phx/vegas highlights

-the people...tom, zach, misty, darrin and the rest of the vassago-supported adrenaline race team
-congrats to tom and zach for destroying the 12 hour solo field
-huge thanks to misty for the support which became a caretaker role
-felt good for a while, definitely didn't go out like i did in boone, ended up 3rd ss 12 hour but suffering from pretty severe dehydration
-zach's mcd's hamburger every lap is the most awesome nutrition plan ever
-this will be an interesting nat'l champ. course next year
-rigid forks suck some places
-vegas seemed even hotter
-met up with zack (different zack) and rebuilt fisty
-dropped fisty off with dane from wtb to be used in the dirt demo
-rode the shuttle to the top to ride big bikes all monday...i love riding that stuff but maybe shouldn't...big crash with a lot of desert style road rash
-spent tuesday on cross country bikes and trails
-indoor show wednesday then cross vegas cyclocross race...definite highlight for me
-big names i either got to talk to or was close enough to spit on...nat ross, brian boyko, ryan leech, cam mccaul, tinker juarez, lance armstrong
-i am beat down and exhausted
-gravel ride yesterday was necessary but brutally difficult for the short route i took
-doctor said nothing competitive for a month...looking toward some cross races and the night race at the end of the month

phx day one

flight to mpls was fine, super short layover, descent into phx sucked ass, chipotle is yummy no matter what state you're in, went for a shortish night ride, tom's fast. didn't feel great but lots of reasons (excuses) that will hopefully be remedied before saturday. trying to stay relaxed...

the plan

drive to roch
fly to phx by way of mpls
meet tom, build bikes, ride?
eat, drink, sleep
friday-
ride?, visit shop with misty, head to payson
meet team, socialize, sleep
saturday-
wake, eat, race 12 hour solo, party
sunday-
watch end of 24 race, party, fly to vegas
monday/tuesday-
demo ride, enjoy vegas
wednesday-
interbike show, enjoy vegas
thursday-
fly back
hopefully have some pics and stories to share

perfect fall morning

so i grabbed a saw and some gloves and headed for logjam. i've recently started working with a kid on his eagle scout project which is going to involve him assisting our trail group in getting some beginner style features put in along the river trail. since we've been approved to build bigger stuff in logjam and now that alex's project has gotten my interest up again i decided to get some work started. this will end up being a 40' planked log ride/ladder bridge with some sort of a drop at one end. got almost everything cleared today, just need a chainsaw for one spot then some wood, tools and hardware and we'll be good. also saw some evidence of horse traffic on the main trail in pali. i love horses.

this will be the start of the log ride...most of the brush is gone now but the batteries died in the camera so no pics

side view...to the right the tree goes down to the ground and is where the first pic is from

the two trees just left of center will act like goal posts and support the structure as it turns off the tree and does something fun that is as of now undecided

humbled, but not surprised

took larsson up to watch the monthly dhpt time trial last night since my bikes are in the care of big brown on their way to phx. got convinced to borrow moffit's bike and gear and had a good time once again.
rode pretty much my first ever road ride today. 4 hour tour of ne iowa with flip, novian, garrett, terry and lee. got my ass handed to me. held on okay (because they let me) but i got beat into the ground. now on a mission to eat everything in sight.

Dr. Wocky, Jabber S.S. Mt.B

spent a dark, cold, rainy night riding my bike alone in the woods last night. fought a couple demons and got chased by the boogieman once. how much do you spend on therapy?

weekend

scotty showed up to put a squishy fork on his jabber and trevor was back for his almost weekly visit to decorah (rumor is he may even be headed back this way permanently next summer). trevor's optimus ti hasn't arrived yet but should be here before he makes it back again. the three of us got out for an entertaining ride saturday. no hammering, just riding, chatting and lots of crashing. scotty had a couple good ones and ended up with a bloody face and trevor took a trip over the bars just to make him feel better. the night ended with a few towers (100 oz. of beer with a tapper...these things are awesome) watching ufc 88 at t-bock's. if you didn't see liddell get dropped by rashad evans...wow.
found out that fisty might be making a guest appearance during the dirt demo at interbike this year so sunday was spent tearing it apart and trying to clean the crap off that's still on there from transiowa (yeah...i haven't cleaned it since april). in the midst of doing this i found out the bottom bracket is blown up...hopefully get that resolved in the next couple of days. might even get a ceramic upgrade.

trever on dead pet
scotty's face bleeding
trevor's fast
scotty being helped out of the ravine he fell into (yeah, this wasn't his best ride of the year)
a little help with fisty
i suppose i could lower the stand for him...
this was the extent of scott's help (seriously, thanks for the help scott)
fisty actually is green

back on the bike

felt good. 55 degrees and rain. felt real good.

fisty
spent a few hours getting some more work done on my sleeve...the sun and clouds are new but far from done
crappy pics

more thoughts

quick notes...most impressed by: trevor taking 3rd in the 12 hour solo with nowhere near enough training since leaving decorah and jesse bergman who i met at the ballyhoo last year and took 2nd in the 24 solo in his first ever attempt at one (pretty much had the race i wanted). completely unsurprised congrats goes to the rassy team (cam, kent, andy and jed) who ran away with the team 24 again. always awesome to see kyle and bruce and the rest of the des moines area crew i don't see often enough. to everyone that offered help on the trail and stopped by my tent/deathbed...thank you. you guys are what this sport is about. it should go without saying, but thanks to the emt's/ski patrol. took care of me when i crashed and stopped back many times during the evening/night to check on me. i'm ready to be done talking about this race for a while so enjoy the pics while i enjoy a few days with my son.

kent (the tall one), andy (the hippy), me (thinking this is gonna be fun), dennis grelk (standing behind/above me), trevor (half a subaru jersey)

i actually did ride a bit

leaving my first real pit stop...mandarin oranges tasted great on the way down

"is the trail this way?"

pits/sea of orange
the bike was awesome...period. suspension for long endurance racing is in my future but the only other bike i would choose to race would be the optimus ti...someday.

pit stop following my 4th lap...this is when my head started cooking and was the beginning of the end. shoot me

yeah...i'll get past it, just give me a minute. went out for one more full lap after this. my next pit stop was worse, refunding everything i'd eaten and realizing things weren't right. then maybe two more miles into another lap before it got really ugly.

the short version

24 hours of 7 oaks...first solo 24 attempt...lasted about 5 hours. 3 1/2 hours in could tell i was overheating a bit and tried to cut it off before it got really bad. didn't work. massive cramping, puked for about 2 hours, ended up on oxygen suffering from pretty bad heat stroke. pretty broken right now. taking a few days off the bike. more rambling and pics sometimes. on the upside...great to see the fam. big thanks to them for making their respective trips and for everything they did for me. love you guys.