Kicked in the Ding Ding

Damn near impossible to take a month off of high end racing and line up of a 1.5+ hour dirt crit short track,,, But I gave it a go and it went.

The boy Races at some god awful time on a sunday morning which meant we would be at the venue all day long,, in the sun and on and off our feet. 

He had a typical JRC race,, he lined up complained about the hills and then 

had fun,, and the fun part is the most important.

I jumped on course while he was riding to see the new sections of trail that had been added and much talked about since the weekly race just last Thursday.

This brings me to my race.

Again the locals race Buck Hill every Thursday and have for years,

this would be my sixth time is seven years and every  year pretty much the same old story.

Hit it hard and fade towards the end.

The lack of racing was going to show its had quite quickly on this hot and windy day.

With all the fast guys on the line something new for me this season was no call up and starting in the second row. At least I was able to line up behind the boss who was Rocking his Carbon Fat bike.

Manderson blew the whistle and we were off. Jay punched it and took the Hole-shot-henderson move and for what ever reason I joined,, 

Sitting on the bosses wheel I followed up through the first climb till Owen came around with Jack and Josh,, and into the single track.. 

Being up front was where I needed to be but I could not recover from the effort to get to this corner of the Pain Cave,,

Buy the time we came out to the ski hill Jesse R and few other had come around. 

Still stilling in a good spot I pressed on first of the three laps went well holding on to the gaps and trying to extend on the short punchy climbs. 

Going up hill was not slowing me down it was the Donkey-Kong like traverses that for what ever reason put sand in my legs. 

Laps four five and six the breaks went on as the lap traffic got to be an issue trying to continue going fast while dodging lapped racers. 

With less than half a lap to go I gave up the tenth spot and was just over it happy to finish in one piece but knowing that much more needed to be done. 

Buck has never been nice to me and Yesterday was not to be any different. 

But I got to see what my legs could do,, and got a really sweet new 

bag out of the whole deal so almost a win win.. 

Two weeks and then off to Duluth.

Rained Out Again

Shut out again,, this time it was not me pulling the plug but the promoters of the race. 

The back story is all week long the Mississippi river valley has been getting pounded with rain,, and lots of it.. Strong severe weather has been blowing through one after an other. 

The forecast had called for a dry Friday and drying out over the weekend with small chances of showers. 

The Series put out a Tweet that a final decision will be made saturday morning after  

the trail was inspected on Friday.

On Friday I rode the monster Cross to work and home through the quarry and on the way home I rode some of the upper sections of HPT. 

Pleasantly surprised I was to see that the trails were drying and my mind was shifting into race mode.

Got back to the house and Brown Santa had brought two boxes to the house

one with new Geax tires and the other a new Deck for the boy to Thrash on. 

Got the tires set and the word from the series was the trail was in great shape and the race was on...

Made some last minute plans to ride up to St Paul with the Girls for the concert that they were going to and the Party was on.

Saturday morning I went for just a quick tempo style of ride and happy with how I felt,, until

pulling into the Garage to find out that the race had been Canceled.

This is the official announcement.

 I understand how frustrating this is for racers and the series given our proclamation last night, but the forecasts have gotten worse and we run the very real risk of running our club out of business if it were to rain and the turn out was low. With past two Red Wing events being wet and the prior event in Mankato being wet, we felt there was a good chance racers would understandably stay home if we got rain tomorrow. 

We apologize for any issues this cancellation may cause. Expect information from us and/or the series for how pre-registered riders will be handled.

At this point I am pretty bummed this means that I have not raced my bike now due to
weather for almost a month.. and I am freaking out and ready
to bend some cranks and feel that pain that can only come from racing.

The Weekend was not a total disaster,,
Did get to have dinner with the Boss last night and the Boy and I rode a new skate park.
Now we do have a race coming up next Sunday,,
One of my least favorites Buck Hill..
Two Hours of driving for a 75 minute race..
But I need to feed that Jones and this will have to be where I start.

Ditch Diggers Too Danny

It has been all bikes all the time and aside from racing this guy has been smiling from ear to ear.

Md and the Crew at Velocity twisted my up a new back wheel which showed up

bright and early last week and added to the riding enjoyment. 

I had the best fathers day gift a guy could ask for last friday,, getting off work early and meeting up Woods at Levis Mound. 

with the

Which by the way was voted one of the best places to ride by some magazine or group of people that i am sure know a lot about something. 

Regardless the weather perfect with low humidity and as long as you kept moving the bugs were not so bad. 

The Pip and Kwood were riding like they were on fire and all Jay and I could do was sit back and watch.  I even got to drink a beer and then have Pip drive home while chilled in the passenger seat.. KickAss.

Still on a Mountain Bike High saturday morning I found my self back out on the LaMere this time heading up to the HPT for nice post breakfast ride..

Trails were in great condition and at times I even felt fast.. The trail crew were up working with machines and I made Planes with Blum to carpool to the SSUSA,,, so I guess that is going to happen. 

Now just need to figure out what bike or bikes I can ride singlespeed up there.

And as you would guess sunday saw more bikes and beer drinking. 

I took the All/City out to see it  I knew how to ride  a Single and with the 42x18 and 44mm tires it kept me honest. 

My wife took me out for wings and beer and then I cooked a kicks ass dinner..and when it was all

over I woke up monday morning like it was some awesome dream.

Now I just need to plow trough to the weekend and I will finally get to race this time

at Red Wing one of my favorites,, Fast Hilly and Fun.. 

LaidOut

I woke up monday morning ready to get back after the Mountain Bike on the way to work.

Nothing starts the week off better than riding singletrack before heading

into the monday morning meeting. 

For what ever reason I had to fight my breakfast and my coffee was not going down as it 

normally should be. 

All this was coming on the heals of a great weekend and week of riding.

Sunday saw 35 miles of dirt and over 4K of climbing.

So as my morning progressed I was dressed and almost ready 

when it hit me like a freight train. 

It took all I could muster just to get out of the super suit and climb into bed. I slept from 7:30 to 1:30 and then just moved to the couch where I just laid low for a few more hours.

Not sure if I had picked up a bug or if my body was just telling me to stop as the candle had been being burned on all sides.

It has been a slow restart to movement trying to get my legs back under me and get back to feeling

as good as I did last week. 

I was able to ride dirt before and after work yesterday which helped but still put me to bed just after 9,, going to be while it is still light outside..

Going to test out the monster truck tires that I put on the cross bike,, this morning, for what ever reason could not get the tires to hold air with all the sealant that i put in them so I will have to run 

tubes,, but regardless they should be a blast on the dirt. 

And if and only if I can pull it off should be going to Levis tomorrow after work to meet the boss and rip some trails.. 

#WhAtAJeRK

Not racing last weekend has me chomping at the bit to line up and and go,,

nothing unit the end of the month which makes two races this year and it just fells weird. 

So in the meantime I have been just over dosing on the MTB.. 

My biggest fear is that I don't have the high end that is needed to keep up with the fast guys but the miles and climbing are on point.

I spend most of my time riding solo due to time and not the biggest fan of the group rides in the area.

I did get out with Jblum yesterday and showed him around the backyard and caught up with all that

is cycling in the area as I am for the most part out of touch doing my own thing. 

Had a blast trying to link up all the dirt in the area as the sky's started to get dark and 

the thunder started to boom..

After cresting the big quarry climb I had to make the decision to turn tail and run before the buckets of rain started to fall. I got in to the garage just as the heavy stuff started to fall,, only make for some minor bike cleaning. 

And that was on the heals of getting caught in the rain coming home from work on friday.

Pop up thunder showers much like those in my old home land of Colorado.

I felt the rain starting as I pedaled out of town and headed to the trails,, beating it and getting under the canopy of trees for the two mile Vista Climb.

Very little rain made it through the trees but what did made for some greasy conditions  causing me to have to pedal a touch easier. 

Popping out on the top my bike wanted to ride more dirt but my brain said get out while you can..
So I did.

Today was nothing but blue skies and SingleTrack, Gravel and a bit of Pavement.
I had nothing but time on my hands and wanted to do the ride that I had planned yesterday.
Thirty Five miles later and 4k+ of climbing I was smiling from ear to ear
and oh so happy that i did not go out on some windy
death march through the hills waiting for flat tire fixes and
regrouping at the top of hills..
Call me an asshole or an elitist or that I have a darkheart,,
No I just want to ride my bike with out any drama..

DnS

As far as I can tell I pulled my first ever DNS#

I can't think back to a time where I have been signed up for a race been at the venue and not gone to the line.  But if their was ever going to be a day to do so yesterday was it. 

I love love love the race at Mankato and am super bummed out that it ended up being the race that it was.  Last year I had one of my best races of the season, and was looking forward to another good showing. 

Now all things in context,, this was a busy weekend for racing with a Point to Point in Hayward and State Crit champs in St Paul and then both Minnesota and Wisco having races. 

A ton of folks were up in the north woods for the Epic and in hind sight I wish I would have also,, gone to this one.. My favorite Ginger pulled out a kickass race finishing in sixth just behind Mr Creepyfriendly and in front of the Basco boys.

From all reports the weather was great and the racing was better. 

Hwood and Kwood opted out of MTB racing due to the Road Racing that was being put on

by Podium Wear and they being a title sponsor of the THC team it only made scene for them to race there. 

The only other dry option for racing on Sunday would have been going to 

Cam Rock and racing WoRs, but since I did not pony up to USAC no racing for me,, the Pip could have and maybe even should have but committed to the   MNMBS and to the Team we are. 

So at the Race we were and the field was small and the mud was thick.

During the sport race people were getting pulled out of the course by an ATV,, and meanwhile their was the Marathon event going on,, and Jeff Hall sent from 20 minute laps to 30 to 40+ minute laps.  Last years finish time was under two hours for 5 laps. 

I made the decision and left the bikes in the car up until the last minute when I was going to send the kid out for points and money,,    as I was doing this Jeff had just finished and said " if you don't have to be out there don't go".

Bike back in the car and we became super fans. 

I did catch a lot of flack from the guys lining up all twenty or so of them. 

I just smiled and gave the guys on the line HIGH fives, and told them to have fun. 

I just looked at results and only 10 people did the four cut down laps,, 1 and 2 did it in just under 2 hours and third was 2.5... and again this was a cut down lap from four and a half to maybe three or so. 

Their were racers on course for almost four hours... FOUR HOURS.. That is Fucked Up..

And the destruction to bikes and trail are off the charts.. 

I saw at least 10 snapped rear derailleurs countless flats and mud that would cut through carbon fiber.

All in all I had a blast watching and cheering on the twisted freaks who will spend the next week cleaning their bikes and bellybuttons of clay mud and sand. 

Who will dump dollars upon dollars to get their rigs back in shape. 

Should the race have been called,, I think so but it is not up to me... do I thinks that for all lessons are learned on racing in these conditions?? Maybe...,.

But for sure after what I watched I'll take a DNS over a DNF and  Fuked up bike any day..

PARTY ON!!