So True...

Another Muddy Cohutta

Race report to come in the next few days, but again a challenging and fun NUE race weekend in Tennessee with my A212/ Specialized Mtb team! Pedal on...

Another White Weekend

Lately it's been all about the weather here in central Wisconsin. We were spoiled after last year with the high temps in March, but this year the long lasting winter isn't giving spring a chance. I remember bad weekends from past years, but never snow like we have with colder temps this far into April. I'm still waiting to ride my new mountain bike on dirt and with this weather, that might happen first on the pre-ride at the Cohutta 100 in less than two weeks. Over the last three weekends I've rode my birthday miles, had some big crashes playing on the ice and snow with my Fat Bike, broke my new road bike in at the wet Ripon Red Hawks Spring Classic, and have co-hosted two Heartland Bike Club Spring Classic rides. Today's was more of a snow classic than spring because of the rain, sleet, and 2 inches of snow that covered the roads quickly. My training seems good, but I'm still missing the early season bikers tan because of the multiple layers of biking clothing to stay warm and dry. Here's hoping that normal weather makes an appearance soon! Pedal on...

Still Playing in the Snow in April???

Another early morning adventure on the Fat Bike.  Explored the sun crusted snowmobile trails and a few random snow drifts before heading to work.  Lots of fun, but the sun and warm temps need to come soon...

Spring Yet?

This year March has been more like a normal winter here in Wisconsin.  Nothing like last year's 70-80 degree sun filled days to screw with this years mental calendar!  Even though I like Winter and all of my fat bike adventures, I'm tired of having to layer on the cycling clothing before every ride and the sloppy conditions when temps rise above freezing are annoying.  Please bring on the sun and warmer weather soon before this old guy becomes grumpier.  I would even be fine with someone flipping the Spring like weather switch on no later than April 1st if that makes my Nordic skiing friends happy.  Pedal on...

Fat Road Work...

Rode the Fat Bike today on some badly maintained gravel roads, over ice and though a good amount of water because of the weather. All is good tough with being outside cycling vs the dreaded basement on rollers or a trainer this time of the year. I had good company today for a large portion of the ride, hopefully Ben isn't worn-out tonight, sorry Sue... Spring can't come soon enough with the urge to ride my new bicycles building daily as I stare at my new mountain and road bike. Barry-Roubaix Killer Gravel road race is in less than two weeks and than the annual Adventure 212/Specialized Team pilgrimage to the NUE Cohutta 100 in Tennessee is in late April. Unfortunately, our weather forecast calls for 5-10 inches of snow starting this evening with the winter storm warning running through 1pm on Monday. Will spring like weather ever arrive? I hope so!!! Pedal on...

Sweaty Yeti Fat Bike Race

Had a great time at Levis Mound this past weekend racing fat bikes on the excellent course set up by Steve Meurett featuring groomed XC ski trail, single track, climbs, downhill switchbacks and lots of great people!   Placed 2nd overall in the 2 hr solo category with 9 fun laps in the snow.  It was a great test of my winter fitness level with only a few more weeks before my fat bike is replaced by my cross bike as the Barry-Roubaix weekend is quickly approaching.  Pedal on...

Bikes & More Snow

January came and went faster than usual this year. It started off right after the new year with a week away from training to get a bad spot of skin taken care of before it turned into something worse. The next weekend was a first for "Fat Bikes" in the central Wisconsin area when I led the Iola Nordic Invite races on my Pugsley while capturing the races on my seat post mounted GoPro camera. Lots of fun and hoping that it could lead to a future fat bike race at the Iola Winter Sports Club in the future. For the last half off the month it has been all about bike building and commuting. Our team bikes have arrived early this season along with a new Roubaix SL4 that is ready for winter to disappear and for the Spring Classic Training Series to begin. The SCTS schedule should be up on the Heartland Bike Club web page in March @ ( www.heartlandclub.org ). My commuting is really just an excuse for me to ride more. Rarely do I just ride straight to work there is time after getting the kids off to school. No two rides are ever the same for me as the fat bike likes to wander in search of new trails/roads. Yesterday's commute was a first with walking the almost five miles to work on the Green Circle Trail and the un-plowed bike paths. The trip home was more of the norm riding the fatty with the temps just hitting zero and the wind chill starting to sting for what will be a very cold weekend here. Wish I was heading to someplace warm to try out my new SRAM XX1 equipped Specialized EPIC... Races on my radar for 2013 include: Sweaty Yeti Fat Bike, Barry-Roubaix, Cohutta 100, WORS, Mohican 100, Chequamegon 100, Wilderness 101, Bell's Beer Mtn Bike Fest Copper Harbor, Chequamegon Fat Tire 40, and the Iceman Cometh. Pedal on...

New Pet

Last Friday started off as a normal work day leading to a long holiday weekend off and ended that evening with a new addition to our family. Continuing with bicycle related pet names, we welcomed Onza an 8 week old female Black Lab into our home. So far so good with the pet hierarchy being established in Laura's Ark here. The cats have been M.I.A. which is fine by me and 8 year old Luna has been tolerating the super hyper pup with a few warning growls to show who rules the house. Onto the bike front, our new A212 S-Works Epics will be arriving soon and I've been staying ahead of the holiday belly bulge by packing the local trails on my fat bike. Season plans are shaping up with possibly a few new races on the schedule and of course I will see if I can keep any of my New Year's resolutions for more than a few weeks. Happy New Year's to everyone! Pedal on...

Back on the Bowlegged Bike

2012 Final

It wasn't pretty as my 2012 racing season ended on a sloppy note two weekends ago with the WORS Wigwam Challenge in Sheboygan, Wisconsin with a 17th overall in the Pro/Elite race. Heavy rain over a two day period shortened the race course and number of laps for most categories. In a crazy way this was the closest thing I've ever competed in that will resemble an Xterra triathlon with the countless running sections and knee deep water that we navigated through on each of our three laps. Bikes were destroyed, team kits unrecognizable and many stories from this mud-fest will last until next seasons event at this venue. No matter what the conditions it's fun just to be able to ride our bikes. Thanks to all my sponsors including Adventure 212 and the Hostel Shoppe for another great weekend with the whole team! Also Specialized Bicycles for taking care of us with the best mountain bikes and gear for another season. I'm already looking forward to our continued partnership with Specialized for 2013 and our many team adventures! Pedal on...

Having Fun!