Last few weeks

Well, the last three weeks have been crazy. After winning the tandem fun ride division of Lotoja I took two weeks off the bike to veg and build a shed. Veg I did and I'm now up 8 lbs. I ate anything and everything I wanted and now it is time to slim down again. The shed on the other hand went up fast and looks great thanks to Doug, Russ, Mindy, and Duwaine for all their hard work.

On the coaching front the team is undefeated and playing well, and I must admit I'm having fun. Baseball it is not (some odd rules I'm still trying to adjust to and understand), but from a coaching aspect it is still a blast. It is also nice to be the assistant coach (I love not having to deal with the parents. I just get to coach). I'm still adjusting to coaching girls, but for the most part it going good. The team only has a few emotional breakdown during the week. I always want to yell, "there's no crying in baseball", but the head coach always reminds me baseball it is not.

Bring on the Rain!

It has been raining all week! Bring it on. Unfortunately my rain bike is missing its rear wheel. Due to the rain we have a small change in the blog background.

Crash, boom

Went down in the first cyclocross race of the year. I was doing pretty well in the B group, battling for first with another guy. We had about a 20 yard lead with just over 2 laps to go. I went down when pretty hard, but got up quickly. The guy got a gap, but I couldn't catch him no matter how hard I tried. Slowly other people kept catching me. It was a nightmare. With one lap to go I finally looked down at my rim to see that it was wabbling about 3 inches and I was riding with the brake on.

I jumped the last barrier and went to get on my bike, but found out my rim would no longer turn. Sucked! The rim is done! Now I don't have a rim for my cross bike or my rain bike (I was using them for both). Some days you were not meant to do well.

Also, check out the picture on the fam blog for Ethan's stitches. That's my boy!

Lotoja 2010

It's difficult to think about Bub and Kim not riding Lotoja tomorrow (I'll miss the great pulls, laughs, and conversation), but there are a few new things that might make this year great. To counter Bub 5 withdrawals, I'll add 6 things that might possibly help us without Bub and Kim-

1- The tandem will be 14 lbs lighter than the one we road last year. I hope that will translate into increased climbing ability.

2- I was able to put in over 2,000 + mile in the last 2 1/2 months.

3- The "Hammer" (Perpetuem and Montana Huckleberry gel) products which will for the most part will eliminate me eating food during the last 120 miles and possibly pucking my guts out at the end.

4-It can't be worse that than 2005

5- WE ARE NOT DRIVING HOME AFTER THE RIDE!!!!!!!! (maybe that should be #1)

6- Michelle yelling out the window like a crazy lady (It always makes me crackup)

Lotoja withdrawls

So I am going through some Lotoja withdrawl! About this time for the past six years I would be sitting on a plane headed to Utah for the race. People at work were very surprised to hear I was going this year. There have been some good and bad to not riding it this year. My training for local races was a lot better. I wasn’t having to ride 100 milers all summer. I did a few 70 milers and that was about it. It was nice not to stress about all the miles. And I am not as stressed out about riding the race either. But there are many things that I am missing. I didn't get to do my list of things to prepare for so I am doing a top 5 list of things I will miss instead.

5. I am missing all the hype leading up to the ride this year. It is always fun to building up the race on the blog and with ya’ll.

4. Seeing everyone and getting one long ride in with everyone. Being away it is not always easy to get in on the family rides.

3. Bonnie leading the support crew! She gets more pumped up then anyone for this.

2. Making it up King of the Mtn. and knowing it is only down hill from there.

1. The DZ stache!


Good luck to everyone! Pull hard without me.

Death March 2010

Less than 24 hours til the 2010 death march called Lotoja begins. How time flies. I played in a golf tournament yesterday with my partner Danny. We played in a two man best ball and shot 9 under par and won the whole deal. Funny part was I didn't hurt all day, and won $400. Why is it again we ride bikes? Wish us well for a day of fun and excitment and may we ride safe. Doug

Riding with the big boys

I took 15 out of 30th with my first official race as a 3. The 1's and 2's are pretty darn fast! There was a pretty nasty headwind and we still averaged almost 27 mph. The whole race was non stop intense and fast. There was no relaxing in this one. I wish my HR monitor still worked so I could know my rate, but it broke. I felt good throughout race and was up in top 10 coming into the sprint. But then everyone turned it up a notch that I don't have. I was crazy how quick they blasted into the final stretch. It was pretty humbling to see. It will hopefully give me some motivation for training this winter.

Good luck in 7 days for the LOTOJA crew!