FT. Collins - new BELGIUM!

Like I said in my last update. Belgium, It's ON!
















I had a little taste of some true cross weather and mud this past weekend in Ft. Collins, but the air was a little thinner. I did manage to finally crack the top 10 on Sunday and I'm sitting 12th in the USGP points, just 3 points away from a top 10 in the series!
















Sheboygan was represented in full force!

It's a really quick turn around before I leave tomorrow morning. So I'll leave you with a couple photos and hopefully another update from Athens OH in a few days.

I have put up a donation link below for those who want to help. This year I'll be staying with Mark Lalonde. We are renting our own guest house, renting a car, hiring a mecahnic, and trying to figure things out on our own! It's a bit more challenging than EuroCrossCamp, but its going to be pretty cool to stay at the Hof Ter Kammen a kilometer from the Koppenburg in the heart of Flanders!

Another huge thanks to Bruce Leblanc from the Flying Rhinos cycling club in MI for donating another set of frequent flyer miles to get me over to Belgium.

and so it begins

The next 2 months will be a whirlwind...and it's already started! Iceman was an amazing weekend. Thanks to everyone who sent e-mails, facebook messages, and congratulations my way.

Sunday was a long drive home from Traverse City. We made it just in time to leave our muddy clothes in a heap on the basement floor and then head over to the Hildebrands for a Packers ass whooping over the Cowboys! Monday was spent cleaning up the mess from the weekend and swapping bike parts from the Elite 9.9 back to the Top Fuel frame. Tuesday I was able to push through 2 hours of pain on the bike and then Wednesday I got in a solid cross practice and started packing for Ft. Collins. It was a brutal 16-18 hour drive in the Gear Grinder team van. We made it to DIA just in time to pick up Tristan from the airport and and head up to check out the course. More snow, mud, and cooler temps are in store for the weekend.

The rest of the season:

On the drive up I booked my tickets for my 3rd Euro CX campaign. This time I'm flying solo. No Eurocross Camp. I'm just looking for a little bit of a different experience this time around. Mark Lalonde will be joining me and hopefully Andrea and Elicia will be there also for moral support. I have reserved a house in Oudenaarde about 1km from the base of the famous Koppenburg climb in eastern Belgium! More to come on the Belgium trip...

Before that I have to race 2 times this weekend. Drive home Sunday and Monday. Unpack and repack on Tuesday. Drive to Athens OH on Wednesday. Drive to North Carolina on Friday. Race 2 times and back to Athens on Monday. Thanksgiving on Tuesday. Back to Sheboygan on Wednesday. Thanksgiving on Thursday. Jingle Cross for three races on Fri, Sat, Sun. Portalnd the next weekend for the USGP finals with an extended stay for the week and then out to Bend the following weekend for US Nationals. Fly home from Bend on Monday unpack and repack on Tuesday and fly to Belgium on Wednesday. Race the Scheldecross on Thursday in Antwerpen and then probably proceed to get my ass handed to me, because I can't see straight, for another 15 days in Euroland! I can't wait! This is what I trained for all season long!

THE TRIPLE TRIPLE !!!

I figured if I made up the Triple Crown I'd let my dad make up the TRIPLE TRIPLE. 3 times Ore to Shore winner. 3 times Chequamegon winner and now 3 times Iceman Champion!!!

First off I have to thank my family. Andrea, Mom, Dad, the Hildebrands.....without a support group like that I'm not sure I could do it....

The weekend started like most...loading up the Hyundai Touring and pulling out of the driveway with bikes on top and the back loaded down. Andrea and I decided to leave Sheboygan a day earlier this year to spend a little time in TC...check out some wineries and not be quite so rushe

d the day before the race. I pre-road the course from Williamsburg Rd (12 miles to go) on Friday afternoon in a blizzard. Luckily Cole House was out there also and we got to practice drafting a little, sliding the bikes in the snow, we played around with our tire pressure, and most importantly dialed in the finish.

Going back to Michigan and the Iceman isn't only about racing for me....its also about going back to the roots. I grew up racing bikes in Michigan and tons of superfans were out there cheering for me.....Each year we go out to dinner with our closest bike racing friends from MI and we did the same thing Thursday and Friday evening. Carbo loading and lots of old school stories....even this one came up a few times from Iceman 1999!

The race: I could get lengthy about this one...but I think the camera work says it all. Tristan and I were smart. The big dogs were watching each other and the locals came home with the prize money! The best part of the race??? Attacking Wells, JHK, Schultz and JB? Winning my 3rd Iceman to match Scotty Q's record? Winning a true Iceman with mud and snow? Seeing Andrea at the finish? Getting tackled by Ton's of Fun during a Cycling Dirt Post Race Interview? Who knows....but it was an awesome weekend!

The bike: Trek Elite 9.9 SSL a last minute switch from the Top Fuel and it was worth it....for sure. I received a new frame in the mail on Tuesday. I ripped apart the Top Fuel as fast as possible only to realize the 2011 Treks have a tapered 1.5" headtube. Ooops its not going to work...stress...what can I do. Luckily Cane Creek makes an adapter and Wednesday it arrived. I finished building the bike by 3:00pm and was on the phone with Tristan heading out to Greenbush 10 minutes later to shake it down and get in my last set of intervals. Home after dark to clean the bike and start packing to leave. Check out the sweet rear brake line routing...when in doubt zip ties, electrical tape, and more electrical tape!

The party: It was on: Bells Beer Sunset on the season. Andrea and I finally left the race course venue at about 6:30pm after Dad took a shuttle to go find his car. Hopefully the defending champ gets a parking pass next year! We had a quiet dinner with Andrea's Aunt and Uncle and the Schouten's in the Grand Traverse Hotel. After dinner we hit the Power Wash at about 10:00pm to clean the bikes. 11:00pm - party time. No party bus this year, but it was still pretty sweet once again mixing it up with all the Pro's.

The aftermath: As tradition goes we met up with everyone at the Omelette Shoppe for breakfast Sunday morning. A standing ovation, a free breakfast, autographing papers. It was pretty cool. Driving out of town people were honking there horns and waving copies of the Record Eagle out the window!

Gotta Love It!

Again thanks to everyone who helped along the way. Rob Boldt for some cold and windy motor pacing sessions. Elicia for a post motor pacing session massage... THE Iceman, cyclingdirt.org, Gear Grinder, Trek, Hyundai.....and many many more.

Halloween FUN

Legs really didn't feel good all week. Especially on Thursday when I was doing some motor pacing. Thursday night I signed up for a massage in exchange for a dirty bike cleaning. I think it helped. Fridays main goal was to drink as much water as possible and ride my mountain bike for 30 minutes. Yes I still have a mtn bike(and I'm going to race it next weekend)! Mission must have been accomplished because I felt half way descent in the race. I made the decision to practice some bike swaps while dressed up as Rick 'Wild Thing' Vaughn. It was going pretty good until things got a little stretched out half way through the race. I had to work pretty hard to close a 10-20 second gap to Marko. I made contact with 2 to go, recovered for a lap and then made my move with 1/2 lap to go. I didn't have much left in the tank. It came down to an uphill sprint into a headwind....I was at the front. Marko jumped I responded, but not quite fast enough. Can't wait to do it again tomorrow!

Can anyone guess which pumpkin is mine??

USGP - KY

Another weekend in the books! USGP Louisville. 12th place on Saturday and 11th on Sunday. Best part of the weekend was the Packers win on the radio dricing home through Chicago! Second best part of the weekend was listening to Frattini yell across the parking lot, "TREESTON TREESTON I SORRY" Then he touched his heart! Frattini crashed after attacking Wells with a 1/4 lap to go and took Tristan out. You can check out the post race interview here....

Thanks to all the midwesterners who cheered and helped out in the pits.

UCI3 #3

Bio Wheels day 3 - First off, thanks to Mitch at Bio-Wheels who took a huge amount of time to put on 3 days of racing from 8:00 am - 5:00pm each day. If you didn't make it to this even this year, you gotta check it out next year.

Day 3 was another really solid race. I had a great start and felt really comfortable on the bike following Powers on the prologue lap. The first lap was pretty comfortable too, but starting the second lap I took a bad line through the uphill sand pit and got gapped off. I had enough to make it back to Wicks and Wells, but not enough to go back up to Kabush or Jones. The video shows it perfect. I recovered in the second group good enough to finish up 5th place. My best result ever at a C1 event.

I know I am strong enough to ride with the lead group, but I really need to figure out how to get past that 10 minute mark.

The drive home wasn't too bad. Steak'N'Shake french fries and a strawberry malt, Coke, Sour Skittles, and a Butterfinger. We arrived a little after 12:00 and was in bed by 1:00.

Didn't even have to clean the bikes today. Just a little dusty.

Thanks again to GearGrinder for the use of the team van for the weekend....it made it so much easier. Thanks to Blue and Easton, the bikes worked great all weekend.

UCI3 #2

Day two actually started with a rough end to day one. So I got some blisters on my hands.....yea it hurts but no big deal right. So its 10:00pm I'm tired from racing and waking at 4:00am. I'm ready for bed. I think how about a band aid on my blister before bed. It burns. Bad. My feet start itching. I've got to get this stuff off my hands. I go to the bathroom wash my hands, I'm hot, rinse my face with cold water and go to lay down. My heart rate quickly goes from 50 to 120 laying there. My asshole starts itching, my legs start itching, my hands and lips start swelling. I tell Tristan and Bill somethings wrong. They ask whats up and realize I'm slurring my speech and making no sense. I barely ask them to call the ambulance. I ask Tristan for a cold wash cloth for my forehead. He brings it back on two seconds later I say I'm going to piss my pants. I stand up and feel like I'm going to vomit. I crawl to the bathroom on my hands and knees and am ready to barf, but before I can I almost shit my pants. I drop the pants and everything all comes out at once. The emt's show and think we are huffing mastik tubular glue and drinking mineral spirits. They want me to get in the ambulance, but no way thats like $500 and I only won $120 for 5th place earlier in the day. Tristan and Bill drive me to the ER where we wasted 2 hours for really clear answers and a bit of benadryl. There goes $750 to the hospital. Oh well at least I didn't die, because for a while when my ear were ringing and my lips were swelling I was just waiting for my throat to start to swell.

After a late night and some good lack of sleep the motivation wasn't too high to start the race. More than anything I just wanted to be able to hold onto the handlebars. I was afraid of anything that I did the day before, drink mix? recovery drink? what caused that freak out? dinenr? who knows? Jessica from My Wife Inc came along with some "Vag Spray" to spray on my hands. I thought I better man up and race my bike. I was ready and felt halfway decent in the warm up. Then I skipped my pedal on the start line and filed of the pavement in 17th place. Ooops. It pretty much was game over from there. I slowly bridged up to Wicks with Troy 5 seconds up and the group another 5 seconds. Somewhere Troy bridged and Wicks and I didn't. I rode around with Barry for the first half of the race and then he disappeared. I finished it up solo in 8th. Hopefully a good nights sleep and good legs tomorrow.

UCI3 #1

It was a good day, a long day, but a good day. It started with a 3:45am wake-up and a long drive in the GearGrinder van from Sheboygan to Covington KY. Bill Street Player, Tristan and I shared the driving, so it wasn't so bad.

The race was exact opposite of last year. Dry, dusty, and bumpy. I had a solid start in the front row and filed into the course in about 8th place. I moved up to 6th place and was following Chris Jones for 2 laps. He was struggling a little and I gapped him on the triple barrier ride/run. I was 5th 10-15 seconds behind Kabush for the next 45 minutes. With 2 more days of racing to go I didn't really want to drill it to catch him. The last 15 minutes I started to feel the pain in my hands. With 3 laps to go I had to stop racing because the blisters were so bad. I couldn't hold the bars. My yellow bar tape had red blood stains on the tops and the drops. I faked it as good as possible and finished 5th. Pretty happy, just hoping the hands heal up quick.

Thanks to the cxfestival.com for putting on a great race. Thanks to GearGrinder fo the team van. We're riding in style! Check out www.podiuminsight.com for more great pictures.

The Domes

Ouch...it was a 3:00am wake-up call this morning. Andrea and Elicia are off to California for a friends wedding. I was the chauffeur. I'm tired, but I'm also a bachelor for a week so there will be plenty of couch time today watching football and taking naps! First I better go do a workout....or maybe a nap first...ive got all day to decide!

Yesterday was the first local cross race I have done in a few years. It was perfect timing and the guys/wives of MWICROSS put on an awesome event. The race was held at the Milwaukee Domes. There were superfans, there was rain, sand, barriers, and even cupcakes! Everything you could ask for on a saturday afternoon.
The race started with the top 4 guys overshooting the first corner. Carbon wheels don't stop fast in the rain. The next corner further down in the field it looked like a bike race on a slip and slide course. Mark quickly went to the front to stay out of trouble and I followed. Mark pulled the first 2 laps and then I took over. My legs felt similiar to the day of Cheq. Strong, but no snap and cold. I pulled for a lap and a half before Mark took over again. This time I felt really comfortable following him. A lap later I was at the fron again and went pretty good up the steep climb in the course. A gap opened, I went hard and gained 10 seconds advantage. The next 2.5 laps I maintained the gap and took home my first cross victory of the season.

Next up is the UCI3 in Cincinnati. The competition is stacked this year. The race courses are rumored to be improved, the payout is top notch and equal to men and women. Register today and I'll see you there.

Fall Fun & Home Improvement Time

Lots has been going on after the USGP last weekend. First off all we chopped down a huge, half dead, maple tree in our front yard that was hangin half over the house. It was pretty crazy watching the guy 100ft up in the air swinging around on ropes like Tarzan with the entire house shaking as piece by piece of the tree hit the ground.

After the tree was down it was up to me to stack the wood and clean up the mess. Each of the logs had to weigh close to 80 lbs and my biceps are still burning as a I type. And yes that stack of wood is 4ft deep by 6ft tall by 8ft wide w. just a few smaller logs in front.

A couple hard training rides thrown into the mix. Plus an awesome Wednesday night Trek Mountain Co-Op group ride to preview the WORS race course. The ride was awesome with about 30-35 people in attendance. The Papa Johns pizza and home made brew afterwards topped off a perfect fall bike ride. Thanks Trek.

Thursday morning I decided I needed to head out for a longer ride to get better aquanted with my new Norcross. It was the best day of the year for riding. The leaves were changing colors, the temps were perfect, and the legs felt great.

Now I'm off the Nyhoff Custom Gutter & Aluminum in Oostburg to check out new vinyl siding for the house! Gotta love it...

USGP

As Tristan likes to say, "Your only as fast as your last race."

I wasn't super motivated to do a post race USGP blog update because I was a little disappointed with Sundays result and according the T's theory I was still #1 in the blogosphere with my Chequamegon update!

Day one at the USGP. I wasn't sure

what to expect. I hadn't done a cross race in 9 months. I had only been over a home made rope barrier during one day of training. I had only been on the new Norcross SL a handful of times.

I opted for a conservative star

t. I think at the end of lap one I was near 30th position. I started feeling good a

nd easily moved through the field. Midway through the race I had just bridged a huge gap to Barry Wicks. Unfortunately there was not a sole in site when I caught Barry. I was pretty gassed by the time I made con

tact. In the last half of the race Barry and I caught Ryan Knapp. I attacked with 2 to go trying to reel in Troy who was sitting 10th. I ran out of pop and finished 13th last in our group, but in the UCI points.

I was the luckiest cross racer of the weekend after the race when I rolled back to Elicia's house about 4 miles away from the course. Andrea made me an awesome dinner and Elicia hooked me up with a little back rub! I was ready for day 2.

Day 2 started a little early w/ some SuperFan action watching some friends, Bruce & Wally, Elicia, and Mike kill it in their respective races. A little lunch and next thing you know I was on the start line again.

I started much better and was in the mix over the barriers on lap

1. A half lap later the race went bad. Luke K missed a pedal at the top of the run just ahead of me and a 4 second gap opened. 12 guys were up the road and I chased for an entire lap with the gap at 4 seconds. Luke K was winning the U-23 race and had no interest in helping chase the big boys. Ryan Knapp was there, but not strong enough on day 2 to help. The elastic snapped. I was in no mans land and pretty dissapointed. A couple laps later solo I had to sit up and wait for the next big group to catch. Once again it was Barry bridging up with Luke Keogh & Ryan Knapp, Van Nuffel and McGrath. As soon as they caught I went hard again only to put 20 feet on the group. I was feeling strong, but I missed the race on lap 1. With one to go I attacked and shattered our group. At the end only Sean was able to sit on my wheel and he got me on the last run up. 14th place

All in all a good weekend of racing, but I know I have more in me. The bikes were awesome and with a little fine tuning of seat position & bar position I should be ready to go for the UCI3 in 2 weeks. Thanks to all who helped in the pits, all who cheered, and all who took photos. It's going to be a good season!

Monday morning we dropped a big tree in our front yard....it was almost as intense as the GP!

This morning I stacked 80 lb tree logs. My biceps hurt!

Thanks for reading and huge props to Colt from WWW.CYCLINGDIRT.ORG for making it real!

Fat Tire Repeat

At the end of last week I thought for sure I was going to ride all mtb season long with a #1 plate and not defend any of my titles from last year. Something clicked mid week though. Some encouraging e-mails, a solid workout, and the leaves changing colors made me remember what Chequamegon is all about!

We pulled out of the driveway early Friday morning. It was a smooth drive up. Stopped in Phillips for our annual Subway lunch w/ the Ttown Flyers. Pulled into Telemark Lodge around 3:00 ready for a re-ride. Everything was good, legs good, bike good, the sun started peaking out. Then with 5 miles to go in the pre-ride I put a really good 1" slice in my rear tire. I fixed the flat in record time, but then blew out the tube because I was an amatuer and didn't check my tire. I thought I was going to lose all my blood from the mosquitos, I thought I was going to have to walk 5 miles, I thought my race was over...Tristan or Bill didn't have air and T's spares tube had a hole in it....also amatuers! Luckily a fellow rider stopped with some assistance and my Clif Bar wrapper helped the slice stay closed tand I nursed the tire back to the finish line.

Demo Ken was the next hero of the day when he suggested the rugged Bontrager XR2 TLR for a repalcement tire. It reminded me of an old school Tioga Farmer John, but it was going to have to do the job. The Ttown Flyer crew pulled through with some Stans and a CO2 to help the tire get set up tubeless. It was a little stressful to say the least with white crap pouring out of your untested tire the night before the biggest mtb race in WI. We left Telemark 3.5 hours later with full doubts in my head and a dirty bike. Andrea and I went for dinner w/ Sager and Tristan...little did we know that everyone at the dinner table was going to kill it the next day! At 10pm I pulled out of the car wash and headed for bed.

The morning arrived and it was brisk. Not quite as cold as a few years ago when there was a full frost, but it was cold. I still had white stuff coming out of my wheels. I was afraid to let air out of the tires. I rolled down Hwy 77 with a tailwind for my warm up thinking I feel OK. Went through Rosies field thinking I need to let air out of the tires....I did. Back on the road towards the start with Dirk Rettig, headwind, legs cold and not feeling good.

The start was standard and seemed a little safer to me than in years past. I was at the front and was the first guy off the pavement in to Rosies field(not counting the guy on the cross bike and Mike Anderson who drafted the ATV half way down Hwy 77). I kept it cool and let Doug, Tilford and Tristan roll by and settled in. I was warm for about two seconds and pushed down the arm warmers and un zipped the jersey. Then the pace settled...the lead group was 20 strong and nobody was going anywhere. Why are my legs so cold? Mike Anderson was strong, Tilford was strong, Tristan was strong, Doug was up there, Sager was there. I attacked multiple times to see if anyone would come with me, but really was just trying to warm up my legs.

At hwy OO the group was a little smaller, Tilford had flatted and my legs were still cold. Doug drilled it for a while on his 26" fully suspended bike...just like old times....we dropped a few more riders. Then it went down. Mike Andersone was at the front. He must have pre-rode the whole course because at the biggest puddle he found a sweet line around in some singletrack to the right, then another to the left. I peaked over my right shoulder in the first singletrack and I saw Doug going through the puddle. His front tire was out of sight, the wave from the ATV almost covered his bars, he was skateboarding his bike knee deep in the water, while Mike, Tristan, Sager, and I were riding away.

We came out onto the long dirt road section w/ a gap and instantly started rotating. We were gone and one of use was not going to make the podium???

As we approached the Fire Tower all I could think about was why are my legs so cold? I was feeling good, but Sager was feeling better. He crushed it up the climb as my legs started to twinge. He went over the top 5 seconds ahead of Tristan and I was another 5 seconds back. Mike was about 10 behind me....I could tell he was hurting. It all came together on the descent. My legs were cold....heading towards the last section of the Birkie I tried to take a pull to warm up the legs, but they started cramping. I was thinking to myself I just need to out suffer Mike and get 3rd. Sager attacked and my legs cramped. I pushed through the first part of the climb where I had attacked last year and followed Tristans wheel. Sager was riding away with the win. Tristan was pulling me up the Birkie, but it seemed he could only climb as fast as I could. We started trading pulls and worked together the next 6 miles to catch Sager with 2 miles to go.

Tristan went to the front I followed into second postion thinking - One of us has to win -If Tristan goes at least Sager will have to go around me- Tristan made his move, it was not enough, but it did hurt Sager and right then I knew I was going to win. One more climb and I attacked and pedaled over the top. 10 second gap instantlly. I was seeing stars and my vision was horrible, the legs were cold but not cramping. I knew I had just won my 3rd Fat Tire and it was the first time I had enough of a gap to cross the finish line with my hands in the air.

The best part of the day was after the podium presentation when I saw Andrea cross the finish line. I was so excited to see her! She had an awesome race...she thought for sure she had just finish in 10th place. Her best finish ever. She was so excited she almost had an asthma attack(actaully she did have a little asthma attack and I had to repeatedly tell her to calm down). She ended up 11th(a little bummer than she wasn't top 10), but it was by far her best Chequamegon ever. She was less than 40 seconds away from 8th place. As her mechanic I was happy her bike worked....you can ask SKJ, as a husband/mechanic its not fun when your wifes bike doesn't work.

After the race we cleaned up had some burgers and hung at the Muskie Museum w/ the Schoutens.

Then it was party time, but that's a different story.

A huge thanks to everyone who helped out with my flat tire(let me know if I owe you tubes or C02'S???) on Friday, who cheered, who sent me messages on facebook, and to Rachael my team mate who gave up her warm long sleeve jersey so I could look good on the podium! Thanks to Gear Grinder and Trek for all the help during all 3 Chequamegon Championships!

Shreddin'

Treadfest has come and gone....it was a strange race for me. I had a horrible ride on Saturday for a warm up. I figured I better warm up extra good on Sunday morning before the race, but again I felt horrible. Uh oh - 5 minutes into the race the leaders were gone. The top ten was out of sight, but then something clicked.

I ripped a corner. I nailed a line. The Top Fuel started performing like the trail was nobodies business. I was racing on sweet trails. I started passing guys, and the faster I rode the smoother I felt. I caught the chase group of Eppen, McCartney, and Adv. 212. 3/4 of the way through the 1st lap. I was back in the game.

We started lap 2 and it was me and McCartney. He killed it up the climb and gapped me a little at the very top, but I knew I would catch him in the singletrack. I did and I followed him for a 1/4 lap. It was like doing intervals....not fun ones. He would struggle in the singletrack, but then crush it like it was his last race ever when he got out into the open. I finally passed him and one corner later he was gone. Each lap I put about 30 seconds on him and he would have no problem closing that gap on the

start climb!

He was strong, but his skills were rough. I love it when you can beat someone in a race because your skills are better than theirs! I heard he crashed on the last lap rock section and lost about 1/2 of each of his 4 front teeth????

I finished about 2 minutes down on Tristan, but had to have lost at least half of that in the first lap when I was still sleeping. The mental motivation was lacking, but with Chequamegon this weekend it back. I had a killer workout yesterday. The bike got a few upgrades and is ready to rock. Tomorrow morning we load up the Hyundai and head north! I wonder if the leaves are changing colors yet? I also wonder what Doug's thinking? How did he win by 8 minutes in 03? It was also 03 that Tristan last won a triple crown event? I'm pumped!

After Chequamegon, its full on CX season with only one mtb race left this year...Iceman. The cross bikes are dialed. I have ridden both of them....the mud tires and glued and mounted. The dry tires are glued and will be mounted by Sunday evening. Just got the last pieces of the puzzle today. Some new Bontrager Evoke saddles. Hats off to Bontrager for making some huge improvements in the saddle department. Andrea loves her new Affinity RXL WSD!

ps. Testing out some new J-Tree Embrocation and healing cream!!! Stay Tuned

...and it's Steelers colors!

CROSS SEASON IS HERE

There's talk all over the net about cross. Building bikes, gluing tires, Wednesday cross practices, and even races. The buzz about cross is still growing louder and the season seems to be getting longer each year!

I'm doing the same. Aquasealin', Gluin', Buildin', waiting for the UPS truck to come around the corner in his big brown truck for the final pieces of the puzzle! The NORCROSS SL framesets arrived yesterday along with all my wheels from EASTON. The bikes are superlight! The wheels are just as sweet as last year! It was a late night in the shop last night cuttin' steerer tubes and pressing BB30 adapters. Good thing the Hyundai Elantra Touring has a ton of cargo room to bring all the stuff home!

Then the fun switched to my basement. I slapped on the new Shimano components, the PRO bar, stem, and post, along with the TRP's. I spent some time in the basement and didn't see any bats! Being in the basement preparing for cross made me think of Matt Kelly training for worlds in his basement. Don't think I could ride in my basement though...ceilings too low. Hoping to have at least one of the bikes ready to ride for an easy commute to work tomorrow!

Can't wait to get muddy! First chance is in Madison at the USGP. Second chance and more likely to get muddy is at the UCI3 in Cincinnati. Its worth the drive. 3 races, beer tents, superfans, and the best bbq ribs in the world!

Coffee Classic

It was another scorcher at Alterrra....it seems every year at this place is rained out then re- scheduled for the hottest day of the year. The sun bakes you on the climbs and then you get lost in the maze of never ending singletrack...unless you use the force.

I used the force alright, but it was only enough to propel me to the top of the course on the prologue lap for the $100 King of the Mountain. As soon as I got into the first singletrack my 15 +/- second gap disappeared. We lapped through on the prologue lap 15 minutes into the race.

The three of us(D.B. and N.G.) headed out into the start of the 2nd lap together. I was fine until the gap opened to 1 second. 2 seconds...3 seconds...I better close that gap....oops too fast into that corner and too big of a gear to go 364 degrees around that tree then up a hill...oops 10 second gap can't see them anymore...try harder....bomb more corners....35 seconds by the end of the singletrack and race is over.

Starting the 3rd lap Mike Phillips caught me and almost did the same thing to me in the singletrack...I was suffering and paying for a million small mistakes. We came out of the never ending singletrack and I suffered up the clim, but recovered as Mike was have shifting/chain problems up the steepest part of the climb. He flicked me through on the flat section and I told him I was hurting too...I went really slow through the upper portion of singletrack, but then started to feel better riding my own pace(slow).

Starting the climb on the fourth lap I had a small gap over Mike, so I stood up and went...I didn't take much and he was gone. I rode horrible once again through the singletrack by myself, but felt pretty good finishing the race on the last two climbs.

Cross bike arriving and built by the end of the week! No more road bike! Vegas or no Vegas??

This weekend is MTB WORLDS in Mte. Ste. Anne! I went to Mte. Ste. Anne back in 1998 for Worlds. I was a student at Washtenaw Community College along with training partner Skyler Reeves. I ran into him after one of my classes the day before the races and said hey what do you think. After class we loaded up the car and a tarp and headed to Canada. I remember arriving late at night with no place to stay and we ended up crashing under our tarp on a helicopter landing pad. The next morning we ran into Klement Capliar who was out chanterelle mushroom hunting. He let us crash his place, fed us some amazing fresh wild mushroom soup and then later that year invited us to Tucson where it all started for real. We watched the race and cheered on the doped up Euros to victory. It's funny now to look back at MTB WORLD'S......it makes you think...

The countdown's on

CX season is quickly approaching! New sponsorhsip lined up with Shimano & TRP!

Tires ordered and being shipped!

Dura Ace components arrived!

Euro X Mag's here!

Smell of glue in the basement! Blue Norcross SL's any day now!

Can't wait for some mud! I think I forgot how painful it really is....