Shevegas - Down to the Last Dollar

The men's elite winner, Jesse, coming across the line. When I was standing at the Equalizer, Cole House had come through first the last couple of times I saw them, with Jesse right on his wheel. Jesse put some time on Cole near the end of the race. I can't find a pic of the elite women's winner. I'm not sure what her jersey looks like, I thought one of the other women won.

You know where you are when you see THIS guy!

His encouragement, which is unwavering but comes in various forms (as you can see), helps a lot of people make it to the top.....of the equalizer, at least! He's having open heart surgery next week - we wish him the best in his surgery!

Below, Sam got the last 5 dollar bill left in the citizen race. I have lots of interesting pics of other people grimacing their way up the hill, but this fellow made it look easy! The crowds lining the hill haven't formed yet at that time of the day. More to come!!! I'll have a photo link soon.

Yikes!

I guess this is only the beginning, as the economy gets worse and worse.... I got one of those toll-free fraud prevention calls from a credit card company this morning. When I called back, I found that someone made a bunch of large charges using my credit card number today. Huge cable bills, and a huge electric bill! Much much bigger than mine would ever be. And a few dollars at a food store, and ten or so dollars at Walmart. I guess the small transactions were a "test"?

The thing that doesn't make sense to me is that if someone pays their cable bill and their electric bill with someone else's credit card number, they know where to find that person! Or they know where to find someone, at least. If they used it to buy goods, at least in theory they can disappear with the stuff.... is that a really dumb thief, or is there something I am missing? or were they just desperate? And of course you always wonder, how did they get my number?

Shevegas Time!

It's that time of year, Shevegas is here!

Watch this if your memory is fuzzy... someone posted a link to this old video on the WORS board. If you are on the fence about 'cross vs. Sheboygan this weekend, maybe this will help. I've done all but one of the series races, so it's Sheboygan for me!

ChiCross Cup #2 - DeKalb

A Half Acre rider, most likely Tim, racing in the 4A's. I like this bridge.

Once I got to the venue and saw the course I was really bummed that I wasn't racing. It really looked like fun to me. It didn't seem as bumpy as others either. It seemed like I would have done reasonably well on parts of it, though I might have had trouble on the off camber slippery stuff in the rain... Seeing so many friends having a great day kind of made up for it, though. It was nice that so many people I knew won, and nice to see so many others do well, have fun, and maybe achieve some personal goal, like not wiping out on the slippery off-camber downhill near the Cuttin' Crew bus!

Below are three of the winners. Holly of Killjoy in the women's 1/2/3's, Wayne in the 50+ and Tim in the 40+! Wayne and Tim both ride for Verdigris Custom Homes. Tim is a former mountain bike teammate. Nice job, all of you!

Tim's teammate Chris L. (also a former mt bike teammate) was on track to win the 30+, which would have made it a Verdigris trifecta, a win for their team in each of the masters races. He got a flat though, and got third. I wasn't there to see the masters races, though, so I don't know who did win, or who got second.

Mike Hemme of Killjoy, below, had a fantastic Cat 3 race and took the win! And then he came back and did the Cat 1/2's and did well in that race too! Now I imagine you are thinking, isn't that the guy who won the six hour duo with his teammate Jason the day before at John Muir? Indeed, that is the one. Impressive.

it started to rain during the Cat 3/ Women 1,2,3's race and got worse for the Women 4's and Juniors race. It changed the nature of the course alot for the Women's 4's and later races. The off camber downhill turned into a crash fest! This pic is from the 4A's.

In the Men's 1/2's race a big congrats goes to Scott (SRAM Factory)(and yet another former mtb teammate) for really pushing it, taking an opportunity when the rider behind him crashed to get a decisive lead and then a strong win! After a long week of non-stop traveling all around the country, no less. All that suffering in Madison last week at the UCI races must have been good preparation for this one. It was a good course for his mad skillz on the bike.

I guess I won't repeat what Kevin K. was saying below when he tore around the tree at warp speed, heading towards the start/finish area. He overcame a frustrating start to finish strong in 3rd place in the 1/2's race, go Kevin!

Tom brought his new Eriksen out for its debut this weekend! Sunday was his second ride on it. He rode the 4A's. I'm very much drooling over this work of art - the parts/decal color scheme is perfect, the frame flawless, all around excellent taste! It was great to see Tom at the races again, and to see little Hans (his son, not the bike). Check out this drool-worthy machine!! mmm, mango orange.....

David L., son of Chris L. of Verdigris, is having fun doing the junior races this year. Those barriers have got to be so much harder when your bike is almost as big as you are! When you see David out there on the course, give him some encouragement, he's the future of our sport!

I'm really enjoying seeing so many of the Chicago area peeps at the cross series that I haven't seen in ages due to traveling to WORS and WEMS all summer. It was great to see all of the Half Acre team peeps at their race! Well, most of them - I was sorry that Julie and Ben had a car breakdown and didn't make it. We missed them! The Half Acres, along with North Central Cyclery, put on a great event with interesting little extras. They had fun stuff going on, like the bake sale and cool t-shirts and great posters and the giant checks that would have been great on the podium had it not rained. It was a good venue, from a spectator standpoint. A building for shelter from the rain, and real bathrooms. From a racer standpoint, the course looked to be really fun, and was nice and long. I took lots and lots of pics, so if you have the patience to scan the thumbnails, have at it! I have some of the Women 1/2/3's, Men Cat 3's, Women 4's and Juniors, Men Cat 1/2, Men Cat 4A's. Some are kinda dark due to the rain and overcast skies. For you Half Acre riders, I tried to take lots of pics of you because I knew you guys were too busy to be out snapping many photos!

P.S. A little blast from the past for anyone who's been around mt bike racing for a while - remember this Pedal Power jersey? When he (I forgot this racer's name, although I remember his face) showed us the jersey on Sunday and asked us if we remembered it, I was trying to also remember the name of the guy who owned that shop who was always at the races. I think he ran the races that were always at the boy scout camp in Kankakee? Both mt and a few cross races were there. One year the state 'cross champs were there in the pouring rain! (I lost the race, got second (small field, only one category then), because I couldn't see the trail through my glasses in the rain, especially on the downhills. I had to slow down or risk crashing and burning, it was sooo frustrating to have that be the reason!) anyway, I now remember his name, can anyone else remember, just for the fun of it?

12 Hours at John Muir - Saturday

Congrats to Chris (World Bicycle Relief) on winning the three hour race at John Muir! He's headed off to Moab this week for the 24 event there. This race was a good tune-up. It was nice to hang with Chris' family, Kim, Kari (sp?), and Kaylee, in the fall afternoon sun.

Jason and Mike from Killjoy won the six hour duo men's race. Congrats to them! Kenny (race director) came over to them after the race and asked who it was that had such fast lap times. Mike's lap times were amongst the fastest for the day for the 6 and 12 hour course.


Julie and Audrey of Half Acre took second place in the women's 4 person team category, and they (along with teammate Amanda) will get first overall in the series. Congrats! Happy Birthday to Audrey - Saturday was her birthday!

I sat out the race, having twisted my ankle in the dark on a pothole previously and having tweaked some body parts when I landed. I had hoped to do this race but it was not meant to be.

I got very lucky in the raffle. Well, not hydraulic brakes lucky, but some good stuff that I can use. They pulled out three of my tickets! I got some handlebar grips (I need some), a big canister of energy drink in a flavor I like, and a neat little gift pack from Planet Bike with a hat, co2 cartridge and filler, seat pack, and tire irons. Thanks to the sponsors who donated the items.

There was a good turnout and it was nice to see a bunch of familiar peeps there racing and hanging out. My teammates DJ and Wendy and their friend Mike B. showed up unexpectedly for a ride, not realizing the WEMS race was that day.

Sunday was the Dekalb cross race. More on that later. I've spent hours looking through a bunch of my not-so-great pics from the cross race and now I'm falling asleep - it's late Sunday night. Dekalb cross pics can be found here. They are kind of hit or miss. It got very overcast and rained for part of the day. I posted the whole batch, of which there are many, thinking people would enjoy seeing themselves even if the photo quality is so-so.

John Muir pics, of which there are just a few, can be found here.

As America implodes, the bike industry booms

I ran across this article titled As America implodes, the bike industry booms.

Switching Gears....

Troy Wells, Clif Bar, charging to the top of one of the more challenging hills of Saturday's course.

For me, it was 'cross spectating on Saturday, then mtb racing on Sunday.

Saturday's Jonathan Page Planet Bike 'Cross event pics. The flickr uploading process is taking forever - it keeps getting hung up and skipping lots of photos, so then I have to go back and try again. It's slow going. If you, however, want to see what's online so far from the Elite Men's Planet Bike 'Cross event on Saturday, then go here, and also check back later!

Racers entering the Culvert, with spectators at both ends.

Sunday's Wolf River Rendevous: the Dirty Face Race. While the crossers in Madison battled it out for their second day, the WORS racers encountered dusty conditions on one of the bumpiest (but otherwise fun) courses I have ever been on. The Dirty Faces of WORS series can be found here, along with some shots of racers entering the dreaded culvert! Did they make it to the other side where all those people are waiting, without bumping their heads and scraping their elbows? Was it all message board hype?

Congratulations Sara and Scott!

Congratulations to Sara and Scott Kylander-Johnson on the birth of their adorable daughter Saturday! Keira Ester is the newest (little) member of the Trek team!

I can't wait to meet her, likely at Sheboygan.

Go Ben!

Congrats to Ben on a great race at Cross Vegas! There's a great pic of him charging up the run up near the beer garden, giving the spectators his now famous high five, in a slide show on Truesport. The next pic after his in the slide show? Lance! After that? Ryan Trebon!! After that? Lance again!!!

Update: Turns out that same pic got the first spot in VeloNew's Cross Vegas slide show!

Zero Traction

In addition to the Nine Ball Diaries, there is another film being made about the 2007 Cross Nationals, called Zero Traction. What an appropriate name! I just read about it on CBR. Watching the trailer was like reliving the race for me, in a way. They show you the sloppy mud, the icy mud, the puddles, and the snow that we encountered, it's all there! Very fun to watch, if you love cross. Or even if you don't.

More Wildlife

On top of all the animals mentioned previously, last night I was walking not far from home after dark and I saw a little raccoon! He was on someone's lawn. He stopped and I stopped and we just stared at each other for a bit, neither moving. Then he turned and disappeared into the bushes.

Kamikaze Wildlife?

Am I the only one who has noticed kamikaze wildlife on road rides lately?  Is it the moon?  the economy? I know they say there is always more roadkill around a full moon.  (not sure where the moon is right now in it's cycle).  

A week or so ago it was skunks.  One jumped off the curb and ran into the road right in front of me by the hospital on Ridge at night after dark.  I think it saw my headlight, because it stopped just in time and scampered back to the curb.  Then, that same week, it was after dark and I was roaring up the front walk on the bike, headlight blazing, hitting the brakes, and there was a little skunk on the porch!  He scurried down the steps, around the front of the building and into the bushes.  I breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't scare him enough to get sprayed!  I have been smelling skunk outside a lot around my place lately, so I feel like I dodged a bullet!

The other day on a ride at least three squirrels ran in front of the bike during the course of the ride!  Maybe four.  Enough that I was wondering what was up.  They were close calls. I think I saw a chipmunk running across the road the same evening as well.  

There was a deer walking across the street right in town around dinnertime a few days ago. 

And tonight, I started my ride at dusk, with lights, around 7.  I wasn't able to get out any earlier. A FOX ran right across Sheridan Road in front of me at one point!!!  Crazy!! I never see those.

I did have a very nice night ride. ("night" in thiis case referring to in the dark with lights)  I have been really enjoying night rides lately on the nights that it has been fairly warm.  I try to start when it's light out, but take lights so I can stay out longer. I see a fair amount of commuters out there.  Tonight I saw, or rather heard, a group of four guys with headlights that must have been out for a training ride.  I could hear them talking as they passed on the other side of the road, but all I could see was four headlights glowing in the dark.  

Maybe all these animals can feel that the economy is collapsing and they are panicking like the rest of us?  Or they just sense the panic in the air?

note: even now, sitting at the computer late in the evening, the smell of skunk just started wafting in the window.

'Cross season kickoff!

IMG_9744
Originally uploaded by soupy371

Thanks to Soupy for taking this pic at the Chi Cross Cup race in Jackson Park yesterday.  A great time was had by many!  As far as podium spots go,  congrats to June of Verdigris for 1st and Holly K. of Killjoy for 3rd in the Women's Cat 1/2/3 race!  Congrats to Kevin K. of Killjoy on crushing the Men's 30+ field for a win!  Congrats to Tim B. of Verdigris who I am pretty sure took 2nd in the 40+, and to Aris of Expo who won the Juniors race.  I  know there were more who had great rides but that is all I can remember of podium spots at the moment without seeing the results. Race report to come.

New Cyclocross Movie!

Check out the trailer for the new 'cross movie Nine Ball Diaries, featuring last year's national champion Tim Johnson. Something to look forward to!

I got to meet him at the party after Nationals last year.  Dave Towle took a pic of me with him.  Tim was really friendly, likeable, and seemed like a really good guy.  (I'll stick the pic up later if I can find it.)  

Chequamegon!

Some things I brought back from Chequamegon:

- a renewed passion for an event that I have been doing on and off for, like, forever! With my very last minute decision last year to sit out the race to give my body a rest, I had somehow forgotten how incredible it feels to be part of this event, and not just a spectator. I had so much fun in the race!
- a sense of how great a sunny, dry Chequamegon weekend is, and can be, compared to a rainy one. having a rainy one made me appreciate the good years so much more! the rain sent everyone scurrying back to their cabins instead of hanging out after the race and making plans to go out later on in the evening. if you didn't catch them after the race, you may not be able to meet up with them again later, because most people's phones don't work in Cable.
- a nasty cold/sinus infection thing that has gotten worse before it has gotten better.
- a sense of impending doom that summer is over and fall is upon us.
- a sense of relief that I wasn't around for all the flooding and downpours that we had at home.
- some t-shirts and pint glasses
- going to the awards ceremony and watching the slide show gives you an appreciation for all that is Chequamegon. seeing that the second place woman in the Short and Fat is 51 and the third place woman is 58 (!!) gives you an idea of what is possible, and is inspiring! and both these women pull off results like that year after year.... how do they do that?
- never take our racing for granted. we forget how lucky we are to have Chequamegon, WORS, and WEMS within driving distance! when people from other places come and do this race, they can't believe how well run Chequamegon is, how great the people are, and how much enthusiasm for riding there is out there on the trail, found in all shapes and sizes of people and bikes. someone who lives in Colorado and does the race told me how people from other places react when they first do the race. this applies to sponsors from out of state, too.

and, as a side note, my friend tells me that mtb racers (or former mtb racers) in Boulder that came from the Midwest fondly reminisce about how wonderful the WORS series is, and how it is the best race series in the country. we forget that!

Fall: Save it for Never

Barbara Brotman of the Tribune captures the sentiment perfectly! After a summer that wasn't (at least by the lake), the cooler weather is hard to bear.

Having been in the North Woods the last two weekends, I guess I've had a bigger dose of it.

Registration for CX Nats

Don't forget to register for Cross Nationals on September 15th at 12:01 am! it's going to be a great time!

Comeback

The truth comes out?

Smokin' Spoke

This is my kind of start! It was a surprise to me, though. I didn't remember the start at all from last year, except for the actual start line area. At that point I wished that I had remembered it or preridden it so I would have been better prepared. Below I am trying to gain some time on the field, along with a few others.  Yes, I do look like a geek.  It felt cold to me (50 on the weather channel first thing in the morning?).  
                     Thanks to Christine for the above pic!
The day turned out well, better even than I had hoped. Our course was super fun, to me!! Though the bumpy singletrack was really hard on my back - I am really feeling it this week. I didn't feel it so much then, but I feel it now.

If there's time I'll do a real race report before Chequamegon. There's a lot to get done between now and then, though, it's a short week.

How many of you?

How many of you are there in the U.S.?

If you are curious about how many people have the same name as you, you can find out at howmanyofme.com. ( It did occur to me that they might be gathering marketing information behind the scenes on this site, but they say that they don't share the info with anyone.)

There are a hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. with my first name, and a lot fewer with my last. There are only 4 people in the U.S. with my full name! Turns out my sister only has 3 and my mother may not exist. Anyone else have a low number of clones?

Labor Day Weekend

(update: I added some pics below)

I am so behind. There's so much to write about. If only one could blog while driving to/from a race, or on a ride. That's when some of the best thoughts pop up... I haven't even had a chance to even write about how nice and how much fun Ben and Julie's wedding was! Until then, I will do a short version for Labor Day weekend. It may not be so short by the time I am done.

Labor Day weekend brought my favorite kind of weather - warm and dry. I have been waiting all summer for some hot weather! It's often cooler by my house so I have felt shortchanged this summer.

Friday night: went out to dinner with New Zealand Wendy, her ex-boyfriend, her ex-roommate's ex-boyfriend from France, and her soon-to-be roommate who also happens to be from France. The people from France came here (independent of each other) to teach for a year. We sat outside at Heartland Cafe. Then got ready for the race until about 2 am, then off to bed, later than I had planned.

Saturday: got up, got ready, got the food/cooler ready, packed the car and hit the road for Stump Farm near Green Bay! One of my favorite WEMS courses! I sat in at least four different traffic backups, three on the tollway, and one north of Racine where state troopers shut down a lane or two for an accident. This put me at least 45 minutes, probably more, behind schedule. (I really did leave on time!) I enjoyed watching all the Harley riders heading up to the 105th anniversary, it made the long drive alot more interesting. By the time I got registered, ready, and had to go back to get a second number plate after mine vanished into thin air, the race had already started. I saw the pack of LeMans starters go by, it was kind of fun to watch them all scrambling for their bikes. When it comes to LeMans starts, I'm not a scrambler. I'm more of an ambler.

I saw Amanda and Audrey right away when I got there - it seemed like they had had a good day on the trails and were ready to head home soon, complete with awards.  Congrats! Audrey got to experience, for a lap, what it was like to ride a mt bike that fits her. Someone lent her a bike for a lap.

About 15 minutes after the others, I finally got going.

I'm not sure if the big snake that slithered across the trail right in front of me midrace lived to tell the tale or not - I didn't feel a "thump", so I hope he was able to get out of the way. I couldn't believe how big he/it was! The course seemed a lot bumpier and less swoopy/flowy than I remembered from last year. One person suggested that the wors race had an effect on the course, in terms of increased wear. I don't know if that race used all the same trails, or not, so I can't comment.

I do know that there was a lot more sand than I remember, due to the recent lack of rain. This makes me think we might be in for a lot of sand at Chequamegon too? I didn't like the sand at all - I have forgotten how to ride in sand. There was one particular scary sandy downhill that didn't get any better each time I did it. I am close to deciding that this bike is not a great sand bike, after losing control over and over. I always made the save, though, just in time.

I was on edge the whole last lap, wondering if I should be trying to squeeze that lap in. I hadn't been keeping as close an eye on my lap times as I usually would. I got thrown off by the late start. Sure enough, it got down to the wire! Near the end when I was starting to worry, I got some friendly encouragement from Tim M., and some inspiration from watching two Hayes blurs on wheels that I think were Russell and perhaps Kyle. Having them roar by helped me mentally pick up the pace. Once I was in the open I gave it everything I had trying to make it before the 6:00 deadline. It was very close. At 5:57 I still wasn't sure exactly how close the finish line was, though I knew it had to be soon. I finished with around 25 seconds to spare!! And just now I noticed that the woman who was ahead of me finished only 33 seconds ahead. Wish I had known she was there! I passed several people in the first lap. If I hadn't started late I think I would have gained only two more places, looking at the results. Not that you ever know for sure how it would have gone. There was a pretty big gap up to the faster people from there.

Subtracting the late start time, my first lap and last lap were very close in time. I must have really slowed down in the second one though, that one was four minutes slower. Usually they are all within a minute or so of each other. The first lap I was torn between just going my own comfortable pace and having fun, or trying to catch some people. I had no idea of even how many women were in the race, but I did know there were some I couldn't catch under any circumstances! The second lap I fell apart a little, my singletrack skills got even worse that lap, I was all over the place and bobbling on stuff I cleared the first lap. The last lap I was under the gun to finish under the deadline, so I stepped it up in the second half.

After the race Susie led the awards ceremony for the three hour race. Lori got second and Brittany got third - nice work! They each got to take home one of those awesome Stump Farm pint glasses. Thanks to Susie and Bill for putting on the race! I saw at least one dad out there riding the whole race with his son, and one husband riding along with his wife in her first race, how cool is that? I think Susie and Eliott did a lap or two together, too. Eliott won a stuffed animal - they had some kid's prizes.
Brittany (3rd, 3 hour) and Lori (2nd, 3 hour) after the awards with their pint glasses.
Susie and Elliot. Susie's husband Bill is the race director. Susie rode laps with Elliot, who won the prize you see here.

After the race I chatted with some people and compared notes with Anne about the course. We all had dirt all over us - some smart people had sun showers with them. Thanks to Bill and Brittany for sharing some of their delicious bbq in the parking lot. It was fun talking to their Pedal Moraine group.

At the gas station/restaurant/convenience store on the way to the main road, the woman at the checkout counter asked how the race was. Apparently she was getting pretty good at spotting the white feet/dirty legs combination! Or maybe it was the dirty raccoon face thing some people had going on! And I thought I had gotten all the dirt off - there was just enough of a hint of a dirt ring left that she spotted me for what I was - an exhausted bike racer. She said people had been coming in to buy alot of icy hot, among other things.

Things that helped me stay awake on the drive home: running across the "House of Hair" show on The Hog radio station. Metal bands. Dudes with long hair. It was funny seeing the radio display showing "The Hog" and "House of Hair". I was amused by that for some reason. When that got old I discovered a station with call letters that included KM for "Kettle Moraine" (Northern Kettle) that was playing polkas! Lively stuff. I lasted about two songs, but it did perk me up.

Got home late, got to bed late.

Kettle on Sunday, met up with some teammates and some of their friends later in the day. I was feeling so beaten up from the race that I almost didn't go. Took 41 to avoid the tollway back-ups, which worked well . Tried the Rainy Dew trail for the first time - I like it. I was surprised to see a big log pile on the blue - it hadn't been there the week before. It was the height of two people, I would say. A good North Shore style rider might be tempted to ride down the side of it for fun. I'm sure someone's already thought of it... We ended up hanging out for quite a while, into the early evening. Fun. They were going to bbq but not enough of their friends could make it so we got stuff from the general store. I got everyone that had our team jersey on to pose for a pic.


Kettle again on Monday. Took 41 again. The girls ride was starting too early for me, but I had lunch with some of them (Christine, Sonni, Amelia and Ty) at the general store, then went back for another loop before heading home. (Regina and Bill left right after the ride.) I had to be at a going away bbq and was concerned that traffic at the end of the holiday weekend would be bad. It wasn't as bad as I expected!

The going away party was really fun. Brian is moving to Colorado, and it seems like he can hardly wait to begin his new adventure. I will be sad to see a good friend leave, but I know he's ready for something new. Our local group of friends has fallen apart as people have moved away in the last year. There goes one more.....

Pretty much all I did for the weekend was eat, pack, drive, race, drive, ride mt bikes, eat, drive, socialize, and so on. It was fun. I am tired. What happened to the two days of not traveling anywhere I had promised myself? Or all the house stuff I was going to get done? Oh, well, it was perfect weather for me. You have to take advantage of it when you can, with winters like ours!

105th anniversary

Anyone going to the 105th this weekend?

I'd kinda like to go, but it doesn't seem too likely, with all the other thing going on. And I haven't really made an effort to find people who are going. Stump Farm is higher up on the list, for one. Although it would be possible to stop Saturday night after the race and catch the last few bands on the way home...

'Cross Fever?

Are you getting 'Cross Fever?  I just heard about this site for cross videos. I haven't had time to check any of them out yet.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Ben and Julie on their marriage!  May they have a long and wonderful life together.  

Wish it were here...

I have serious Park Envy! My friend emceed a showing of Road to Roubaix in Boulder last week. She told the crowd about the future plans for the Valmont bike Park in Boulder. They are trying to raise a bunch of money by Friday to convince the powers that be that they have enough donors to make it fly. She was trying to get me to donate as well. Looks like the midwest will be losing even more people to the People's Republic of Boulder if this gets built! It could be amazing.

Maybe if we get the 2016 Olympics we can convince them to build something like this. Yeah, right.

Update: My friend sent me a link to an article about this park in Velonews.

Downer's Grove - U.S. Pro Crit Champs

Rahsaan Bahati of Rock Racing won.
As you can imagine, he was pretty much jumping for joy!

If you haven't heard much about Rock Racing, the above pic of their posse on the podium after the U. S. Pro win says alot.....
Hometown hero, from Paris to Beijing to Downer's Grove, off the front for six laps! He's a good sport for doing the race, I'm guessing it's been a while since he's done a crit.
(yeah, I know, I am a big geek.)

hopefully more to come... some so-so pics
here.

Air show

I've been hoping to make it over to the North Ave. beach to watch the air show practice this afternoon (blue angels, etc.) - and I am way bummed to find out that it's not a "practice" any more, they have made it an official part of the air show. That is going to mean terrible traffic and watching with about a zillion other people, vs. what would have been a pretty low key experience. The practices on Thursday and Friday used to be something known mostly to people that live or work around there. Oh, well, at least it's a beautiful day!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Belated Birthday to Ben, who turned 26 yesterday! I hope Ben is having a good birthday week, which will soon lead right into a good wedding week!

Error 99? and Leadville 100

Do any of you have any experience with an "error 99" message on the screen of your Canon DSLR? If you have had one, were you able to get the camera working again, or did you have to take it in for service? What was cause of the problem? My camera displayed an "error 99" at the race yesterday and froze.

Also, congrats to everyone that did the Leadville 100 over the weekend! (100, as in 100 miles with 14000 feet of elevation gain! hurts to even think about it) I know some WORS peeps and former WORS peeps went. I am trying to find a list of results to see who finished under the time limit. All I know right now is that Dave Wiens, who beat Floyd Landis last year, and has won six times (!!), beat Lance Armstrong. Armstrong took second, approximately two minutes behind over the course of a race that took just under 7 hours. Armstrong pushed Wiens to another course record - Weins shaved 13 minutes (!!) off his time and finished with a flat rear tire!!

One of my friends who does Leadville regularly says that the locals run something like 60+ psi in their tubeless tires for this race - anything less and they will flat. I find that interesting, given that people around here run super low air in their tubeless tires, from what I can tell. He also said that people from other places get a lot of flats before they figure it out. You'd think they'd put it in the race bible or something?

Race report later, my family is still in town, which will likely keep me busy. I pushed myself so hard yesterday in my quest to win my age group and do well overall that my muscles are sore. It hurts to touch my quad this morning. Strangely enough, the right one hurts when you poke the muscle on the outside, but the left one doesn't really. Weird.

24/9 Part 2

Chris on the run, after getting some food and encouragement from Kim and Sprout.

Brad coming through the check-in area. It had to be around 4:30 or 5 am at that point. Hmmm, they seem to be going a little slower at 5 am.... you can tell how dusty the trail was, much of it ended up on the riders!

Kim (and Sprout), pit crew star, seems to be in good spirits despite the fact that it's getting really chilly and really late.

Megan and Bubba. Both had strong teams and good races. Bubba and his team ended up on the podium.

John was on Don's 4 man WORS team in the Older than Dirt category. (There is also an Older than the Hills category, which is younger than Older than Dirt.) They won, and got Milk Shake Making Kits.

Keeping track of Chris Eatough. Support for Chris is a well-oiled machine and his support crew has to be in the right place at the right time.

Congrats to everyone who rode for hours and hours at 24/9, whether on a team or solo! It was great to see so many WORS and WEMS friends there - these pics only show a few of the familiar faces at the event! But this gives those of you who didn't go an inkling of what it was like to be there.

Red Bud Lounge!!
See what you missed as you rode through in a haze in the middle of the night. These were taken at 4:00ish am so things had quieted down considerably.





Did I mention that it got really cold that night? I wonder what the late night racers thought when they rode by and saw this fellow.

The devil seemed to be chasing the beer bottle around a lot.

One of the solo 24 hour women getting water. The riders were really covered with dirt as it got later, you can see it again here.



More pics here, including podium shots.

24 Hours of Nine Mile

I went to the best all-night bike party on the planet over the weekend.

It also happened to be 24 hour Nationals, for the third year in a row. This is my third year going, too. The first year I raced a 12 hour solo, and I had such a great time at the event I went back this year and last even though I wasn't able to race it. It's been exciting to cheer on friends and watch them do well in one of the most demanding events around. I didn't feel like I could miss it this year, with my wanting to support friends and with it being nats. When nationals of the sport you love are so relatively close to home, how can you not go?

My power keeps going out due to the big storm, which is slowing down my progress on this post quite a bit! I got absolutely soaked tonight while out riding - I guess I should really be doing laundry, stuffing my wet shoes with newspaper, and cleaning my bike....but here goes.

I got there late in the day, so I didn't get daytime racing action shots. I would have liked to be there for the LeMans start, but I had too much other stuff to do. I kept checking the results on my phone on the way up to see how friends were doing, so I sorta knew the basics of who was where. It made the drive more tolerable. I kept seeing "back building" in first place in the men's solo results, which really confused me. I thought it was a mistake, first because of the odd name, then later, not to have "Trek/VW" in first place. "back building" turned out to be someone named Josh Tostado, who I had not heard of before. I kept expecting that this "back building" person, whoever they were, would blow up and fade away. That did not happen, according to the results.


The World Bicycle Relief team had one of the best pit spots. Things were hopping when I got there, with Chris and Brad both in the pit at the same time. They were both riding very well - I think they were within a place or two of each other when I first got there. They are very fortunate to have such a dedicated and well-organized pit crew! Kim and crew were phenomenal. Such caring and encouragement, even when things got tough. Congrats to both Chris and Brad for riding your hearts out and doing so well!



Some more solo tents near the WBR tent. This area is near where the start line is for the WORS race many of us do every year.


I don't remember which tent this was on, but it must have been Dana's Bacon Riders team? They got second in the women's 4 person 12 hour event. I didn't know pigs could rappel, I thought you had to have opposable thumbs for that? There were a couple of piggies on that tent, nice touch.


Gabi, Dana and James. Gabi has been making cycling themed t-shirts to sell. She brought them to the race. Dana was on the Bacon team for the 12 hour. James is looking forward to cross season.


The waiting area where team members waited for their teammate to come in so they could start their lap. You can see Don from WORS there waiting for his turn to ride.


Rachael (in BKB stars) waiting to go out on the course. It is the middle of the night, or almost, by this point. Rachael, Holly K., MurphyKate, and Megan were on a 4 woman championship category team. Congrats to them on their strong race, they had some of the toughest competition around.


Holly resting and staying warm until her next lap. It got really chilly (50's) as it got later. Alot of people weren't expecting it and didn't have warm clothing with them. Anyone selling sweatshirts probably did well.


And here is Holly again, looking bright-eyed and ready to go in the waiting area. It was really late by this time.


Blinkie Man was on Team Twinkie, I think? If he indeed was, would that make him Blinkie Twinkie Man? When this fellow's teammate came in from his lap, Blinkie man stood there not moving, shell-shocked, instead of heading out for his lap right away. I think all those blinkies blinking must cause some kind of short-circuit. There were just as many on the front of the vest as the back!! I guess you had to see it to get the full impact.


(this is a work in progress, more to come!!! now I gotta really get some sleep.)

24 hours of Bike Love. I hear they only started out with two!! They must have multiplied over the weekend. (just kidding) Isn't that a happy sight, all those bikes in the woods?...... a picture like that reminds me of how much I love mountain bikes AND 24/9....

Good Luck at 24/9

GOOD LUCK to the many WORS and WEMS friends who are taking on the challenge of racing all night at 24 Hours of Nine Mile this weekend!!

I hope to be up there cheering you on, if all goes well.

Team Sprout - Good Luck and Go For It!!

Last year it was such a great feeling to be watching the awards ceremony on Sunday morning and to realize that most of the people on the podium were WORS and WEMS racers!! I'm sure I'll be seeing most of you up there again, though in different combinations.

Metro WEMS cancelled

The Metro WEMS race is cancelled for today, according to the hotline. At least I hadn't left for the race yet, unlike many of you who were probably already up there for the 12 hour. Tentative reschedule date is August 23rd. If that's the case, I'll only be able to do part of my event that day. I have to do that race, but I'll need to quit early to be somewhere else that evening. This weather stuff is very frustrating!! And it must be even more so for the WEMS guys this year.

WEMS Update

As of 12:30 pm, the Metro hotline is saying that the race at Crystal Ridge is still 50-50, although trail conditions at the moment are good.

3 pm update: race is still on, no rain on the course yet. The chance of the race being on is still less than 50 percent, but they are keeping their fingers crossed....

This is kinda frustrating - if I don't have to pack tonight, there is an interesting movie I could go to downtown with some friends.... I also want to ride later today, but it's looking like we're about to get some rain here.... bleeech. A friend who works in Highland Park said they had a 45 minute torrential downpour there. It's got to be much more frustrating for the race organizers, though! Thanks guys, for putting on, or attempting to put on, the race!!

Good Luck to those racing at Mt. Bike Nationals at Mt. Snow!

Wish I was there, though that course would have been waaay over my head....

Article about bikes vs. cars as the number of cyclists increase on the road.

Blue Mounds WEMS race is CANCELLED/Postponed

From Garett, the race director:

The 12 Hours of Blue Mounds will be Postponed to the rain date October 18th. We got a very large amount of rain Thursday night at the park, and it rained again Friday morning. The trails are very wet and there will be no chance for them to dry out before the race. The race would not be safe, and the trails would be destroyed if we attempted to run a race on them.

All pre-registrations will be valid on October 18.

Killer Blackbirds

A while back I wrote about an article I read that blackbirds were attacking cyclists and pedestrians. I talked to one of my friends tonight who told me that a cyclist in the north suburbs died over the weekend after being pecked by a blackbird . I don't know the exact details, but it sounds like he wasn't wearing a helmet and the bird pecked at him so relentlessly that he fell to the pavement and hit his head. He died a couple days later from the head injury. Again, this is third or fourth hand. It's very sad to hear, and makes me take the blackbird thing more seriously. My friend also said that there are two areas where "killer blackbirds" is (or was) written on the pavement to warn people. The dangerous period is June-July, when they are protecting their young.

Update on the killer blackbirds: apparently the cyclist was attacked near the Highland Park Lexus dealership, on the "bunny trail". Apparently someone else, on an earlier date, was pecked and fell off his bike and broke his leg. None of this has been verified - but my friend heard about it via an email warning other riders. It doesn't seem to be mentioned in the press anywhere. I don't know what the bunny trail is, but if you do and you ride it, be careful!

On another note, I tried to ride twice today but was thwarted by the rain. The first time I headed out, even though it was gray, and my cell rang a few minutes into the ride. I was a call I needed to answer, so I stood there for a few minutes talking. In that time it started to rain, so I turned back. I took care of a bunch of emails on the computer got ready to go, then the phone rang. I answered that one too, and it took a while to get off. The sun had come out before the phone call, but by the time I finished it was gray and menacing, and my bike was getting all wet sitting outside on the porch waiting for me to ride it. I really needed the workout, I guess it's going to be the gym for me, after I got get groceries. Arrrgh. The phone calls were probably a good thing because they kept me from getting far from home and getting really soaked each time.

Yes, I do still have race reports to catch up on from Levis Trow and from Chippewa Valley Firecracker in Eau Claire!

I'm volunteering instead of racing at Blue Mounds Saturday. Julie and her teammates will be volunteering too, we'll have fun. I might head over to Half Acre's time trial Sunday morning. I also noticed in the Reader that an old teammate's band is playing Sunday early evening at a festival at Belmont and Lincoln. I doubt I'll have the oomph to go, but I haven't seen her not-so-new-anymore band yet!

Evanston Criterium, Sunday July 20

I hope some of you are going to come hang out at the Evanston Criterium on Sunday July 20th! It was fun to watch last year.

It's a block or two away from both the EL and the Metra trains (Davis St. stop) and is very bike accessible. There is also a big parking garage right next to the course for racers, volunteers and spectators, complete with a bike valet for the event. Restaurants all along the course will have outdoor seating so you can watch the race!

It's the day after the Crystal Ridge WEMS race so you can do an easy recovery ride in the morning and then come out to watch the pro races in the late afternoon. Cat 4, Cat 3, Masters, etc. races from 9-3, music and kid's race at 3, pro women at 4, and pro 1/2 men at 5:30. The pro guys go so fast on the start/finish stretch of this course you can almost feel the air rattle!! The police department sets up one of those speed machines on the course that says how fast they are going, to keep the crowd entertained.

Last year was the first year - it's part of Super Week - and they did a great job with it. It was really fun to hear people who had never seen a big bike race before - ANY bike race before - say they really enjoyed watching it.

I'd say come and bring your family to the beach if you have kids - but I have to warn you that the beaches here charge admission. On the positive side, there is a beach just a few blocks from the course!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th, everyone!

Looks like it's going to be a gorgeous weekend. It's 70 by the lake - I do wish it were 85, then it would be perfect (to me), but I really can't complain....

My Tribune horoscope today is giving me a pretty strong message:

"Today is a 7. Gather your paycheck early, and get a head start on your weekend travels. Sporting events, including races, are especially favored."

This weekend I am going to a race (as usual) and indeed, I am going earlier than I would normally. The plan right now is to pick up Holly K. by Kettle on my way to the Eau Claire race. So I am leaving in the morning instead of the late afternoon like I normally would.

I will have to skip some of the outdoor 4th parties in town today in order to get all ready to leave, but I am hoping to make it at least to a big block party at a friend's parents'. All three of the parties are close to the lakefront and are geared around eating and hanging out then walking over to the lake for the fireworks at 8 or 9. One is right on the lakefront - they stake out a good spot in the afternoon with a pop-up then have a good fireworks viewing spot for later....

My friend called me a bit ago about the block party at his parents'. He usually flies over the local 4th parade with his military squadron, but the squadron isn't doing it this year. So they called him last night and asked if he wanted to ride at the front of the parade in a Model T wearing his pilot's uniform. He was scrambling to get ready. Sounds kinda fun, to have a totally different perspective than flying over. I almost never go to this parade, I am usually out doing my ride, but it is so popular that people put out their lawn chairs on the street days ahead to save their viewing spots!!

American teams keeping it clean at the Tour

I just got an email from my friend Anne asking me to read her Tour de France story on the NBC Sports website. It's called American Teams vow to keep it clean at the Tour". Check it out (they keep track of how many people read the story), and if you enjoyed it, vote on the article so they will hire her to write more stories! I am going to go read it now.

I'm It

I'm it....
I've been blog-tagged by Rachael!

My six random things:

1. I took banjo lessons in high school and at the beginning of college. A favorite history/anthro teacher in high school was in a bluegrass band. Because of him, there were some students who played bluegrass. We went to see his band at a bar a few times - that was a big deal to us in high school! I still have the banjo, though I don't remember how to play it.

2. My first mountain bikes were all some variation of a Stumpjumper (Sport, Comp, etc.) When I got the second Stumpjumper, I didn't want an orange (or black) bike at the time so I got the next higher model in order to have the choice of a red or blue bike. (I was a part-timer at a shop so the price difference wasn't huge) So I guess it's sort of funny that much later, when I decided to get a Blur, I searched all over to find an anodized orange frame!! It's funny how much your tastes can change over time, now I love the color orange. (as well as some other colors that I didn't use to like!) (note: those were not my first bikes, just my first mountain bikes.)

3. Raggedy Ann and Andy, in various sizes, were my favorite toys as a kid, as well as Matchbox cars. I used to draw Raggedy Ann and Andy comic strips when I had to go somewhere boring with my parents and needed something to do, and I would also make my poor parents sit through boring "plays" with all the Anns and Andys as the characters. I also once wrapped up Andy's "broken" leg up in toilet paper to make a cast and then (probably) embarrassed my mother by taking him out in public with his leg wrapped in t.p.!

4. I love information. I like finding out why things are the way they are or how they work by asking questions or by reading. I also like passing along useful info to people.

5. Having to do math without a calculator makes me feel like I am in second grade again and class is about to end, but I haven't finished all of the questions on my math test yet.

6. Until not so long ago, I used to put peanut m&m's in the microwave for a bit, maybe 15 or 20 seconds, to partially melt the chocolate inside. They are really good that way!

I am going to tag Holly, Ben, Chris, Brittany, Renee, and Mike. 

(If any of you hate these things, or don't have time, and don't want to do it, I understand. Even if you don't want to tag other people, tell us the six things.)

here are the rules:

link to the person who tagged you.
post the rules on your blog.
write six random things about yourself.
tag six people at the end of your post.
let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
let the tagger know when your entry is up.