Power

Anybody interested in one of these ??????

Another round here to try to get rid of the old cross bikes.

Racin' Circles

It's been a whirlwind since I last updated. Not a spare single second in between Chequamegon, Vegas, and USGP Planet Bike Cup. I'm smashed today, but happy not to be doing a darn thing this week.

It started Monday after the long drive home from Chequamegon last Sunday. A full day of packing bikes, gluing tires, work, doing laundry and finally bed around 11pm. A 4am alarm on Tuesday had Andrea and I on our way to Vegas.

I love the desert, but Vegas is something a little above and beyond Tucson.... We arrived and already the lights, buzzers, and whistles were a little too much for me to handle after a turbulent flight. After we arrived to the hotel I unpacked the bikes and started right away with the aquaseal. A little later it was over to check out the race course. FAST!

Wednesday morning was a trip to Interbike to check out some cool things and go to some appointmetns. Wednesday afternoon was spent finishing up the wheels and making sure the bikes work.

Cross Vegas: The first Cross race of the year always hurts, but not that bad? I had a 3rd row start and wanted to move up on the prologue loop and get hooked up with a good group. I moved up, but instantly paid the price....I was above the red line and couldn't recover in the dry heat of the desert. One guy at a time would pass me and there was nothing I could do...I suffered bad for an entire hour and evenutally finished up with my left leg fully cramped in 26th position.

Back to the hotel by 12:30am, pack the bikes until 1:00am, shower, eat, and maybe to bed by 2:30am for a 6:30am alarm and back on the plane. Home by 5:00pm and straight to the bike shop to unpack bikes and finish gluing my last 3 wheels for USGP.

Friday was the last of the Aquaseal and a quick 45 min ride before work.

USGP #1

I had a second row call up and I was top 6 going through corner number 1.....eventually settled in a group with Troy, Marko, Tristan, and Ryan Knapp to finish 13th.

USGP #2

Same call up, same good start...with the leaders the enite first lap until Troy and I ran the ride up and were gapped off....Tristan came flying by and Chris Jones crashed in front of me and opened a gap....settled with Troy Marko Chris and 2 Giant Strawberry dudes...the group split and I was in the back half....finished 14th after almost crashing into Troy on the pavement with 1 to go.

Overall...happy with USGP weekend. Finishing top 15 without feeling good and being blown out is respectable. Now its time to switch the training from mtb to cross!

Chequamegon

Fat Tire # 27 is in the books! This past weekend was another journey up to the Hayward/Cable area in northern Wisconsin for the Chequamegon. Andrea and I made the 6 hour drive early Friday morning in time to get a good preview of the last 10 miles of the race course. We picked up the packets at Telemark and then headed over to the Northern Pine Inn in Hayward. Out to dinner at Coops for some lasagne and garlic bread and then early to bed.

Saturday morning we awoke to the most perfect northwoods weather you could ask for. Then it was over to the start line for round 2 of the Triple Crown. The start was pretty standard with a full speed effort behind the quads down hwy 77. I filed into Rosie's field in about 6th wheel. This is where things changed drastically from years past. Normally you can recover after the first few rollers on the birkie. This year the roadies put down the smack. It was critical to be in the front as the lead group was constantly splitting.

By OO the lead group was set with 8 riders. Myself, Cole, Tilly, Bjorno, Bauman, M. Phillips, and Chris P. We quickly worked our way the the most critical part of the course The Seely Firetower climb. Little did I know a group of 7 latched on at the bottom of the climb. I went over the top chasing Tilly and Cole whil things were shattering behind me. By the bottom of the Firetower Bjorn, Bauman, and Phillips had made contact. As soon as we hit the Birkie I made my first major move. Only Tilford and Cole could come with me.....neither would pull through so I continued to attack up the entire Birkie gaining confidence with each attack. Tilly and I rotated through down Telemark road with Cole sitting on claiming 'cramps.'

With 2 miles to go I attacked again and actually had to break on the descents as I was catching the lead quad. I had dropped Tilford and thought I would roll in for the win...I looked back on a climb and Cole had started to chase. I held my 5 second gap through the last corner, but didn't want to crash. Cole let it rip,and in a similar fashion to my victory over Tilford in 2004, closed a huge gap in one corner. I looked back one last time and stepped on the gas to the finish for my second trip to the top of the Cheq Podium!

ps Trek Top Fuel 9.9 w/ 26" wheels everytime at Chequamegon is my bike of choice

Andrea had another awesome race finishing 13th for the second year in a row. I think she is gaining confidence and will crack the top 10 soon! We finished the weekend with a trip to the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, some Sawmill Pizza and a long drive home. Next up is Vegas.....

Thanks again to all who helped.....mom & dad, my in-laws, my sponsors, feedzone crew, all the photographers, post race bike transport gang, and my loving wife!

NORCROSS

Cross season is here! The bikes have arrived, the wheels have arrived, and my legs aren't sore after running any more. I've registered for the first few races on the schedule...CrossVegas and the USGP Planet Bike Cup.....which makes for a busy week coming up really soon....Chequamegon followed by three really hard cross races in 5 days. It's OK though because I just finished a super hard block of training and I'm feeling pretty good abouut it...I'm also feeling pretty good about the new NORCROSS.

















This is the lightest, stiffest, and fastest cross bike I have seen to date....I have a couple carbon seatposts on the way which will make the bike even lighter.

The front end is significantly beefed up as is the bottom bracket. I can't wait to get out there and really let 'er rip. Not today though...it's Labor Day and rest and relaxtion is on the schedule along with a trip to the county fair!




A special cyclocross thanks to Blue & Easton for the extra support this cross season!

Midwest

Midwest racing is fast.....Midwest racers are strong, but I think they just don't get the credit they deserve. US National Pro Road race results..... MI Brent Bookwalter 4th WI Matt Bucshe 5th. Thats impressive.

Same goes for the MTB'ers and Cross'ers....we have solid competition week after week all season long. Yesterday was another perfect example.

WOS #9 Green Bay:

7 guys in the lead group 30 miles into a race. I made my move somewhere in the middle of the last lap. Jesse was the only one who could come with me...I stayed on the gas to keep the gap growing and Jesse played it smart and saved just enough juice to come around me at the finish.

Andrea finished lucky #7 again.

Now its my favorite part of the season....training is shorter but more intense....racing is faster with more pain, but its over a little sooner. Recovery consists of a bowl of chili and Sunday Night Football in the recliner.

Less training = more commuting!

pre-season

Did you see that football game last night! The Pack is looking good! My pre-season is looking good too....check it out

I wonder if sniffin' glue would make you fail a doping control?

Cross Training

It's the perfect combination of running & riding....

And of course rest....

Rosco is taking a rest week right now too....

FOR SALE: It's looking like I'll be aboard the new NORCROSS this season so it's time to unload the CXC's.....let me know if your interested sz LG = 57cm top tube. Used for one race! brimatter@hotmail.com

Mid-Season Break

I love it that my mid-season break consisted of a full blown crazy 90+ mile race around Lk. Winnebago! I'm not so sure how that will bode come Mid Dec when I'm racing cross through the mud in OR. That's why I think I'm going to take another 10 days or so of the bike......

Race the Lake was another scary classic with a little more competition it seemed a little safer as there were no guys or gals on Tri bikes towards the front of the group. I heard one big crash at the top of the lake and another on the way back towards FDL. Luckily I wan't near either of them. At one point a dude in a recumbant went flying by us and put the smack down on the group. He couldn't climb though. I was feeling pretty good, but was in bad position once and had to close a good gap.....unfortunately it was probably the energy I needed for when the real move went....I ended up 9th.....

The rest of the weekend was spent eating paint chips.....nothing like scraping, sanding, caulking, and painting windows that have been neglected for the past 30 years! More home improvement projects on the horizon during the next 10 days. Andrea and I finished the weekend off with some live music and dinner at the Highland House in Sheboygan. Mmmmmmm

"I Love GOOOLD"

Well, I have to start off by saying the Gold Diggers cheerleaders at the start line was a first.

I didn't win the Golden Bike, but I won my third big rock and my third piece of bike furniture!

In the end it was Myself and Mike Anderson. Watch out for that kid....he's only twenty and was 3rd last year at Iceman and now 2nd at O2S.

We started off the trip Friday morning with a fully loaded Hyundai team car. We arrived to Marquette in time to see all the regulars in the parking lot telling war stories of sand, rain to come, and gear ratios, chain rings, tire pressure etc.....

My pre-ride went well and then it was off to the Pasta Shoppe with Tristan, Jamie, and the new baby. That place is the secret to racing fast in MQT. Mmmm

We crashed at the Holiday Inn and had a delicious buffet breakfast in the morning. Doug was drinking coffee creamer for power....

The race started fast on the pavement with Lummis and the Tandem trading pulls. I made it to the first climb in 3rd on Doug's wheel. We crested to first climb with 5 or 6 riders, but then sat up....the group swelled. It must have been 70 riders strong through Ishpeming....an Ore To Shore 1st. Lummis picked up the pace parallel to the train tracks followed by Tristan. We hit the power climbs at 8 miles in and Mike A. got a gap. I waited a split second and then went around Doug and bridged. By the time I made contact with Mike we had about 15 seconds. I took the lead at the next section, put my head down and went. Mike and I traded pulls for a while and that was all she wrote. The Fuel was flawless the entire race and we ended up 5 minutes ahead of number 3.

Other race notes.....Andrea was 8th in the womens field one spot better than last year! I was bummed that Simonson and J. Lalonde didn't make the race....the competition was the strongest yet at O2S, but without those guys a little something was missing.

Thanks to all the O2S volunteers and staff for putting on a great race. Thanks to all my sponsors especially Gear Grinder, Trek, and Hyundai. And finally thanks to Lorin and Trish Riutta who provided the pictures and showed us the top secret new trails in Ishpeming Sunday morning!

lazy river

Another WORS race in the book.....this time I finished 2nd just over 1:00 back. With a $50 prime to start things off at the top of the first climb the start was furious! I settled in 3rd behind Guerra and Macej. Soon I realized I had too much tire pressure, not enough tread, and I didn't have a clue where I was going in the singletrack. It's tight and there are lots of blind corners. I was gapped, but thought they were just around the next corner. Mike P was on my wheel and asked to get by...I thought - great a local who can bridge me up in the singletrack. But instead I was dropped again. When I came out to the first climb the leaders where easily over a minute up on me and I realized oops.....I better get going. I was climbing really strong and making time, but couldn't get into the rhythm of the snakey singetrack to save my life. Somewhere in the middle of the 3rd lap I caught Mike, crashed, caught him again, he crashed, got a stick in my der. stopped, caught him again and finally dropped him to move into 2nd place. Guerra was still :45 seconds up. The efforts had to be huge on the climbs which ended up hurting me on the last lap. After the final singletrack I put it into damage control mode to preserve my 2nd place. Congrat's to Guerra on a hard earned first WORS W. Andrea finished up 7th. I was pretty blown Sunday night, but spent monday paddling up the Sheboygan River w/ my dad in the kayak's. It works for Adam Craig right? Next up O2S. Until then....

more

Two days later and I'm still hurting....why? I think I kicked my own a$$ out there! So I'm taking an extra rest day before tomorrow's Lake Front Road Race in MKE.

Even Andrea was putting the hurt on me towards the end!

For some good tech talk check out this one.... www.mtbracenews.com

Cross Training

No I haven't started running yet for cross season. Yes I am getting ready for another run at some top ten UCI races. Yes I still have two bikes from last year for sale. No it's not snowing in Sheboygan in July....although I wouldn't be surprised.

If your interested in a 58cm cross bike with brand new Ultegra let me know....I have two of them at very reasonable prices. brimatter@hotmail.com

The cross training went down earlier today at the Sunburst Showdown. Last years race times were 1:24 so I figured it would be a good opp to see how hard I can go for an hour. I went pretty darn hard! After a half a lap I was solo.....kept the gas on and finished the first 3 laps in 56 minutes. It hurt....I cruised the next two laps to get another WORS win. I am pretty happy with my training and looking forward to the next block. There was a ton of Superfans cheering for me out on the course which was awesome and the #1 Superfan of the day even hooked Andrea and I up with some post race Italian Sausages! Andrea was 5th with a few crashes.

News

I'm on a rest week with one more big training block before O2S. I always like to do one workout during a rest week and with the boss on vacation I have been working a lot. So I took the one opp I had to do the Wed Night Group Ride. It was pretty cool to see all the guys and get pushed a little without having to mentally use any energy. Even more cool was that we did the old Tues night route! I did my first workout ever with power the other day too.......20 minute power session = 345 watts???? Not sure what it means and really don't care! There is so much more to mountain biking and cross than power and that's why I love racing those two disciplines!
Scored some new grips for the Fuel for this weekends Showdown.

The Fam

A little family time goes a long way!

SheVegas

Just found it today!!!

stuff

Tried some road racing. Got in a break in the beginning. Was 3rd wheel in the train at the end. Finished in the middle. Friday in Greenbush was about the same. Spent the weekend in E.R. relaxing w/ Andrea on her b-day. Did some training, now ready for the real racing to begin!!!! Unfor

tunately not me this weekend. So I'll have to stick the the fantasy stuff! E-mail me - $5 gets you in! brian@sheboyganbicycle.com

ps - I wore one white glove in honor of MJ

Wors Cup

Well the legs are hurting (a lot) today, but it was worth every minute of it.....So far the WORS racing has been amazing. Three races, three battles, and three really good courses. Don and staff have been killing it and a huge thanks to him to allow the midwests best go at it every other weekend. Speaking of good weekends...check this out.

Saturday morning Andrea and I drove the 2 hours west to Mt. Morris ready for another day in the saddle. Don yelled go and I was happy with my jump off of the line.

I then fell asleep through the next 5 minutes of the race as Ted H was riding away. It took a quick spill in the rocks to wake me up....panic mode was not what I wanted though as my rear suspension lockout cable and housing was dangling in the wind. I reached down on the grassy climb after the lake and luckily got the housing back in the stop as TJ went by me. TJ took over pace making and at the midpoin of the race it was down to 4. Jesse, Tristan, and I seemed pretty content to let TJ set the tempo as the heat increased. Starting the last lap Tristan went and got a gap...it slowly built. At the top of the climb the heat finally got to me and the legs started cramping....I couldn't go any more as I watched Jesse go around me. I recovered a little towards the end, but it was too late. 4th place. Andrea had problems with her road shoes and pedals. Hopefully her MTB shoes show this week.

After the race we cruised to Wautoma in search of a pool, pizza, and a place to sleep. We only found the pizza, and were soon headed back towards Sheboygan. It hurt to wake-up Sunday morning at 6am to drive back to the race....but there was some more racing fun to be had!

A little 'BA Summer of 69' got the blood flowing at around 7:30am on the solo drive back to Mt. Morris. Andrea decided to stay home and hang with dad for fathers day.

The racing started on foot this time around. I warned the guys I had trained earlier in the year, but it didn't work as I was 3rd or 4th to the bike. Took the first corner in 3rd behind TJ and Tristan. Played the waiting game as Tristan passed TJ on the descent and others behind crashed trying risky passes. Then I attacked on the 1 slight climb and took the lead into the final singletrack for the win.

3 hours later and a motivational phone call to Simonson had us lined up again for the short track. Short being the key word. With a mcuh shorter lap and no climb I opted for the Top Fuel for the 3rd race out of 3. I had another good jump off the start line followed by some tempo to keep Furios Fred from getting too big of a first lap gap.

The action was tight as there was really only 30 seconds of pedaling per lap. It was hard to get any significant gap. I stayed calm and kept the gaps within reason. With 2 to go I bridged up to Chris and went by him.....he jumped onto my wheel, but never had the gas to come around me. I hung on for the second win!

Tristan and I weren't quite sure who won the overall, but I guess a 1st, 1st, and 4th, is 3 points better than a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In the end I won $5 more than Tristan and then he stole my last piece of pizza so we were even on the weekend. I still think he should name his baby Morris or Morrissa in honor of his last WORS Win before becoming a dad.

Holy Canoli

I smashed myself this past weekend.......I wanted to update the blog sooner, but it took 3 days to recover! It took a lot on this stuff to make things better! Getting ready for the big Subaru Cup this weekend. Then some TofADairyland road races! I can't beleive summer has finally arrived.

Here is a sweet pic of my best friend Andy and his new baby!

Oh yeah....Holy Canoli was my all time favorite Ben & Jerry's flavor. It really put me on the map of professional cycling!

Back 2 Back

I guess Marko doesn't look like Crosby after all....the mustache definately helped though. I think this is the first time I have ever won 2 Wors races in a row. I hope the Wings can go back to back against the Pen's on the 9th!

It all started early Sunday morning...the rain was pouring and both Andrea and I needed an extra cup of joe to get going. The motivation was low and the legs were still a little sore to the touch from Wed and Thursdays training. I knew the pain would disappear as soon as Don yelled Go.

I had a great jump off the line and took the field through the first corners. Jesse soon took over...and inflicted the first bit of pain for the day. I wasn't prepared for such a long technical climb, nor did I think the trail would be so greasy in some spots. Jesse and Marko had a sizeable gap after the first singletrack as Mr. Tree was rippin' popplers out of the earth. I thought it was game over right off the bat......but I managed to rip the next singletrack and closed the gap. Soon after Eppen did the same and after a Lap there was 4.

Starting Lap 2 Jesse was still in command and Eppen lost contact. Jesse asked if we had done this section before and I reminded him we had done it for 24 hours. Once again we were down to the original 3!

Lap 3 Marko took over and Jesse dropped in on my wheel. I felt like Jesse was studying my every move like a chess match setting up for a last lap pain session! Marko seemed to be riding a very comfortable pace and Eppen started clawing his way back. I wasn't really interested in having another riding partner so on the next dirt road section I launched my first attack. The brothers responded! I recovered. Then I launched another. They responded I recoverd. I launched another starting Lap 4, but couldn't shake either of them.

I smiled to myself wondering if I was hurting them or just myself. I tried one more before the first climb, again to no avail. Then I pushed it pretty good up the climb and through the first singletrack. As we approached Ho Chi Minh Jesse was losing air in his front tire and was losing contact. Marko seemed slighlty overgeared and as we climbed it was getting more and more quiet. I shot out of the single track with a 5 second gap and instantly attacked again.

I felt pretty confident I had enough in the tank to hold on for the win and finished with close to a minute over Marko. The legs were good, but the win came with much more pain than the previous weekend.

Andrea once again had a good race with much tougher competition. Her times were much closer to Abby and Holly. She finished 7th with quite a few good crashes. She was pretty amped up at the finish after getting crashed by a comp racer.

I am reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell right now called Outliers......it's pretty good and highly recommended. It reminds me of how many opportunties I have had to make it to where I am now. So thanks to all my sponsors, Gear Grinder, Trek, Hyundai, Oakley, Crank Bros, Bell Helmets, and thanks to all my Family and Friends who have supported me.

Expectations

With only expectations of having fun on the weekend...I accomplished my goal!

It started with a short day of work Fri and a trip up to Eagle River and the in-laws cabin! I love that place as it is so relaxing even with monster porcupines trying to eat through the exterior walls.

Saturday was the 5th ride on the new Fuel on the Hidden Lakes trails gettin' 'er dialed in for my first WORS race of the season. Saturday night was some delicious pasta with wild morels. Mmmmm

Sunday morning was some fishin' for muskies and some pancakes. Then it was race time!

I really had no idea of what to expect from the group of guys....they had all been racing 100 milers, norba's, and on the road. I hadn't lined up for the start of a race since Feb and this was only my 6th ride on the new Fuel. Luckily the thing is like a rocket ship lazy boy.

I followed Jesse on Lap 1 and felt dialed in with the course right away. The old 24-9 team was back at it again off the front of the WORS race. I thought for sure I was going to be done for on the second lap, but I was able to match what felt like a strong surge towards the end of the lap. Startinf lap 3 the camelbak went dry and I thought for sure I was done, but made it 10 minutes into the singletrack and Marko flatted. Instantly I liked my odds a little better. The rain started and I felt the pace slow a hint on the corners, feeling even better. Needed to race smart though as I was still out of water and the dixie cups weren't cutting it...

Started to feel the muscles twinging, but needed to make it through one last section on singletrack and I was set to sprint Jesse for the win.

A great early season win to boost the confidence and confirm training is heading in the right direction.

Andrea also had an awesome race finishing 3rd in the pro womens field. She made a last minute decision to rock her road shoes and speedplays with the proper height adjustments that paid off with a less sore back. Hopefully the new MTB shoes from Dr. Bill in Tucson show up soon.

Finished up the weekend Sunday night back at the cabin with some ORV'S frozen pizza, a sweet massage from my new live in SIL massage therapist, and a Game 2 Wings win. Go WINGS