aboard the rigid Superfly. It came down to a sprint and Mike got me on the line...breaking the one rule I had when I sold him the bike....

We waited about 10 minutes to watch Andrea come in for her first victory of the year and then it was off to race number 2. The SBF Circuit race. I was nice and warmed up from the MTB race so I launched on corner 1 of the race and drove the break for the first lap. 6 or 7 guys made the group and the gap was instantly huge. With 3 to go the moves started coming and people stopped cooperating in the break...so it was time to check out...along with a Priority Health rider we rode away with 3 laps to go and split a $100 prime. He was stronger and took the win...I was content with another 2nd. With the result I moved up the 5th overall in the omnium.

We tossed around the idea of heading home to Sheboygan for the trifecta, but passed as soon as the pain settled in...we finished off the weekend with a Lk Superior Ice Bath and a relaxing drive home.

Once again Andrea showed up the rest of us with the big W. Thanks again to all the folks who helped...Oakley, Trek, Gear Grinder, Hyundai, Crank Bros...and huge thanks to the Superior Bike Fest and the people of Marquette....and of course Ishpeming...those sandwiches were good!

WET COLD HOT DRY?

WET:

Friday the 13th: I wake up to 6" of water in the basement. Not cool. With all the rain the Black River was pretty high and the water was coming up through the basement floor. I first noticed when my Planet Bike pump floated by the bottom of the steps. Lots of trips the the rental store to get pumps and supplies. The bad luck of the superstitious day didn't stop there...at 2:00am I woke up the check on the water pumping process. Like Cassius Clay I found myself bobbing and weaving instantly as a friendly flying mammal was doing a crit around my head. 30 minutes later I looked like Roman and Chester trying to catch or kill it....the bat disappeared and 15 minutes later I was asleep! The basement is still WET Arghhhhh

COLD:

Mt Morris Subaru Cup Cross Country. Bad start. Bad Mental. Bad bike choice for the course for me. Bad Hydration. Bad Day. Finished up the day a little better with a COLD ice cream from Culvers! Mmmmm

Hot:

Mt Morris Super D and Short Track. Super D, Heat # 2 Le mans style start. Wholeshot on the bike, maybe a little conservative on the descent and then let 'er rip on the slight climb to the finish. Good enough for 1st in the heat and 5th overall. STXC, First Victory of the year! Good start, hot line on lap #2 to open up a small gap...Tristan bridged and we were gone. Gapped Tristan w/ 2.5 laps remaining and held on for the W. I came away with a sunburn and filled up afterwards with a Spicy Chicken sandwich and some HOT fries from Wendys. Mmmmm

Dry:

I wonder when the basement will be DRY Hmmmmmmm?

Next up Superior Bike Fest Marquette MI! Thanks to the guys at CLIF for being at the race and handing out free calories all weekend. Thanks to DON for the best ever WORS Short Track course and Thanks to all my sponsors.

Crazy Week

Last week was a long and busy week. We had some good times and some bad times.

Sadly Andrea's Grandpa Eugene Koenig passed away last Monday 2 days after his 92nd birthday. He will be missed greatly by our family. Fortunately lots of family and friends were in town last week to help celebrate his long life and recall many of his adventures.

On Friday I celebrated my 30th birthday(2 days after I watched the WINGS win their 4th CUP in the last 11 years!) with a Poop cake from the Dodgeville Bakery. Mmmmm

I was pumped when shortly after dinner my parents rolled into the driveway for a surprise visit!

Sunday Tristan and I along with my parents braved the weather and headed down to the road race state championships. I managed a top 5 after getting rolled out of the break by the IScorp Team on lap 1. A few laps later I let 'er rip again to go off the front with another guy and finish 5th. The new Madone was sweet with a Tubeless Dura Ace Wheelset.

I also crammed in a few home improvement projects. The fun never stops.

Double Trouble

2 was the magic number yesterday

2nd race of the year at Wausau

2 flat tires

2 Lalonde Brothers who are unstopable

$200 for a new rear wheel :(

but there was only one Sidney Crosby look-a-like

and one true winner on the day for rocking the mustache!

actually 2 winners in my book!

Andrea was the only racer from the team car to not get a flat! And she finished 7th...not too shabby for the 1st race of the year.

GO WINGS!