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