here we go

got into whatever part/suburb of des moines i'm in right now early evening yesterday. amy had an awesome meal cooked so larsson and i ate with everybody that's made it here so far...amy, kent, emma, eli, adam, heather, caden, mom and keith. after dinner the kids played while kent and adam joined me on a short gravel ride to stretch the legs out. fought the demons off pretty good last night, partially because junior wouldn't stay in bed and kept my focus off my race. the demons finally fought through about 4 a.m. larsson had been snuggling with me in a dorm sized bed so i made my way to the floor and dozed a LITTLE bit til around 5. its around 6 now and amy's got breakfast cooking. adam and fam should be here in a few minutes. grab some food and head out to get the pits set up. the sunrise is starting out absolutely gorgeous...looks like it should be an absolutely perfect weekend for a bit of suffering. check out the shirts the fam made...

not a bad day

saw the sunrise on a gravel ride and saw it set on a trail ride. packed almost completely except for some ipods that need charging and some dvd's for junior to watch in the car. nervousness is definitely passing for excitement. and, to top the day off...apparently vassago has decided to use a picture of me (actually the one at the top of my blog) on their home page. flattered? humbled? still feel like i have a lot to prove? not really sure how to explain it all but i can't say enough about the people behind the company. i've met some cool people in the bike industry but never have i witnessed a company that truly cares so much about each individual rider...customer/team/sponsored/supported...doesn't matter. people talk about keeping it real way too much these days but that's where they're at. i'm very much at the start of what could be an awesome journey and already feel like i owe them more than i can repay.

deep breath

finally got the tire to hold tubeless, gonna go meet larsson's preschool teacher then start packing. needed something to go right and some perspective on life (which was given to me by a variety of people, some of whom didn't even realize it). the race really starts tonight for me with organizing and packing and what not. think i got my head straight and now i can settle down and just enjoy the experience.

stressed

tires finally took a shit. not riding well technically. haven't got a grocery list ready. haven't started organizing. trying to plan a trip to phx/vegas at the same time. 1st 24 solo. no idea what to expect from the course or myself. never touch a bike this close to a race...but did tonight. can't get new tire to seat so i'm using an f-ing tube. what pressure can i run without pinching that since i haven't run tubes for??? meet the teacher tomorrow night. might not ride again before the race. and then i read ari's comment on my last post...sometimes you just need a slap in the face. its all about balance, right? why is that so fucking hard? i'm glad i'm taking larsson with me this weekend, even if i'll be riding for the majority of it. glad he gets to hang with family he doesn't see often enough. glad we'll have the car time together, friday night together, happy knowing he'll be around. will i ride again before the race? maybe, maybe not. if not, i'll probably be practicing my kung fu against imaginary monsters or putting a kickstand on now that the training wheels are gone. i'm alright with that.

perfect

if you live anywhere in the area and you weren't out doing something this weekend you should be shot. don't know how many weekends a year are better than the one we just had. got in more ride time than i have in a while. no pics cause the camera function on the phone crapped out and i bought a new camera/helmet cam (gopro hero) but don't have good batteries or a memory card for it yet. should get some good stuff from the boone 24 hour race turned family reunion this weekend. feeling pretty strong in the legs right now...not as strong as other times this year but damn close. love the course at boone, lots of friends and family and people i don't see often...should be a great weekend.

good. morning.

t.w. demo ride

total inches of travel ridden on sunday = 37"

zach: g.f. roscoe (5"); trek remedy (6"); trek session 88 dh (8")

me: roscoe, remedy, session 88 fr (7")

i ride my vassago for a reason. i love 29/ss/rigid and my jabber works very well for me. however, anyone that thinks there is no place in this world for suspension just isn't gonna have fun some places. i don't get to ride big bikes very often so sunday was chance to do something different and zack and i had a blast. lots of skinnies, drops, a wall ride, a step-up, teeters, dirt jumps and even a short dh run with a cool rock spine leading into it and a pretty healthy rock garden.

impressions of the bikes...the session is awesome (except uphill). it rides amazingly light and the geometry of it feels great. the roscoe was a blast. it actually rode trails well when necessary but the geometry and the travel seemed plenty for what we were doing with it. we've got a santa cruz heckler at the shop that's a few years old but has always been a fun bike. the roscoe reminded me a ton of the heckler, just a little bit better. hard to describe why, i'm sure the weight is part of it, but it was awesome. the remedy...not my favorite. did what it needed to fine, it just didn't feel well set up for me.

thoughts from t.w.

nothing tried yet, opinions based just on observations...

most important on a personal/local level...rumors flying about g2 switchblade (redesigned, not a replica of non-g2 switchblade)...ss superfly offer is real...09 ferrous looks really good in black.

bikes most excited to try at the demo tomorrow...new gf roscoe (not sure why, just looks like a ton of fun), session 88 (preferrably fr version).

bontrager apparel looks pretty good.

new trek district looks awesome, still question belt drive.

trek doing a lot of lime colored bikes...and they really look pretty good.

jack takes a break this year but apparently the redesigned version will rock next year. apparently there is also a shorter travel fs slopestyle e.x.-ish bike being ridden by cam right now that MIGHT end up in production.

no more phd or ged (sorry zack).

rhythm 29 wheelset looks pretty cool.

new fisher road bikes...carbon seat AND chainstays, one of which has a 105 crankset in black, maybe i've been out of it but thinking that's new.

new g.f. roscoe

session 88, pic doesn't do it justice but the magazine ads do...this bike looks awesome in person

zack checking out the ugliest bike here...the new g.f. ss mullet...hideous

105 crankset in black

shimano chain on ss 69...looks like its made out of fishing lures...don't get it, don't like it

success

its 2:30 and zack and i just got done. night was as follows, ride, bar, ride, fix flat, ride, return to hotel to find out zack broke a dropout on his 20mm thru axle manitou fork. madison is FULL of retaining walls, stairs and loading docks. spent the vast majority of the night riding government owned property around the courthouse, city hall, p.d. and not sure what else but it didn't look like we were supposed to be there. awesome ride, exhausted, looking forward to the demo tomorrow.

urban ride!!

arrival time was 10:30...enough time to grab a beer while we unload gear. grabbing the steelhead and the phd and headed for anything we can jump off on our way to state street. how can you be in this town and not want to ride bike?

trek world

taking off with zack for madtown soon. bringing the urban bikes in case we need to throw down a sweet sesh for some peeps (yep, i just said that and i hate myself as much as you do). hopefully the structures will be dry and rideable this year so we can beat the shit out of somebody else's bikes.
for anyone interested (not naming names) if i see eatough i'll try to get his autograph for you.

tattoo

this will most likely be the centerpiece of the next chunk done on my leg...it is meant to be dramatic but will most likely fade out and blend into the night sky. i need to do some thinking on it and figuring out placement as well as trying to imagine what the rest of my leg work will look like with it, but for now the next piece of my leg will most likely revolve around this.

oh yeah...

almost forgot. stopped by to see brock last night at valhalla tattoo here in town and scheduled another 4 hour session to keep working on sleeving my lower leg. a little bit of fill/touch-up and probably moving on with the sun/sunset scene on one side of the ship. for those that don't already know, brock is good...really good. i've had work done by a number of people always hoping to settle on someone i trust and brock is it. he'll do my work as long as he's around here.

gotta keep riding...

cause man the schedule fills up fast and everytime i spend a couple days off the bike i end up questioning if its okay. skipped the group trail ride last night for some urban riding. a couple ramps and skinnies out back of the shop and a short trip through some local spots and i was ready to be done...kinda feel like i'm trying to play catch-up on sleep and i need to get past that soon.
headed to madtown this weekend for trek world with zack. really looking forward to riding the trek trails again. last year travis and i went and i had an absolute blast, but we got poured on and it left all their structures unrideable. hopefully this year will get to take a run at more of them. that, and madison's just a fun place to hang out.
after i get back from there it will be less than 2 weeks til my first 24 solo...which has suddenly turned into a family reunion. adam (1 year older brother) just moved back from phx to dsm and he's gonna run my pit with the help of chris (6 years older brother) and kent (brother in-law) and whoever else is around. amy (4 year older sister) will be managing emma and eli and has agreed to handle larsson for the weekend as well. heather and sara (sister in-laws) will be around with more nephews. haven't seen mom in a long time and she's making the trip up from stl with keith and orson (dog). just under 2 weeks after returning from madison...i know my diet isn't the best but it'll be time to start kind of figuring that out and not dumping so much shit into my body all the time, but i also know me and i know i need lots and lots of calories. i have the metabolism of a humming bird and the system needs to be fed.
all but the fine details of my trip to phx/las vegas for the 24 hour race and interbike have been taken care of. that give me something like three weeks between 24 hours of 7 oaks and that trip...damn.
oh, and guitar ted just announced plans for transiowa 5...who's ready for a couple thousand miles on snow covered gravels getting ready for another suffer fest?!??!

another reason i shouldn't be a role model

so...the weekend went as follows...

drove up to roch to celebrate carrie's (good friend, landlord, previous employer) birthday. went to a tapas place, which was my first time. okay, i never really write about much other than riding but i'll get there, its worth it. problem number one i discovered with tapas is i have absolutely no clue how much i've had to eat, which i realized way too late was probably not enough. in my infinite wisdom i decide to be smart and stick with one kind of beer for the duration of the night...along comes old peculier. best new-to-me beer i've tried in a ridiculously long time. guinness-ish and yummy. dinner took close to three hours and i have no idea how many beers i had. from there we made our way to a comedy club where i made another mistake. apparently this wasn't the same type of place and didn't keep a large stock of old peculier so i switched up and went with a pint of miller lite with a shot of absolut peppar. a few laughs at a decent comedian followed by a few coronas and i have absolutely no recollection of the walk back to the hotel. most of the night was spent sleeping on the bathroom floor interrupted by periodic attempts at refunding the night's indulgences.



wake up sunday morning to head back for the summer sizzler and feel like complete goat ass. i drive us about 10 miles down the road before i give up the fight and climb into the backseat to die. wake up just outside decorah and get dropped off at the registration table. note: still can't eat ANYTHING. i sit and chat at registration for 15 minutes before i get up the courage to register, of course for the long race. i start walking back down quarry hill road and get picked up part way back to the apt. mmmmm...mcdonald's. nope. can't eat the sandwich, the smell of a sausage mcmuffin with egg almost brings on a repeat performance of the previous night. i throw that away and spend an hour nibbling the hashbrowns to death. getting dressed in race garb is a chore in itself. finally get organized, grab a snickers and head out. i realize i haven't ridden the bike since rebuilding it after 24/9 and the back brake has MAYBE 50% power...nothing i can do about it now.



the group gathers at the bottom of horsey and i'm still sweating pure alcohol. again...goat ass. i choke down the snickers. readysetgo. up quarry hill road and matt kurke, sarge and i have pulled off the front heading into van peenen. we race together for a while and eventually matt starts to pull away. passing the start/finish at the end of the first lap o'gara tells me he's got something over a minute on me but i can't see him at all. sarge is glued to my wheel. i keep telling myself that all it will take is one mechanical for me to catch first and if i can keep from puking i might be okay. slowly i start to put a small gap on sarge and then, near the end of the second lap i see matt pulled off to the side. find out later he dropped his chain behind his cassette and had to break a spoke to get it out (i9's...ouch). instantly he's back on my wheel, passes me in the washboard prairie and i glue to his wheel through the start/finish headed into the final lap. stay close as we duck into fred's and then it happened...not gonna say i saw it coming but i wasn't surprised...thank you home course advantage. matt took the second ravine in fred's too hot and blew a tire. that ravine has eaten many many tires this year and i had backed way off going into it. apparently matt tried to tube his once tubeless tires but the valve stem was stuck and his day was done. i assumed i could hold a lead as long as it would take him if he was successful changing it. once more i saw sarge but it was as i was nearing the end of julia and he was near the beginning. ride clean, ride clean, ride clean. kept it upright, ended up winning. still...goat ass.



super fun race despite my health concerns. super small field but the race between matt, sarge and i was a riot. HUGE THANKS to all the volunteers. regardless of the size of the field it was a well run race and proved that decorah can easily host a mass start, lap style race.



i suffered through the awards ceremony (post-ride beers with pretty much only the locals), then went back to the apt and died for a couple more hours.

why not?

guess i'm doing a 24 hour race outside of phoenix the weekend just before interbike...not sure if i'm doing a 24 or 12 but doing it solo with the help and hospitality of the adrenaline race team and tom ament. details at some point...but huge thanks to tom and misty for the encouragement on this one.

sizzle sizzle

CORRECTION: REGISTRATION AT 9A.M., RACE AT NOON!! thanks jesse.

summer sizzler this weekend...still haven't been back on the bike since the weekend. tore it all apart to get that stupid fine sand out of everything, got it all greased to get rid of the creaks and have everything done but dialing the rear brake. probably racing, but will be volunteering if at all necessary. if ya don't know...registration is at noon, race at 2 this sunday. should be hot, should be fun, 3 choices of distances not based on skill but simply preferance of riding distance. i know there are some point series races going on elsewhere but hopefully we'll have a good turnout for the second attempt/first running of the summer sizzler.

the roster

jesse "spinner" reyerson, probably still trying to find his tent
jeff o'gara, the original and only truly magical unicorn
hucklebuck bill fanter
self-portrait

24/9 thoughts, stats, experiences

-2nd place men's sport 4-person team
-19th place overall out of 200+ teams/solos
-2nd place sucks...especially when you don't feel like you pulled your weight
-fuhrman's team had a good race and ended up 3rd in the national champ 4-person category and 10th overall
-they're team unofficially wins best team name hands down..."choadal devastation"
-i hate the sun and i plan to start worshipping some sort of lunar based deity
-maybe the sun just hates me and my lack of pigment
-the sun does, however, have magical powers of rejuvanation and if you're lucky you get to be the one riding when it comes up...it was awesome
-fine sand gets EVERYWHERE in your bike and creates a stupid amount of creaks
-le mans starts, over-competitiveness and a 24 hour race don't mix well for me
-list of people seen/met worth noting:fuhrman's team (his brother and 2 buddies jason and jeff), jordan from colorado that crashed with me at transiowa, cale from t.i., moffit, jerry wright, burky and dusty b who won the 5-person, scotty who took 6th in the 12 hour solo!!, misty-vassago team manager supporting the o'deas with the help of zach and steve stillwell, fuhrman's brother's girlfriend stacy who kicked ass in her first ever 24 hour solo, trevor from rochester, aaron who we built a stumpjumper fsr 29 for from the la crosse area, i'm sure i'm missing people
-my first attempt at a 24 solo is gonna hurt like hell if this is any indication...
-having dinner and beers in a cave was kinda cool, definitely not as shady inside as it appeared it would be from the outside
-waking up saturday morning to see spinner sleeping in a chair cause he couldn't find his tent late friday night was pretty funny but unfortunately not surprising
-no flat tires with the exception of ogara burping air preriding friday
-the race between eatough and tostada was awesome
-until i got home today i could still count the number of different muscles that cramped on one hand...my foot made six shortly after getting home
-playing catch-up on hydration and cramps was damn near impossible
-solo riders quickly look like shit
-i'm now eating everything in sight
-my eyes still burn and look like i'm stoned out of my gourd from riding through a sandstorm
-getting hooked up with vassago was fairly random but i'm glad it happened..definitely cool people that really seem to have their priorities straight
-i'm down as officially riding 85.2 miles during the race, unfortunately i don't think they have an accurate way to add the distance i traveled weaving back and forth on those damn fire roads at 4:30 a.m.
-i passed a guy with a prosthetic leg and many, many people who did not seem to be in what most would consider optimal shape for an event like this...keep doing what you're doing...you certainly help keep things in perspective
-the top solo guys rode 284 miles...damn