Good By A6, Hello S40

Orange

Green Machine

Afton Alps Race #2

Rather than race the Comp race and complete 3 laps at 1.15 in the afternoon when it would probably be 85 and sunny, I went with the option of the morning Sport class with fellow Crossniacs Mike and Erik.
We all lined up at the back, Mike and Erik on single speeds and me being in the 45 + group. As expected, Mike sprinted down the side of the field and as I can not help myself, I chased after him. Some where in the first 50 yards I must have passed Mike, he reappeared just before the Bridge Loop on the second lap. We completed the last lap together until the last descent were youth got a gap and managed to move up a sport as Mike past a rider in the last 3 feet!
I finished 1st in my age group and 17th overall. Mike was in Second in his age group and 15th. Erik took it easy for his first race on a new collar done.

Not this year.

Greetings, it said. You were not among the 2500 selected for this year’s Fat Tire Festival. It’s only the second time since 1979 that I did not get in. I even chipped in an extra bit for trail upkeep. Guess I should just think of it as saving cash that I can use for going up to Duluth for those first two Cross races.

Ride to Work

It was a little sketchy both directions, going to work and coming home. The paved sections were good – just a few spots with snow and ice.
In the morning the gravel was nice and firm still frozen but on the way home it was like riding in porridge.
Felt good to move my legs and the novelty of it was exhilarating.
Lets hope the weather holds and I can park my car until fall (and perhaps have the oil leaks /brakes/etc fixed)

Winter Modifications

Back to the drop noodle bars with interrupter cross brakes.

And flat (rise) bars for Natasha's road bike.

Cyclocross Results 2008

8) State CX 10th for those with gears - 14 overall. To cold.
7) Lake Rebecca Nov 9th - 3rd
6) NSC Velodrome Nov 8th - 4th
5) Afton Bikery Oct 25th - 4th
4) Hudson YMCA Oct 19th - 1st
3) Wirth Oct 12th - 3rd
2) Corcoran Oct 4th - 3rd
1) Porkchop Sep 21st - 4th

Lake Rebecca

It’s was so cold. I had the same kit on as Saturday (washed) when it was 30 but on Sunday it was 20.


I had a good start and was in the front pack along with teammate Erik on the new C-Dale.
Finishing the first lap I was frozen to the core. I could not feel my hands let alone my fingers. I could not feel my face and my chest was cold – not good. I just could not find the power to hang on and faded back. It was not until the last lap that I had got my temp up to were I could push.
In the end I finished 3rd in my age group.

NSC Velodrome

Finished 4th.
30 and windy.

Red Barn C Race and Single Speed

I was being 'good' this weekend and did not race so I will not be sick all of next week.


Red Barn C and Single Speed Race from Ladric on Vimeo.

Afton C Race

Untitled from Ladric on Vimeo.

Afton 45 plus race

Afton Cyclocross Race Oct 25th from Ladric on Vimeo.

Oct 19 45+

Hudon YMCA Oct 19th

It was nice to have the B race split into age groups. There where 13 riders and I was able to get a front row at the start. The start was a little odd. The woman went first then two minutes after that the official just blew the whistle (no ready, set or even a count down). I found myself in 3rd place going into the second half of the first lap. Moved into 2nd at the first barrier and then into first exiting the first set of chicane. Paul McKinney was a favorite to win the race but luckily for me he had chosen to ride his single speed with to small a gear and was spinning out. I passed him about 50 yards before the pit area where he then stopped to switch bikes to something with gears. At the point I just sprinted to get a gap and rode like a mad man to keep the gap until the finish.
It was great to win a race again but this time with beautiful girls at the finish.

Wirth Oct 12

Update - Oct 20th. They finaly posted the results. Looks like I placed 11th in the Mens B race and 3rd in my age group.

Just as we where loading up the car to go to the race, Chris called "Bring the mountain bike". I quickly pulled off the stroller hitch and a few other casually items and loaded it up.
As with the Boom Island race – things were a bit disorganized. No sign-in sheets and it took some asking about to even find the race back in the woods.
I did not have a good starting position, probably around 5 rows back. The course had one open stretch that allowed riders to pass, and one place just before the finish that had a open space.
I did what I could to push myself forward, I will have to wait a few more days to find out how I placed when they post the results.

Corcoran Cross Oct 4th.

Great race. Finished 3rd.

Here is some video of the 4th race. Cheers.

First Cross Race this season

Started in 3rd place.


Finished in 6th and 4th in my age.

Porkchop Cross - St Cloud

The first Cross race if the season. Tough age group. Finished 4th and 3rd in my age group (45+).

Chequamegon Fat 40

Chequamegon Fat 40
Year __Time____Place ___Pace
2008 __2:37.19.05___205_____15.5 mph (38th out of 294 in age group)
2007 __Did not get in this year.
2006 __2:47:24.10 __324 ____14.66 mph
2005 __2:34:14.08 __188 ____15.9 mph
2004 __2:57:45.13 __316
2003 __2:44:56.97 __245 ____14.9 mph
2002 __2:50:29.11 __173 ____14.5 mph
2001 __2:40:37.22 __157
2000 missed
1999 __2:45:38.88 __145 ____15 mph
1998 __2:41:18.82 __167 ____15.29 mph
1997 __2:43:26.89 __182 ____14.69 mph

Chequemegan this Saturday

Getting close. As fate would have it - I now have a cold...
News:
Looks like we will have some Cross Riders this year:
American Jonathan Page of Oudenaarde, Belgium, a silver medalist in the 2006 World Cyclocross Championships.

All better

It took about 3 weeks before my ribs stopped annoying me. Back to putting some miles in.

Costochondral Separation

As a post race note – turns out I had separated my rib from my sternum on Saturday (wrenching on a bottom bracket). The race on Sunday must have aggravated it as I was suffering. It hurt to even breathe. Looks like I am off the bike for a few weeks until my rib stays put. Until then I have to not breathe hard and wear a chest compression strap.

What are the symptoms?
A rib injury causes pain and tenderness over the place of injury. You may have pain when you breathe, move, laugh, or cough.

How is it diagnosed?
Your health care provider will review your symptoms, examine your rib cage, and listen to your lungs. He or she may order a chest x-ray to look for rib damage, lung damage, or bleeding around the lungs.

How is it treated?
To help your injury heal, your provider may recommend that you:

Rest.
Put an ice pack over the injured rib for 20 to 30 minutes every 3 to 4 hours for 2 to 3 days or until the pain goes away.
Take an anti-inflammatory or other pain medicine.
Wear a rib belt, which your health care provider may suggest for very painful injuries. The belt works as a girdle for your chest and helps support your ribs. It limits movement of your ribs when you cough, breathe, or move your body in other ways. This helps decrease pain. If you wear a rib belt, your provider will give you breathing exercises to help you avoid lung complications.

Pictures from the Tour

Some nice pictures form Le Tour

Memorial Classic - Red Wing

It all started with Mike punching the start line.

I found myself doing well.

Then we all hit the hard stuff.


I was able to keep the rubber side down.

It all ended well - what a surprise.

FPA

And what is HTFU? and like everything else - product tie in.

Nice Mud

Not to early to think of Cyclocross

Afton Avalanche

Finished 21st overall and 5th in my age group. It was the first race and second ride for the KHS Tucson with a rigid fork. I think the K2 would have been a better choice for the race. It lighter than the steel KHS and would have been faster on the tricky downhill sections – but the KHS has a certain je ne sais quoi.

XRP

Almost forgot about this bike. The frame was purchased on a whim from Performance. I rode it for one summer. I was just wondering were those parts went.

KHS Tucson 29er

Let's start with the stock version from KHS
Looks OK. It's not until you put it all together that you notice how much all these low end parts weigh. It's like they are made out of cast iron.
My plan from the start was to take the Fisher XTR bits and move them to the Tucson. So most of that is now done.



Next to go will be the Blaze cranks once I get the new bottom bracket tool.

The headset fell apart after the first ride so that will need to be replace. It was almost all plastic!
The other part of the tank that will need to be replaced is the Tora shock that just under 5lbs.

That will be replaced by a ridged fork of some kind. Perhaps one from the solo-one.
Then, depending on how it rides, I may convert to a single up front. That was the plan for the Fat 40. But if she is still tipping the scales on the large size I may need gears for the hills.
Update:
Cranks changed to XTR.

changed out the Front shock for a Orange Niner (thanks Ben).

Now I understand Scott

I out to Battle Creek last weekend. I had an epiphany.
I remembered many years back when I did a 24 hour race with Mike, Scott and Scott. One of the Scott's turned up with a bike covered in mud. I thought he just wasn’t taking this event seriously. I knew that Mike and I had both disassembled and assembled every part of our bikes and cleaned and polished all the working parts and replaced anything worn.
As I rode my k2 around the Battle Creek and noticed that the chain needed cleaning, the suspension was low, the cables were sticking and my tire had a patch of tread missing. Not only that but I had only tubes and no pump.
Why....I have a toddler at home. Just like Scott did all those years back. 

After I put the baby to sleep I went into the shop, took the k2 down to the frame, cleaned and greased all the moving parts and put it back together with some new bits. 

Ride to Work - Work to Ride

April Fools snow has almost gone and it was time to ride to work.

New shoes worked well - kept the feet nice and warm.


Time to post a picture of my work horse.

influenza B with pneumonia.

It's been four days and I am starting to feel better. The antibiotics are helping with the pneumonia in my lungs; a new side affect has been nose bleeds. Too much aspirin type blood thinners and nose blowing.

The Flu

I hate being sick. Last night my temperature was over 100 but I felt like I was trying to sleep in an igloo with a breeze. At some time in the night I finally got up to get an aspirin, that’s when it hit me. I was freezing cold and shivered so violently that my muscles cramped. I made it to the medical cabinet and found a packet of Advil liquid gels (who knows from when) and crawled back to bed. It was sometime in the morning that I finally felt warm again.
Off to see the doctor this afternoon.

I think I have enough
.

KHS Team

remember to recycle


May 26th Update.
It seems that I need a steep seat angle. 74. With the slack KHS, my seat ends up so far back from the center of my cranks that I need to move the seat all the way forward on the rails. I will need to get a Thompson zero offset to make the seat correct. The other issue with the seat angle is that to correct it I loose a bunch of top tube length. To correct that I would need a long handle bar stem - 140mm..

The KHS a 10 speed. I am keeping the Alan as a nine speed... more to come on that.

So Close

This XTR is a bit close. I changed out the big ring for something a little bit more modest (46), and had to muck about with the derailleur again. It's just not the right tool for the job. As you can see it's almost hitting the rear tire and the cage rubs on the front teeth when it's in the big ring. I think I need a slim road derailleur.

I think the XTR needs a large tooth rage drop between rings. When I used the 53, the derailleur was higher upon the frame and so the bottom of the derailleur cage missed the smaller ring - problem with that is, it rubbed on the rear tire. I could use a smaller ring and keep the 46. Stay posted, I will see what I have sitting around.

Getting geared up for spring

The first few races of my spring season will require more gears than I use for cross. I will need a double up front and to do that I will need a front derailleur. As luck would have it, the Gary Fisher and the Alan use the same tube frame size on the seat tube. That would leave the Fisher with just a single up front (42) and nine in the back.
I fitted out the Alan with a 36/53. It's not perfect and the derailleur rubs a bit on both ends of the gear range but it will do for now. There is also not a hell of a lot of clearance between the rear tire and the cable clamp on the front derailleur - this would not work for cross.

I also took off the top mounted interrupter brake levers and used a shorter stem. The other modification for this spring configuration was to go back to IRD fork. It's a bit heaver than the Alan (Pinarello) all carbon fork but it doesn't have that massive clearance between the tire and the top of the fork that looks a little goofy unless you are ridding fat cross tires.

State Champs

It was cold and it was wonderful. What a fun race to end the season on. Make no mistake it was hard

and there were temptations.

The race had a bit of everything and the wind off the creek had a chill of winter in it.

The last race of the season always brings out a festival spirit ion everyone.
and even in the middle of a race, some riders took time to reflect on the season.