A Week in Pictures

Tuesday's clouds

Light trying to escape

Bearing disintegration on Wednesday-all those metal shavings were all part of a bearing at one point in time

Thursday temps kept with the 20 degree pattern

"WE HAVE SUN"
Cruisin'

Testing out the rail trail on Friday
A taste of gravel...icy, slushy, flodded, and muddy
I thought Holly was east of Fenton?
Then I ventured west on Sunday
...And then south
Now we are getting snowed on!

Style Points

DZ at ToC Prologue or Adam Craig at MTB Worlds?

Credit: Cycling News

Memories

With winter still with us and arctic air flowing freely, I am going back to reflect on a few pictures that make me smile from 2007.

Overlooking the Pisgah NF

Finishing the Lumberjack 100 under my goal time of 8hrs

Standing 450ft above Lk Michigan on Pierce Stocking Drive and looking over the treeline to Glen Lake

And lastly, suffering with the pain face in 85F temps running on the beach while swimmers enjoy the waters

Hopefully March will bring temps into the mid-30's at least.

I'm Getting Soft

I rode the trainer.

Also went to the MMBA expo and had a good time seeing everyone in the long of winter. Picked up 24 Solo and watched it while on the trainer. GOOD movie. Gripped Films did an awesome job filming and editing the movie to make it exciting.

No, I am not doing any solo 24's. I have done a 12 and two hundies. They are very fun, but solo 24 is not for me right now.

Couple more weeks and hopefully the temps will turn upward. We can't go much lower than now.

Cruising

Dang, January is almost done. That's a good thing from here. This means warmer weather is closer and spring is on the way, but we still have February to get through.



I spent almost a week riding like this with temps hovering on the low teens and windchills below zero. I was still out chugging through the miles and having fun. With the cold temps came some snow. I resorted to riding the trails for a few days to try and stay out of the open roads. Suprisingly my feet stayed relatively warm(not numb) for 3-3.5 hours. With the snow riding on the fixed gear came some good force workouts, but low speed and miles. Closing out January, I will hit 1000 miles outside, along with some trainer rides that I don't count. Not a bad month for me. Biggest mileage ever!



I went to the auto show on MLK day and found a sweet concept vehicle I would buy.

Rugged, great room, long bed and space for bikes and gear, give it AWD and a biodiesel engine...boy would that be sah-weet.

Take it or Leave it

With the low sweeping jetstream blowing the arctic air from Canada onto much of the US this week and into the weekend, you have to plan accordingly. Lucky for me, I am on a much needed recovery week, so I ride as far as I feel like, as hard as I feel like, and frankly, go wherever I want. With my first Thursday all day adventure in Ann Arbor, I went out in the midst of some flurries to put some time in the saddle. Cruise down Huron River drive into Dexter, up around to Hell, and back through Chelsea was the route of choice. Coming back to the start, I opted for some off road riding. Jumped into Barton Nature Park, out into Bandemer and end twisting throuh Leslie Park. Got some road riding in, then got my fix of dirt and trees.

Today was SUNNY. Decided to enjoy some gravel to give me a block from the wind. Conditions were good and bad. Some road were all clear, some were snow covered, while others were a sheet of ice. No falls or slips, just and nice peaceful ride with low traffic. Out riding around breahting fresh air, spinning the legs, and enjoying the scenery.

Some graffiti painted on the rail trail. I think it says, "Bary Peach" Maybe a band or the famous "Rail Trail Banditos"!

Also finished some bike projects lately. Took the fork all apart, re-lubed a few parts, changed the oil (3 different kinds-why?), and put in some new seals. With some added parts coming in from Manitou this week, I was finally able to put it back together. Now, only a few more months and I can get it back on the trails again.

8 Day Binge

25.5 hours, 426.5 miles, one day off, one recovery ride, pavement, dirt roads, and even some trail.

What a week for riding. A few days of warmer weather and almost no precipitation this week lead to a big grin and some sore, but a good sore feeling in the legs. I got in a groove and stuck to it. Riding the CX bike early in the week lead to some exploration. To my surprise, the trails were in great shape. Frost still in the ground and no tire marks left. After a long ride on Tuesday, I threw on and HID light, grabbed the MTB fixed gear, and hit the trails over at Brighton Rec. Nothing like the rush you get when riding a fixie on the trail at night in unknown conditions. Its the unexpected thrill and "oh shit" moments that bring the fire back. Bombing down a hill uncontrollably with legs spinning and seeing a patch of ice around the corner. Get through it and have a sense of relief and then excitement. Stupid, maybe, but exhilarating, hell yeah!

Rode some of ILRA and Proud Lake trails this week on the skinny knobbies to see the trail conditions. Just as fun to cruise the trails at high speed rounding corners on narrow tires and smashing through sand pits like Sven Nys. This week brought back thrill and excitment for the upcoming season.

With the 14" of snow and inch of rain, the water has been really high. Normally, this is a dry swamp.

I was planning on hitting up a WRCS ride on Saturday to ride with some people for a change. Opening up a work e-mail late Friday night put the end to that. Add in a game mid-day, and I had to shuffle the schedule. Maybe sometime soon. Nothing like riding in the cold with like-minded individuals.

I rounded out the week with a morning gravel grinder on the fixie. No gears, no coasting, and no target number to hit and look at. Just pedaling for a few hours soaking in the outdoors. Nice temps out and no winds to fight with. Just me and one gear pushing up hills and spinning madly down. Ran across the Michigan State CX Champion also enjoying a little gravel goodness this morning.

Next up is the start of a new semester. I have a decent schedule, but a 6-9 class on Thursdays. That gives me 5.5 hours to waste down in A2. Looks like the bike will be packed and new routes explorered. Anyone with route suggestions starting in A2 to anywhere, Dexte, Waterloo, Chelsea etc.. post them up. I have been riding down from Brighton via Mast Rd to Huron River and back Whitmore Lk alot lately. If this weather holds, I will be able to search for some gravel as well.

Weather Turning...Cogs a burning

Well, the cold snap has left and now the warm weather is here for a few days. After some cold days of bundling up and trying to stay warm for multiple hours, I was excited looking at the forecast. Temps in the 40's and 50's with chances of rain. There goes the foot of snow.

With temps reaching 40 today, I set out for a 5 hour ride down to Ann Arbor and back around through Wixom and Milford. I was planning on throwing in a loop or 2 of Kensington to fill my time on the way back. Then I woke up. Fog. More Fog. Weather man says, "The fog will be staying all day." Yup, no pictures were in store for today. If you want to visualize and you don't live in SE MI, then go into Paint(non Mac users) and use the fill bucket with grey. Yup, thats what it looked like.

So what did I do. Put on 3 blinking lights, put the road wheels on the CX bike with full fenders and set out on the wet roads. 5 minutes in the glasses came off. 4:20 later, back home, a little wet, still warm, and not hit by a vehicle. Brutal day outside. Some areas had 1/3 mile visibility, while the open areas with more steaming snow had barely enough visibility for me to see the computer on the stem. Yeah, not a good day for riding on the road. Guess I was lucky.

Looking like tomorrow will be mid 50's and a chance of rain. Much less of a chance for rain tomorrow than Tuesday. Don't start school back up for another week, so big miles are a coming!

Happy New Year

Nothing like a full 12" of snow to ring in the new year. Now, what to do? Ride outside, err...no. Don't feel like getting killed by drunks today. Ski...oh yeah, can't even get out of the nieghborhood. Clear the driveway...DONE. Hmm, looks to be the first day of the new year and the first day on the trainer this year. Should be a grand time. Roads will hopefully be cleared enough to get out tomorrow. If not, XC skis will be the weapon of choice.

Holidays were good, except for the part where I was on the couch with the flu for 4 days. Then add in a few days of holiday gatherings, and I found myself cramming in big hours in a small amount of time. Now it looks like the weather is going to get colder for a few days then hit the upper 40s and maybe even 50 by the weekend. Nothing like bushwhacking in 12" power on the XC skis, and riding the skinny tired bike without a jacket and few days later. Gotta love it!

Rippin' the Skinny Skis

With the 6"+ of fresh powder that accumulated on Sunday, I have said good-bye bike and hello skis. Sunday was some fun nordic through Proud Lake with high winds and large snow drifts. Today I opted for an adventure out at Kensington. When you ride through places, you notice trails and options that may make for some fun in the future. If you can believe it, I have actually never layed knobbies on the trails I skiied today, even though I ride past them all the time. 2hrs with the sun shining made a great way to start my break between semesters.

Duel purpose gloves

How often do we see our shadow in MI winter?

Snow covered pines line the trail

A part of the Huron River that was flowing at a good clip

Ride Temptations

Riding long hours in the blistering cold of winter here in MI, many things go through a cyclist head. It is a time of reflection and thoughts of a past season, work that needs to be done, or the future. Often, I find myself thinking about what I am going to stuff my face into once I open the door to replenish the 2000+ calories I burn on a daily basis. The craving is often filled by a large bowl of raisin bran, muffins, cheese, yogurt, nutella lathered on toast, and anything else that looks good.

Today, during my four hour ride in the 25F temps, I was thinking about how bad my legs hurt from a week of long rides and gym workouts. It was not how cold my toes are of how much longer I have to ride into the bone-chilling wind, but rather the amount of acid in my legs and messing with my head. Around three hours in, I was coming back from Whitmore Lake and heading into South Lyon. I see two ladies in the distance waving signs as my mind wonders why there is a car wash on a cold day. As I got closer, I was able to read the sign as one of the attendees waved at me. It read, "$10 massages. Free Hot Cocoa and food." Oh boy, how does stuff like this happen. I carry money this time of year in case of an emergency, and somehow it was exactly ten bucks. Hot chocolate would have been great along with food, you can never go wrong with free food. But, the most important was how great it would feel to get my acid burning legs massaged.

So as I rode on home, I did not think about food, but rather how great that would have been. Too bad I would have froze my ass off when I got back on my bike to finish the ride. Just the way things are connected somehow is amazing.

One more ride this week and then a nice day to freshen the legs. Ahh, how I love winter and our weekly 25F temps. Remember last year at this time we were riding in shorts and armwarmers! Maybe an early spring thaw this year, yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Iceman Pics

Simonster putting the hurt on Matter, JHK, J. LaLonde, Ned Overend and Tristan Schouten

Going for the pass at Williamsburg Rd

Halfway up the climb gaining ground-this is the fastest guy I have ever seen in jeans/carharts
Simonster leading JHK before the finish

Looking for a charging Joe B

Just about done!

Finished!

I took 7 days off the bike after the race to refresh the body both mentally and physically. I put in only 5.5 easy hours on the CX'er and SS this week. The past two days showed signs of winter with snow and wind chills in the teens today. Good winter clothing makes those rides very doable. Fenders help tremendously also. Time for some exlporation next week. I read in the paper Hamburg has 28 miles of gravel roads. Mmmm, gravel. Hamburg is a quick 6ish mile ride from home. If I find some good raods I can likely link them up to Pinckney and maybe the Lakelands trail to make a good loop. I usually venture East and sometimes North to Fenton, but this year that will change. A few more weeks of school then almost a month off to ride!

Iceman Videos

For those who haven't seen them
Crossing Williamsburg Rd-credit to Joe Lekovish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDpYMSb5YTw&feature=related

Here is te Iceman teaser video from Mashers Media
www.mashersmedia.blogspot.com

Embedded links won't work, so you'll have to click the hyperlinks.

Iceman Cometh

Well, its over. A long season just ended yesterday and I am very happy with it. I topped the season off with an 18th place out of 53 Pro finishers. I crossed the line in 1:40:12, 15 minutes faster than last year!!! Improvements.

Pre-rode the first 7 miles of the trail on Saturday before heading to the expo for packet pick-up. After a nice pasta dinner at the Brew Pub, it was a relaxing night in the hotel room.

Saturday morning came with temps in the mid 20's. I was out watching the fam start the race. Then a quick drive and hike over to Williamsburg Rd to watch them come through while endulging in some cold blueberry pancakes. Another short drive got us to the finish line, but late for my mom coming accross the line in 2:40. Switched vehicles and drove down to Kalkaska. Had to miss my dad and uncle finishing; they came in at a quick 2:16 and +:30.

Ay Kaskie, it was prep and warm-up. The first few miles of the trail provided some excitement for fast trails. After a long wait with call-ups, we were off.

Started about 3/4 back and picked people off left and right. Following moves, we dwindled the group down. For the most part, it was Randy, me, jeans man from Ohio, Dan Jansen, and Christian Tanguy. We were moving along pretty good riding in 11-15 place. Just past Williamsburg Rd, the jeans man cut infront of me and rubbed wheels. I tried to keep it straight, but ended up flying into the woods. A branchy bush stopped me, but after re-mounting, I was a long shot from the group. I was out in no mans land trying to find a groove. I kept looking back waiting for someone to catch me. Finally with 7 to go, a guy from PA and Joe Brzuchanski caught me. Yes! We rode together almost the rest of the way. With 2 miles to go, I had to get off on a climb to pull a stick out of my derailluer. I couldn't shift the stick out, so I had to get off on a climb. They pulled away, but I was trying to get back.

I bridged the gap up to Joe just before the last hill coming into Timber Ridge. With all the people cheering, I stood up and tried to gap Joe. He hung on at the beginning, but as I went up people were yelling at me to go and I was gapping him. Just as I am sitting down, the trail goes left and I look up to see more of the hill. Crap. I jump out of the saddle and finish it off. Was able to ride to the finish 5 seconds ahead of a fast Joe and 5 seconds behind the PA guy.

I was very happy with the result. The group I was with ended up passing Ross Schnell and placing 10-15. They were 1:37:30. Very fast race and awesome competition. Great way to end the season.

Photos from my so-pro photog should be up later in the week.

Vets Park CX Video

Mike from Mashers Media has been filming the MTB and CX races this season. He's got some sweet videos out from many races. CLICK HERE to see the video from last weekend. I've even got a nice little bunny hopping action going on in it. Mashers Media is also doing the Iceman Cometh video this year. It should rock and put the old Iceman vids to death. Sound like racing action, helmet cam on seatpost action, and even still shots thrown in.

Vets Park CX

Today turned into another awesome weather day. CX season is supposed to be cold, dreary, muddy, and even snowy. Out of my CX races this year I had 60's, 70's and 80's all on sunny days. I can't complain about that.

We lined up with 23 strong in the A race. The field was stacked with the usual suspects, MTBers getting the final touches in for ICEMAN and even some out of town guys came in. I started the first lap in my usual spot. Robert and I were fighting it out for dead last. Just before the end of lap 1 I got into my rhythm while everyone else settled down from the fast start.

I rode my bike and enjoyed every moment of it. Every lap I would pass people. 1, 2, or 3 people a lap. Just like my other races, my steadiness won. No crashes, no screw ups, and 110%. After 3 very tough end laps battling it out with a WMCR rider, I came in 11th overall and am very happy about my result. Props to the WMCR rider who could run like the wind on the run-up. I would gap him, then he would run-up and catch me. Finally on the last lap he got me.

The funniest part of the race was after the first set of barriers on one of the middle laps. I had ran over the barriers (smoothly) and jumped back onto the saddle. I look up and hear, "Awe, man, that has got to hurt." It was a 14-15ish year old kid standing at the end of the tape over his BMX bike he had just rode there. That gave me a great mid-race chuckle.

Looking foreward to next weekend shows some 40 degree weather and hopefully no rain. Today was probably the hardest I have ever raced in my 3 years of racing. After the race my lungs were on fire like I had just had an asthma attack. Talk about 1 hr of VO2 Max. My form is good and with a little rest and a touch of intensity between now and Saturday, I should be good to go. Not to win, but have a good race, have fun, and try to place well.

Funny

Check this video out. It's a spoof on Mythbusters with 26" vs. 29". That's all I will say about that subject. Well, except for I'll put my money on a 29er winning Iceman.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OyIWPB-X49U

CX tomorrow at Vets Park. Ready to race!

A beautiful day

Wireless=Pics

And now off to ride in the rain! Better than snow.