NATHAN and JULI...'s profilePorkchopWIPhotosBlogListsMore  |  Tools Help |
Nate's 2009 schedule and results (Past results are at bottom)
|
PorkchopWI"Ain't it funny how they all fire the pistol at the wrong end of the race" July 01 New unis imminient!It’s been almost a year since I started the process of getting samples for new team uniforms. Well, they are finally done and we should have them by the races next weekend in Greenwood and Stanley. Hallelujah!
This is the basic design. There have been some chages and the supplier has changed, but you get the idea. When a few guys talked about adding green last year, I thought there were high, but I like the way it looks.
It’s been quite the process getting this order squared away, thanks in large part to the a significant change in prices — or a communication failure — with our initial supplier. But as a team we forged ahead and finally got things squared away with Pactimo.
It’ll be nice to see the team looking more like a team (new people will now have unis) in a week. And I won’t have to look THROUGH the faded orange butt panel on some of the uniforms we still have out there — word is mine is fading fast too.
June 28 Brice Prairie Time Trials (6/27/09)26.1-mile individual time trial
Brice Priairie, Wisc.
6/27/09
Brice Prairie is one of the few time trials I actually look forward to.
It’s flat and it’s fast. It didn't disappoint Saturday. Winds were favorable and despite missing my warm up (I was dinking around with my camera at the start line) I managed to ride my best time trial to date with an average speed of 23.5 mph over the 26.1 mile course. That’s no where near the times posted by the guys at the top of the results, but it was a .5 mph improvement over my previous TT PR of 23 mph (set at Waumaundee last September and matched again in Wrenshall, Minn., last month). The wild card in the equation (other than weather) was the fact I was running a deep-rim, carbon, rear wheel on-loan from Mike Buelter. Was this the magic .5 MPH I picked up? Maybe... seems like more than coincidence to me.
I love you Easton Tempest II. If I were governor, you'd be my Argentine mistress.... There were a number of us (Jeff Colbeth, Chris Mueller and Mike Worland) that all expected to finish around the same time. Jeff took the honors and I just edged out Worland by six seconds for the 28th position in the results. Chris was right there with us as well. It’s sorta fun having our own little low-key competition within the larger event. Here’s a short video from the event (I’ve been having numerous technical issues the last few weeks with video and video posting. This very well may be one of the last videos I do this season. Though I plan to keep shooting photos) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr8n1xm07bA
Julie had a fast-ish day as well, coming home 5th overall in women and second in her age group. She seemed pleased with her ride and had fun, so you really can’t ask for much more. After the race we popped up to Mark and Gary Brone’s Bike Shop in Fountain City before heading home. A long day, but a great way to end what has been a fun vacation. Needless to say I was happy with the day and my time, and it probably did some good in swaying my opinion on acquiring the wheel from Buelter. Looks like I may pre-ride the 24/9 course Friday and then it’s off to Omoro for a 44-mile road race Sunday. The next few weeks are prime time for bike racing -- lots of racing for us and the Tour de France everyday for three weeks (starting on the 4th). Problem is, summer is over before you know it. June 23 Attitude Sports RR / Grandma's Marathon & William Irvin 5K40-mile road race
Fond du Lac, Wisc
6/23/09
Now that was fun.
Racing with the masters 4/5 riders in Fond du Lac Tuesday for forty miles reminded me how much I like road racing.
The first two 10-mile laps were pretty pedestrian at a pace that was pretty easy to maintain, but not long into the third lap the attacks started coming and the pace was pushed higher. I fell off the main pack by about 25 yards in one of the initial surges up a hill – at that point I thought I was done, a gonner, race over -- but managed to get back on when things settled down.
We were all hot (I was hungry and running low low on Gatorade) and we had another lap and a half to go. Nothing to do but put my head down on the climbs and bust my butt to stay with the lead group.
Crossing the finish line in 11th Luckily, the fourth lap was a little more tame and I was able to recover and the group seemed to take some of the hills easier, which kept me from maxing my heart rate (interestingly, I think I hit my max HR on a downhill trying to catch back on during lap 3). Before I knew it were were making the last right turn to the finish line and I wasn't too far off the front. I expected a more frantic dash to the finish line (and maybe it was and my mind slowed it down) but next thing I knew there were 100 meters left to go and I could see the front of the group.... No win, no podium, no top-10 for me, but a nice 11th place finish. My only regret is not getting up front and earing that 11th, but I was doing all I could laps 3 and 4 to just hold on.
Ahhhhhhh Teammate Mike Buelter and Quentin Gniot (Titletown Flyers) did a great job helping Chris Mueller (Big Ring Flyers) bridge up to a few guys that had gone off the front just before the last turn. Chris came home 6th and Mike took 15th. It was cool to see a few of our guys working as a team.
With Buelter -- I'm not going to post the exposed nipple shot we did
Gniot and Mueller (can't wait for new unis to arrive later this summer so those of on the team look like we're on the team) A cool dip in the hose felt good after the race (temps topped out around 95 later in the day) and despite drinking a lot of water and sports drink, it was a few hours before I had to … take a “natural break.” Yeah, it was hot out there today: http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/...906231619_rev1 Back to time trials for one more this weekend at Brice Prairie before we hit a steady stretch of road race in July and August.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9SVr3Qtncg
_______________________________________________________ Grandma's Marathon & William Irvin 5K
Duluth, Minn.
6/19-20/09
So, figure this one out. I ran the William A. Irvin 5K Friday night in Duluth. It was 56 and fog. Nice running weather and I managed to pound out a 23:54 (about 1:35 off my PR – set on this course).
Summer starts tomorrow? But on Saturday it was was in the 80s and sunny. Not good for Julie's day at Grandma's She was looking good and having fun when I saw here at Knife River – about 5 miles in – but the day went in the dumps when I saw her around mile 14. “I'm cashed,” she told me. “See you around the five-hour mark.”
Knife River -- Still having fun! Huh. We'll she's exaggerating on the time. It'll be 4:15, or maybe 4:30. Well, split the difference. She finished in 4:44:00 -- her slowest time to date. But she finished in trying conditions and was still ambulatory at the end. According to news reports, 577 people sought medical help, with 36 people requiring transport to the hospital. So in the big picture, it was still a good day and she made a smart decision to back off early and not run the risk of a serious meltdown. Despite her time, it was a fun weekend full of buffoonery.
Cell phone in a phone booth, Trego, Wisc.
Suffering ends here
Wheat beer is tasty
Hey sailor.....
June 17 Weekday racin' (next week)It took a few days of bargaining with Julie, but I found a way to slip in the Tour of America’s Dairyland race in Fond du Lac on June 23 — namely, skipping the state TT in August.
That’s no real loss for me. I’d much rather do a road race than a TT, especially one that is only an hour away. And one where I’ve had the chance to ride the course twice, including last night.
So I’ll give the Masters (that means old guys over 35) 4/5 cat. a shot and see what it’s all about. I’ve raced a number of cat 4/5 races, but not masters. I’m sure it’ll be faster than expected. They always are. LOL.
Sounds like a few of the guys from our team as well as the Titletown Flyers will be headed to the race as well, so it should be a fun morning. June 14 Three Hours of John MuirThree-Hour Mountain Bike Race
La Grange, Wisc.
6/13/09
Saturday’s lessons, boys and girls, will be about riding in greasy mud and wet rocks over a 10-mile course that was 99 percent single track. A downpour Saturday morning left the John Muir trails in the Kettle Moraine slick and wet for the 3 p.m. start of the three-hour race (granted they had dried out quite a bit from earlier in the day when the 12- and 6-hour riders started). So I got a double-dose-crash-course (literally) in riding in slippery, rocky, conditions.
(Jim Parman photo) First off, I made a total mess of the first lap, I crashed on some rocks (no injury) and then crashed again later when I hooked my bars on a tree (no injury). I did however manage to tear off my number plate in that crash and spent a few minutes reattaching it to my bike. All tolled, I felt I was way out my element for technical riding on the first lap. The bike was slipping all over the place on the greasy mud and I haven’t seen rocky trails like this up to this point. The second and third laps went much better with no crashing and a better command of the trails and rocks (I think knowing what to expect and drying trails helped quite a bit). I found powering over rocks -- up and down hills when no "good" line was evident -- seemed to be the best way to get over them. Grade for the first lap = D- (simply because I didn't take anyone out with me -- thankfully). But I got better and faster on the second and third laps which were probably pretty average efforts. There was a notable amount of elevation change, but nothing killer and I got up the hills pretty well. As usual, other riders ate me up in the tighter sections and on descents. The idea of the 3-hour race (and all other races) in the Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series is to get in as many laps as you can before the time expires. Thus if you finish your last lap, at say 6:01 p.m. and the ending time was 6 p.m., you don't get credit of the last lap. I ended up riding three laps (just a tad over 30 miles), and was credited for two after missing the 6 p.m. cut-off by several minuets. I rode the last lap and a half with Mark Schindel of the Titletown Flyers. We drove down together so it was kind of nice to spend a little time riding the trails in tandem (though he had to wait up for me a few times). First lap = 1:04:30 Second lap = 1:00.01 Third Lap = Unknown I finished 43rd of 60 in the men’s division (There were 71 people total in the 3-hour race, a pretty healthy turn out, I assume). All and all, Saturday was a big learning curve. I’m treating all my MTB races this year as “seat time” to build experience and learn what I can. Despite getting a little beat up by the course it was still a blast and I left with some new “skills.”
So, after two humbling weekends in a row on both the road and trails (this sport has a nasty way of keeping you humble!) I’m off next weekend before heading back to the road for the Brice Prairie Time Trial on June 27. No photos or video this week. Mark and I were pretty cashed after this race and pretty much packed up and hit the road after chatting with a few people. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Send a private message
Subscribe to RSS feed
Tell a friend
Add to My MSN
Add to your network
Sign up for alerts|
|
