Get On Track

I am so ready to ride some single track, I know it's winter and this is what the weather is suppose to do but I am ready to ride on dirt. I wish we had a few more weeks of just frozen ground before we got any snow but I guess we don't get a say so. I keep hearing people talking about one more big snow this year, not sure if that will happen. I hope it doesn't happen but if it does then we will just have to deal with it. This weeks weather isn't working with my work/riding schedules but I will take whatever riding I can get. We have the time change this weekend so starting next week we will have a little more time in the evenings to ride, I am digging that.

I am hoping once the weather warms up and the sun is more prevalent that peoples moods will make an up swing, including my own. It seems the pressures of life are more evident in many peoples lives now more than ever and as a society things seem bleak. Having to wonder if your job is hanging in the balance has to be a rough situation to deal with, besides all the other pressures we put on ourselves. Imagine getting a phone call and what the person on the other end of the line says will change your life (your entire families lives) forever. I'm rambling, yes I know.

Confidence or Cocky

Confidence is full trust; belief in the powers, trustworthiness, or reliability of a person or thing; or a belief in one's own abilities. Being Cocky is being arrogant, self assertive, or conceited. The ironic thing is that many times people mistake confidence for someone being cocky.

When I think of someone who is confident I always think of Coach. If you dare to toe the line with him he already knows he is going to kick your ass, and let's be honest, you know he's going to kick your ass too (probably because he told you so!!!). In fact he probably told you how he was going to punish you.....Hey, it is what it is.

Casual Ride

At Hy-Vee we are contracted with a company out of Des Moines that works on our refrigeration equipment and some other areas of the store. A year or so ago one of the guys that calls on our store heard me talking about biking and he asked me if I rode. I told him I did and he said he did a little riding so we talk every time he is in the store. For a while now I have been telling him that he needs to bring his bike down with him when he comes and we can go ride, of course I never know when he is going to be there. Well today he showed up at the store for a service call and I was eager to talk to him because he rode Cirrem this past weekend and I was wanting to know how he liked it. That was his biggest ride to date and with the winter weather conditions it was a great accomplishment. We talked about Cirrem for a couple minutes and then he said he had his cross bike in the van. I said "Seriously?", and he said yep, what time can you get out of here? I told him probably not til 4:00 and he said that would be perfect. I left just before 4:00 and went home and changed my clothes and got my bike and then we took off and rode the loop. We didn't ride very hard, we did ride a few stretches at a good pace but then we backed it off and talked for most of the ride. It was a really good time, I told him that if he is in town the summer on a Monday night then we will have a ride for him for sure. He said that sounded like fun.

Not Gravel

Well I did get out and ride yesterday and today but I just did road rides, I need to get some more gravel but it's a bit sloppy right now. Yesterday my road ride was pretty sloppy too, I rode to Chula and back and it was misting and foggy in areas. I was wearing my Hammer team kit and it is mostly white so probably not the best choice on a foggy day but I did have my blinkie on my pocket to help keep me more visible. Today I didn't have a lot of time but was able to get the loop in, I really felt like I was flying but my computer said otherwise. But I really don't care what it said today because it was a good workout either way and I will take it.

Not sure if I will be able to ride outside tomorrow or if I will go to spin class, last Thursday was an awesome and very painful speed workout at spin class. Of course we started out with risers but I really like risers. Today on the rollers coming back on Hwy A I found myself doing risers as I came over the top of the hills. I don't do risers a lot on road rides but I use them on the trail a fair amount, especially in technical climbs.

I'm Committed

It's all in the title although some say I should be committed. February 1st was the start of registration for the 2011 Lumberjack 100, registration was set to open at 7:00 p.m. Last year the the race sold out in just over 12 hours and this year the race limit was extended from 300 racers to 350 racers. I was sure the race would sell out again and I was pretty confident that it would sell out faster than last year but I had no idea what was in store.

I feel very lucky to get a spot in the race because the night of registration was the night of the big blizzard and I had my truck parked on the street. A police officer informed me I needed to move my truck due to city ordinance/snowfall amount but it was stuck. Molly and I went out and with the help of a neighbor we were able to shovel the truck out and get it into the driveway. We made it back into the house at 6:58, I was a little stressed just because I wanted to be set already although I was sure I had a few hours to get signed up. I logged on and was ready to register right at 7:00, the process took me 2 minutes and I was in. In fact right after I registered I clicked on the registered riders list and there was 111 signed up in the first 2 minutes. Mark was signed up as well and he called me and asked me if I was watching the number climb, it was amazing to watch the riders list climb and climb and climb. The race actually sold out in 14 minutes, that is AMAZING to me.

Below is a picture of me from Lumberjack last year, this year I will be racing my single speed (Mark says I should be committed!!!). In fact I will be racing all rigid, there is only one spot I can remember for sure on the course that I am not looking forward to riding all rigid but it is a pretty short section. It is an eroded out downhill section that really shook me pretty good on my full suspension bike so no shocks should be a real treat!!!



The Lumberjack 100 is Michigan's Ultra Single Speed Championship, I have to say I am a bit worried about racing my single speed because there are so many fast riders on one gear. I am not concerned with how I place in this race because I am out of my league with many of these riders (I also want to represent Hammer Nutrition well). Below is last years single speed winner, Gerry Plug of Salsa Cycles, and he is returning again this year.



I will have to get back to you with a goal for this race, I have a lot of work to do and it's tough when I haven't done a race like this on this particualr bike.

Map My A$$

Okay today was the first time that my gravel road map turned out to be just a piece of paper with lines on it. The times I have used it when riding to the North and East of town it is correct but today I headed South and when I took the first gravel road the map indicated that I would have 2 roads to choose from to head further South....wrong, dead end. I took the road across the highway and the map indicated that there was one road that I could take South to another road, wrong it was another dead end. I took a paved section South and jumped on another gravel road to the East, the map showed I would have another road heading South, guess what it was there....sort of. The road had huge rock on it and was mostly mud and then it turned into the picture below.



I'm not saying it wasn't fun to ride but I was expecting roads not something a tractor might get stuck on. I finally got to the end of the road but not before I got to the water pictured below.



When I got to the next road I headed East again because the map showed that I could hit another road South. Well guess what? It wasn't there...again. There was another road that went further East so I attempted to ride it, I should have known not to since the gravel only went about 30 yards. Beyond that point it was pure mud and my bike got nasty quick. I had to carry my bike back out of there because the wheels would not turn due to the amount of mud, not a lot of fun. I ended up looking for more familiar gravel and then continued my ride.

I did have some deer run across the road in front of me, I grabbed my camera as they were approaching the road and I didn't realize I missed hitting the on button and tried to take a picture when they were very close (about 15 yds away). I had to brake or I might have hit the back deer, I realized I didn't take the picture so I got the camera on and captured the picture below. It was a pretty cool thing, I just wish I could have got the first picture.



I sure am digging the base miles that I am getting but man do I feel weak right now, 52+ miles today (and it wasn't very hilly) and I was feeling trashed. It seemed especially odd since I was riding by myself and I couldn't seem to push the pace. I know my nutrition is not key right now, garbage in garbage out.

I Like Pie

Well the gravel road ride was canceled for today so a group of us decided there was still an opportunity for pain so we met up and rode to Jamesport for a pie ride. All I heard was pie, I was so excited I almost forgot my bike. Doug, Denny, James, Tim, Jan, and myself headed out of town and the wind was out of the South East and of course was blowing North West...guess which direction we started out heading, of course it was North West. You know, it is almost difficult to enjoy a tailwind on the first part of a ride because you know how much of a headwind you are going to have on the way home. Well Mother Nature didn't let us down, if fact I think she was down right nasty to us in a couple spots.

Okay I am getting a little ahead of myself, the ride there was great. We had a constant moving pace line and it was a good time. I have to be honest that it was much better when we got there because it was time to eat some pie...did I mention pie earlier??? If not then we rode there to eat some pie. Being Amish myself I think makes the pie taste even better in Jamesport!!! When my Coconut Meringue slice showed up I'm not exactly sure what happened, the memory of it is a blur. It was hard to see my plate with my eyes rolled up in the back of my head, I did use The Force to keep Doug away from my pie (I'm not sure but I think he likes pie too). When my eyes rolled back out of my head I had to ask "What happened? Where am I?". Then the group informed me that it was time to ride back to Chillicothe, I asked them "Did I bring my bike???". They of course rolled their eyes and I heard one mumble to another one "Why did we bring him?" and he answered "I don't know, he just shows up". Okay not all of this is true, but I tell you there was pie!!!

The trip home wasn't as much fun as the ride there but I know the reward of such efforts will be realized in the months to come. Continuing to get in base miles I hope will pay big dividends in June and July. I brought my camera with me today, I guess I took it for extra weight since I didn't use it.