RDO

My new Jet9 RDO has been here for awhile; I've rebuilt it with parts from the alloy framed version I built in March. Today was the first ride on dirt. It does everything better than the alloy Jet. Hard to separate how much was new bike infatuation and how much of it is the fact that the bike is actually better after only one hour long ride, but I'll be sure to update after Sunday's race. Maybe I'll even have some photos to share

The hardest thing I've ever done on a bike.

This is a post about my Chequamegon 100 experience, and the first thing I want to say is thanks to my friend JW who rode the whole thing with me. I really don't think I could have finished it without him.

Since taking a new job, I've not had much time to ride in the past month, so I was not feeling terribly prepared coming into this weekend. But, I missed the race last year due to injury and I did not want to be deterred again. So screw it, I don't care how fast we go, I just want to finish. Much easier said than done.

For those of you familiar with the trails around Cable and Hayward WI, or those of you who've done the Cheq 40 picture this: Ride all of the sweet single track in the Namekogan, Cable, Seely and Hayward clusters, and link it all together with most of the Cheq 40 course, including the Fire Tower climb. And do it all at once as fast as you're able. Turns out that was about 12 hours and 17 minutes for me.

I was feeling pretty good for the first couple of hours, but I think I took in too much sports drink too quickly, because around the time we finished the Ojibwe trail I was really feeling ill. We were way  less than 40 miles in, and that was almost the day for me. But we took a couple of short breaks and I tried my best to eat and drink. Eventually the feeling passed and after leaving the drop point at about the 60 mile mark I was feeling OK again. Then it started raining.

Basically sprinkles as we were leaving Hatchery Creek, but as we carried on, so did the rain. By the time we got back to Mosquito Brook Rd and the Birkie trail it was miserable. Kind of like riding through grass covered peanut butter. Even though temps were probably in the mid 60's it got pretty tough to stay warm with the wind chill of riding and the totally drenched clothing. Eventually we reached the dirt and gravel roads past OO and had a chance to test our drivetrains' fortitude in the mud.

Once we turned on to Rock Lake Rd I knew that I had a decision to make. We were about 10 hours in at that point, and If we kept going past the turn off for the last 20 miles of singletrack the suffering would be done in just a few minutes. We stopped and discussed; I made the deal with JW that if I was still riding with my wits about me in the muddy, rocky, slippery single track sections then I'd press on to the finish. But if I was riding stupid then I was done. I'm still suprised with how well we were able to chug through the last sections of trail after so many hours and miles had past. Smooth, flowing single track of the Patsy Lake trail was uplifting; just what I needed after the sustained beating leading up to it. But then we finished with the last section of Rock Lake; ugh.

But we finished and it was damn fine. When do we sign up for next year?

Riding.

It's been another tough winterfor me from a riding/training staindpoint. I've discovered that cold is my limiter. The Mukluk has been a blast, but the riding thing took a back seat after the house fire. Now that things are moving along with that project my thoughts have turned back to racing and training. Since I'm tired of riding my shit-bike I decided to throw some strap-ons (fenders, that is) on the Capricorn CX bike and hit the road the past couple of Sundays. With the sun last week I was able to knock out 50 miles and it felt great. Today, with the temps and the grayness and the cold toes, 40 was a struggle. I can't wait for it to warm up.

sick and tired, pissed and wired

Here we are one month and two days after the fire; all of our belongings have either been taken away to be cleaned or have been categorized and recorded so that we can replace them. We've even started replacing some items, not that we have anywhere to put them... For two weeks absolutely NOTHING has changed at the house. There are still broken windows, there is still soot covering every surface, it still smells like burnt plastic. I'm feeling a bit discouraged with the whole process at this point. But what do you do? It doesn't really help to get pissed off at anyone. Stress.

The bright spot? Anna. If I didn't have a loving, stable relationship with my wife I would be off the fucking deep end. I'd go tell her that in person right now, but she went to bed early because she's under the same stress.

The sort of bright spot? I'm traveling to Austin on Thursday to visit NAHBS and ride mountain bikes with two of my dearest friends and Anna. Then, two more friends are meeting us down there and we'll all be warm and sunny together in Texas. I'm bringing my Capricorn single speed 29er. I'd wanted to bring the new race bike for an early season shakedown, but Fox is out of stock on my fork, so it sits as a frame only at the bike shop, waiting.

In other bike related news, Edge parts adorn my road bike now because I couldn't stop thinking about them. I'm actually excited to ride a road bike for the first time in as long as I can remember. And, this trip to NAHBS is going to be very cool for Anna; she told me yesterday that she's expecting that she won't be riding the LeMond for the rest of the summer; that Independent Fabrication seed I planted seems to have sprouted. Just wait until she sees what her options are after the Handmade show.

Thinking about bikes and parts makes me happy. I should probably start riding them again; but I'm kinda soft and let the 12 more inches of snow we've gotten deter me from that.

Updates

So, it's been over a week since the fire. We're settled in to our temporary home and it's going very well so far; thanks so much Katie.  The fire restoration team has removed almost everything that can be cleaned or repaired, leaving us with the task of inventorying and disposing of the rest of our stuff. Hopefully the actual clean-up and repairing of the house will start soon; Even though our temporary setup is great, I'd love to be home and sleeping in my own bed.

Things are getting back to normal though; my 2011 (and beyond) race bike is coming together. I'm moving toward some of the longer 50-100 mile endurance races this season, so I decided to try a full suspension bike for the first time. I'll be sticking with the Niner brand and riding a Jet 9 with a Fox F29 RLC and SRAM XO. Parts are trickling in and I'm really excited to get the build started. Now that the bike is underway I'd better get started on preparing myself!

Remember that time...

When I had an incredible wife and awesome friends? Yeah, that was this time.

Anna and I have a place to stay on a semi-permanent basis, and I think it's going to work out really well. I'm going to get some rest now so I can be ready to continue cataloguing my life tomorrow. I'll be at Angry Catfish tomorrow afternoon to start cleaning up all of the cycles if you want to stop by to visit.

So now it comes down to this...

If you live like me you have more stuff than you realize or than you need. And I thought I was doing a pretty good job of keeping it minimal. When you're forced to categorize your existence the piles of crap seem pretty insurmountable, and I'm only working on my desk area. Even if you're pretty OK with tossing stuff it takes a long time.  There are books and papers and software and trinkets and photos and documents that I haven't looked at in years. Some of it means something, most of it doesn't. The cleaning crew is gone for the day, so here I am sitting alone in the house; it's acrid and it makes your eyes burn a little. Maybe that's just me tearing up a little because this is a pretty fucking depressing endeavor.

I will stop whining now and shred some more old documents that haven't seen the light of day in years. Now they never will again, thankfully.