WORS #3 to be 2008 EXPO Kit Debut

Wausau, WI - Big Ring Classic (home of 24-9) this weekend.

Look out for the new EXPO kits.

Registered for Nats today too.

Wed Pic

Training is almost up to speed

Yesterday was a great day on the bike(cold w/Eish wind). South side of the Brew City north to Port Washington and back. A solid 68miles it was. I hooked up with a Lake Drive regular way early into the first half. He rode with me all the way to Port. The first half was 19-24mph due to trade-off pulls. Yikes, I haven't gone that fast yet all year. When we finally rolled into Port I knew I was in for a tough solo ride home. While on the gas station pee, I put on toe covers and my spare Endura Superlite Jacket to keep away the bone chill. I was able to stay warm the rest of the way, however I wasn't able to keep up my 1st half's 20mph average. Oh well. It is these kind of rides that make you love your warm shower and bed.

Keep Press'n On

Windy Recovery Ridey

I was able to get out on the bike for 1.5hr today. Eh. The head wind north was more chilling than it was challenging. Then, after the turn around the tail wind had my legs burning and spinning a lot.

Wed should be better, but still cold.

Aris decided to look here today, which has him pretty motivated.

12 Hours of Gears

me and Aris joined at the hip.

Bbones and Griffin leading out the 6hr.

First race of the year??? Ok, fine. Second. TI has got to count for something.

Signed up for the 12 SS Solo, as did the bro Aris. We started off the first few laps running 2 and 3. Towards the end of each lap was a big field that the trail outlined. It was great and not great. In the first half of the race it wasn't cause we slowly saw 4th and 5th creep to our wheels. Then we slowly saw them ride away. By the end of the race the field was positive.

Aris was getting himself into his first ever 12 solo race. He is clearly fast. He would repeatedly stretch me out on the first set of climbs and the flats. I had no fear for I would reel him right back on the descents. He was feeling so good he would have chased the two SSers as they passed us. Had they passed us in the 10th hour, we would have chased. But we are talking 3rd hour here...let'm pass.

This time it was the 4th hour syndrome. My legs just wouldn't come back after the climbs. I never felt like quitting, but I knew I might be in for a really long day. I slowly came out of it once I new I was almost half way. Food intake was fruit and Heed and Clif. Note - Aris is still riding very strong.

6 hours - We both were rolling well. Sipping and eating too. We started to see 2nd and 3rd again! Then one of them dropped. One of us was on the podium. At this point we started to see the rest of the EXPO peeps. Griffin, Bbones, Jdubs, Trixie, Chris T and John G. Aris and I even got to ride an entire lap with Bbones. Much respect to the boy. It was so fun rolling through the start/finish area with an EXPO train.

9 hours - Aris is done. Or at least he said he was until the pit threw us the news of us sitting in 2nd and 3rd. I never though such great news could piss off Aris as much as it did. This goes to show how mental this sport actually is. Aris kept on turning and we rolled on. No wait, we ripped on. There was no way either one of us was going to mess up a 2/3's EXPO podium.

Last Lap - Right next to Squidbuzz's garage was the crew of the SS boys that had been pressing us all day. Travis, the man in 4th, was sitting in his chair feeling done. We stopped to shake hands and drag his butt out for one more. Nice nice guy, hope to see him down the rode. What a day. EXPO takes 2 and 3 in the Solo SS cat.

Trixie was a superstar tackling her first race in 4 years. She put in 3 laps with some VERY respectable times. Griffin carried the load when it was time, sometime doing doubles. Look out for him, for he is putting weekday time on the bike. B and J are progressing very nicely as well. In just a few more weeks they move back south for the summer for some real training! Can't wait. Chris and John took 5th and 7th respectively in the 3 hour event. They both looked very strong every time I saw them out there. Of course their results show it too.

When it was all said and done Aris and I ended up 3rd best with 24 laps(eh). First Solo SS rocked out 4 more laps. He was flying. However Ronsta was on jet engines(31! yup). He not only was the MAN, but he took the Men's open on one gear! Look out for this cat at Nats. No Joke.

I almost forgot. Pedal Moraine can put on a very nice smooth, layed back, exciting, and fast well run event. Thanks. Gotta love WEMS.

EXPO had fun at Gears

Tons of great peeps.

Tons of 'firsts'.

Tons of great weather.

Tons of miles.

More lates...

12hr of Gears Line-up

We just loaded our Tribeca ruf with Yakima. We now can carry 4 bikes and 12 square feet of clothes on the outside of the car. Nice, just in time for gas season. Weather looks to be great and the laps look to be oh so short. On WEMS's latest press release they mentioned that there should be as many as two psychiatrists on site, which is nicce.

My #1 goal - to get passed the mind numbing 3rd(or is it 4th...11th?) hour syndrome.
#2 - Figure out which rides better: Maverick DUC or a FOX F29?
#3 - Keep Aris going.
#4 - Keep going myself

EXPO Line-up
12hr Solo SS
Me
Aris

6hr Duo
Brandon
Jordan

3hr
Trixie
Kathy
John
Chris

There may be more...Here we come.

My own Bone Ride thingy...

Special K

Commute -5

Work/Segway

Eat

Work/Tutor

Commute home - 5

Pee Buckwheat

iTunes

Change

Ride North then back South - 45

Shower

Walk Buckwheat

Eat

Blog

Trixie home

Smile

Wire season 2 disc 2

Sleep

Easy as Bundt Cake

I could turn it...That's about it though. Slightly over 2 hours was this morning's ride. My legs weren't as responsive as I'd hoped, but there certainly is some light at the end of the tunnel.

Now if the rain can hold off for just a little bit longer, Trixie and I will head over the Crystal Ridge tonight for some single track practice...

Beads

I know its just me, but I always have issues getting my beads to set. I spent close to an hour this morning inflating, deflating, repeating. I still have a bump in the front!

I'm gonna change and get out for 2-3 hours on the now road-ready Roger. 48x16 used to be cake...we will see what kind of cake today. I've spent the past 6 months on 48x18 0r 48x20. Gotta wake up those legs.

Air compressor and bead wax please.

EXPO @ Treadfest

Vince - 1st (2008 EXPO Racing Debut)

Jordan - 7th (likes the rigid)

Griffin - 5th (2008 WORS Debut)

Brandon - Finished (Cramps)

Theo - 2nd (Cause he was wearing EXPO shorts)

Aris - 1st Age, 10th Overall!!! (Legit)

Chris - 10th (2008 WORS Debut)

In store for this week? Training. Prep for 12 Hours of Gears. It's Summer!!!!

Ergon BD1 supports

For it's 3rd time ever on my back and first trip over 20miles, the Ergon BD1 did me proud. Really proud.


Trans Iowa eve I had packed and repacked the BD1 until I felt comfortable with my necessities' locations. It has plenty of little nooks and crannies to carry my tools, wallet, medicine, shot bloks, tube, etc. The main compartment was where I stuffed my pump and spare clothes and my unneeded extra battery(I only made it to CP1, remember?). The pack ended up being so heavy that was afraid to pick it up by the shoulder straps(since the the shoulder straps are only connected by the 'I wish I invented' 'central Flink ® ball joint'). Have no fear, there is a nice strap located at the top of the pack that shares the load between the main frame and the shoulder straps when carrying the pack off-back.


The pack truly shined. I forgot it was on my back. I could completely and freely turn my shoulders and head completely to the side to look back. No pack movement. I could maneuver my body into the most unorthodox riding positions I could think of to help fight the fierce cross wind. No pack movement. Throwing my body left the right slightly off-beat to huck up the Iowa ascents. No pack movement. The feeling of having nothing on your back was so great that Aris, Scott and I never noticed that our pack would sit slightly left or right one inch at our waist. We couldn't feel it.
"Hey Aris, your pack isn't centered"
"Oh."
Just like that.

Much like everything used for Trans Iowa. The BD1 really worked. Over the past year Ergon packs have created tons of hype across the board. I can say this for sure, they have earned a spot on my back indefinitely.

Endura performs at Trans Iowa

Endura Superlite Jacket
Trans Iowa v4 wind/winter test

Originally designed as a breathable(truly) super lite rain jacket, this thing served as the perfect race worthy winter jacket as well. I complimented the jacket with a long sleeve jersey/base layer and my short sleeve EXPO jersey. With wind chill temps in the upper teens/lower 20's, this jacket was put to the "winter test". My core never got too cold and never became over heated. I kept it zipped all the way up till about 9am. The sun and tail wind asked me to zip down 3/4 worth of Endura. 5-10 minutes later - zip it right back up(head wind).

When it was time to take the jacket off closer to 11am, I crossed my fingers that I wasn't too wet. I hadn't felt wet all day, but I still had this fear that I would pay the price of using a "rain jacket" as my wind/winter jacket. The sun had been beating down for a while and I new it was time to take the jacket off. Well, I had my chase group wait close to 5minutes while I attempted to take the truly "Superlite" jacket off in 30-40mph winds. The wind was really fighting me to take my new favorite jacket away. Thanks to everyone's patience, I managed to take it off and stuff it into the teeny tiniest pocket.

I felt my chest and both arms...They were dry! The wind was sure to make any bit of moisture feel like ice. No ice for me. I was 100% comfortable and ready to ride-on. To CP 1 that is.

A rain review is sure to follow...

Endura FS260-Pro Bibshorts
Trans Iowa v4 110 mile test

Nice and wide shoulder straps. Zero saddle sore issues. Only one reapply of chamois cream in 9.5 hours. These might just be my all time favorite shorts.

Chris and Endura, The team can't thank you enough!

Bike to Work

Only one more day left and then I'm free!

Lots of catching up is to be done.

I hope you are riding your bike.

Get to Work

I am so close, so so so close.

Thursday + Study day/ride + Sat + Sun/Thanks Mom/Happy B-Day Pops + Monday + Study day/ride + Wednesday = I can't wait.

Aris @ Iola

Thanks Rusty

10th

Aris - On a fresh bike (SS), new helmet. Not to mention straight off a 4am Prom night. 10th Overall in the world of the Comp class. WOW. I was planning on leaving early, but Aris kept me watching. He takes the win in the age group too, which is nice. This is sure to be an exciting year for EXPO Racing.

Jordan - Another one on a fresh bike, a new Helmet, shoes and a new race (2 laps). J-dubs pulled out a 10th in his 10-14 Citizen class. A great start to the season.


Still cramming on the course work...TI Products post is in the works. Bare with me, for the updates will be very slim this week.

School has got me Scrambling

I put off way to much school work for TI...Now I am scrambling to pick up the pieces. I only got one more week left. I will be posting a Trans Iowa "products used" Review in the hopefully nearest of futures.

On that note, it doesn't look to good this weekend for racing. The WORS intro might have to be put on hold until #2.

Back to work!