new socks

seemed like a legitimate reason to ride trails today. that and the new water bottles that actually don't have anything fuzzy growing in them. or maybe it was mid 60's in july and that is f-ing awesome for gingers. solid hour and a half before work felt good despite taking at least the first hour to fully ride off the effects of last night's display of poor decision making.

that sucked

flat tire 15 miles in. used last co2 to limp in to cresco thinking i had a presta valve adapter and would change the tube at a gas station. nope. hit the bike trail for 10 miles, then a black top for the last 10 and time trialed a total of 20 miles to get home before i was totally flat. ended up with 40+ miles but wanted 60+ and nowhere near the amount of pavement i ended up riding. guess a long training/recovery ride turned into a tt/cadence type training ride. yay. here's to hammering a single speed bike with cross tires on black top. so it is.

bluff rider's charge recap

love this course...always have. amazing what happens when the mind, body and bike are all dialed. made a huge step forward in this race and felt great. ended up 17th overall and 4th age group. 9 of the 16 ahead of me were pros. mankato rides a lot like 7oaks...just enough climbing, super fast and buff, carved corners that let you keep your speed...just a lot of fun to race on. i was able to take advantage of climbing on the ss to get around some geared folk at a few different points on the course, gave a couple of those positions back but was able to make enough of the passes stick to feel good about my fitness. previous races here left me with some confidence and course knowledge that got my head straight. and the jabberwocky is absolutely on right now. everything on it is dialed and it is happily encouraging me to ride it harder and push it further. i could not have raced this race any better than i did...and that's an awesome feeling. its easy to accept my finishing place when i know thats just how good i am and realistically the best i can do until i'm able to get my fitness up. off next weekend then headed back to minnesota for the red wing race in 2 weeks. cam had a good ride to 4th in the pro/expert field. got to meet jesse rients after reading so much about him on charlie's blog. marty and trevor were out there doing their thing in the comp class. awesome weather and a great result for me...can't do anything but smile after a day like that.

awesome ride today

didn't work out to meet up with matt but got a good ride in with o'gara and trevor. got dumped on in the middle of it enough to break the heat and grease up the trails to the point of making them technically pretty tricky. dropped out of the ride a little early due to work and the race tomorrow. just one of those rides that leaves you with a huge smile on your face. hopefully tomorrow will do the same.

getting back to racing...finally

the self-imposed month off from racing seems to have worked out okay in terms of fitness, but its time to get back at it. headed to mankato tomorrow to shake the cobwebs loose a little bit. just over a month away from the wilderness trail 101 with three xc races before i head out. the 101 is definitely taking over in terms of focus (or is that fear?!?!?). got a call from matt from des moines yesterday so will be meeting him for a trail ride in a few hours. had a great ride at mankato last year in the comp class, hoping to get into the fast half of the expert field tomorrow. always liked this course and i'm not that far off...

haven and vassago

i can't even imagine...wishing you guys the best.
the peronal side of the story: http://haveyroo.blogspot.com/
the business side: http://vassagocycles.com/news/news.html

end of the world

yeah...this has been around for a while and lots of people have already seen it. regardless, its one of the funniest things i've seen. if you don't agree we could chalk it up to a difference in senses of humor but in reality there's probably just something wrong with you. click here. laugh. if you don't laugh the first time, watch it til you do.