After having spent some time there and loving every minute of time with family and friends.  I realized I truly miss people and the special quality of brightness that each one brought into my life.  That part is hard to realize is now few and far between.  But I don’t really feel like Waterloo is truly my home any more.  It’s weird to say.  I spent the majority of my life there.  But, out here in Colorado now truly feels like the place where I belong.  Back East, felt like a visitor.  The places I recognized, even the street I grew up on seemed a bit foreign.  Hard to explain for sure and I still enjoyed being there for every minute.

Hilimire Hilton-13 Maple Lane

I did manage to rope some time in on the bikes…. Friday am before the Geneva Bicycle Center Crew had to turn wrenches, I was able to get out to the MPH for a ride.  It was awesome, to put it succinctly. first thing through their doors, Cadence dog immediately recognized me and was so excited that she barrel rolled into me and about took me out.  This caused Ryder dog to get thoroughly excited and start jumping and the new pup Tread (whom I’ve never met) wanted in also.  3 dogs, 1 happy camper and I was taken down to the ground in the excitement.  So naturally it was off to a good start.

They’ve been gardening a bit

It was great to get out in the woods, the tight twisty trails.  Feel the mud underneath the tires (What is mud?).  Slid around on the bike and just smile and have fun.  My skills were definitely a bit rusty and riding a borrowed bike had a different feel to it for sure.  Every second was enjoyment though, struggling up the steep climbs, sliding through off-camber corners, staring in awe as Mark hits a 15 foot booter.  All the enjoyable things of riding bikes with the GBC Crew have never disappeared.

Suzanne is always all smiles, wouldn’t you be if the trails were right outside your door

The C-Dog and Tread (on tread)

Afterwards I rolled out on the road bike for a short lil ride on my old stomping grounds.  A route nicknamed “the wheelman route”, after an old team I belonged to that had long trained on the roads even before I joined them.  It was great to go ride the quiet country roads.  I could remember sprinting against sold friends to imaginary finish lines, chasing down riders across the flow of the farm land and racing back to town every week with a small group.  It was good to be out there stretching the legs.

Quiet Country roads on the wheelman’s route

Sunday I was able to rope in a few GVCC riders and some of the athletes that I work with for a nice ride down in Naples.  It was cold en route and snowing and raining and wasn’t even sure if anyone would show.  I barely had clothes for the temp, but it was dry down there and a few brave souls showed up to tackle some hills.

Grey and Dreary skies, but always enjoyable terrain

We departed and rolled south to town.  Up and over a few fun, but brutally steep climbs.  Was able to tackle some old favorites while I was there.  I threw in some efforts agains the fellas and definitely was humbled on a few climbs, but the thick air felt great to climb in.  The 20% constant grades, not so much.  I never blew up or smashed myself but there was some suffering had for sure.  While it was dry to start with, it was not upon our return.  The rain came, then the snow came and then both at the same time.  I was so cold riding back, I literally couldn’t feel anything below my elbows.  We were all pretty much in survival mode when we got back to the cars.  Our small group was shattered rolling along 64 as it was literally everyman for themselves just to get back to warmth of our vehicles.  I definitely don’t miss rain and cold and crappy rides like that!

Removed from the area, I still had to provide directions!

The rest of the weekend was mostly spent hanging around Peyton and Reagan as much as I possibly could.  Peyton is growing up so fast.  He’s definitely inspirational.  A fighter in every sense of the word with all that he’s been through.  Leaving him was actually the saddest part of departing.  I do wish I could be there every day with him to help him fight and give him strength.  But I know he has his own and it’s far greater than the strength of most anybody.  For the things that have been taken him, he has made up for with courage.

Peyton showing me how he gets around

Peyton and Reagan playing in the kitchen

Home wasn’t a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together. Not a place, but a moment, and then another, building on each other like bricks to create a solid shelter that you take with you for your entire life, wherever you may go

I’ll be back ‘home’ in August for more and already looking forward to it.  Plus my sister’s baby ‘Oliver’ will be born.  Can’t wait to get back!

Made it to and back home from Upstate New York and had an awesome time

Met My Niece/God-daughter Reagan

Hung with my favorite Buddy Peyton

Raced my bike Tuesday night at the Park Ave Arrowhead race; the whole family came out and I walked away with the W.  Thick air felt good, slip sliding around on the muddy trails with no rear brakes did not, but happy to have a good race.

Rolled out with the GBC crew for a Naples SoGnar Ride

Yup I remember these muddy, wet, rocky, steep (3 garmins confirmed 51% grades) super fun trails

Went out on the boat on Seneca Lake

Played some more with Peyton in the Pool (yeah yeah I know take the t-shirt off!)

More to come later…. Including a full write-up on the race and what it’s like to go back to wet muddy trails.

With the chance to hit some trails and have some fun and the nice weather, August/September is some of the best time to ride in Naples. I headed down this past Thursday night, but forgot my lights, DOH! Managed to rip up Parish Hill, rip through Hi-Tor and down the DEC in about 50 minutes, plenty of daylight. But not enough to do it all again. So I did some hill repeats on Parish Hill in the dark. Want to really sharpen your skills? Descend a dirt road at 35mph in the pitch black, that will give you some confidence

This past Saturday, headed back down to get what I was really looking for. A good 4 hour tear with some good climbing. Felt great to rip the trails and have some fun

All in all was a great day of riding. Going to head back out there tonight (with my lights and get some more ripping in! Then this weekend, gonna take the Lake monster down to Windham to see the World Cup Finals!! First time World Cup in the US in 5 years, and it looks like they have the finals for 3 more years. He’s super pumped (as am I) to see Julien Absalon and Nino Schurter mix it up Live! It’s been super cool to watch the races on Freecaster.tv with him in the am, but will be even cooler to watch in person!

Now for the short and pissed off version.
Managed 5th overall and 3rd age at the Singletrack stampede. Broke my chain on the 1st lap & then next lap, busted up my front derailleur. After a few adjustments, was forced to stay in the small ring. So congrats to J Bixby who won by a few minutes, while I spent triple his advantage on the side of the trail.

Saturday was 126 miles on the road bike with Brendan, Staffo and Barney. Hosed completely after that ride. Brendan broke a shift cable in Italy Valley and drove it 18+ miles in the 53×12. I was gassed a bit from the race still and when we got to CDGA decided to roll the last 30 miles home. Frick, my legs were cooked after that ride.

Last night was Farmall #2. Was sitting pretty till I burped a tire at the end of the 2nd lap. Was dumfounded for a second, the realized there was a floor pump in the trailer as I was right near the finish line. Rolled over and pumped it up. Had fallen into about 6/7th place. Lost pretty close to a full minute on that. Damn near impossible to make up on that course. Drilled it the next few laps and brought the gap down to under 30 secs (EDIT: gap to 2nd place not 1st) and made my way up into 3rd. I wasn’t gonna close 30 secs on the final lap, so kinda sat up a bit. Was a little frustrated at my luck again, but oh well that will happen. All part of racing.

Next week is Farmall #3. Gonna be a shootout for the overall! Then no races till Shenandoah 100!

Was suppose to be 4man, but changed to duo due to fears of a weather repeat if last years monsoons. Casey & I manned up & got ready to rip.

Raced my ass off & won the first lap. Gave everything I had and won the 2 up sprint. Will do a full power/lap review later.

After that settled in. Rain & fog & night came. Took a break & so did everyone else. Got up early ripped out some laps. Had a huge lead and were able to stop by 9:30 when the next round of rain came.

And that I exactly did.  It downpoured pretty hard Friday evening, but trails were so dry, the only thing really affected was that the roots were wet.  Trails still had some awesome grip and quite dry for the most part everywhere.  I climbed up Stid Hill and rode up to the Tower Drop.  Ran into a few cyclists coming down the 4 wheeler trail, that was a first.  Luckily was able to help them find there way.  After hitting up the long climb, dropped down the tower drop.  Now if you’ve been lucky enough to descend the tower drop, you know it’s near vertical.

Well, mix that in that it’s really technical and steep and loose, add some wet roots and only 1 line on hte descent.  Mix it up and add a nice crash in there and you get a nice chainring scratch and impalement on the lower leg.  Looks like I was attacked by a bear-vampire.  4 streaks of gash down my let, with 2 ‘bite’ marks where the chainring dug right in.  Got a few odd remarks about the wound this weekend, but I sucked it up and charged on.

Took things up to OCP and ripped my fastest lap on the Hardcore 24 course.  41 minutes nearly on the nose.  Probably would’ve been a few seconds faster had I not hit the deck when I came off the course onto the pavement!  Turned a little early on the wet pavement and hit the gas to sprint and “Down goes Igby”.  Awfully nice to be charging hard and dump it right in front of the party houses with all the onlookers.  Thankfully that was the last time I crashed, but with that I was pretty tore up literally.  Little blood mixed with dirt, never hurt anybody!

After hitting up OCP, I decided to rip up over in Cutler and then take the road down and climb up over Bristol mountain.  36 miles & 5k feet of climbing was more than enough for the day.

Sunday had plans to go rip Dryer rd in prep for the Fat Tire Fest coming this weekend.  But while watching the tour, came down with the weirdest sickness.  Was freezing my ass while it was 80 degrees outside and couldn’t eat a thing.  Skipped out on the day and just relaxed as much as I could.

I’m skipping the 6 Hours of Power this weekend.  Racing is expensive & so is a wedding, I’m pretty sure I don’t get to pick where the money goes at the moment.

Hope the rain holds off tonight, get some more trail ripping in tomorrow night & a road ride tonight, then some good racing this weekend at the Fat Tire Fest!

Sunday though was the Naples Throwdown.  If you’ve been with me down to Naples for a mountain bike or road ride, you know my evil ways.  I pretty much picked a doozy.  77 miles, 6k+ of climbing, with majority of the climbs averaging well over 10%.

Good group of GVCC’ers were brave enough to show up and throwdown for the event.  Though I mighta scared a few of em off with the dirt road descents

But Hey, there were some great views.  Though my eyes were crossed at the top of Bopple Hill (27% will do that to you)

Even though Housler partied it up the night before, never did manage to get him to puke.  Ah well, believe me there was plenty of suffering to go around.

Nothing like a massive climbing day where the average cadence is 75 rpm.  After Flint Hill, I looked down and it said my average was 53rpm, that was 3+ hours into the ride!!

Tonight:  Park Ave XC finale at Camp Arrowhead.  Booyeah.  Feeling good and looking forward to ripping it up!!

Weekend:  Thinking a massive 85-100+ mile day on the mountain bike, then taking it easy Sunday and hitting up the boat.  Gonna head with Bridget and Lake to camp in the Adirondacks the 5th & 6th and not gonna do any training so a mondo weekend is in order!!

This past weekend I managed to get down to OCP both on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I ripped around for 2 laps, and thankfully the course is mostly marked. Though I was confused a bit crossing the Orange trail and getting back onto the Brown. Looks like they still need to build a section. Which personally I think is dumb, you guys need to stop building trails a month before a race and make the racers burn them in. Seriously?? Remember last year, yeah the course sucked when it rained?? I don’t know why they aren’t using the Orange Trail? It’s pretty kick ass and it was the only trail that held up to the rain last year. Plus its for like 100 yards?? Besides they completely eliminate the Awesome overlook view of the valley?? That’s all part of the allure, but I guess not /rant over…

Ok, where was I, got off track a bit there… So Saturday was 2 laps on the course, and sunday I went down and did some extra riding. Started at Parish Hill, up through Hi-Tor, down the DEC, up Gannett Hill, 2 laps on the Hardcore course and out the orange trail, down the abandoned road, stop get a chocolate milkshake and roll back to the Car. Seriously, nothing better than rolling up to the ice cream stand covered in sweat, dirt and grime and ordering up a chocolate milkshake for the mile roll back to the Car! I managed to rip some laps on the course and 45 minutes seems to be my gold standard, give or take, even 3 hours into the ride, still turned a 45 minute lap. I think, fresh and race day… 40 minutes will be the fastest, maybe sub 40 if it’s super dry day.

Needless to say, the big frigging deal of the weekend was me seeing a Black Bear up in Hi-Tor!! After crossing the 4 way intersection and heading towards the DEC, as I was up top by the ponds, I came rolling around the corner and BAM! almost ran into him. Scared the crap out of me and he took off into the woods. Tried to get the camera out, but no dice. He was gone! Thankfully the rest of the ride was just super fun ripping on the bike and I didn’t get eaten

Last Night, Hanggi and I ripped some laps on the Hardcore course again. As is par for the course, turned some 45 minute laps! Frig, I gotta get faster! But we rode pretty solid and pretty much Sweet Spotted for 90 minutes! Just railing the course and getting the lines down.

This weekend, will be hitting up Naples with Brendan and the Minerva Design Crew to have a good fun team ride one the road bike, haven’t done been out with the guys in a bit! Need to catch up!

Things have been a bit busy here these past few weeks.  Thought that maybe I’d get a few pictures up and a brief report.  Some are already aware, but a few weeks ago strained my back a bit at the Farmall #2 Spring race.  Not sure what exactly caused it, but damn if it didn’t just shut me down immediately.  Had to pull up and head home.

Took some time to let it heal and thought that I would give the Highland Hex 6 hour a go.  Things were going great at the Hex, I laid down a super fast 1st lap and lead for the first 4/5 laps or so (first 3 hours), then my back started acting up quite a bit.  I took it easy for a lap, then tried to go again, then decided it wasn’t going to happen whatsoever.  I ended up pulling the plug and heading home.  With the back issues I decided to pull the plug on the mohican 100 this season as I was forced to rest and recover a bit and let things heal. I’ve been taking it fairly easy and just hitting the road bike for the past few weeks and letting it rest as much as possible.

Memorial Day Weekend

A few quick pics from Memorial Day weekend. If you didn’t already know, good ol’ Waterloo is the birthplace of Memorial Day! Thus it gives us a great reason to celebrate not only our soldiers, but our families. I took some good bike rides, but it was more about spending time with the family

Park Ave XC

Park Ave has changed things around a bit this year with a new venue for their weeknight mountain bike series. They’ve even added a kids race! What can I say I was thoroughly impressed with the race course. Fairly technical, almost entirely singletrack, 1 steep goat climb, but otherwise super flat and fast. Even the kiddies race hit up some singletrack!

After a big weekend of riding on the road, including a trip to OCP to rip the Hardcore Course on Monday, I decided to test the legs out and see how things went.  A lap or two to warm-up and I knew the course would be super fun.  Race started with a loop around the ball-field & I knew the start would be fairly critical.  Unfortunately mis-timed my pedal clip in and was edged out into the woods by Andy August (on his cross bike).  Flew around the course following him a bit, till he took a bad line along the creek and got stuck in the trees.  I fell into 4th behind Doug Rusho, Andy & Dan Staffo (also on cx bike).  Got past Dan down near the creek where the lines widened up and past Andy when he took a different line after the bridge crossing.

Squeezed past Doug just prior to the bridge over by the ropes course.  From there I hit the grass field with Staffo in tow.  Staffo attacked and took us into the singletrack where I followed for the first half of the course.  Down by the creek again, I managed to pass him in the same spot, put in an attack and because I was able to ride up and over the bridge steps on the 29er, I was able to really establish a gap.

From there on forward I just kept the gas on, stayed patient behind the lapped riders and just ripped it in the woods.  Focused on just staying smooth and fast and having fun!  Not exactly sure how far in front I finished (minute or two), but it was a great race and happy to have such stiff competition out there!

Up next is the Full Moon Vista Friday night crit, then I’m off to the FasCat Training Camp in Boulder for 10 days!!  Gonna be awesome to be back and ripping up some of the fun stuff I rode last year.  Also gonna hit up the Granby course for Nationals Recon!

Lake’s Birthday

Saturday was Lake’s official Birthday, but we held his party on Sunday.  What else to get my boy than a bike!!  A super sweet Giant TCX!!  I think I’m actually quite jealous of his bike.  He’s already mastered the handbrakes and is still getting acclimated to the gears.  He only wants to put “in 7″ as he says so he can go as fast as possible.  Thus, we’ve been doing some extra bike riding as he wants to ride, rolling around the block pretending he’s Lance and doing his best Phil Ligget impressions!!

Farmall #2 tonight!!  Looking forward to it!