back for another year CIRREM 2010 is set for saturday feb. 27th. register by the 14th of feb and get a shirt.
cirrem.blogspot.com
January 10, 2010
September 28, 2009
feeling the slow down
the racing season is all but over...travel for work should also be wrapping up for the year. the last 2 months was a blur. 7 oaks mtb race then a week off before races for 3 weekends starting with a trip with jed gammell and brian fuhrmann to the black hills for the dakota five-o. return to des moines for a double dose of imbcs action with the center time trials and sycamore tt. ending a week ago with a trip up to northern wisconsin to hang out with a crew from decorah for the 27th running of the chequamegon fat tire festival.
the five-o adventure was a blast, and might very well receive an encore. fantastic trails (best i've ever ridden), perfect weather, tent camping next to a stream, crazy long road trip, very chill town, cliff jumping and an outstanding race made for a great weekend.
my first cheq fat was also an overwhelming success. spent some quality time in a condo with some ne iowa guys. they were full of endless shenanigans since none of them were racing, which kept the mood super light. to race along side 1777 other mountain bikers was a bit surreal. enjoy the photos...see you around.
too cheap to pay $40 for a digital copy of the cheq photos....
passed 4 guys in the final 100 yards of the race....
i'm pretty sure the dude walking the bike is lost...but i'm totally smoking him
taking in the view...
readying myself...
launch...
the five-o adventure was a blast, and might very well receive an encore. fantastic trails (best i've ever ridden), perfect weather, tent camping next to a stream, crazy long road trip, very chill town, cliff jumping and an outstanding race made for a great weekend.
my first cheq fat was also an overwhelming success. spent some quality time in a condo with some ne iowa guys. they were full of endless shenanigans since none of them were racing, which kept the mood super light. to race along side 1777 other mountain bikers was a bit surreal. enjoy the photos...see you around.
too cheap to pay $40 for a digital copy of the cheq photos....
passed 4 guys in the final 100 yards of the race....
i'm pretty sure the dude walking the bike is lost...but i'm totally smoking him
taking in the view...
readying myself...
launch...
August 10, 2009
ahquabi race
first bike race since back in may...it's good to be back. bruce brown did an excellent job last year putting on the inaugural "mob the quab" mountain bike race and after this year it's clear this event will continue to grow. 60+ racers enjoyed a 7.5 mile loop around lake ahquabi 30 minutes south of des moines.
mass start was at noon and we were off. i let cam take the lead and settled in behind him in 2nd. after a little flow we hit the first climb in the loop. cam kicked down a couple gears and was motoring smoothly up the hill. i called on your right as with singlespeeding you need to carry as much momentum up the hill as possible. so i passed and continued on straight up the hill apparently with my head down as cam hollered that i had missed the turn. i get turned around and fall back to 5th. i get almost caught back up by the time we hit a nice steep climb. i stand up to hammer the climb. i take one glance up the hill and see 3 or 4 guys dismounting and running up the hill. i yell on your left, but it was too late as nate(4th) was dismounting and stepped in my path. i run up the hill and eventually catch back on to the train of jed, aaron, and nate near the end of lap 1. so by the end of lap 1 cam decided he wanted some alone time and moved well off the front for the rest of the race.
i stayed with the train for a couple laps yo-yoing off the back at my own pace. by the end of lap 3 i had to let them go as i needed to start eating and drinking in hopes of staving off cramps. that idea worked for half a lap, then the muscle popping began. i happily got off and walked a couple of the hills to stretch out my legs. i ate and drank everything i had on me...it wasn't enough. i nursed my body through the last lap and managed to somehow finish out the race in 5th cat1/pro, 2:38 for my finishing time. it would have been nice if the cramps didn't come, but i doubt that would have changed the outcome too much as jed, aaron, and nate were all doing solid work together to keep a good pace. top 5 was cam, aaron, jed, nate, me.
after battling the cramps/dehydration/headaches for the majority of the afternoon amy again asked if this was fun. was it fun...yes. is cramping and hurting badly afterwards fun...no. when racing i enjoy hanging out with friends the most as well as enjoying the woods at a fast pace. the need to get smarter about what i take in before and during the race to prevent cramping is #1 on my "to do" list. with my seasons biggest races only a few weeks away i need to get a strangle hold on these cramps so to maximize my fun. any ideas..let me know.
next race is in 2 weeks up at seven oaks in boone. last year it was a scorcher, hopefully we catch a break this year. in any case it will be a good test as there will be a solid dose of heat and climbing....see you there.
mass start was at noon and we were off. i let cam take the lead and settled in behind him in 2nd. after a little flow we hit the first climb in the loop. cam kicked down a couple gears and was motoring smoothly up the hill. i called on your right as with singlespeeding you need to carry as much momentum up the hill as possible. so i passed and continued on straight up the hill apparently with my head down as cam hollered that i had missed the turn. i get turned around and fall back to 5th. i get almost caught back up by the time we hit a nice steep climb. i stand up to hammer the climb. i take one glance up the hill and see 3 or 4 guys dismounting and running up the hill. i yell on your left, but it was too late as nate(4th) was dismounting and stepped in my path. i run up the hill and eventually catch back on to the train of jed, aaron, and nate near the end of lap 1. so by the end of lap 1 cam decided he wanted some alone time and moved well off the front for the rest of the race.
i stayed with the train for a couple laps yo-yoing off the back at my own pace. by the end of lap 3 i had to let them go as i needed to start eating and drinking in hopes of staving off cramps. that idea worked for half a lap, then the muscle popping began. i happily got off and walked a couple of the hills to stretch out my legs. i ate and drank everything i had on me...it wasn't enough. i nursed my body through the last lap and managed to somehow finish out the race in 5th cat1/pro, 2:38 for my finishing time. it would have been nice if the cramps didn't come, but i doubt that would have changed the outcome too much as jed, aaron, and nate were all doing solid work together to keep a good pace. top 5 was cam, aaron, jed, nate, me.
after battling the cramps/dehydration/headaches for the majority of the afternoon amy again asked if this was fun. was it fun...yes. is cramping and hurting badly afterwards fun...no. when racing i enjoy hanging out with friends the most as well as enjoying the woods at a fast pace. the need to get smarter about what i take in before and during the race to prevent cramping is #1 on my "to do" list. with my seasons biggest races only a few weeks away i need to get a strangle hold on these cramps so to maximize my fun. any ideas..let me know.
next race is in 2 weeks up at seven oaks in boone. last year it was a scorcher, hopefully we catch a break this year. in any case it will be a good test as there will be a solid dose of heat and climbing....see you there.
June 7, 2009
a few photos over the last couple weeks. first my summerset race didn't start too well as a third of the way through my first lap i snapped my chain on a steep climb. proof..
even though my race was over i decided to head back out and complete my 5 laps...glad i did as it was a blast riding the new trail we've spent so much effort to build.
the week prior to the race my bro from california stopped by for a few days to hangout and relax before heading up to orange city for my grandpa's 90th birthday party. apparently his chalk drawing skills are not quite up to taylor's standards.
taylor "helping" in the kitchen
even though my race was over i decided to head back out and complete my 5 laps...glad i did as it was a blast riding the new trail we've spent so much effort to build.
the week prior to the race my bro from california stopped by for a few days to hangout and relax before heading up to orange city for my grandpa's 90th birthday party. apparently his chalk drawing skills are not quite up to taylor's standards.
taylor "helping" in the kitchen
May 17, 2009
gone fishing
snuck out for a little fishing with taylor. mandatory stop by walmart to get my yearly license.....and a pink fishing pole. turns out taylor is quite the little fishergirl. her fish total for the day was 4 while mine was zero.
and here are the rest of my ladies....
and here are the rest of my ladies....
April 27, 2009
decorah time trials recap
every year i am surprised at how great of an event the folks up at decorah put on for the time trials. all the locals really pull together to showcase their trail system and create a one of a kind race. part of that might be because they have been doing this for 19 years. my hopes going in for the weekend were to ride the trails for 3 days, socialize, and come back with a top 10 finish in the TT. this year ryan vanhouweling joined me for a weekend of camping and riding. other des moines peeps to make the journey north included kyle sedore, taylor webb, kurt benson, bruce reese and squirrel. friday ryan and i managed to head out of town early enough to get in a solid ride in the sunny 85 degree weather and really take in what the decorah bluffs have to offer. well the camping turned into living room camping at ben shockey's household as thunderstorms moved in friday night.
saturday the rain cleared off long enough for a nice group ride of the tt course. conditions were greasy, roots were deadly slippery, and rocks were slimy. everyone went down at least once, i had a nice flying squirrel manuver as both my tires washed out on a downhill hairpin. after the preride though it was a concensus that if the rain held off the trails would be prime for race day. that afternoon...rain. then thunderstorms all night.
race day came and so did the rain. thunderstorms hit just as registration opened. ryan and squirrel had seen enough of the rain and packed up for des moines. it was simple for me, if the race was on i was racing. well shockey, scotty and myself drove over to registration and to my surprise i see a bunch of mates running around getting things lined up for the race. no doubt the race was on as there wasn't even mention of canceling while rain was pouring down from above. after registration thoughts of changing my tires and/or gearing entered my head, but i figured we wouldn't be riding much anyway so why risk a new setup in poor conditions. i left the bike the way i planned and got suited up.
as the 10 a.m. first rider off start time rolled around the rain stopped. tried to get my legs warmed up on a paved road for a couple minutes as i was penciled in for the 3rd start position. i had no idea what to expect the conditions of the trails to be. i imagined hiking almost all the climbs since the day before i was spinning my back tire on about every climb with what i thought were better conditions than race day. i knew the two racers in front of me and one, brian fuhrmann, was my pick to win the TT. shockey was 2 or 3 spots behind me, but with this being his backyard i expected him to catch me on the course. so it was my mini goal not to get passed by him. well the first two riders went off at 1 minute intervals so now it was my turn at 10:02. i was off...first thought going up the first climb.."don't go down." to my surprise the trail was in decent condition considering the amount of rain. overall they were somehow in better condition than they were the day before. after getting acclimated to the tread, i turned to tt mode. with the course only 7 miles or so i knew i had to lay it down to get a top 10. well if you haven't been to decorah that's easier said than done as they are the most technical trails in iowa. crazy amounts of climbing followed by loose rocky off camber descents and now add a nice coating of slime to the trails makes for an interesting race. about 15-20 minutes in i passed the 1st rider. on the nastiest climb i caught a glimpse of shockey starting the climb i just finished. it was after that point that i began to hit a pace i liked. with only a couple miles to go i really pushed it on the climbs and could feel the top 10 growing closer with every pedal stoke. 48 minutes after it started, it was over. i never did see the 2nd rider off...as expected. now it was a waiting game to see who would throw down faster times. i don't know the exact times as they are not posted yet, but my race favorite bested me by around 2 minutes while shockey got a minute on me. so with 4 riders done i was in 3rd....not looking too good. then a few minutes later the fastest time of the day came in at 44 minutes from a wiscy native. i was now in 4th. i stayed to congratulate kyle, taylor, kurt and bruce as they all came flying through the finish, then it was off to get cleaned up. when the results were first posted after everyone was done racing i was still sitting in 4th. turns out they miscalculated one time and i got pushed back one spot to 5th. still i am ecstatic with 5th up there on my 3rd attempt. finished in the money, got a plaque, met my goal of top 10 and had a blast hanging with the local decorah guys as well as the des moines folks.
saturday the rain cleared off long enough for a nice group ride of the tt course. conditions were greasy, roots were deadly slippery, and rocks were slimy. everyone went down at least once, i had a nice flying squirrel manuver as both my tires washed out on a downhill hairpin. after the preride though it was a concensus that if the rain held off the trails would be prime for race day. that afternoon...rain. then thunderstorms all night.
race day came and so did the rain. thunderstorms hit just as registration opened. ryan and squirrel had seen enough of the rain and packed up for des moines. it was simple for me, if the race was on i was racing. well shockey, scotty and myself drove over to registration and to my surprise i see a bunch of mates running around getting things lined up for the race. no doubt the race was on as there wasn't even mention of canceling while rain was pouring down from above. after registration thoughts of changing my tires and/or gearing entered my head, but i figured we wouldn't be riding much anyway so why risk a new setup in poor conditions. i left the bike the way i planned and got suited up.
as the 10 a.m. first rider off start time rolled around the rain stopped. tried to get my legs warmed up on a paved road for a couple minutes as i was penciled in for the 3rd start position. i had no idea what to expect the conditions of the trails to be. i imagined hiking almost all the climbs since the day before i was spinning my back tire on about every climb with what i thought were better conditions than race day. i knew the two racers in front of me and one, brian fuhrmann, was my pick to win the TT. shockey was 2 or 3 spots behind me, but with this being his backyard i expected him to catch me on the course. so it was my mini goal not to get passed by him. well the first two riders went off at 1 minute intervals so now it was my turn at 10:02. i was off...first thought going up the first climb.."don't go down." to my surprise the trail was in decent condition considering the amount of rain. overall they were somehow in better condition than they were the day before. after getting acclimated to the tread, i turned to tt mode. with the course only 7 miles or so i knew i had to lay it down to get a top 10. well if you haven't been to decorah that's easier said than done as they are the most technical trails in iowa. crazy amounts of climbing followed by loose rocky off camber descents and now add a nice coating of slime to the trails makes for an interesting race. about 15-20 minutes in i passed the 1st rider. on the nastiest climb i caught a glimpse of shockey starting the climb i just finished. it was after that point that i began to hit a pace i liked. with only a couple miles to go i really pushed it on the climbs and could feel the top 10 growing closer with every pedal stoke. 48 minutes after it started, it was over. i never did see the 2nd rider off...as expected. now it was a waiting game to see who would throw down faster times. i don't know the exact times as they are not posted yet, but my race favorite bested me by around 2 minutes while shockey got a minute on me. so with 4 riders done i was in 3rd....not looking too good. then a few minutes later the fastest time of the day came in at 44 minutes from a wiscy native. i was now in 4th. i stayed to congratulate kyle, taylor, kurt and bruce as they all came flying through the finish, then it was off to get cleaned up. when the results were first posted after everyone was done racing i was still sitting in 4th. turns out they miscalculated one time and i got pushed back one spot to 5th. still i am ecstatic with 5th up there on my 3rd attempt. finished in the money, got a plaque, met my goal of top 10 and had a blast hanging with the local decorah guys as well as the des moines folks.
April 9, 2009
March 18, 2009
March 15, 2009
bits
the girls left me for a long weekend up in ne iowa. i took advantage of the nice weather and rode my bicycle. saturday hooked up with ryan vh for some gravel on the jabbers, then setup his new wheels tubeless. sunday i basically destroyed myself...but had a lot of fun doing so. never underestimate what sport beans and a good song can do. turns out the cirrem route is more enjoyable when you're not riding in 35 degree rain/sleet weather...odd.
looking forward to some park time with the ladies tomorrow. gotta enjoy the weather while it lasts.
if you want to build some trails saturday, cita's got the first spring workday down at banner. i hear something about free burritos from chipotle....mmmmmm. does this mean we're now members of the argyle club?
looking forward to some park time with the ladies tomorrow. gotta enjoy the weather while it lasts.
if you want to build some trails saturday, cita's got the first spring workday down at banner. i hear something about free burritos from chipotle....mmmmmm. does this mean we're now members of the argyle club?
March 11, 2009
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