Back in my day I could throw a football over them mountains

Just a bunch of old bike racers getting together to talk about the good old days and complain about the new generation. 

Back to it

It has been a year but I will hopefully start writing some more for the upcoming CX season.

A new season begins

The cyclocross season officially starts this weekend for me with the Trek CXC Cup at the Trek Headquarters in Waterloo, WI.  I had a chance to go to China for their first UCI cyclocross race with all expenses paid but then realized it was the same weekend as the races at HQ and figured I better head to Wisco. 

The new bikes are the same as last year except for new paint and 11sp.  Yeah, they are better, they go to eleven.  I stayed with the Cronus instead of the new aluminum Crockett as I new the fit was already dialed by Chris Balser, the Bicycle Fit Guru.

I was also enlisted by Optum to drive the team car out to Tristan. It is kinda strange driving it around as I got many looks and would realize I did not know them, they were just looking at the loudly wrapped car I was driving.

The Big Show

I guess I have time for a write up as Penelope and I are snowed/iced in at grandma and grandpas.  

The elite races were held about a half mile down the road from the master's venue.  It was the same course that I raced on at the Louisville USGP races earlier in the year.  On Thursday while I was out riding on the road I was able to ride the start/finish area as they were finishing up setting the course.  I stopped by the Trek area to check out their setup.  Mark was busy setting up Katie's bikes and Matt O was working on Emily's bikes.  By the time I was headed back to master's course, they had opened the elite course for training and I almost headed out on a lap but decided against it.

Riding the start/finish on Thursday

Mark dialing in 1 of Katie's 4 bikes 

crowds were awesome

Friday morning it was decided that all of the events would be moved and scheduled for Saturday.  The course was near the river and would most likely flood so they were building sand bag walls to keep water off the course.  That would mean that Saturday would be an all out cyclocross bender, 4 races and lots of beer drinking.  

I had general admission tickets but our hosts had a table in the VIP tent and were gracious enough to give me one of their extras.  It was a large, heated tent with catered food and all the Sierra Nevada beer you could drink.  I had a 1 liter stein that would help with that.  The lines were long to get into the venue but the VIP tickets had us cutting the line.  It was kind of a pain getting around the course with all of the people trying to get through the course crossings.  I guess there were around 10,000 people at the races.  We were there from 9 til 4 watching all of the races and drinking plenty of beer.  Trek brought a charter bus of employees down for the weekend and they had huge CXC flags all over the course.  I think most people were happy about all of the races being on the same day because I could not have done it all again on Sunday.

Katie headed up the stairs

Logan Owen before the steps

Saturday night we had our season ending Trek CXC party at the Maker's Mark lounge.  We had a few drinks, I had Katie sign a cap for Penelope and then headed down to the FoamParty.  There was a line down the block but I was able to get the Trek crew in with a text to Brandon G.  It was packed and all of the World Champs from the day were there. We had our photo taken on the red carpet and called it a night.  What a fantastic day of racing and celebrating the end of a long season.

Sunday we checked out a basketball game and also checked out the course to see that moving all event to Saturday were a good idea.

Sat here first-top row of arena

hosts had season tickets-moved to here-2nd row on floor

Sunday! moving the races to Saturday was a good idea

4th in the world

The final race week of the year is finally gone and done.  I ended up 4th in the final today for Master's 35-39 World Championships.  I was only 20 seconds off the podium so that was the bummer.  I had a front row call up in the #7 position which was only made better when 3 of the front row did not show up for call ups.  Talk about an amateur move (yeah, I am talking to you Russ, Haha).  I had a pretty good start but not the hole shot like I hoped.  I moved my way up to 4th by the second lap and could not close the gap to the podium.  Hollywood was out on the course yelling what lines were the fastest which helped a lot. I was pretty bummed with missing the podium but after calming down I started to feel a bit better about it.  My teammate, Tom Price was an ace in the pit.  I was able to get 1 bike per lap and without that I would not have finished.  Brandon Gavic, of 2013 FoamParty fame was also helpful in getting my pit bike ready while I warmed up.

Tom also helped Mark Savery to his World Championship win in the tough 40-44 age group.  It was a huge win and awesome to see right before I hit the line for my race.

The master's venue became a non priority to the promoters as the big race was coming up on the weekend.  The power washers were left out on Thursday night and were frozen which meant only buckets and brushes for the races on Friday.  I am not sure what Tom's secret was but I cannot thank him and New 40-44 World Champ, Mark Savery, enough for the place to warm up and all of the help.

Yep, there is a $9000 bike in there. Not mine.

The after race is always the worst part.  I had a rental car that would not hold bikes because Ian, from HED, drove my bikes down so I had to find a place to clean them before sending them with him. Brandon found some races with some rack space and they dropped us at a shop about a half mile from the venue where I was able to wash both bikes back to race shape and get them to Ian.  We hung out at the shop and dried off with some beers with the owner who Brandon and I both ended up knowing from our days in Tucson.  Small world.

The season was finally over and it was time for the beer drinking to begin. Although, I am a pretty big talker when it come to the off season as my wife would say.

Up next, the Big Show.

Tractor Pull

Wow, the heat races were like tractor pulls out there.  I don't have any good photos except for my teammate getting the hole-shot in the 40-44 but it was 2 laps of the heaviest riding I have ever done.  I was racing in the last of 3 heats for my age group at the end of the day.  The morning events were 2 hours behind because of course repair from the overnight heavy winds and rain.  The flight in was the roughest I have ever been on.  I was really unsure if we were even going to land without crashing.

Teammate Mark with the hole-shot in 40-44

I did not get the hole-shot but was 3rd into the first corner with the Canadian National Champ and a rider from Denmark.  Russell Stevenson rode from the 3rd row and won by a minute and I ended up 3rd right behind the Dane who was took 3 bike changes.  I stayed on the same bike so I would not have   to clean 2 bikes.  My 3rd should be good enough for a 1st row call up for the Final on Friday.

I did a clothing pre-wash in the yard of the host housing so clean up went pretty well.  The rest of the crew was out running errands so I went with the hosts to a celebratory event for Louisville hosting the elites.  The mayor and others responsible for the race coming were all there so I felt out of place.  They were even doing photos on the red carpet out front.

Out front on red carpet at the event bike shop

Yeah, I hate being a fan boy but how often can you get a photo with Mr. Nys.

Thursday is a break between races so I will probably just ride the trainer for an hour and call it good.  Friday should be completely different with frozen death ruts instead of mud.

Nationals

I have been slacking on the Nationals report only because I was hoping to find some more photos since I, like most, really do not want to read a long detailed race report.

I drove out early on Friday morning in order to get there and get a couple laps on the course.  It was pretty muddy and would definitely be a weekend where a great pit crew would be essential.  I cruised a couple laps and then cleaned up and headed off to Waterloo to tour the Trek HQ and spend the night at the Moran's.  Micah gave me the full tour and it was a pretty cool place to see.  Almost everyone had a bike next to there desk.  I even walked out with a new helmet.

My race was at 2 on Saturday and I would have a front row call up based on my 6th place from the results last year.  I did not have a great start and never really saw the front of the race.  The Challenge Limus was hooking up well but the first 2 laps I was not hitting the lines. It was mostly one track and I overshot some corners and had to run which was costing seconds.  I had teammates/pit masters washing bikes so I was taking a clean bike every 1/2 lap.  Mark, Tom and Jay were fantastic and I could not have had better people in the pit for me. I ended up 11th on the day which was far off the podium and where I thought I could be.

I ended up having to leave and head home on Saturday night so I was unable to see Katie win the Elite women's title but I was at home on the trainer watching the women's race and racing the men front the warmth of my basement.

Three more weeks of training have passed and the season is finally ending this week with the Master's World Championships in Louisville, KY.  I fly out on Tuesday, race the seeding heats on Wednesday and the final is at 2 on Friday.  It looks like the weather should be pretty crappy and cold.

The Elite Championships are on Sat. and Sun. so there will be some beers consumed to celebrate the end of a long season.  The Trek CXC season end party is at the Maker's Mark Lounge on Sunday night so my early Monday flight and workday could be a rough one.

Holidays and resolutions

I have been slacking off on the blog lately but without good reason.  It was a great holiday season with plenty of family time but not as much relaxing as there was still 6 weeks of training left before the final races of the season are over.  Hopefully they will move Nationals back to December next year as most of the working/family cx'ers would like to have the Christmas season off.

Penelope got a new kitchen for Christmas but the most fun part was the box that I got to make a fort out of.  A door and a window and she loved it.  The basement has been a great play area since we have not put furniture down there yet.  She even has her Cozy Coupe down there.

I was hoping to put more of a dent into my collection this year but alas, it is skinsuit season and it will have to wait until February when the racing is done.  I have a bit of work to do come February.  We did drink one of the Rogue VooDoo beers at the New Year party so the photo isn't quite up to date.

My gift to Annie was tickets to Elf at the Ordway so Grandma Linda took Penny and we spent the night in downtown St. Paul.  It really is my favorite of the Twin Cities downtown areas.  We had frites and beers at the Amsterdam and headed to the show.

Last weekend my parents came up at the last minute so Annie and I could go to Chicago the the New Years Resolution CX races that were held at a Hilton Golf Course resort.  I needed to get some racing in before Nationals and it was perfect with the course being out the hotel doors so Annie could come down 10 minutes before the start and take my clothes and head back up to the room after the race.

I raced at 9 am both days in the 30+ masters race. The first day was dry and hard. There was no snow and the ground was frozen but pretty grippy except for a couple corners.  I made the lead group of 3 and then with 3 to go it was 2 of us.  I think he dropped his chain at one point so I put my head down and held it to the line.  My legs were cramping but it was good to get that first effort in my legs.

Day 1, sun out but not for long

The elite race in the afternoon is when the weather moved in.  The snow started coming down like crazy and was making a mess.  I ended up manning the pit for my teammates, Matt and Isaac.  Luckily they were without incident.

After waking up at 2:30 am to a fire alarm, we went outside to see the snow gone and the temp up a bit.  By 3:30 were back in bed for a shortened night.  The start for the 8 am race was going to be slick.  I rode a lap at 7:30 and the melted snow had made a skating rink out of the start road.  They salted and by the time we started it was pretty much melted.  I was a bit tentative at the start hoping that the others would not try to be heros and take us all out on an ice patch.  I was dangling off the lead 3 for the first half of the race because I was being overly cautious on the corners.  They would all sit up on the start/finish straight and with 2 to go I was on them and put down my attack.  One guy came with me and we were alone.  I hit the barriers just before the finish in the lead and knew it was gonna be a sprint.  I put my head down and knowing I am a terrible sprinter, I waited for him to come around but it never happened.  I took the win for a second day in a row.

Sprint to the line
lapped guy to the left, yellow helmet in second place

much colder which also made the podium beer nice and cold

This post comes from the basement of the Moran's, who are wonderful hosts, after my preride at Nationals in Verona, WI.  It is going to be a messy one tomorrow.  Hopefully the temps stay above 32 otherwise it will be a nasty/dangerous race if it freezes up.

USGP Finals

The final round of the USGP in Bend, OR was a few weeks ago and the blog has been on the back burner because of the holidays. 

It was a fun weekend of racing and hanging out in our giant house that Trek rented.  I raced pretty well both days and ended up just off the podium in 4th, both days.  My teammate, Mark, won both days and I had another teammate, Shannon, who was on the podium both days so it was good results for the Trek CXC.  Chris Fisher was 3rd and 2nd and had a great weekend of racing.  I ended up 5th overall in the series for 35+, Fisher was 2nd,CJ was 4th and if Roeser didn't have to miss the finals, MN would have had 4 of the top 5 in the overall.

Now is when it gets tough because there was/is 7 weeks to train for the last 2 races of the year.  Nationals in Jan. and Master's Worlds in Feb.  It will be great to be done in Feb. and then party and drink beer while watching the world's best compete for the rainbow stripes in Louisville. Trek has a big party planned for that Sunday night also so hopefully I will still be able to make my flight that Monday morning.

front row start

trying to stay warm

Mark S., teammate and overall series winner 

the backside of the flyover

Fisher and I w/ 2 to go on Sunday

Thanks to Jason Perry for the photos and to my wife for being so supportive as I travel around acting like some kinda pro bike racer.

Cross and Puzzles

I made it to Bend with only one hitch.  The first time in 2 years I have checked a bag and it did not make it.  It was delivered on Friday but luckily I packed my shoes, helmet and 1 kit in my cary-on so I could ride the course.  Here is a video.  It is a super fun course and I have call up #5.

The Trek CXC house is pretty sweet.  We are living large up the hill about a mile from the course.

After setting up the Trek team tents we rode the course for an hour or so before heading back to the house to wash bikes and shower up.  When the rest of the crew arrived we headed down for the number presentation party and had a beer and picked up #'s.  We cooked up dinner and rested up for the night.

World Cup CX and puzzles last weekend

The gang watched the Euro CX races this morning before heading off to the course and I am hanging out for the morning waiting for bikes that didn't make it on time.

Racing at 1.  Lets do it!

MN CX State Championships

Waiting for my flight to Bend for USGP final so it is a quick recap.

Saturday I had the #2 call up from my 2nd place last year and had an ok start.  I thought with my hard ride the day before I would be opened up but that wasn't the case.  I rode with the lead group of 8 all race but lost it with 2 to go.  Not the finish I hoped for but I am usually better on the 2nd day.  The crowds were awesome and I even picked up 4 $2 bills so I had that going for me which was nice.

Sunday was the 35+ race and even though my motivation in the morning was low, (I almost stayed home) I felt great once the race started.  I ended up with CJ and Fisher the whole race as I chased down all of their attacks.  They played the perfect teammates and had I let one of them go that would have been the end.  I was gapping them through the sand as I was riding it pretty fast so I figured I would attack before the sand and try and hold it. Well, my rut was destroyed by lapped riders and then this happened.  I chased and got within 5 sec. and held on for 3rd.

Now I am waiting for my flight to Redmond.  Sitting at the airport in Seattle on a 3 hour layover.

Bourbon and Horses Day 2

After ascending out of our sleep cave for coffee and breakfast, we piled our stuff into the van and were off to the course for our last day of racing.  We would not be back to the house as myself and Russell would be shuttled straight to the airport after the Elite race.

We made it to the venue in time to sneak in a lap of the newly revised course before the next race went off.  After riding, I was back at the truck to set up the "B" bike on the trainer so I could be all set for my warm up.  I spent about 10 minutes looking around before asking if anyone had seen my other bike.  It was brought back from the pit after yesterdays race and stored in the truck over night.  I checked with the guys in the pit, called a teammate that rode back to the hotel and spoke with the race director and none of them turned up a thing.  My bike was gone, crap, now I was a bit stressed as I warmed up for my race.  Matt was already on the phone lining up a replacement to be shipped out that week and had also set up his bike as my pit bike.  With about 30 minutes til race time, my teammate, Isaac, walks up with my bike and a great story. He was walking the course and sees a guy standing with my bike and quickly takes it from the guy.  The guy looks and says "hey, what are you doing?"  Isaac says "I am taking my teammates bike back, they having been announcing this bike missing for the last 2 hours and you are standing right next to the speakers!"  He says "I just borrowed that this morning!".  Well, it turns out that he had checked out a demo bike from the truck and took the wrong bike. I would have thought the name on the top tube and the $300 Dugast tubulars would have tipped him off that it was not a demo but I guess not.

After the stress of all that business, I had to hit the line for race #2.  I had a pretty good start but not as good as the day before and found myself just off the lead group.  It was really windy and I could never close the gap.  I would get within 5 sec. and then would lose it in the sand as people were running in the only rideable line so I was forced to run.  I ended up 10th but felt like it could have been another top 5 day.  Oh well.

I skipped the elite race and worked the pit and then helped with cleanup so we could get to the airport on time.  We were out fairly quickly and I was on a plane back home from another great weekend with the Trek CXC crew.  I will be back to Louisville for the Master's and Elite World Championships and hopefully my bikes will not go missing.

Thanks to Trek CXC for the great race support this season and to my wife for her encouragement and support to do it.

The land of bourbon and horses-day 1

Last weekend was the third stop of the USGP Cyclocross Series in Loooville, KY, I guess that is how to correctly pronounce it.  I flew out on Friday after work and was picked up and taken to our host house by 8 p.m.

Wonderful hosts and accommodations for the weekend

We had the basement and it was like a sleep cave and was probably more square footage than our whole house.    There were many pictures, art work, etc. that reminded us that we were in Kentucky Derby country.  It was a fantastic place to stay for the weekend.

Since I was the only one that flew in, I was not there to ride the course on Friday so when we made it to the course around 10 I headed out for a couple laps between races.  This was/is going to be the course for the 2013 Elite Cyclocross World Championships in February.  It had steps, a long sand section and high speeds, a great European style course, although it was short.  My 35+ masters race was at 1:00 and my legs were feeling pretty good.  I was called up #10 so 2nd row and I lined up behind Pete Webber, current Master's World Champ, a good wheel to follow.  I had a great start and found myself in the lead group.  I was nailing the long sand section and that is where I was putting time into people.  With 3 to go I caught the series leader, Mark Savery, who is also my teammate, and passed him for the final podium spot and never looked back.  I came across the line in 3rd for my best result so far at a USGP.  3 Minnesotans in the top 10.  Cj Faulkner-5th, Josh Roeser 8th, Chris Fisher-21st, which also put 4 of us in the top 10 for the series.

pretty sure they forgot to give us champaign

It was a great feeling to be on the podium in the Trek CXC colors.  It also meant that the pressure was on for the next day.

We hit up a great place for dinner and a beer and then it was back for some recovery time before heading to the sleep cave.

D-Day

Daddy/Daughter date day and Surly Darkness Day.  No, they were not one in the same.

Annie was gone over MEA weekend so it was daddy/daughter weekend.  There was no daycare for Thursday and Friday so I either had to find a babysitter or take the days off.  Thursday morning Aunt Aimee had her til noon and then I was off work for the weekend.  Friday was adventure day as we headed to Angry Catfish for coffee, Trader Joe's for groceries and a stop at Penn Cycle to drop off cookies for the guys.

Cappuccino for dad and breakfast for Peanut

having salad just like dad

Today was Darkness Day at Surly which keeps getting busier every year.  It started as the only way to get The Darkness but now it is not quite as exclusive since one week later you can get a bottle at the liquour store. The first 2 years I attended I was able to show up on Saturday morning around 9 am and still was within sight of the brewery.  I bought my max of 6 750ml bottles and was off to the afternoon cyclocross race. It has now grown to giving out 1500 wrist bands and this year Matt, Nate and I camped overnight to get our spot and the racing was off the list for the day.

after tents are down and the line is compacted

after getting our wrist band and time slot we headed back
to make breakfast and share beers with other beer geeks

The gates open at 11 am and the food trucks are open for business and the live death metal starts blasting.  We had the 1:30 time slot so we headed across hwy. 100 to Caribou to thaw out and relax for awhile.  The 3 of us headed in around 12:30 to get a beer and have some food before getting our Darkness.

Omar and Todd
the masterminds of Surly and Darkness Day

We were out of there by 1:30 and on our way home from my 5th Darkness Day.

Ft. Collins USGP

Ft. Collins weekend came and went pretty quickly.  It was great to see many friends from CO that I have not seen in a few years.  The races went pretty well with a 9th on Sat. and 14th on Sun.   

I had host housing with Chris, who worked at the local Trek dealer.  It was great staying with a local and hanging out with other like minded people.  He was also only 3 blocks from an friend I met while living in Durango.  

The weather on Saturday was rainy and cool so the course was a bit slick.  It was a mud tire kinda day but not muddy enough to require bike changes in the 35+ race.  The elite race was a whole different track.  It was dried up and the tires stuck like velcro.  It was my second race of the day and I rode around for 30 minutes, eventually pulling out before getting lapped.  The Elite race is more of a bonus workout than anything. 

The weather on Sunday was completely different.  It was sunny and 65 and the course was getting dry and loose.  I felt pretty good after the double effort on Saturday but only managed a 14th.  I was pretty smashed after and decided to bail on the elite race.  I had a beer and hung out at the truck til it was time to work the pit for Bjorn in the elite race.  

Jeff and Sam, the bartenders/truck drivers
3 kegs of New Belgium

The Collective has become the afterparty sponsor of the USGP so we had 3 kegs of New Belgium to serve up for anyone that stopped by.  Beers were drank, truck was packed up and the weekend was over.  I spent Sunday night in Denver with my uncle before flying home early Monday morning in time to make it to work.

Teammates: Matt, Katie, Mark

Sunday night sushi with candied crickets from Japan for dessert

Thanks to Jeremy Cook for the race photos.

Slow this train down!

The blogging has taken a back seat since the first round of the USGP's but now that I have some time with my feet up, I figured I could write something up.  I am in the Denver airport waiting for my ride up to Ft. Collins for rounds 3 and 4 of the USGP series.  I should have a 2nd row call up in the 35+ race so I will hopefully see the front end this weekend.  The Elite races are more of a bonus as they start 2 hours after the master's racing.  Maybe I can pick up some dollar bill hand ups to pay for dinner.

The train of life has been rolling pretty fast lately. The weekends have been full with local racing, relocating the service course and finding a renter for the old one.  The stress has been eased as we had a 2 year lease signed on our townhome last night.

New house

Metal CX podium-2nd

The local racing has been going as well as it can with the 3 on 1 battle I have most races.

Yea, maybe when things slow down a bit I will
get this room put together

Pain cave-with daylight fading this will be where
most of the work gets done

Thankfully the rest of the team clothing showed up before I rolled out for the airport.  With CX being such an equipment heavy sport because of the fall/winter weather it is good to have plenty of extra clothing.  Thanks Trek

On a muddy weekend, all of this clothing plus more
could be all used up plus the 20 pairs varying types of gloves

bath time in the new tub

 I guess I should probably start finding my way out of here.  I guess the trains are not running correctly and they have to run them manually?  Fred Flintstone style?  I am not sure what that means.
It sure is nice not traveling with bikes as mine made the trip out with Bjorn Selander and his Fiance.  Trek has full support out here for us again which if it turns out to be muddy it will be quite nice to have someone in the pit washing bikes.
Thanks to my wonderful family and my sponsors for these bike racing adventures.