Catch Up

Well..... hmmmmm...... been a few days. Never gave a race report. Reforestation Ramble went better than I had expected. Didn't quite ride it right. Had some left in the tank. I like that course. It's kinda like Nine Mile without all the rocks. Wide open double track into twisty single track back into wide open double track into twisty single track. You get the picture. No real resting areas. Apparently the 12 hour race that is held there in September uses more of the area's single track. May need to check that out. Anyway, I made up 8 minutes on the winner when comparing my finish back in Wausau. I'll take that since the race was 8 miles longer. Still a long way to go as far as improvement is concerned.

Mapped out a nice little Town and Country road ride based from home. 25 miles. Some climbing. Would like to hit this for one or two laps once or twice a week after work. We'll see about the timing.

Beechwood tomorrow. Hope to get the new Reba on the Salsa tonight.

The Epic has been sold and shipped. Really liked that bike, but I have not ridden it since I built the Salsa. Couldn't see keeping it. Plus, had some bills to pay. Still on the hunt for a SS 29incher at a bargain rate.

One more day of this work this week. The plan? Miles and yard work. Then heading up north to my brother-in-law's cottage for a long holiday weekend.

Why?

Why does a 92 year old lady have to find out that it won't be old age, but cancer that will be with her and her demise? After so many years, something more peaceful seems like it should be in order.

Yum Yum

I feel like the last week I've been taking large bites of those $hit sandwiches that CB refers to every so often. Finances, work, bikes... all part of that sandwich. Unfortunately, it all ends up transferring to relationships as well. Can feel the stress and answers aren't coming quickly enough. I know I'll get through it, but right now Koop's Arizona Heat mustard doesn't even seem to be masking the taste.

Fork?

Yanked the fork apart tonight. Put some different seals in it. What a pain. If it's holding air tomorrow, I'll ride it at Beechwood. Also plan on ordering a new fork... hopefully tomorrow. Don't want to take the chance of it blowing up during a race again.

Happy Father's Day!

Fork blew. Not holding air. Sucks a$$. DNF. Damnit. Actually felt pretty good, too. Either have to rebuild the fork or find a new one or the race Sunday is out. Don't even know what I'm going to do about Beechwood.

Oh yeah, happy Father's Day tomorrow.

1st Beechwood

Being amongst friends outside on a beautiful day with a Leinie's next to me while finishing up work on my bike made for a great night. Even got a lap in. Beechwood is just as painful as I remember. XTR is off the Salsa and back on the Epic. Being mostly anti-shimano, I started celebrating my personal victory of having a non-shimano bike... until I saw the hubs. D'oh! May need to add a new wheelset to my list of wants. Per the landowners, the Beechwood lap was shortened a bit so we wouldn't damage the low lying areas. Not that 9" of rain in two days doesn't damage things, but why add to it, and this was obviously the best decision anyway. The rest of the course was in excellent shape. Even with the couple sections cut out, I quickly remembered why that trail makes you better. 1st time out there this year and it was just as painful as I remember it. Can't wait for next Tuesday night.

Don't think I'll be doing the entire stage race this weekend. It's a cost and return thing I think. CC race on Saturday is normal, but each of the next 2 races are $20 each. Not that $20 for a race is bad, but when they're only 15 minutes or less, seems like that's a lot of dollars per minute. I'll get a much better return on investment spending Father's Day with this guy:

The Weekend

Per CB's instruction, I was going to live it up and go full throttle this weekend. The only thing that was full throttle was coming out my backside and frontside. Been a long, long time since I've been sick like that. Weather was full throttle as well. Record rainfalls. Just a little puddle in the basement. Escaped that pretty well. Was finally feeling better Sunday evening. Worked on the Epic to get it ready for the auction block. A few more adjustments and it's there. On a positive note, I found that Nuun tablets are able to get lost fluids and electrolytes into your body even when the stomach is quite upset.

Subaru Cup this weekend. Two days, three races. Want to do the entire thing, but getting the guilt trip about not being around for Father's Day. I'd be back mid-afternoon or so. Will have to see how the week goes.

First Race In

Went to Wausau for the Big Ring Classic. Also had to plan for two extra days away from home because of a work function. Forgot something, turned around to go back home. Not a good way to start race day. Called Josh on the way up to verify start times. Bad news. Slowed the driving down because it wasn't worth the possible fine if I got pulled over. When I arrived at the venue and walked to registration, the race I wanted to do was starting. 1-1/2 hours to the next start. I upgraded by default. I wasn't ready for the shorter race, let alone the longer one. Guess I'm back in Sport. Started slow knowing I'd need to save energy somewhere just to finish. Hilbert was there. He started pretty hard and I passed him about 1/2 mile in as he was wheezing from a bit of an asthma attack. He said he'd be okay, so I just kept on going. About half way in I was in a rock garden and had too much confidence the ability of my 29ers to roll over obstacles. I misjudged and came to a dead stop as both wheels hit rocks that may as well have been wheel chocks. I kept going and found the landing on my top tube to be quite uncomfortable. Back into the saddle. Another couple of miles I was starting to get my feel for the dirt back. Things felt like they were really starting to flow. I've spent many hours racing on the terrain at Nine Mile Forest and I think that hurt me. As I got more and more confident, my speed increased. The issue was that on this particular race day, we were running some of the trails the opposite that we normally do. I'd recognize the are, but the flow wasn't the same. I'm not sure that this was a contributing factor or if it's just an excuse, but I caught a tree with the end of my bars. The bar got ripped out of my hand. Pain shot into my wrist and the next thing I felt was my shoulder hitting the tree. Rode a lot of that remaining lap one-handed as the trail allowed. Luckily there are a number of fire roads involved in the course. Finished the first lap feeling better, but not great. Looked at the Lap/Finish sign and made a decision to turn right. One more lap. Slow, steady, complete the lap. I finished. It hurt. It was annoying. But I made myself finish. I was DFL, but I was still in the saddle and turning the pedals. One race in the books. Looking forward to the next one. Wrist is still a bit tender, but it will be ready.

Huge congrats to the Curtes brothers. 1-2-3 in Comp SS. 1-3-5 in Comp overall. That's one heck of a family showing.