The Wausau WORS race went acceptably well. As predicted, I hammered the ATV trail and got hammered by the singletrack. My training will now include at least one day a week on dirt as long as the rain stops. 70th in Comp. Meh.
I'm now a f'realz manager at TBS. It's a challenge and slightly intimidating and completely exhilarating. Much to learn and figure out. Some dude wants to buy my 8500 and have me ship it to NY. I'm waiting for the check to clear before anything goes out the door. Ten I'm buying a Montare and pimping it.
Tuesday night crits in Madison have two cats: A and B. No beers, but they do have candy preems. I gave a few good leadouts to some dude and got his preem candy. SCORE! I know what I'm doing Tuesday nights. The Madone is feeling the mileage of the Spring, and the chain and cassette are fried. Same with the rubber. I'm probably sending $300 to TCG just to get it to run properly. OUCH.
I rode to Blue Mounds with Gehling last week. Sufferfest, he is faster, I can ramp it up faster. But I think it will be good for me to ride with him. I'll get faster.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
The Trek Trails...
are awesome. Totally awesome. I doubt I'll ever ride elsewhere in South Wisco. Gehling is way fast and has better handling skillz, but I might be able to take him on a long climb. With all the road time I've put in, turning the bike is not as easy as it once was.
Trek corporate is something else. We saw the new Bontrager shoes that are coming out in July. Watch out Sidi, these things are slick. The 08 hardtails were lined up in a hallway, and I saw some of the concept and R&D for the Limes. Also saw the pink Madone Contador might be riding if he wins in Milan. As predicted in my last entry, I geeked out big time.
Wish list: Superfly, Soho S with Race XXX Lite parts everywhere, XO-2, Race X Lite road wheels with white spokes. Better start saving those commuter credits for TCG.
Today it's off to Wausau for my first WORS race in 5 years. This should be interesting.
Trek corporate is something else. We saw the new Bontrager shoes that are coming out in July. Watch out Sidi, these things are slick. The 08 hardtails were lined up in a hallway, and I saw some of the concept and R&D for the Limes. Also saw the pink Madone Contador might be riding if he wins in Milan. As predicted in my last entry, I geeked out big time.
Wish list: Superfly, Soho S with Race XXX Lite parts everywhere, XO-2, Race X Lite road wheels with white spokes. Better start saving those commuter credits for TCG.
Today it's off to Wausau for my first WORS race in 5 years. This should be interesting.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Welcome to the new school
Rough week, little sleep, lots of riding, new job, neato bikes, lots of coffee.
Trek is quite something. The professionalism and corporate resources and organization (and, and, and,) don't eliminate the bike shop feel. It's still a bike shop and we had beer at employee training Tuesday evening and then had more beer and hung out for a while. It was good to just have some fun at a bike shop.
Selling here is very different from St. Paul, as I can move a 3k bike on a Tuesday afternoon and tack on 1k in accessories. I had a customer who commutes come in and buy a Soho 3.0 to continue her commuting trend. Selling her that bike and seeing how excited she was to own it made me actually feel excited about bikes.
This weekend is the Wausau WORS and I'm going with Geo and some other TBS kids in the TBS van. And I'm sure we're all going to wear TBS kits and drink TBS coffee and be TBS BFFs. I'd tell you I'm not geeking out, but it might be a lie.
As for getting acclimated, it's been rough. The local coffee shop is okay. They make great lattes, but it's kept pretty clean. No ERC, let me tell you. I don't have a bar yet, but an Irish Pub is going in across from Target and my brother has some leads on a few cool places we can check out. It's been a long week. My plans have changed for the next year or so. No more tandem. Lots of solo road rides on the Madone.
In about 15 minutes I'm headed to the Waterloo trails to ride with Gehling (sales manager east) and Rabbit (tech east). I'm sure this will involve more geeking out.
Tomorrow I start the search for grad programs.
Trek is quite something. The professionalism and corporate resources and organization (and, and, and,) don't eliminate the bike shop feel. It's still a bike shop and we had beer at employee training Tuesday evening and then had more beer and hung out for a while. It was good to just have some fun at a bike shop.
Selling here is very different from St. Paul, as I can move a 3k bike on a Tuesday afternoon and tack on 1k in accessories. I had a customer who commutes come in and buy a Soho 3.0 to continue her commuting trend. Selling her that bike and seeing how excited she was to own it made me actually feel excited about bikes.
This weekend is the Wausau WORS and I'm going with Geo and some other TBS kids in the TBS van. And I'm sure we're all going to wear TBS kits and drink TBS coffee and be TBS BFFs. I'd tell you I'm not geeking out, but it might be a lie.
As for getting acclimated, it's been rough. The local coffee shop is okay. They make great lattes, but it's kept pretty clean. No ERC, let me tell you. I don't have a bar yet, but an Irish Pub is going in across from Target and my brother has some leads on a few cool places we can check out. It's been a long week. My plans have changed for the next year or so. No more tandem. Lots of solo road rides on the Madone.
In about 15 minutes I'm headed to the Waterloo trails to ride with Gehling (sales manager east) and Rabbit (tech east). I'm sure this will involve more geeking out.
Tomorrow I start the search for grad programs.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Yeah, I can race 4s
Tonight was my first 4s race and my final Opus excursion. Brian "Cupcake Big Party California" Dump-Can, The Brain, and Butters and I went out there. We killed Butters on the way out, got him there five minutes before the start, and he got destroyed. He loved it. This kid is gonna make it.
Caleb, Cupcake, and I raced 4s. We made it fast from the gun, and strung out the pack on the flat headwindy back section. After the first preem we knew we couldn't outsprint some of the guys, so we made the race suck for them. Just about every lap we attacked on the hill, regardless of a preem. It almost stuck twice, and I did get to ride a lap on my own, but they pulled us in. We didn't win, but man did we make the others work for it.
Some kids didn't seem so happy about it afterward. Billy gave me a high-five on our tactics today. Then I got a hug, since I'm moving.
It's been nice racing in Minnesota these past few years. I was born and raised in Madison, but I'm a Minneapolis cyclist all the way. Fuck yeah!
Caleb, Cupcake, and I raced 4s. We made it fast from the gun, and strung out the pack on the flat headwindy back section. After the first preem we knew we couldn't outsprint some of the guys, so we made the race suck for them. Just about every lap we attacked on the hill, regardless of a preem. It almost stuck twice, and I did get to ride a lap on my own, but they pulled us in. We didn't win, but man did we make the others work for it.
Some kids didn't seem so happy about it afterward. Billy gave me a high-five on our tactics today. Then I got a hug, since I'm moving.
It's been nice racing in Minnesota these past few years. I was born and raised in Madison, but I'm a Minneapolis cyclist all the way. Fuck yeah!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Finals, Graduation, Madison
Finals are here. I'm taking a break right now from relating (in only TWO pages) Thomas Kuhn's concepts of scientific paradigm shifts with Darwinian natural selection. I know, it's exciting stuff.
After Opus two weeks ago I had to knuckle down for finals and I got pretty sick with a stomach bug, so I haven't ridden much since. My cat 4 upgrade went through so I'll be in the 4s tomorrow, hopefully giving Big Party a lead-out. After Opus, I have one more day at Boehm's, a presentation, graduation, and then I'm moving to Madison and working at the East Side Trek Store.
I'm VERY excited for this new job.
As for summer racing, I'm mostly at the mercy of my job, but that's cool. I'll do Superweek when I can, and maybe hit up some close WORS events, but racing is officially dropping down lower on my list of priorities.
#1 once I graduate: Cruiseliner
Saw Screech at 1on1 today. He stole my Madone for a bit.
Back to Darwin and Kuhn and paradigm shits. That isn't a typo.
After Opus two weeks ago I had to knuckle down for finals and I got pretty sick with a stomach bug, so I haven't ridden much since. My cat 4 upgrade went through so I'll be in the 4s tomorrow, hopefully giving Big Party a lead-out. After Opus, I have one more day at Boehm's, a presentation, graduation, and then I'm moving to Madison and working at the East Side Trek Store.
I'm VERY excited for this new job.
As for summer racing, I'm mostly at the mercy of my job, but that's cool. I'll do Superweek when I can, and maybe hit up some close WORS events, but racing is officially dropping down lower on my list of priorities.
#1 once I graduate: Cruiseliner
Saw Screech at 1on1 today. He stole my Madone for a bit.
Back to Darwin and Kuhn and paradigm shits. That isn't a typo.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday Night Worlds
I raced Opus for the first time last night, but since my cat.4 upgrade hadn't gone through yet (it got processed while I was there) I had to race 5s.
The course is okay. The climb toward the end is just long enough that some of the 5s got strung out on it if you big-ringed it. I sat in 2nd for a few laps to see what was up, and soon discovered that they sprinted hard for a preem and then took it very easy for a few laps til they sprinted again.
This guy named Rob and I got to the top of the climb after preem 2, and Billy was screaming at me to go hard. I looked back and we had a gap, so I told Rob to punch it and we rode on our own for most of the race. He gave me a preem win, and we traded pulls.
The last time up the hill some guy in a slick Twin-6 jersey smoked past us and a few other guys were winding it up trying to catch up. I jumped and beat one of them, but one guy beat me.
I won points-wise. It was fun. Time for something faster.
The course is okay. The climb toward the end is just long enough that some of the 5s got strung out on it if you big-ringed it. I sat in 2nd for a few laps to see what was up, and soon discovered that they sprinted hard for a preem and then took it very easy for a few laps til they sprinted again.
This guy named Rob and I got to the top of the climb after preem 2, and Billy was screaming at me to go hard. I looked back and we had a gap, so I told Rob to punch it and we rode on our own for most of the race. He gave me a preem win, and we traded pulls.
The last time up the hill some guy in a slick Twin-6 jersey smoked past us and a few other guys were winding it up trying to catch up. I jumped and beat one of them, but one guy beat me.
I won points-wise. It was fun. Time for something faster.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
MN home road race, ITT, Crit
Ooooooh, buddy. The phrase "hardest day on the bike ever" isn't an understatement. Saturday at our home road race in Plainview SUCKED for me. I bonked big time. I'm going to chalk it up to not enough food, not enough sleep, and not enough riding, as I solod it in in the Cs RR for like 12th. I spun my legs out in the ITT and had a bacon cheeseburger at Friday's. The thought that maybe I wasn't worthy of racing C's popped into my head. Yeah, bad day.
Then came the crit. It was in a parking lot on MSU Mankato's campus, but the course rocked, none the less. There were good corners, and plenty of bitching cornering. Kari and Steph raced with the men's Cs, but Steph wasn't feelin it. Kari was, and she was a rockstar today.
I got the first preem lap, and then sat in, hoping to have another go for a preem lap. I knew I couldn't outsprint the fast kids for the finish, and fully expected Nebraska to just solo away (which he did). All in all, I felt way better in the crit, and I think it's going to be a good season once I can get on a regular riding schedule.
Big ups to Deidre for kickin ass in the crit (even though she crashed) and to Megan for owning the women's RR.
We have a young team at the U right now, but in a year I think we'll be back on top of the conference. Mitch and Caleb are really picking it up, and next year Megan and Deidre will be ridin with Steph and Kari.
Jameson is a rocket. He's gonna be an A next year. A few of us had a chat about "wanting to win" today. I want it now. Now that I'm just a mid-pack punk, I want to win big time.
Tink out
Then came the crit. It was in a parking lot on MSU Mankato's campus, but the course rocked, none the less. There were good corners, and plenty of bitching cornering. Kari and Steph raced with the men's Cs, but Steph wasn't feelin it. Kari was, and she was a rockstar today.
I got the first preem lap, and then sat in, hoping to have another go for a preem lap. I knew I couldn't outsprint the fast kids for the finish, and fully expected Nebraska to just solo away (which he did). All in all, I felt way better in the crit, and I think it's going to be a good season once I can get on a regular riding schedule.
Big ups to Deidre for kickin ass in the crit (even though she crashed) and to Megan for owning the women's RR.
We have a young team at the U right now, but in a year I think we'll be back on top of the conference. Mitch and Caleb are really picking it up, and next year Megan and Deidre will be ridin with Steph and Kari.
Jameson is a rocket. He's gonna be an A next year. A few of us had a chat about "wanting to win" today. I want it now. Now that I'm just a mid-pack punk, I want to win big time.
Tink out
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