killthedarkness

rcr.

rock cut recap. up early to hit the 9:30 registration. upon arrival it seems that half the wors regulars are there. matter, neil and cory, melcher, bender, russel, fellow bkbers dave and tim, jon gatto, carlos, and on. the race started with a group yelling go to us. very confusing but we were off. neil took the lead and strung it out a bit. after a mile or two jesse, brian, and myself are rolling already, getting a bit of a gap. about 5 or 6 miles in i crack a rock and hear a pssshhh. i hop off, and nothing. what the hell. maybe im imagining it. i hop on and chase as brian and jesse are already gapping me. it didnt take long before reality set in. every bump i hit leaked a bit of air. a few hundred meters later my front wheel is off and im scrambling to toss a new tube in. rookie mistake. my valve nut is still on the tube. i fumbled around for a few minutes and finally get it fixed. i saw the gap we had. around a minute and a half. frustrated and a bit pissed i take off in pursuit. finding myself in about twentieth i was still holding hope of a decent finish. the rest of the lap was passing where i could and basically tearing the hell outta my legs. nearing the end of the lap i pass a group with jon in it. slowly catch fang and chris strout. into lap 2 i catch carlos. then melcher. the riders kept getting thinner and thinner. rode most of lap 2 alone. near the end i catch a glimpse of bender and figure that neil probably isnt far off either. about 2 miles into lap 3 i catch them. time to sit in and rest a bit. having a glimmer of cramps in the calf i downed all the water i could. we dropped neil on a steady hill. bender asks how im doing. well man, im feelin farely burnt. he says the same. halfway through the last lap i give it a go around bender as he bobbles a corner. if im gonna crack, im gonna crack, might as well make a race of it. to my surprise he doesnt follow. got the gap i needed and rolled in third overall. matter put about a minute into jesse for the win and i was about 5 back. considering the flat i'll call it a good effort. long race for an opener, 38 miles. jesse and brian were under 2 hours. not too bad. all i need is some dry x tlr tyres and i shouldnt have to worry about these pinch issues. i was super impressed with the ferrous in race conditions. i really dig the slightly steeper angles in tight singletrack. there were a ton of log jumps and it handled em with ease. climbing and descending were spot on. and im addicted to bar ends.

bpw.

bpw. all the way. sometimes you need an easy day. sometimes it isnt easy to ride easy. forecast looks good for the next few days. rock cut intrigues me. choices choices. gear ratios. tyres. bikes. decisions will be made tomorrow. shake out ride. big thanks to shaw daddy, as well  as mr and mrs snob..plus the extra, for adding to the scotland fund. a couple of my boys are putting some fundraising together to help me out. more on bret and todd's plan in the near future.

the poison.

decided that riding my mtb on actual trails before the first race would be a good idea this year. headed over to the kettles for solo action. first time in singletrack on the ferrous. first time on the bontrager acx tlr's. first time on tubless period. after the during the ride i realized how well the ferrous fit. the setup seems pretty spot on. i ran about 35 psi and it seemed to hook up really well in the corners. also a bit more cushy. im used to rollin 60 psi w/ tubes. the tyres worked pretty well. they seemed to lack the top end rolling speed on downhills. that could be due to the 2.2 width. again, i usually roll 1.8s. recently i started using bar ends this winter after t-da and jesse convinced me. i had this thing against them for their noncool factor.  ive gotten over it after rockin the uphills on em. really seems to help out my back. the nike poggio ul 5 mtb shoes are super rad as well. really stiff and super light. i dig. ive also recently been rockin some oakley zero l's. not only do they have the street cred porno look, they also have a crazy amount of coverage. not a speck of anything in my eyes today. halfway through my second tour of the blue/connector/emma loop it was starting to sprinkle. i hammered home and called it a day. do the rock is this weekend. forecast is calling for rain through friday, so we'll see if it gets cancelled. props are in order to jon and connie holcomb and the rest of the fattires-n-beer crew for their generous donation to the bring darkness upon scotland fund. thanks.

twenty first.

  my parents live a simple life deep in the forest of northern wisconsin. this is where we spent our childhood and learned to live off the woods. theres not much to do there, but they are content. silent sports were all that we knew. jim and marcia have never been anything but supportive. back in the day we wanted bmx bikes. they loaned us money for our haros until we could pay them off with the little we earned from paper routes. my dad then proceeded to build us a bmx track in the woods behind our house. several years later we moved on to skateboards. before we knew it there was a mini ramp in the back yard. through our teens we got more serious about running. my senior year of high school my dad build a two hundred meter long bridge over a swamp so i could do mile repeats on the hilly terrain of wintergreen. recently jim retired, leaving him all the time in the world to focus on other things. yoga, kayaking, cycling. marcia decided to treat our pop to his first actual nice bike. he now saddles up on a two thousand seven gary fisher rig. it does the trick. perhaps it was our involvement in single speeding that encouraged his choice, but i think it may be something else. its all about simplicity. why clutter the mind with just that, clutter? tomorrow is my dads birthday. happy birthday dad. and i would like to thank my wonderful parents for their contribution to my scotland fund and for all theyre support. tickets are here. its a go.

black rainbow club.

6:30 am. up. chocolate chip waffles. internet. check the usuals. down a pepsi. mmm, sugar. 7:20. phone call. griffs late. 7:30. saddled up on the ferrous. over to jesses. 7:45. across university with jesse and griff. 8:20. piss break. nutty bars. mmm, sugar. 8:30. damn, that ride yesterday tore something up fierce. 8:45. through bellevile. 9:00. through the train tunnel. griffs cateye is dead. sun still shining. lights up the tunnel pretty good. 9:35. accel gel. kiwi strawberry. drink, apple. 9:49. monticello. up the otto. camera out for a few. 10:50. monroe. uncharted territory. builder bar. peanut butter. 11:20. illinois border. piss break. more fotos. back to monroe. silence. 11:50. monroe. subway. foot long turkey. bananna peppers. pepsi. 12:20 pm. bottle refill. back to the trail. 12:45. scattered sprinkles. stiff headwind. i guess the tailwind was nice for the way out. 1:30. monticello. accel gel two. still kiwi strawberry. 2:15. belleville. looks the same. three shot bloks. black cherry. 2:30. basco. mbm course. lots of tracks. mud. 3:15. roll into the door. shower. call it a solid day. i didnt wear a watch. dont own one. im guessing at times. you get the idea. if youre not sick of this on every post yet, click here.

hybrid moments.

more chamois time. 60 degree sun makes a century a no brainer. the old man had the route and t-da and i were happy to go along. new scenery and valleys galore. thought out and thinking. t-da summoned the gods threw a nice big crack in his da crank. from new glarus on it was seated climbs and a bit of soft pedaling. new woolies and more chamois creme. setup for mtb action tomorrow. big thanks to radio freddy and the rest of the bkw crew, d*pow and j*pow, and my wonderful girlfriend meghan and the rest of the rutz family for helping me out with my scotland trip. if you wanna see me in a drunken stupor wearing a kilt, click here.

classics in the air.

classics in full swing and a fresh mini snow storm to grease up the pave. madison-basco-madison debuts tomorrow. the course promises to be brutal. put on your belgium kneewarmers. unfortunately, i will be turning wrenches at tbs all day. just the same as sunday, instead of watching the hell of the north. im goin out on a limb, against a lot of odds and pickin stuie o'grady to finally finish off the legs of the rest. today id like to thank pam jurgenson for the kind donation. theres plenty of time left. wanna be responsible for me getting arrested in scotland? click here!

violence.

it never ceases to amaze me, it shouldnt, but does. spring season in bike shops brings in lots of winners. a decent amount of them are chainstore bought bikes. target, kmart, walmart. i cant believe how badly theyre built and that people ride them that way. weve had a few come in fresh off the department store sales floor. "hi, i just bought this bike yesterday and i think something fell off". yeah, it helps when the chain is actually routed through the derailleur correctly. i read on twentynineinches.com the other day that there is supposedly goin to be 29ers entering that market soon. as if a 26 inch wheeled mountain bike cant do enough damage. cant imagine those things will weigh any less than sixty pounds.

got out for a nice ride today with the old man and t-da. sounds like it may be the last decent day for a few. had a bit of soreness in my knee the other day but that was gone today. moved the saddle forward a bit at wodynski's suggestion and that took care of it. singles raging up one of the hillier routes you could find. this time around was a lot easier than in december. i guess that means im coming into some fitness.

more kind folks have been sending me love to help out with my trip to sswc. huge thanks to my former roomate shiroma. and lyle2.0. lyle and his girlfriend kelly let me live with them this summer between leases. they are responsible for all that is cognition. more thanks to roxy paper scissors, johnny fang, rob fuchsteiner, rob boldt, and bubba.  i really appreciate all the support im getting. if anyone else would like to bring the darkness upon scotland, click here.

sweet dudes and sweet ladies.

easter brought in by a solid ride to the train tunnel and back. half frozen, half mud, half gravel. proportions only manbearpig would understand. thanks to all who have contributed to my scotland fund. your generosity will not be forgotten. props are in order for casey masterson, chuck jacobs, russell b jobs, justin lund, rachael gatto, arleigh, and erin marie page. for anyone who hasnt donated but would like to help me out, click the little button. do it!

help me help you.

it seems ive gotten myself into this race in scotland this september. registration for sswc07 is confirmed. that was the easy part. now comes airfare, passport, lodging as well as travel once i get there and food. i figure its gonna run me two thousand plus depending on how cheaply i play it. thats where you kind human beings come into play. if you can spare any amount to help me out, i would be very grateful. ive set up a paypal donation to make things easy. open your wallets and see just how easy it can be.