it's been awhile

...since i've been on a bike. a whole week, actually. i've had a busy week taking care of things not to mention i haven't been feeling all that great w/ the stomach pains and all. i wanted to go up to the poto to do a double but just remembered this morning that they were having the trail marathons out there today. so, change of plans. i decided to meet amanda up at brighton. we did murray-torn shirt-murray at a very comfortable pace which was a welcome change from all the race pace pain-fest rides i've been doing lately. i actually got to enjoy the trail and the ride. i had a little crash on torn shirt which is nothing new to me. i always crash on that trail. nothing major. my front tire washed out on a loose corner. i did manage to smack something into my calf. not sure what hit it but it seems to be a deep muscle bruise. it's pretty stiff right now and i'm hobbling around. pretty lame after such a tame fall.

so amanda had to take off to study and i continued on. two more laps of murray for a total of four laps of murray lake and one lap of torn shirt. 35 miles of pure singletrack heaven! i think my total ride time was about 3.5hrs which is a little more than a third of my goal at addison of 10 hrs. ride time. yikes! i was kinda tired but not that tired. plus, that ride is way tougher than 35 miles of addison. still, the 12 hr. race is gonna be brutal. one more weekend for a long ride. i'm thinking of doing some sort of eastside epic next weekend with a goal of 60 miles. we'll see what pans out.

i guess everything is going pretty well except for this stomach problem. i guess i should go to the doctor's this week to get it checked out. it sucks to have to deal with stuff like this but it's not unexpected. people with acromegaly just have continual health problems. i guess i'm no different. i'm just in better shape than most and i'm thankful i'm healthy enough to have achieved that status.

all done!

mason's surgery went off without a hitch this morning. we're all home now and he's doing awesome! as if nothing had even happened. i think he's just happy that his lashes are out of his eyes. he looks a little funky right now w/ the stitches and all but i think he's gonna look just fine when it heals!

omg, i'm so sore from running last night. i thought i'd do a quick run after work at maybury so i ran the hiking trail and then some. for some reason my traps are really sore today. um, maybe from holding my arms up while running? my legs are way more sore than after the yankee race. weird.

since mason's doing so well, i'll have some time to ride this weekend. i need to put in some serious saddle time this weekend and next since the addison race is fast approaching. i'm still deciding whether or not to pre-register. 6 hour or 12 hour? there's a $30 difference. i should just attempt the 12. really. see, i'm still trying to convince myself.

not sure what's going on w/ my stomach. it pretty much hurts after every meal now. not good. i guess i'll have to see the doc next week. again, i'm so sick of seeing the docs every other month...so it seems. but that's life for me.

life

i didn't end up riding tonight. i've been having really bad stomach aches the last two days. the same kind that had me doubled over a couple of weeks ago after that tiger's game. i'm not sure what's causing them but i guess i'm getting used to my body failing me. i'll let this go and see what happens before i call the doc. no more doctors!!!

so, i did some much needed yard work tonight instead. yes, it sucked. i should've lifted tonight as well. it's been over a week since i've last lifted. not good.

i was thinking at work today (go figure) that i may want to do the fort custer race. i think i would do better in a xc race than a tt. i think the longer the better. it'd be 2 laps for sport so about 18.5 miles. sounds like fun! we'll see who else is going.

i hope i feel better tomorrow. i probably won't have time to ride as we kinda want to do something with mason before his surgery on friday. sooooo, i probably won't ride until sunday. again, not good. a whole week between rides and i'm supposed to be riding for twelve hours in 2.5 weeks! maybe i should try to take myself a little less seriously...like this guy!

yankee results

the "corrected" race results were finally posted last night. i guess i took 5th with a time of 52:53 which at least seems reasonably close to my stopwatch time. the delay kinda killed the buzz so to speak. big deal, i took 5th. i don't even fully trust the results because there's still quite a few errors. andrea is still listed as having raced and finished. and what happened to farmer john and cary's time in the ss event? what a crappy race experience. the only reason to enter a race (for me) is so i can compare my time to other racers. yes, i want to see my name next to an "official" time on the promoter's website. petty, yes, but hey, i can go out any time with my stopwatch and do the same thing...all for free. so for my $30 entry fee, i have to get something out of it, right? oh well, there's always the next race. at least at addison i can keep track of my own laps!

did i mention i'm still at work? yes, it's 7PM and i'm still here. it'll give me a good excuse to go in late tomorrow since i'm planning on staying up for the wings' game.

it's supposed to be sunny and warmer tomorrow so i'll get back on the bike. how's a double pontiac lake sound? fantastic! great, we've got a date! see what too much work does to me? i need a jolly pumpkin!

yankee race report

it started off with an early morning wake up call. 5:55AM. i'm quirky like that. met up with soupy and paula in novi and off we went. it only takes about two hours to get to yankee so it wasn't too bad. i had plenty of time to pick up my number plate and chat with some people i haven't seen in awhile. i hooked up the trainer and proceeded with my warmup as planned. 11:07 rolled around quickly and i lined up at the starting gate. i was looking very nondescript with a decal-less bike and just a plain grey wicking shirt. we're still waiting on our team kit so until they get here, i'll be flying under the radar. the guy next to me looked fast w/ his racerboy jersey and fancy steel hardtail. he looked at me and kinda scoffed. i paid no attention to him. so 11:07 rolls around on the clock and we start. i let the other rider take the lead because i wanted to time the race on my stopwatch. i hit the start button right as the clock rolled to 11:07:00 and off i went. i thought i would follow "racer boy" for awhile and then pass him later but after about 50 yards, he was going so damn slow, i decided to make my move. so he sees me doing this and then goes all out. i out sprinted him pretty easily and didn't have to deal with him the rest of the race.

there are so many details about the race that i can go into but don't really feel like typing them out. all i can say is that it was grueling for me from start to finish. it HURT the WHOLE way! it's hard to stay mentally tough during the race. there were several times i just wanted to slow down and make the pain stop. i wanted to be able to breathe normally again. i wanted the pain in my side to go away. BUT, i kept thinking that this was a priviledge to be able to ride. two years ago, i was uncertain of my future, not knowing whether or not i would ever ride again. that was motivation enough for me to keep the pedals moving. the further i got into the race the faster i went. i hammered out the last 3 miles as hard as i could possibly go and sprinted to the finish. as soon as i crossed the finish line i hit the stop botton on my stopwatch. 52:59. YES!!! that was better than i expected. i was excited but was too preoccupied with trying to catch my breath and trying not to puke!

so, all i could do was wait. would 52:59 be good enough to get on the podium? two hours went by before they posted the results. i looked through the top 8 which was printed on one page...didn't see my name. i look on the second page...down, down, down, 13th!?!? i look at the time 56:03. what the fuck??? i know when i started and stopped my watch. something was definitely wrong. so i ask the lady behind the registration desk and sure enough, she said there were a number of problems and they were working on it. another hour and a half passes and then finally they said it was too messed up to have results today. they'll be posted some time this week. wtf? that sucks driving all the way out there, paying the registration fee and not knowing what my "official" results are. yes, i'm frustrated. i turned a good lap time and want to be properly recognized for it. that's the reason for racing right? i just hope tailwind gets it right and my time is accurate. time will tell...

a big congrats goes out to soupy for turning a sub-52 min. lap and taking 2nd in the beg/sport ss class! also, erin kicked some major ass finishing second overall in the women's expert/elite! way to go to all the racers out there today!!!

here we go!

well, the time has almost come! it's the night before the season's first race. it doesn't really seem like it's already here so i'm not too nervous...yet. yes, i get pre-race jitters. it's all good though. nothing like the adrenaline rush before the starting gun goes off.

i'm still trying to motivate myself to get on the trainer for an easy 30 minutes. i'm sure it'll do me some good loosening my legs up. we'll see.

it's going to be an early morning tomorrow. getting up around 6 to eat a full meal and then meeting up w/ soupy and paula in novi at 7:30. i just hope we get to the race in time for me to warmup properly. i'd like to spend 30 minutes on the trainer right before the start of the race. i'm going in with no expectations. i have a goal of doing the race in 55 minutes and the other goal is to have fun doing it!

i'll have a full race report and pics up hopefully by tomorrow night. it's go time, baby!!!

last training ride

i completed my last training ride before the season opening race. what better way to do it than hit up the poto for some climbing fun! after stopping at the jolly pumpkin brewery to pick up some brew for the team, i headed up to the poto. i had a very good ride out there. i rode it clean except for this one sandy downhill which swallowed my front tire. it must've been amusing because i unclipped my left foot and was riding the top tube with my right thigh all while rolling on just the front wheel! i went about 10 feet like this before regaining control. i was so sure i was going over the bars. i don't know how i avoided it. i guess i just know the fango really well. like an old friend. i'll be sad to see her go but i'm sure the custom 29er will fill the void. i'm not sure if it's easier/faster with the new reroutes because i rode it non-stop at about 85-90% and finished quite a bit faster than last year. it's still 18 miles lot to lot. my stomach was a little crampy out there tonight and my calves were also twitching a little. that's the first time this season that my muscles even considered cramping up on me. not sure what triggered it. all the hills? regardless, it's a great trail that i should ride once a week...great training and it may even make me fast!

i have to make sure i warm up properly on sunday. i didn't really feel comfortable until i was about 45 minutes in. at that point i could just flat out hammer. so, i'm thinking at least 30 minutes on the trainer before the race. i need to go out and hammer from the time the gun goes off. the race is too short to try and warm up on the course. three more days!

another day off!

well, i didn't intend to take today off but it just worked out that way. really. mason's cough had been getting progressively worse so i wanted him to go see the doctor to make sure everything was going to be okay before his surgery next friday. i had been getting very little sleep as of late so i decided to sleep in while we waited for the doctor's office to open. i ended up getting out of bed at 10:45. whoops! i wanted to eat some lunch before going in to work and next thing i knew it's 1:15PM so i called my boss and said it wouldn't be worth it for me to drive in and work for three hours. so i didn't go in. i actually got some worthwhile things done too! went to a tax advisor to get the taxes done correctly. we owe something like $700 for federal and state combined which is way better than the $4000 we were anticipating. so i guess it was $160 well spent. we also took our cars to get the oil changed...finally! nothing too exciting but stuff that definitely needed to be taken care of.

my plan was to go to brighton and ride tonight. well, after running all those errands, it ended up being too late. so, i was going to go to maybury to do a couple of laps but i've been wanting to switch out my back tire which i did but soon found that the tube had developed a leak. ugh! i guess someone didn't want me to ride tonight. oh well, i had more important things to take care of so i guess i'm gonna ride tomorrow night instead. i'm still planning on riding hard. screw this tapering stuff. i'm looking at the race on sunday as just another hard ride. two days off will be plenty for me.

still waiting for word from ernie about the quiring frame. my mind is pretty much made up. i'm buying one regardless of the cost. all i know is that it'll be under a thousand.

i've also decided to sell the wrx. we need money to try and pay off the surgery bill from two years ago and the only way we can get a lump sum of money right now is to sell the car. i should be able to make $4-6k on it. plus, with gas prices predicted to hover above $3/gal the whole summer, it only makes sense to get something more fuel efficient. it looks like another subie is in my future...model to be determined.

ah yes, another boring day in the life of this recovering acromegalic!

quiring?

just got off the phone with ernie....so, i've been thinking...the juice is a helluva nice frame for the price BUT, it has horizontal dropouts with a derailleur hanger. it would be a major pain in the ass to change a flat out on the trail. you'd have to loosen the brakes in order to get the rotor/wheel to slide out. do i really want to deal with this? wouldn't it be so much nicer to have a geared specific frame? not too many choices out there currently. so why not have scotty q build me up a custom steel? ernie's looking into pricing for me. if he can get me a smoking deal, i'm in. what the hell...a few more hundred for a custom frame that i'm gonna have around for a long time would be totally worth it. don't you think? try explaining that to jackie!

tax day sucked!

ugh! taxes! they suck. didn't make the deadline. didn't do them right. oh well, i guess we'll have to suffer the wrath from the gov'ment. i wasn't about to give them $3000 when we weren't sure that was correct. we'll have it all figured out tonight...hopefully. there's a chance we may not owe that much!

after work last night, i drove up to waterford from ann arbor which is an hour plus drive. i stopped by the bank to get some cash to pay for the team kit. doh! i forgot my debit card! fuck! so i drove all the way up there for nothing. luckily, ernie's a cool cat and told me not to sweat it. so, i'll just send the damn check to him this week! i also had him order up the soma juice for me too! i talked to the distributors last week and they said to get your orders in early because they will sell out within a week. and who says the 29er movement isn't growing!

after a stop at the shop, i only had enough time for one lap out at pontiac. i sure wished i had the 29er with me! oh my god, i worked SO much harder on my fango. i went all out and was still about 45 seconds slower than my first lap last week on the paragon. the difference was that i went all out last night and was only going maybe 75% last week. now if i could only race a 29er this weekend! alas, i'll have to ride the little wheeled bikes like most of the other racers. being frustrated with my efforts, i went home and did squats until i couldn't walk anymore. i finally just quit because i couldn't take any more burning in my legs.

the rising gas prices is ridiculous. we're so handcuffed as consumers. i mean, we have to buy the stuff. there's no way around it. so, i'm thinking about either selling the wrx or trading it in for something a little more economical. yes, me thinking rationally. that's a first.

lazy day

i haven't done shit today. in fact, i've been up for less than ten and a half hours. the cool weather kept me in the house all day. lame, yes, but i didn't feel like doing anything today. yesterday, on the other hand, was unbelievable! i couldn't believe how clear it was yesterday. unbelievably bright sunshine and the clearest blue skies a spring day could offer. i went out to lower huron metropark with jackie and mason. we rode all of the paved paths down to oakwoods and willow metroparks and back. stopped about half way and had a picnic. the ride wasn't too tough until the return trip. a stiff wind with the uphills along with 70lbs. behind my bike made for a good workout. we ended up with almost 30 miles. it was later than i thought, so i couldn't make it up to cycletherapy to pay for the team kit. i was gonna go today but i forgot they'd be closed because of easter. oh well, i'll have to go tomorrow after work and hope ernie's okay with it. anyway, after the ride we got home, had some dogs and potato salad, laid around for a bit and then headed back out to maybury for an opening day trail ride. i wanted to do 3 laps but forgot my camelbak and waterbottle so i kept it to two laps. besides, there wasn't enough daylight to do a third lap. i couldn't believe how good my legs felt out there. two hard laps and a trip back to the main lot bathrooms gave me a total of 43 miles for the day. that's a good sign for addison. granted it's only about a quarter of the race but i felt like i could ride forever yesterday.

today, i slept in...almost til noon. i would've went up and ridden pontiac lake if the shop was open. but they were closed so i laid around all day watching tv. well, one more week until yankee. i'm as ready as i'll ever be. i can already feel the excitement building. i'm going in with no expectations except to have a good time and do the best that i can. two more HARD rides this week. monday and wednesday. pontiac lake tomorrow and then brighton on wednesday. two hard laps at pontiac and then a murray, torn shirt, torn shirt, murray painfest on wednesday. then, i'll have a rest day on thursday and an easy spin probably on the trainer friday. saturday is still up in the air since i'm leaning towards driving to yankee on sunday morning. so far the weather isn't looking too bad. as long as there aren't treacherous wet roots, i'll be fine! well, i wish i could be racing a 29er, but i don't need a cheater bike to have fun, do i?

fun day off

what a great day i had yesterday! not only was the weather perfect, i had the perfect company as well! the day started off with a 4 mile trail run out at maybury. jackie was very impressive out there for her first ever trail run! all those intervals on the trainer this winter has definitely put her in the best shape of her life. it was hard to believe that i was actually doing a trail run with my wife! now if i wasn't so lazy i'd put her knobby rear tire back on her bike so she can do some trail riding!

we were running late for the game so we went home, took a "quick" shower ;-) and headed down to the ballpark. we had the $8 bleacher seats which are actually really good. they're behind the scoreboard in right-center field. we had 3 hits out there with one coming directly at us but fell about 2 feet short off the wall. the ballpark is not cheap. $8 beers! we limited ourselves to three large beers between us. after the game we walked over to the town pump for some oberon. mmmm, two pints later, i was feeling pretty good...except for the ridiculously obnoxious meat-heads who were causing a lot of ruckus.

we decided to head home and change before we went out to dinner. i knew if i laid down when i got home, i would pass out. so that's what we did. i think i slept about an hour and was reluctant to get up. i finally got up because i was getting hungry and we drove out to novi to benihana. sat at the bar and had a very strong mai tai while the postal service(!) was playing in the background. dinner was awesome as usual but left with a bad belly ache which got progressively worse. by the time we got home i was in so much pain, i just curled up in bed. not sure what caused it but it sucked. i woke up at 1AM feeling a little better, got a drink of water and the pain came back with a vengeance! it was worse than it was earlier. again, not sure what triggered it. maybe the mai tai? maybe the grey goose and sodas with dinner? who knows. it just ended up being a shitty way to end such a great day. oh well, there's always next time!

so, no more drinking for me until the race. gonna do a morning ride w/ the family and pulling the trailer at a local metropark and then doing a trail ride in the afternoon. it really sucks being back at work but we all know work is for suckers!

a day off!

i've finally decided to take a vacation day and not have to go to the doctor's office or the hospital for tests and whatnot. it's gonna be 70 and sunny tomorrow so i'm going to the ballpark! yes, a tiger's game in the afternoon. mmmmm...beer, hot dogs and nachos. the perfect recovery food! recovery for what? well, you didn't think i was gonna sit on my ass with a race looming ten days away, did you? i'm planning on doing stairs in the morning and then getting the (much needed) oil changed in my rex. and if i don't have too many beers at the ol' ballgame, i'm gonna do some riding too! but i think that's gonna be a stretch.

i can't frickin' wait to get my 29er! i reluctantly drove back up to fenton tonight to return the paragon. i can't wait to ride a 29er again. i just can't get over how much fun they are! i'm hoping soma's distributors are right and they do come in the first of may. there could be a possibility that i'd get it built up in time for addison. that would rock! i pretty much came up with a build list and i'm trying to keep it under $1500. not an easy job. i was going back and forth between the aluminum niner emd and the steel juice. i think the juice would be way cooler than the plain ol' aluminum frame...plus the emd costs more. okay, off to bed...now i can finally dream about my 29er....

oh my gawd!

soooo...i picked up the 29er after work tonight and headed on over to pontiac lake. i put on my own saddle and made some adjustments to the levers and shifters all the while some guy was eyeing my shiny new yellow big-wheeled ride. believe it or not i was the first one to demo this bike. it was brand new! this guy comes over and asks me all sorts of questions about the bike. turns out he's also on the mtbr 29er board and is currently building up a custom steel 29er. so this guy has a custom frame but he's never even ridden one!

i head out by myself and was getting used to the more upright position. the damn riser bars plus two 1/2 inch spacers put me a bit higher than i'm used to. i get to the 2 mile switchback climb and was thinking...hmmm, this is no better than my 26er. i'm working just as hard. it took me awhile to figure out the gearing. being in the same gear on the 29er is still a "taller" gear or should i say bigger gear inch. so until i got that squared away i felt the 29er was slower on the climbs. however, my mind quickly changed about half way through. i could not believe how well it cornered and how well it rolled through the little rock gardens and roots. it basically laughed at anything that got in it's way. i was going down the hills WAY faster and just carrying momentum through the rough stuff way better. so, how much faster was i than last thursday? on the first lap, i was 2:39 faster without even trying. last week i was going probably 90-95% and this week i was going about 75%. and i was more than 2.5 minutes faster on a 10 mile loop! unbelieveable! now get this. for the night lap, i was 5:15 faster than last week! both were similar efforts. and the night lap this week on the 29er was only 1:01 slower than my first lap! it really wasn't even about the speed. it was about how much fun i was having on the bike! i seriously can't remember the last time i had that much fun on a bike! i felt like a kid again. needless to say, i'm selling all of my other bikes to build up a 29er. i really wish i could have one for the yankee race but realistically i won't have one built up until probably mid-late may. i really could not find any weaknesses. maybe, it was a little slower on the long, grinder type climbs but it more than made up for it on the down hills. and that's just a maybe. it felt like i got through the hills faster. you go a lot further with each pedal stroke. i'm so giddy right now. just like a little kid! i can't wait to get my own! until then, i have to ride the little wheeled bike which i know is gonna suck and feel so slow!

oh one more thing, i weighed the 29er when i got home and it tips the scales at a portly 27 pounds! that's 2 pounds heavier than my fango and didn't notice it at all. it certainly doesn't feel that heavy even on the climbs. once again, surprising. now i'm not the kind of person to go and tell everybody and their grandma to go out immediately and buy one....BUT if you ever get a chance to ride one on the trail, go for it! just be prepared to sell off your current bikes!

contentment

ya know, i can't remember the last time i was this happy with life. i'm actually content with everything that's going on in my life. yes, work still sucks and there's assholes to deal with everyday but i'm just very comfortable with my self right now. i'm finding time to ride my bike quite a bit, i'm spending time with my family and i'm spending time with my friends. a very nice balance.

so after all this talk about 29er's i'm finally demoing one tonight. i'm leaving work early to go up to fenton to pick up a paragon and then do two laps out at pontiac. needless to say, i'm pretty damn excited. assuming i fall in love with it tonight, i already called one of soma's distributors and the juice should be back in stock in about 3 weeks! i think it would be an awesome marathon bike...perfect for events like addison! there will be a full ride report later tonight!

oh, speaking of racing, i have a tentative 4 person coed team for boyne...dana, dustin, soupy and myself. unless dana and dustin changed their minds since saturday. oh wait, i wonder if soupy even knows. guess i'd better check with him since he does make up 1/4 of the team. well, maybe 3/16 at best!

okay, busy afternoon so i'd better start working so i can get outta here asap!

more weekend musings...

my last entry was quite long and i didn't get a chance to put down all of my thoughts. after my road ride on saturday, i'm seriously reconsidering doing addison solo. i rode for only 2.5 hours and would have to do that same route three more times to be close to my ride time goal of ten hours. i definitely could not do that three more times. not even close. one more time would've been painful. two more times would've been death and three more times would've been just plain ol' impossible. i just don't think i have it in me. i don't think i'll have it in me in a month either. so, what do i do?

"training" has been a bit frustrating too. i feel so slow on the bike. and judging by my yankee times, i am slow on the bike. i was hoping i'd be a lot faster with all the training i've done so far. no, i'm not training nearly as much as the expert/elite guys, but i don't expect to turn expert/elite lap times either. i just figured i'd be more towards the top of the sport class and not mid-pack like i am now. so i've decided to take training less seriously (unlike some people) and just enjoy riding. that's what it's all about for me. yeah, it's fun to hang w/ the fast people but i'm never going to be committed enough to train that hard. so, i'm just gonna be content riding my bike, having fun and hanging out w/ cool people. i'm still gonna race this year but with different goals in mind. later this week will mark the two year anniversary of when i was diagnosed with my tumor. i remember thinking that i would probably never ride my bike again. well, here i am two years later, stronger than ever and enjoying life. no one is ever gonna take that away from me no matter how slow they think i am on my bike.

weekend happenings

another full weekend. saturday started out kinda slow. i was feeling lazy and tired. at around 3PM, i finally mustered up enough motivation to get myself outside and ride. it was sunny but a bit breezy and a little chilly. i didn't want to ride the trails because we had gotten a ton of rain on friday. so the plan was to do all of hines. i know earlier in the week i said i would do six hours or sixty miles. i lied. i wanted to do 40 since i wanted to get to the fireman's party at a decent time. i parked at the warrendale lot just east of telegraph and headed towards dearborn. i didn't realize hines ends at ford rd. so i followed the paved path through u of m dearborn and ended up in a car dealer's lot. i guess the paved path is the rouge gateway trail. i recognized the bridges from pictures i've seen. so i turned around and headed towards northville. the wind sucked ass! it was a pretty easy paced ride but i was low on fuel. i put the last of my HEED in the water bottle and it was maybe two scoops. i finished in exactly 2:30 and the mileage back to my car was exactly 40 miles! my ass and lower back were killing me! i really need a new saddle for these types of rides. it's not so bad on the trails since i'm constantly shifting my weight and standing up but on a road ride it's just pure torture sitting there for hours! i think my lower back pain is from lack of abdominal strength. i never do ab work. there's no better time to start than right now!

i made it over to the fireman's party around 9:00. i'll just say that the party was a lot of fun and leave it at that.

i made my way home this morning and was WAY hungover. i'm just not used to drinking anymore. i briefly considered erin's offer of going to yankee w/ her and andy but i thought better of it and curled up in my own comfy bed. i slept until 2:00 and still felt pretty crappy. all that drinking and lack of sleep made my cold even worse! i was so congested i thought my head would explode! so i made some food and tried to decide what i wanted to do. it looked absolutely beautiful out! bright sunshine and not a cloud in the sky! too bad i was feeling so crappy. i finally made up my mind at around 4:30 that i was gonna ride. i knew i would kick myself if i didn't, plus i always feel better if i do something. soooo...i decided to go up to novi. it's close and well, it's close. i don't think i'm a real big fan of novi anymore. it's a slow trail. to many tight turns. it's like you're on the brakes all the time. i think i've been spoiled by pontiac and yankee. now those trails are fun! i forced myself to do a second lap even though i was seriously lacking in energy and my back was killing me again. so two full laps and then some thai food afterwards. yummy!

that wraps up yet another weekend. two more weeks until yankee!

good ride

a near perfect evening for a bike ride! i wasn't gonna let a tiny cold stop me from enjoying the weather. even though i was run down and had some body aches from the cold, i still made the trip up to pontiac lake after work. to my surprise, there were several of the cycletherapy guys there along with nick and the jode! i had every intention of doing two slow laps...we stopped a couple of times including the top of 2 mile hill. after that, soupy and i took off and found a good rhythm. we turned a pretty darn fast lap for early april. i was just happy to be able to hang w/ soupy tonight! i figured out one reason i've been so slow on the climbs. i wasn't pedaling properly. i wasn't pulling on the up-strokes. i was just basically pushing the pedals up the hills. i can't believe what a difference that made! i felt WAY faster on the climbs tonight. i can't believe how much stronger i felt than i did last week.

soupy had to leave after one lap so i was on my own for the second. i don't ever recall doing a night lap by myself. it's probably not the smartest thing to do but then i again i don't always do the smartest thing. the legs started off a bit stiff but i warmed up quickly and was feeling pretty good. i did the entire lap non-stop which is good because i need to learn to recover on the bike after the climbs. i thought i did fairly well...as soon as i reached the top of the climb, i upshifted and hammered for about 50 feet to get up to speed. that will definitely come in handy especially in a sport level race. after the road crossing i spooked a couple of deer that were about 5 feet off the trail. pretty cool seeing their eyes glow under the luminescence of my hid. i finished the lap without taking any shortcuts and felt very strong on the last climb. well, at least i feel a little better about the yankee race now.

one 29er to go, please!

i finally get to try a 29er out! well, as long as don't get sick. i've been fighting off another cold for about 5 days now. i'm feeling pretty run down tonight. i even fell asleep for about 20 mins. after i got home from work.

okay, so the plan is to pick up the 29er after work tomorrow and then meet up w/ soupy at plra to get my pedals and saddle from my crosser. so, a lap tomorrow night to get acclimated and then make any adjustments for two more laps on thursday night. that should give me a pretty good idea how it rides and handles. i'm hoping it's everything all the guys on the 29er board say it is!

i'm taking another day off from training. my legs haven't felt recovered in probably a month, not to mention my nagging hamstring that's been bothering me for probably the last two months. i hope this isn't something that's gonna be with me the whole season.

already thinking about weekend plans again. so much to do, so little time. fireman's party is this saturday. don't know if i'll make it. i would love to go but...then there's talk about going back to yankee on sunday. i would love to do that as well, but...mmmm...bells. now that's enough to get me back over to the westside of the state, especially if i can hitch a ride w/ someone. no driving=more beer=more happiness. i tell ya, last sunday was one of the bestest days i've had in a long time! now, if only i can keep this cold at bay...

juicy!

okay, so i really am crazy. does anyone else have this sort of addiction? you find yourself constantly on the internet looking at bikes you want to buy, research the hell out of them and then lust after them until they are between your thighs? i've been doing this for at least three months. yes, i still want a 29er. i haven't even ridden one on the trail yet. this thursday. that's my plan. i'm calling sunrise tomorrow and seeing if i can pick up the paragon on wednesday after work and then getting it set up for a ride out at pontiac on thursday. so after all this research, i've decided to get a frame that isn't currently available. sold out. i think they should be in-stock in about a month. but i've heard that one before. the frame is a soma juice. for '06 they've upgraded to a tange prestige tubeset. mmmmm...prestige tubing. i remember riding one of my first mountain bikes back in the late 80s and it was made of tange prestige. all this for a retail price of $429. hard to beat. even for my hairy palmed tendencies.

sunday pics

how do you spell pain relief? B-E-E-R

ouch!

i'm not wearing any underwear!

kerry and cary or is it cary and kerry?

andy's pos

bell's brewery

my ridin' pals!

ridin' pals + dork

what a weekend!

the solsun was smiling upon us

okay, so it's been a couple of days. not that anyone reads these things anyway! so, let's start off with saturday. it was the typical saturday morning ride...met at the tree farm, back road ride into kensington and back. so much for the nice weather we had last week. it was dreary, cool, and windy. what else would you expect from late march michigan weather? i actually felt good on this ride. i felt like my training was getting me somewhere. i wasn't lagging behind everyone else on the climbs. in fact, the only person who beat me around kensington was soupy, but he was on my cheater cross bike! ;-) it was tempting to go to the bonfire after the ride but i knew i had a bunch of stuff to do around the house and my bike needed a little bit of work before our trip to yankee on sunday.

ah, our trip to yankee! what an awesome day it was! it started off early with the spring forward crap but i was excited so i reluctantly crawled out of bed and had a large bowl of cereal with some hammer whey sprinkled on top. i met up with soupy, erin, andy and the two kerry's in novi and westward we trekked.

all i can say is that yankee rocks! the first lap was a bit faster than i wanted to go but we stopped to regroup every so often which made for good recovery time. the flow of that trail is unbelieveably fun with the banked turns, swooping downhills leading up to some short, steep climbs. the fango is an awesome bike to have on a trail like this. it handles the roots with ease and climbs with unbelievable traction. the only limiting factor is my own climbing ability. i don't know what it is this year but i can't climb! i'm soooo slow. it looks like i'll have go out and do some hill intervals before the race if i want any sort of chance to get on the podium.

after our first lap, we were ready to hammer. i guess they didn't realize that i was already hammering on the first lap. oh well, these racer folks must've been holding back on the first lap. i knew i would be in trouble on the second lap so i didn't even bother trying to keep up with soupy and erin. i was dropped like cary's turds in a gas station bathroom within the first two miles. i didn't think i would see those two again until the i got back to the parking lot. i was wrong. about 7 miles in (if i remember correctly) there was a rooted downhill with a large stump in the middle and a big tree right behind that. you could either take the high line and go left around the tree or you could go right and go down on an off camber section. apparantly, erin lost control on the roots and then locked her eyes on the tree and sure enough when you fixate on an object you will hit it. from what she said she went into it at about 20mph with her back! ouch! visibly shaken, this was not enough to prevent her from finishing the loop. she is hardcore! i rode with her for about another mile or so and said that she really needed a beer when we got back to the lot. she said she was just thinking the same thing! i like how you think, woman! my legs at this point were totally screaming at me. when i say screaming, i'm talking about the fat woman at walmart yelling at her 7 kids, screaming! they would just not turn the cranks anymore. so, erin sped off to catch soupy. i rode by myself for awhile until i found andy on the top of a climb with his bike flipped over. yes, it was just one of those days for andy. he pretty much convinced me to never buy a full suspension bike. with three miles to go i kicked it up a notch. i gave it everything i had and still finished more than 3 minutes behind soupy. a nice reality check. no, i am not ready for this race and no i will not be on the podium. i'm slow, slow, slow! very frustrating. well, at least there was the post ride dark horse ipa! thanks, erin!

since the rains had moved in and we were spent and cold, we decided a trip to bell's in k'zoo was in order! mmmm...two hearted on tap...1/2 pound burger...cool new riding pals. what more can i say. an awesome sunday that's gonna be hard to beat! almost 12 hours after i left home, i returned. too tired to put my thoughts into words, i took a nice hot shower and went to bed. if this is a prelude to all the fun i'm gonna have this summer then......