SURGEDMC

In somewhere around three weeks this pasty white midwestern drifless long winter soul will be in the sunshine state of Arizona. Seeing as I am going to box up the new bike and 

ship it out there to play and have fun I am trying to make sure that 

I have some kind of fitness so I am not left in the dust of the guys that have been riding since last year at this time. 

This weeks weather was once again not the sunshine and warm weather that we have had in springs past,, to me it has been very unforgiving and mentally taxing.

But what I keep reminding my self is that getting out and dealing with the elements 

will only make the warmer days that much better. 

Monday through Friday I have been out on the All-City hitting the hills on the 

single speed trying to make up for the time lost in February due to the extreme cold.  

I think that it has been working or at least I know that i have been suffering as 

I climb on the way home from work. 

Thursday I wore rain gear knowing that the way home would be wet and it was.. 

37 degrees and cold with a pissing rain,, the good thing was that the Lemond did not let me down and with the 53x21 set up it hauled ass through the wind and parted the puddles like the red sea. 

With the weekend here and the Gunnar all cleaned and tuned the plan for the day was simple.. 

Make my self hurt. 

By the time I got back home from a route with six climbs and shy of three hours in the saddle I was good and wobbly. So wobbly that going to the skate park with the boy found my legs making some questionable movements as I attempted to get rad. 

Came home from that to find Anna at home telling me her bike was broken,,

She snapped the shifter cable cable for the rear,, and this new integrated 105 stuff I can't seem to get a cable to go through,, so to bike shop for her,, Bummer.

Windy tomorrow but almost 60, so it should be another day of hurting my self 

in this kingdom of dirt. 

Hold on tight and make this thing go fast!!

Team Party On

Spring Break is over for the kid,, the whip has been cracked and she is back to school.

I took her back to school via the Twin Cities, so we could go to the 

Team Hollywood Cycles/Girlfiend Team Party.

I left work early Friday to sunny skies no winds and warmer than it has been temps.

The thought of ditching my responsibility and just going riding,, but being a parent gets in the way of all the cool things out in the world. 

The Turn out at the shop was good,, Lots of new faces and a bunch of the old guard was 

present and accounted for.

Jay's shop is like a museum of racing memories and trophies. 

Our 2013 overall victory Plaque was out along with all the other mementos of past racing glory.

Shaking hands and drinking beer I was in my element, we have a family joining the team,, dad and daughter racing for us and their son/brother racing for another one of the local teams,,, Love it dividing the family right down the middle.  

Plans were being made and bike parts being lusted after,, and as the night grew long and 

the younger crowd hit the road the 

music got louder and the party was on!

One of our young local studs is working on build up a new race frame for next year so I went out to the car and pulled out my box of goodness that I picked up on my way out of town.

I explained the reason why any other pedal that he had ever ridden on was not going to

hold up to the awesomeness that is the Look S-Track.

I have my self been riding Looks for the past 4 years  after being on another french brand 

the years before that.

This new pedal is all that it is cracked up to be and more. The simple design along with a beefed up spindle and largest contact surface area,, Power Transfer  and a smooth entry and exit are going to change the way people look at their pedals. 

Sleep 

was good and when I sleep at the Bauers house that means I get the yarn room.

Kelli has  as much money wrapped up in yarn as the rest of us do with bikes and gear.

And with all the soft balls of techno-colored thread it makes sleeping so much more peaceful.

Saturdays plan was to ride and the temps were going to suck even if the sun was shining. 

I headed over to the shop to help clean up as Hwood and the Chucker

worked on a few tunes. And yes we waited for it to warm up.

By the time were were spinning just south of Downtown the temp was only 18 and not sure what the windchill was other than cold. 

We slogged through the wind and cold and made the best of what the day had to bring... Felt good to be riding with the THC crew,, and got me dreaming of warmer days and blazing singletrack.

The Game is on Team time to Roll up to the Line and 

give them the Hell Fire that is 

Team Hollywood Cycles.

Repacked

The sun is shining and the air is cold.. It has been a constant battle so far this March with weather and trying to break the cycle of the Polar Vortex.
The one thing that is for sure that after months and months of negative temps all it takes is
some sun and temps at or above 0 to make things feel warm.
Pip and I got shut down by flooding in the marsh yesterday so we could not go to Minnesota, had to change the route and find other roads.
Kids are lazy creatures and can not plan worth a crap.
Sophia came home planning doing a good amount of riding and forgot to bring home a tube or any co2's and I am pretty sure that she did not even bring a bottle with her.
We stopped in to the Blue Heron to grab some supplies,, being winter I have not been into the shop  since sometime last fall. Walking in I was greeted with complements for my Chris King Kindred Spirit write up.  Always nice when you get noticed by the local folks.  We talked bike and all things bike related,, Kevin's little shop is doing well had three bike heading out the door and repairs up the

wazoo.

Back to riding it was cool grey and just enough wind to make you honest,, I feel like under all my layers of riding clothes their is some fitness coming along nicely.
We started out slow due to some of the road being covered with ice,, a few more degrees it would have been water but ice for now.

Out through West Salem we decided to go our separate ways the kid was cold and I wanted more.
Headed the opposite direction than last week going over the cut from the south side and finally
after getting to Mindro and turning to the west I for the first time of the day had the wind at my back.
I opted to not sit on the couch this morning and watch the bike racing going on over in Europe.
Spent the afternoon yesterday watching the US cup and did not getting anything else done.
I really needed to get the Gunnar torn down and cleaned. After breakfast I got started 8 degrees outside and maybe 30 something inside. Pulled the whole thing apart and soaked and scrubbed, re-greased re-cabled and new bar tape. Did not get around to putting the new tires on only due time was running out and I wanted to get out and

ride. 

Had to dress like I was going xc skiing with the temp only at 14 but the skies were blue bird and the bike was shinning in the sun.  Felt real real good to be on a shifting bike for the first time this year.  I was another day where I could not find the direction of the wind.  It seemed like every time I changed direction so did the wind.
One bike cleaned and ready for use,, now need to get the All-City cleaned and Anna's bike is making some noise so that is the next on the list,, and I hope that most if not all parts get here this week for the Lamere so I can get it up and running so it can be tested before heading to the Desert.

Deeper

Yesterday was a planed off day,, other than commuting.. I needed it mondays TT like effort into the wind was a bit of a crusher and I had no desire to sit on the rollers after dinner. 

I have to say that my sleep was some of the best that it has been in a while. 

We splurged a few weeks back a got an I Comfort mattress,, and sleep has been good but last 

night I sunk into that memory foam and did not move until I heard the 

Scorpions Rocking Me like A Hurricane.. 

Deep Sleep. 

I am waiting on a new set of Tires from Vittoria  for my Gunnar a fresh set of 28's, so I am holding off on the mandatory spring cleaning. 

Bike is still dirty from what or when it was last ridden in November and badly needs to have

the cables and housing changed out. 

I love that feeling of fresh cables and housing.... but don't want to get it all cleaned up and subject it to the carnage out on the roads here in the Drifless Region. 

My All City has been doing all the work for the past 10 days that outside above freezing temps have been in play,, and I am doing my best to keep it happy and clean. 

Will need new break pads sooner than later with all the crap on the roads,, and as soon 

as my BB30 gets here for my new LaMere,,,, King 

is sending along both style of grease injectors so I will be able to do a deep clean and flush the BB with clean grease.. This bike has had a good but tough life ever since it came home back in October.

Today was the first day in a while that I could have gotten away with out fenders... but I am not sure if that was because it was 

just a degree or two above freezing. Once you get out of the City and in to the country the water is less and less. Their are puddles or small lakes in Lacrosse that if you enter you may not come out. 

For the most part I have to say that I felt pretty good today slow up bliss but that is 

what I get trying to push 63 inches this early but I want to get it up to 66+ so I can use it in 

some of the group rides, and not get dropped on the flats due to spinning out. 

Still lots of work to be done,, but happy with what has been done so far and 

as long as it stays dry and some what warmer non negative temps I'll keep my self moving outside. 

The Pip comes home this weekend for spring break and I'll have to take her over to Minnesota and ride some of the endless gravel roads that side of the river,, Nice long climbs and valleys that seem

to never end. I hope she know what she is getting in to.

Time to Dig Deep!

Outsides

I had my self set up for a strong week of pedaling. 

Goal was for seven days and three hundred miles.. I fell forty miles short for the seven days but for the past nine right on the number. 

Up until the other day a lot of Roller miles were needed due to the polar vortex and the condition of the roads. I had been coming home and riding the road to no where for 25+ miles a night. 

With my phone duct tapped to my handle bars I finished up season five of Breaking Bad. 

Two miles on two miles off and so on and so forth. 

Then the weather broke just enough that the snow started to recede and the puddles formed. 

Now the only thing that stood in the way of outside riding was me.

I woke up saturday and shifted gears on the Nature Boy down to an 18 giving me 63 inches of awesomness. 

I needed a hundred miles for the weekend and even with the sun out the temps never got much more than freezing. And the wind was blowing just enough to make me earn every pedal stoke.

Not the mile total that I wanted but a titch under 2000 feet of climbing and I was not riding inside.... and I got to ride a classic route right out the front door. 

Not to mention that i got to watch the  Strade Bianche,, right in to the Fat Bike Birkie.

Two races that made me just want to get out and drill it. 

A lesson to all of you is don't go to the Grocery store after beating your self up..

Crashing and trying to buy food is not a win win set up. 

But nothing some guacamole and beer could not cure. 

Falling short yesterday meant that I needed some huge miles today. 

The weather never really got as warm as they foretasted to  and the wind was blowing harder than I wanted. The grey skies and cold wind made me super unmotivated and I did leave the house until late into the afternoon. 

Climbing is starting to hurt less and less,, and my legs seem like they are remembering what to do. 

I have lots and lot of more work to do,, but for the first time in a while I am not as scared about being a blob of slowness. 

Warmer days are a head and new bike waiting for me when the dirt dries out.. 

 

Time

The Pip came home from school last friday and like good parents

we drove to pick her up and took her home on sunday.

Nice having her around and even better that it was only a weekend..

Love the child but getting used to her being at school.

While home she managed to land a summer job at one 

of the local bike shops,, and not to far from the house.

So from now on I should not have to be cleaning her bikes,, this one still had mud and crap from

her trip to Boulder for Cross Nationals. 

Another perk to having her home,, Anna and I were able to go out Friday and see Horseshoes and Hand Grenades.. A Blue Grass Band from Point.. 

These guys can play and the banjo and fiddler don't mess around.. 

They played at the local hipster coffee bar,, that stank of BO and burnt falafel,, and had a new school home brew menu that was thicker than I wanted.. With the line to the dude bathroom I realized that I could walk across the street take a leak and buy a beer and head back to the show,, Worked slicker than a whistle.

Good music good company and with the beers from across the way I was happy see the taxi show. 

The forecast is starting to look like spring or at least not be below freezing.

With the amount of snow on the ground it looks like life back at 9700 feet. 

I made a goal of 300 miles for the week and I 

know that it is possible especially

with help from my little friend. 

All Buzzed up and need to go,,,