Artiiiiiist!!

Jen's Pumpkin
Brendan's Pumpkin

Who's is better? BTW, mine is modeled after a 9.9 or a Scott Scale...

We had a good fun weekend...Beerfestapolooza on Saturday night at Mick's was sweet. We missed our first Madison Halloween in 8 years. They had a pretty lame plan to combat rioting this year, which included paying to go down on State Street. It is really to bad that people can't just have fun on an occasion like that, but I don't blame the city for trying to keep things safe and calm. For those who went I hope it was fun!

I am flying to Bangkok on Friday. 20 hours on a plane...sweet. I will definitely keep you all updated on my adventures there.

Is it winter already?

The report from Ben at collegiate nationals:
It was a short and sweet report, but Ben said the air was thin (base of Anglefire is 8600 feet). Hmm, I wonder which colleges did well.... Ben was around 30th in both the STXC and XC with the field size around 80. Given his severe crash one weekend ago (a car ran over his fuel and smashed the frame, luckily he fell off to the side of the road and was only bruised and battered) and the altitude and having to setup a different bike, I would say it was a successful weekend and a great learning experience.

My week...relaxing=)
With recent highs around 40 degrees and a rainy first half of the week, it seems that we skipped right over the nice 60 degree fall weather. However, with my fall riding done almost exclusively on the trail, I am usually quite comfortable in some Under Armour thermal gear and a long sleeve jersey with tights. This week, I managed work on my off road skills at all of the good nearby singletrack...Lebanon, Mammoth, and the River Bottoms... girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.
Saturday night was the MNSCS Awards banquet, and it was fun to hang out with all the racers again. As state champion, I received a t-shirt that says "series champion." =)

The highlight of the night for me was the vending machine at QBP....Seagate needs one of these for those days when we have marathon length meetings....

Reflections....

Well, I am finally getting around to publishing a season summary.
In my fourth year of racing...it sure seems like I have been doing it longer, but I know I still have a lot to learn... I had 3 major goals for myself: 1. Finish Top 3 in MNSCS Overall Standings 2. Win 24 of Afton Team Competition 3. Top 10 at Chequamegon. I managed the first two and am pretty sure I had the legs to get the third, but I will take 2 out of 3=)

So here is a brief summary:
30 races
9 wins
MNSCS Overall Series Win
25 Podiums (top 3)

One of the most exciting things about this year was the fact that our teams, Velo Rochester and Women On Wheels, have really come together.
Mountain Team Highlights:
1 and 2 and 6 overall in the expert mens MNSCS series with 3 wins (myself and Chris Fisher and my Brother Ben)
1 in Womens MNSCS overall (yeah Jen Meyer!)
1 in both Buck Hill Series while winning 10 of 12 races (myself and Fisher)
1 in 24x9 Mile mens expert (Charly "Jo Mama" Tri)
1 in 24 of Afton Open Mens Team (Ben, Chris, myself, and Ben Portilla)
1 in Eastern Collegiate Regionals (Ben riding for half UW and half VR=)
?? Collegiate nationals - results coming this weekend

THANKS:

Much off the my person and the team's successes should be credited to the team Czar, Matt Hawkins, the team's Queen Bee, Deb Lee, and the rest of the support crew at Rochester Cycling and Fitness. Without them, we would have been pedalling Sledghammers and riding in old t-shirts. I am sure by this time of year they are tired of me calling and asking, "Um, Deb, could you order me some ____."

I also need to Thank my wonderful wife and my Dad for all the support. Without those two we would have been very thirsty. And my wife gets a second thanks for putting up with my racing. She never complained once about having to travel to races most weekends. I am lucky to have her=) I am excited to have a second, slightly smaller fan cheering me on next year.

Well, enough already. Don't give up on the blog though. There will be some exciting updates...and not just on cycling. I am headed to Thailand for work in a couple of weeks and I plan of doing plenty of updates from Bangkok and Korat. Expect some exciting cycling equipment updates and some new stuff I will be trying next year. I will be divulging some of my top secret off-season training techniques....not that anyone cares. Oh yeah, and in February I should have something pretty exciting to report regarding Jen's belly shrinking....I am happy to report she now weighs as much as I do!

Perfect

The only way to describe this weekend is "perfect." The weather, the friends, the activities, the setting, were all perfect.
We headed off to Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo WI for a weekend of camping, biking, hiking, eating, and drinking. This time of year, I always try to get together with those that I don't get to spend enough time with during the summer. 16-20 such people showed up this weekend to fill 4 campsites.
We arrived Friday around 9pm, and while it should have been dark, a full moon kept it bright enough to set up camp with any other light source. The campfire was already roaring, so after getting the tent squared away, it was down to the other site for some beer and good chit chat.
Saturday was spent riding over at Devils Head Ski Resort. We had a solid crew of 8 or so that did a lap of the xc course.
Here is my dad cresting the last hill. Not bad for a 50 year old.
After a lap with the group, we hit the downhill course a couple of times which was gnarly and sweet. The fuel ex ate up the rocks, roots, and whoops.
Saturday night my Brother-In-Law, Joe, showed up with 6 racks of Famous Dave's ribs. We cooked them on a tripod over an open fire. Those ribs were the best I have ever had! Everyone was cooking their own thing over the fire and the beer/bantering carried well on into the night.
On Sunday we went hiking around Devils Lake. With my gimpy foot, I had to wear cycling shoes (it still hurts like a banshee to walk with bare feet) but I managed to hang with the group. The views from attop the quartzite bluffs were amazing.

Jen carried "the Belly" to the top.
Jeff and Josh "riding" Elephant Rock
It was just one of those weekends that you hope never ends.

Broken Foot? Maybe

This is why I don't mix hockey and bike racing. Monday morning I started up hockey again, and on my first shift, I took a hard snap shot off the top of my foot. This hurts like heck but happens all the time and is just part of the game. I finished the hour+ with no pain. When the skates came off, it really hurt to walk. That evening, I found myself looking at an x-ray that was "inconclusive". It might be broken (the top of the bone may have cracked from impact) or it might be strained ligaments (foot smushed down from impact). The Doc looked at me an said, "Normally we would splint the foot and give you crutches, but I am guessing you wouldn't use them." To which, I reponded, "That is an accurate assessment." He ended up giving me a gimpy looking bootie with the instructions to rest it. I said, "so I can do any activities that done hurt it, right?" He said that is a good rule of thumb. When we got home, I went straight to the basement, and Jen yells, "what the heck are you doing." I was doing the obvious, strapping on some cycling shoes to see if it hurts to ride. It doensn't. I rode the river bottoms yesterday, albiet a little slower than normal, with no pain. It still hurts to walk....

In more exciting news, my brother, riding for UW/VeloRochester won both the XC and STXC at Collegiate Regionals in Kentucky. He has won every XC collegiate race he has entered this year. Nationals are at Anglefire in a couple of weeks. He is going to show those Colorado "community college students" what Midwest riders are made of. Ben is about as good as Fisher at emailing, but if I get a race recap from him, I will post it.

New Bike #1

Well, I just couldn't resist. Trek was having a blowout...so I sold my old fuel which was going to be retired to a fall/spring trail bike and upgraded to this beauty for less than $500.
Specs:
2006 Fuel EX 9.5 with 4" of cushy front and rear travel. All stock except: Stans instead of tubes(of course), the wtb saddle that we won at 24 of Afton, egg beaters, and Salsa Grips
Weight: 26.6 lbs (too heavy to race unless we have a St. Cloud repeat!)

The new fuel 9.9 should be here in several weeks...