2 Bucks

There was no racing on Memorial weekend for me. Instead, it was a solid block of family time spent down in Rochester. Needless to say, we had great time. The only on-bike excitement came when my dad crossed wheels and crashed on a ride w/ my bro and I. Other than some missing skin and bruises he is ok and came away with a cracked helmet rather than a cracked skull.

Family Time

My bro, Brad, with his Thai style mohawk (he just got back from several months in Asia) reading to my kids

The last 2 Buck Hills have been equipment experiments for me, which seemed to have worked out in my favor. In both races, I was able to ride off the front in the first lap after really hard starts by Chris Fisher last week and Doug Swanson yesterday.

The experiment: I recently got a new Trek HT built up and have had the itch to try hardtail racing again. It has been 3-4 years since I raced a hardtail in an XC event, and I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised. First, the tuned ride of the Trek w/ the extended seat mast is awesome. It is a much more supple ride than I have experienced in the past w/ hardtails, and I can see why many manufactures are going to the extended seatmast on their top end bikes. Second, it has forced me to work on my "skills". The hardtail is a sharper tool and sometimes I get lazy with the dually.

All that said, for most full length XC races the Top Fuel is a better bike. I really notice this on the bumpy sections of the course (whether flat or not) where the hardtail makes you work a lot harder. With only a 1.5-2 lbf difference between bikes, weight is not a big factor.

Ok, enough rambling about bikes, but technology and trying new stuff is part of the fun!

Afton on Sunday is next. I am going to try to chase the U23 National Champion around, which should be entertaining=)

Recovery

I came out of last weekend with a cold, stayed home from work on Monday basically in bed, but proceeded to commute on Tues and Wed. I should have taken another day off to recover but the weather was just too darn nice!
At Buck Hill on Thursday Jack was drilling it. I didn't have the snap in my legs and was barely hanging on when in about 1 minute I crossed wheels with a lapped rider and had another lapped rider crash into me sending my OTB. Neither were really my fault or the fault of the lapped rider and that is part of racing especially at Buck Hill. Jack kept on it and got the win.
Saturday was the first MMBS race that saw a rain delayed start and peanut buttery tacky course for the the elite race. The sport riders had it rough right after the rain with some uber muddy conditions, but they pounded most of the rain out of the course for us. Thanks guys and gals! Doug Swanson has been doing more mtbking this year, and it showed as off the start I followed his wheel to a nice gap after 2 hard laps. The race was shortened from 5 to 4 laps to "preserve the course", and on the 3rd lap it was my turn to do some work in the blustery conditions. I put my head down and drilled it for that 3rd lap and managed to get a gap on Doug. The only thing I was certain of was that I did NOT want to sprint against him, as he wins almost every sprint he is in. The 4th lap was more of the same any I cruised home for the win. While the race was short, it sure wasn't easy. Props to the volunteers who stayed and made the right decision by not canceling the race.In other news, my brother Ben rocked a win in only his second race of the year out in the east coast Hudson to Highland Series. He said he lead from start to finish and said he felt strong all day. He is coming home in a couple weeks for some family, fun and racing; he will definitely be up at the front somewhere at the next 2 MMBS races in Afton and Du Lac.
I will be at Buck this Thurs, and heading to Rochester this weekend. Maybe the Rochester 29er crew will let me come on one of their secret training rides.

Trek Demos!

Trek is bringing the demo fleet to the Twin Cities for you to do real world testing on their best stuff.

Schedule:
Saturday, May 22 at the Freewheel Frolic – MNMBS Series Opener from 9:00 – 3:00
Sunday, May 23rd at Murphy Hanrehan from 10:00 – 3:00
Monday, May 24th at the Human Powered Trails (HPT) in La Crosse from 2:00 – 7:00

The men's and women’s demo rigs will be at all the events, and Jack Hinkens and I will be out at Murphy for some group riding and chilling/grilling on Sunday.

Back at it

Racing has resumed with rigor. On tap this past week were Buck Hill, the Cable Off Road Classic, and the Velo Rochester training camp (they still invite me despite me moving to Trek=).

Buck Hill on Thursday night was cool and rainy. We all slopped around in the mud a little and had fun. I was able to hold off a hard charging SamO, who is notoriously good in the slop, for the win.

On Friday I cruised up to Cable where Charly Tri hosts the Velo Rochester Team training camp every year on the same weekend as the CORC. This makes for very fun weekend of racing and riding one of the best trail systems in the US. The CORC was at 10am Sat, and we were lucky to get perfect weather and near perfect trail conditions. During the 3 mile gravel road lead out, I lead the entire way but not by choice. No one would come around me so I just set my own pace and I guess it was good enough for everyone else. Oh well, it worked out ok as I got the holeshot (my goal was to be in the first 5 wheels going in). After the first section of singletrack, I was with Scott KJ and Jack was ~15 seconds back. Scott pulled through nicely as we worked together through the only other significant gravel road section in the race. I was like "Scott, what the heck are 2 dads doing up here at the front of the race? Shouldn't the young kids with all the time and quality sleep be up here." We both got a good chuckle over that. I managed to get a little separation near the end of that road section and never looked back.

Oh and the course? It was demanding and so SWEET that I forgot I was racing. Time wise, it was probably 60-70% tight, twisty, rocky, rooty midwest-style singletrack. It was the kind of course that reminds me why I started riding mountain bikes.

Anyway, I cruised home for the win with a smile on my face. In the picture sequence below, my friends Dan Dittmer and Jake Richards are sprinting it out. I think the kid got it!

Sunday was a tour of several of the CAMBA trails with the Velo crew. Rock lake ROCKS!

A couple notes on different gear I am trying this year:

First, I tried the new Bontrager XR2 tires, which I will be using for general riding and less than ideal conditions, for the first time in slippery conditions at Buck. They hooked up pretty well, but not as good as a true mud tire.

Second, I finally got to race on my race tires (XR1 front XR0 rear)... simply awesome. Faster than the Racing Ralphs IMO.

Third, I am using a Fox RLC fork rather than a SID this year. It is stiffer, more tunable, and smoother than last years Rock Shox SID for sure, but I haven't ridden this years version.

Pics above are from Jay Richards.

Next up is another Thursday Saturday combo with Buck Hill and MMBS (formerly MNSCS) #1.

Racing is hard

This pic was taken as I was telling Jay that every off-season I forget how hard mountain bike racing is. I remembered quickly this weekend at Maplelag.

It rained a good amount the night before the race making the already difficult Maplelag course slippery, peanut buttery, and muddy. However, riding slippery rooty rocky courses is one area I don't get a lot of and need more "practice", and this was a great opportunity for just that! There were no easy pedal strokes out there, but I managed to hold off the O-bros.

Great pic taken by Jay of SamO rocking it up the steep lakeside drop.

As always, my family and I are very thankful for the good times and hospitality up at Maplelag.

Next up will be the Elk River Spring race. As it has been noted on the Sandwich 50 blog I wussed out on that race ;)

Drool

In our family, when Ben and I ride we almost always ride hard. When we ride hard, it is know as a "drool on the top tube ride." It sounds like Ben, who may be back here in MN by mid-season, has been doing a fair amount of drooling this spring.
Yesterday, the wind was so strong it was a "drool on myself ride."

Racing wise, I plan to open it up here next weekend down in Decorah. All I need now is a couple rainy days to force me to rest=)

Passion and Jealousy

Maybe I am too pragmatic in my approach to this blog. I do enjoy the near poetry that some use in the bike blog-o-sphere, but I am no poet. Either way, I need to put more in here that is not equipement or race related....

This morning as I was riding in to work, I had a small revelation that each year I find a new aspect of cycling that drives my passion for it. I didn't start riding only to race, and I need to remind myself sometimes that I still don't.
This year, my passion has been refuel with commuting. I commuted some in the past when it was convenient but in recent months that has changed. To use a cliche, variety is the spice of life: since last fall, I have pedaled to work on 4 different bikes, 6 different wheelsets, using at least 10 different routes, on surfaces of ice, snow, sand, dirt, and pavement, with round trip times ranging from 1.5-4.5 hours, and in conditions ranging from freezing rain and blizzards (when schools were closed) to floods to sunny beautiful days like today.
For me, there is no more refreshing liberating mode of transportation than a bicycle. Seeing others commuting on bike when I do drive to work, which is require on the 2-3 mornings a week I play hockey, evokes feelings of jealousy.
What can I say? I love to ride my bike.

Cheers

Rig

....a heafty 21 lbs as pictured.

The specs are close to a stock 9.9 (full XX suite) except a few personal touches:

• Wheels were rebuilt with some aerolite spokes and DT 190 hubs (Thanks Tyson!) - a little lighter
• Swapped Fox RL fork with RLC - set it and forget it is my MO
• SLR Gelflow XC saddle - on all my bikes, even my roady...it fits my butt well
• Bontrager XXX lite riser - I have raced on this bar for 4 years now...nothing wrong with the stock bar, but I didn't want to change.
• Tires - oooooo, lots to say here. I will be running some combination of Bontrager XR0, XR1, XR2, and occasionally the MudX. Right now I am thinking XR0 2.1" rear and XR1 2.2" front. I am excited to be trying some new rubber and Bonti has really stepped up last year and this year w/ new treads and super supple casings. More to come on this when I actually get to put them through their paces.
• Road bar tape wrap for grips - can't beat it IMO
• Twin Ti egg beater pedals - I don't trust Ti spindles... the twin Ti has a CroMoly steel spindle
• Bontrager RXL Shoes - ok not part of the bike but still critical. After trying them side by side with Shimano's top shoe these win hands down. I can't put my finger on why, but the power transfer is better.

Thanks to Trek for the sweet ride and accommodating my personal touches, and more to come on the Trek Mountain Bike Coop Team. We will be hosting a facebook page as our primary media portal, but I still plan to keep this blog chugging along.

Pink Floyd "butts" poster in the background courtesy of my lovely wife (although she will only let me put it up in my mancave=)

Mancave Chaos

Specs and weights will follow for the new rig. Suffice it to say, it is lighter and sweeter than last year...I didn't know that was possible.
Oh, and the training? I think that is coming along nicely.

Pugfest Video

Cool video of Pugfest put together by Sue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvPlqAIuhqo

If you don't have a pug, I bet you want one now!