Dave Simmons

2009-09-30T10:21:00.014-05:00

Heck of the North What a great time I had at the inaugural Heck of the North gravel road race. Super nice people as always at these kinds of events. Very well organized from start to finish. Fantastic volunteers and food at the halfway checkpoint and at the finish line. All the fast guys showed up and showed how it's done. Me, I was just happy to participate and finish in one piece. Highlight of my ride happened when I had a run in with a marsh or bog, not sure what you call it. I thought I could ride through it until my front wheel sunk in over the hub and I went over the bars. I put my arms out and they sunk up to my biceps! Kept my head out of the muck though. I just had to laugh and wade my bike to dry land. Everyone else around had a good laugh too as they found the totally dry path around the wetness : ) Good times! Had fun riding with John Hatcher and Dean McCauley towards the end. Nice sprint John! Looking forward to next year and to trying more of these races that I haven't made it to yet. Here are a few pictures that I took and there are more on the race website.

Tasty pre-race food at the Burrito Union!

Camera got a little wet. It wasn't foggy as it looks.

The trail sections were a welcomed change from the gravel. A good chance to stretch the legs out.

p.s. In other exciting news. Jen and I are expecting another little one in April!

2009-07-12T22:59:00.002-05:00

Great weekend up in Grand Forks for the Prairie Rose State Games. 14th overall in the 50 mile road race and 6th overall in the 25 mile mountain bike race. Extremely happy with those results considering I'm a slow and steady kind of rider, and there were some very talented fast guys there in both races. Lots of fun! I forgot my camera at home, but there are a bunch of great pictures on skinnyski.com from the mountain bike race.

2009-07-06T22:36:00.006-05:00

Had a great ride on Friday. Didn't know it at the time, but it was great training for the Heck of the North race that is coming up in September by Duluth. Check it out in the links to the right.

2009-07-02T23:42:00.008-05:00

Heading out after work tomorrow for a gravel grinder to GF. Should be fun. Hopefully not too many dogs along the river : ) Have a great 4th of July! Grand Forks Gravel Grinder
Find more Bike Rides in West Fargo, North Dakota

2009-06-05T22:08:00.003-05:00

Went out to Maplelag again today with Grant. Met Tony Schmitz in the parking lot and had a great ride with those two. Even made the Maplelag website! Very cool.

Man I gotta shave!

2009-06-04T21:59:00.010-05:00

Went to Maplelag last Sunday with the Mangan. Here are a few pictures.

Here's Rick tearing up the trails. They were pretty much perfect!

He caught a pedal on one of the many trees : )

Upon closer inspection it was the work of beavers.

This picture and the one below go hand in hand for "old guys" like Rick : ) Thanks Maplelag!

2009-04-06T22:43:00.012-05:00

Happy Birthday Henry!

2009-02-06T13:23:00.022-06:00

Not much to report on the race for me. Wasn't feeling the best at the start. Felt really great about 10 miles before the Gateway store. Rode hard and fast till Gateway. Ran inside filled bottles and took off with Greg Ames. He dropped me shortly after, and I felt like crap from then on. No power = not enough heat being generated. Sun was setting. Got really cold. Changed into dryer warmer clothes. Came upon Sheep Ranch Road which I knew headed to Highway 53. Road that for about 15 miles before Rick picked me up and took me to Melgeorges Resort to have a great meal and watch the race unfold. The highlights of the event were a presentation on the Alaska races from Mike Curiak. Hanging out with all the really fun people that put on and participate in this race. and winning a Pugsley frame in the prize drawings at the race meeting. Everytime I do this event I go home humbled and inspired by my failures and others feats of strength. I can't wait until next year!

2009-01-31T05:11:00.003-06:00

Let the games begin! Headed out the door for the 5th Annual Arrowhead Ultramarathon. Follow along starting Monday here if you wish. Later.

2008-12-13T19:49:00.003-06:00

Weekly News I'm famous! Mr. Farrow has a great series of posts he just started doing called "One of my worst days out there." His second story is about your truly. Thanks Charlie! In other spectacular news: Mr and Mrs Abraham had their baby girl! Annabelle Sage Abraham. Rumor has it that Henry and her are going to have an arranged marriage one day : ) Congratulations Abrahams and Henry!! Lastly there is a Blizzard Warning out for the next day. Snowing pretty good now. We'll see if it amounts to anything by tomorrow. Might have to camp out tonight if it gets cold enough. Or at least get out for a ride with G Ames. Until next time.....

2008-11-28T20:17:00.004-06:00

Top Secret training ride #2 complete. Fitness is ahead of schedule. Went out with top secret government employee to an undisclosed location. Rumor has it that he just might sign up for the AH135 by the Dec 1st deadline. Now all we need is some more snow. Looks like Lance Andre got a new snow bike! Not quite as big as Dave Yearwood's monster bike though. I'll have to try and get a picture of it this winter. I've also perfected the art of walking on water over the Thanksgiving holiday.

2008-11-24T15:03:00.006-06:00

First TOP SECRET training ride in the books! Clearance smearance : ) I heard G-Ames is going to sign up for the AH135. Pat, will you be there this year?

2008-11-20T22:21:00.003-06:00

Just registered for the Grand Daddy event of 2009. Arrowhead Ultra! Registration ends on December 1st. Get yours sent in ASAP. Should be a great year. Predictions are for a ton of snow. I've been off the bike since Nine Mile, so I'm good and rested. Time to start the TOP SECRET winter training regimen : ) So far I know that Charlie is in and The Mangan is out. How about everyone else? Who's gonna be there? Not that anyone reads this blog anymore since I haven't updated it since June. I've been busy being a Dad to little Henry, and just taking it easy. Lot's of time on Facebook. It's the new blogger anyway I guess. Uploading pictures is a lot easier and quicker too. Look me up. Lots of pictures of our little man. I'll try and post more often on here as well. Until next time check out the new dream bike. I really like the name. And here's Henry getting some hours in the Helicopter so he can come rescue my undertrained self from the Northwoods of Minnesota in February : )

2008-06-09T23:04:00.012-05:00

Setting Sail on the RA300 - a sail would've been perfect for this race : )

There was a good article in this month's Adventure Cyclist. It was about how when you are young and have few responsibilities. How easy it is to just pick up and go for a long ride or tour. But, as you get older and have more to worry about. How challenging it can be to leave home. This article rang true for me as Rick, Gabby and myself left Grand Forks on Friday. It was very hard to leave my new son and wife to go do a race in another country. But as we got closer to Portage La Prarie I was thinking more and more about the monster that is the Red Assiniboine 300.

Last year at this race I made it to the halfway mark, and after leaving on the second half, I was caught in a nasty thunderstorm that had me lying in a ditch hoping I wouldn't be hit by lightning. As we got to the hotel this year it was pouring rain, and the wind was howling. Not a good sign before a race that is challenging enough without mother nature adding to it. Fortunately on Saturday morning the sun was shining, but the wind was still doing it's thing.

The race started just after 8:00am with Lindsay leading everyone out in his van. I stayed near the back of the group. I didn't want to get caught up in trying to hang on to Blair Saunders and the other fast guys like last year. I told myself to just go my own pace and see what happens. After about 50km I was competing for the course sweeper position. I wasn't feeling very fast at all. The mind was starting to play the "Let's quit, what's the point in riding this far anyway" game. That's when I caught up to Nathan Barten around Rathwell. I was pretty sure I was done for the day, and had Rick been there with the van, I would've called it quits. Thankfully Rick had gone futher up the course, so Nathan and I decided to stop for a double cheeseburger with fries and gravy at the Diner just off course. It was sooooo delicious. Nathan talked me into at least riding to the first checkpoint in La Riviere. We took off for the checkpoint. The rolling hills started, and the wind was relentless. Nathan rode off ahead on his super lightweight fixie. I caught up to Mike Harrison just before a wind farm. We yo-yo'd a little bit, and even stopped to take some pictures of the impressive wind turbines. Then I rode on ahead into the headwind alone. Somewhere along the way Nathan had gotten off course a little and I passed him in the process. Just before getting to La Riviere, there is an impressive section of gravel road. It runs along the Pembina Valley. Beautiful country in Canada. I had to stop and take a couple pictures. I always kick myself for not stopping to take pictures during races, so I didn't pass this opportunity up. I rolled into La Riviere around 5:30pm I think. Rick's daughter, Gabby, signed me in, and Lindsay bought me supper. Another hot meal in the belly. Mmmmmm. I spent about two hours there eating, talking and trying to come up with a good excuse to call it a day. But, Lindsay said I looked strong and wouldn't have any of it. So with a little encouragement I headed out to the second checkpoint at Rock Lake.

I had to stop and take a picture of what must have been Lindsay's school back in the day : )

Mike Harrison and the wind farm.

Pembina Valley just before La Riviere.

Climbing out of the Pembina Gorge towards Rock Lake I started to feel pretty good. The wind had also died down which I'm sure had a lot to do with me feeling better. I put the hammer down "Vino style" and flew into Crystal City stopping only long enough to get a Coke from a pop machine. I downed the Coke and headed out just as fast as I came into town. The sun was starting to set, and there was a good sized thunderstorm on the horizon. As it started to get dark I went to turn on my light, but it didn't work. So I just kept riding. Making sure to have my rear tail lights on and stay way to the side of the road when a car would come. Not to long after total darkness I could see a red blinky in the distance. I gave chase as fast as I could go in the dark. Eventually I got close enough to see it was three riders, and they were just turning on to a steep downhill. I turned on the jets and came flying up to them just at the bottom of the hill. They hadn't seen me behind them since I didn't have a headlight, so they were pretty startled. It was Cory Smith, Tomec Jasiakiewicz and Jay Hawranik. We all rode into the Rock Lake checkpoint together at 11:35pm. Blair Saunders and John Hawranik were still there. The checkpoint was at Kenny's lakeside cabin. What a guy! He had chili on the stove and enough Coke to open a convenience store. It was great! Lindsay was there as well, and was really happy to see the other three guys I rode in with. It seems they went 20km off course with the wind, all down hill. After realizing their mistake they had to ride back uphill into the wind those same 20km. Ouch! Tomec and Jay decided to pack it in at Rock Lake after that mishap. Cory and I packed up, reloaded with food and batteries for my light (THANKS JAY!!!!), and headed out for the remaining kilometers at around 12:30am.

Cory and I rode very well together. Keeping a fast pace, and stopping at each turn to make sure we were still on course. The night was cold with very little wind. The valleys were filled with bone chilling air and fog, but the climbs out of them warmed me up quickly. Just around sunrise I started fading, and Cory rode ahead. I was getting the same sore shoulders and neck I had at the Arrowhead. I slowed way down, and even walked for a short while. Finally I was close to Portage La Prairie again and just went as fast as I could back to the finish at Don Sisson's farm. It was 8:20am. Just over 24 hours for the "regular" course. I was very happy to be done. Don gave me a ride to the hotel and I had a little breakfast and took a nap before the awards BBQ.

What a great event. Lindsay put together one heck of a course. The volunteers and checkpoints were spectacular. Thanks to everyone involved!!! I highly recommend checking this race out next year. And hopefully I'll see Lindsay and Dallas at the Arrowhead in February.

When I got home I was checking my e-mail. I get these quotes of the day from the Foundation for a Better Life. The quote from this weekend was very fitting and reminded me why I love to do these types of races.

"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for"
-William G.T. Shedd (1820-1894)

2008-06-06T09:28:00.005-05:00

Heading to the RedAss 300

(pictures from official 300 website)

Follow along here.

2008-06-01T09:40:00.009-05:00

Trent and the Dike (a dirty little tale)

Trent and I went on a brutal gravel grinder this morning. Fresh off his late night training sessions in the Twin Cities with Brian last weekend, I knew I was in for one helluva ride. Trent has been instrumental in my preparation for the RA300 next weekend. This was the last chance to get in a good workout before the taper. We headed west on a gravel road not too far from my house. Into a slight headwind we pushed on for what seemed forever. Then we turned south for a few miles until we found a rutted up minimum maintenance road. We plowed through the muck dodging four wheeler ruts and shotgun shells. Finally we came to a dike that brought us back home. It was super soft from the recent thunderstorms, and full of horse hoof holes. Trent was happy he broke in his new ride with some mud and horse poo : ) We ended up back at my place for some much needed coffee. Great ride Trent! I'm ready to tackle the Manitoba wild next weekend. Here are a few pictures from the ride.

THE END

2008-05-29T13:46:00.004-05:00

Random thoughts

It's official. I registered for the Red Ass 300 on Sunday. Registration closes on the 31st so Trent and Brian better get moving : ) I wonder how their Minneapolis ride went? The RA300 should be a ton of fun again this year. I can't wait.

After that I'm looking forward to Nine Mile and Afton. Gonna keep the schedule pretty light this year again.

Putting in some sod on Saturday. That should be fun. Not to mention good upper body training. Hopefully it doesn't rain as forecasted. After that I just have to talk Trent into building me a deck : )

Henry is growing up fast. Dallas should have a little one not to far behind. Good luck on becoming a daddy Dallas! Are we going to see you at RA300?

Here's a picture for all those requesting one. This is Henry's "poop face"

2008-05-04T12:24:00.005-05:00

Sunday morning coffee rides have begun! 35 miler with Top Gun and Trenty. Good ride guys.

Maverick

You've got a bogie on your tail!

Highway to the Danger Zone!

2008-04-06T17:17:00.004-05:00

24 Hours of Labor

My wife is the new 24 hour champion of my world! Over 24 hours of labor on Friday night through Saturday night into the wee hours of Sunday morning. Henry David Simmons was born at 12:47am on Sunday April 6th of 2008. He is 8lbs 5oz and 21 1/4 inches. Jen and Henry are both doing great. Later.

2008-03-29T12:40:00.002-05:00

No baby yet! I'm gonna try and rub some ankles and feed Jen some spicy Squez food. If nothing happens after that..... I'm going in : ) I'll keep you posted. Later.

2008-03-23T14:13:00.014-05:00

Bench Building

Trent came over yesterday and helped me build a work bench for the garage. Now I can play shop mechanic and really mess up my bikes : ) Oh well. I'll just have to have Fox Cycle Repair fix my mistakes when he comes through town. The bench was fairly easy to make. Especially since Trent did most of the work. He let me touch his tools a couple of times, and then said I need to get my own : ) Thanks to Trent for all the help. Thanks to Brian for the plans. Here are a some pictures of the project.

In other home improvement news. The baby room is pretty much ready. He's due for arrival on Thursday, but maybe we'll have an Easter baby. You never know. Here's some more pictures for the soon to be Grandmas.

2008-03-10T19:55:00.000-05:00

Bike shops and Baby rooms

I was thinking of building a work bench right below where the bikes are now. It's a two stall garage, and we only have one car. So, there's lots of room for a home bike shop. I need to finish insulating and dry walling it though.

The baby room is almost complete. We got the crib all cozied up, and built a bouncy chair, swing, stroller and play pen this weekend.

2008-03-06T22:46:00.009-06:00

New House

The house and proud new owners.

Jax exploring his new fun house.

I actually put this crib together myself. I'll have to have Brian or Foxy check my bolt tightness though : )

Prepping the baby's new room for painting.

All painted. The color was lighter than we thought it would be. It looks a little green in these pictures, but it is actually a lighter tan color.

That's all for now. More to come. Any requests?

2008-02-26T23:03:00.005-06:00

Riding with my heroes Sorry for the late race report. We've been busy moving and getting settled into the new house. I finally have internet again! Not sure I have too much different to say then all the other reports out there already, but here's my tale. I finally finished the Arrowhead race this year. Third time is a charm I guess. It was by far the hardest thing I have ever done. By a long shot. The Mangan and I headed up a day early this year on Saturday instead of Sunday. I think that helped calm the nerves, and gave us more time to make last minute changes. There were quite a few early arrivals. We spent a lot of the day checking out everyone's gear and bikes. Rick was like a kid in the candy store, snapping over 500 pictures over the course of the race. Lots of great ideas and gear this year. My favorite was the Epic Designs fat bike bling. I'm definitely getting some of that for next year. Sunday was more of the same. Checking out everyone's bikes and gear, and hanging out with all the interesting characters that make the Arrowhead so much fun. The race started on Monday morning. Charlie and I got to the start right when Dave Pramann and Greg Pattison did. We all started together and had a relatively fast pace line going with Dave P doing the majority of the work. We stayed together for most of the 18 mile out and back. The trail was great on this first section. Once we hit the trail on the other side of the highway, Dave P didn't stop his insane pace until the end of the race. He missed beating his course record by three minutes! Finishing in an impressive 15 hours 48 minutes! I think he should have to do the Arrowhead 270 out and back course next year : ) I was dropped instantly by the others as the trail was pretty soft. It was one of the highlights of my race to ride so fast with those guys. Lots of fun! I decided to slow down and go my own pace. I got to the first checkpoint at the Gateway store and only stayed long enough to have a sandwich and refill my liquids. Not much exciting happened on the trail to the second checkpoint at MelGeorge's Resort. When I got there I was pretty tired. They had a new cabin this year with a bunch of great volunteers offering grilled cheese, spaghetti and burgers. I ate them all and they were spectacular! I tried to relax and sleep a little, but couldn't settle down. Dave Gray was heading out and asked if I wanted to go with. I hesitated, but then decided I would try and get a good chunck of trail out of the way before sun up. It was about 11:00pm when we headed out. We rode together for a good 5 miles. Then Dave stopped to refuel and I kept going. I was surprised that I didn't see his head lights behind me. At about 3:00am I saw a snowmobile coming and stopped to chat. It was a volunteer checking on us. He said there was about 10 miles of hills left, and that there was a rider bivying a couple miles ahead at one of the trailside shelters. I thanked him for the update and headed down the trail. I came up to the shelter and decided to stop and see who was staying there. It was Chemical Ali himself, Charlie Farrow. I asked if he was alright, and he said he was. I thought I would hang out and eat and drink a little before heading back out. I made the mistake of not putting on my down jacket while I ate and chatted. I got cold pretty fast. I had to make a quick decision between getting in my sleeping bag or start riding again to get warm. I chose the sleeping bag. I found a comfy spot right outside the shelter in some snow. I made another mistake of not taking off my wet layers before getting inside. I fell asleep pretty quickly. Dave Gray stopped to check on us. Once he left I couldn't get back to sleep and was pretty cold and wet. I was pretty miserable and kind of worried, but Charlie told me to just do some situps and go to sleep. That worked, and I finally warmed up enough to fall asleep. The sun started to come up, and Charlie said he was going to get going. I layed around a little longer and then got my stuff together and gave chase. Charlie and I rode together until the non stop hills got the best of me and I had to slow down. My neck and shoulder muscles were kiling me. They were sore and falling asleep. Soon the hills ended, and the 20 mile flat section started. I would soon be wishing for the hills. This flat section is never ending and wears on the mind. At least with hills you have to focus on getting up them and then have a fun ride down the other side. My neck and shoulders were really starting to worry me. I've never been in that much pain. A snowmobile came up behind me towards the end. It was Don Clark and Terry Branick I think? I had no idea how much farther I had to go. When they told me 10 miles. I was crushed. I was ready quit right there. I didn't think I could go any further. I wanted to ask for a ride so bad, but Don told me to just get off and walk for a while. Then they took off down the trail with ease. Next year I think I'll buy a snowmobile and volunteer as a support person : ) Just kidding!! I walked for a while. Then I sat down on the side of the trail and sulked. Finally I pulled myself together and started riding again. I was seeing animals and snowmobiles on the trail that weren't there. It was weird. I started talking to myself and kept telling my legs to just ride. I decided to give it all I had and put the hammer down. Pretty soon I saw the sign for Bayview Lodge at the end of the course. Only two miles to go! I climbed one last hill and coasted to the finish cabin. 29 hours and 13 minutes after I started. I was never so happy to be off my bike. I vowed to sell it when I got home. That didn't last very long though. I was greeted by all the other riders that had already finished and the voluteers. I got a photo taken with a Arrowhead trophy, and then had a big plate of spaghetti with Chuck Lindner who finished right after me. Way to finish on your first try Chuck! Very impressive. Hope to see you at Nine Mile and Afton this year! I'm glad to have finally completed this great event, and to have ridden with and met so many wonderful people along the way. Maybe I'll try and walk it next year : ) A big THANK YOU to Pierre and Cheryl Ostor for putting on this great event and making it better and better each year! Another big thanks to all the volunteers! You guys and gals are the best! Thanks to all who helped get me and my bike ready for this race. Especially Terry, Monty, Pat and Brian at the Ski and Bike Shop in Grand Forks, ND. My bontrager connection, Brian in Wisco. All the other Arrowheaders and bloggers out there who inspire me to do crazy races like this. And last but definitely not least, Rick "The Mangan" for our weekly phone calls, training rides and all your great ideas. Good luck to Pierre and Alaska Jill out on the Iditarod Trail. Pierre is going all the way to Nome this year. 1100 miles! GO Pierre GO!

2008-01-26T10:31:00.000-06:00

Irons in the Fire (a special post for Trent, hi Trent : )

Lots of irons in the fire lately. I'm gonna need them to stay warm at the Arrowhead.

The bike is all upgraded for the big dance in a little over a week. I can't say too much about it for fear of giving an advantage to the wily Charlie Farrow. Just kidding here are a couple of pictures. I'm gonna be at the back of the pack anyway : )

In other news Jen is doing great with the little guy kicking stronger and stronger everyday. I think he might be a cyclist with those strong legs : ) Time will tell. That's for him to decide anyways. As for Jen she has a huge beer belly going on right now : ) March 27th can't come soon enough. I've been watching plenty of Snoop Dogg's Fatherhood to prepare : )

As if a winter ultramarathon and a baby weren't enough. We decided to buy our first house as well. We are closing on February 8th. Right after getting home from the Arrowhead. Then it's lot's of painting, moving and getting the baby's room ready for his arrival. Too much fun. I should have lots to blog about though. So stay tuned. I'll try and post again before the Arrowhead, but if not follow all the action on the Arrowhead Forum. Later.

2007-12-16T20:10:00.000-06:00

Go Elf Yourself Here's this year's Team Brown Bear crew from 24-9 spreading some holiday cheer : ) Make sure to have your sound on. Enjoy! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1471407658

2007-12-09T10:46:00.000-06:00

Updates

I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. Work has been crazy busy with the holidays approaching. One good piece of news from work is that I finally got the time off for the Arrowhead race. I've registered and am on the 2008 race roster. Very excited about that! Training has commenced on the weekends. Rides with pw, Jim and "The Mangan" are all helping to get into prime Arrowhead racing fitness. We have over a foot of snow on the ground here and it looks like International Falls has even more. The course should be perfect this year. Hopefully the cold temps we've been having will stick around. It was -27F the last two nights up in Grand Forks. I went out for a three hour ride yesterday afternoon up there. It was between 0F and -10F. Great trails have been made along the Red River by the snowmobiles. There is also a great groomed trail throughout lincoln park and golf course. Good stuff. I'll have to go explore around Fargo this week and see what I can find down here. I took a couple of pictures and videos yesterday. Here they are.

Rick has his winter gear testing lab all set up.

In other news Jen and I found out that we are going to be having a baby boy on March 27 2008. Any suggestions on names? I was thinking Bear. Like Bear Grylls. That guy is crazy!

2007-11-18T09:35:00.000-06:00

Here's a couple pictures to satisfy and make G-reg jealous. I bet you wish you had a set of these instead of those weak White Industries cranks : ) They should be going on the Pugs next weekend. Looks like a good chance of snow for then as well. Just in time.

2007-10-28T12:44:00.000-05:00

Exploring

Rick and I went on a little scouting ride last night up in Grand Forks. We went along the Red River on the ND and MN sides. We found some really nice four wheeler trails on the point in EGF that were a lot of fun. Only about a mile of the river bank, but there were at least two or three different off shoots that we didn't explore yet. Hopefully the snowmobiles will be back in there once the snow flies and they will be just as good in the winter. Speaking of winter it had to be at or below 20F along the river last night. The weather channel said it was 23, but it was definitely colder than that when we were riding. My hands got numb at one point. Fun stuff. I'm still waiting for a couple parts to show up before the Pugs is all upgraded. Hopefully this week sometime. The new fork worked great on the river trails and in town. It will be interesting to see how it handles all loaded up for winter though. That's all for now. Here's a few pictures.

Rick in his man cave making room for his new winter bike. I can't wait to see it. It's gonna be a looker.

This picture turned out kind of dark, but I like it. If you look closely under the bridge you can see Rick on the trail.

This one is on the four wheeler trails we found. My camera died while taking it, and there is a weird leaf shape just above and to the left of the trail. Strange.

2007-10-14T14:30:00.000-05:00

Never bring a Switchblade to a cat fight

Pw helped me get the Pugs ready for winter again yesterday. Thanks a bunch Pat! Got the new Switchblade fork and CK wheel installed. As well as the old faithful XTR rear derailer off the 8000 and a new chain. It looks great, and as a bonus, found out that this new front end makes it steer a million times better. I'm not sure of the weight savings yet. The fork is a lot lighter and the hub is narrower and without a disc mount or rotor. I bet I easily saved two pounds or more over the old setup. Now I'm just waiting for a couple more parts to show up next week that should lighten the load even more. Stay tuned. In the mean time enjoy a few photos and a video of our UFC kitties.

Amazingly the tire slips right into the fork at full pressure. I thought for sure I'd have to deflate and work to make it fit.

Plenty of clearence. I think I see daylight in between there : ) Nothing rubs though.

Tight tolerences. This receipt fits right in the gap : )

Jax relaxing after a hard fought win for the 100 calorie snack box trophy.

2007-10-10T16:42:00.000-05:00

Back from Beets!

The first two weeks of every October is sugar beet season. I made it through another one unscathed. This year I got an upgrade in trucks which was nice. The last few years I drove a 1976 International that I thought had a lot of power until this year. Enter the Big Red Mack. A 1980 Mack Truck that could really haul the beets. Just under 20 tons per load. Bullet proof is a good way to describe it. Anyway it was long hours in the drivers seat. 8:00pm to 8:00am. I made a nice chunk of money. What to spend it on? Hmm. How about another piece to the Pugsley puzzle. Here are some pictures of Big Red and the Pugs' new front shoe.

The Mighty Mack

JYD

A view from the drivers seat.

The night time is the right time. A little bumpy on the highway.

And finally, Large Marge has lost some weight : )

2007-09-24T11:10:00.000-05:00

Results

Results for the 24 Hours of Afton were finally posted on the MORC forums. Looks like I got 13th place out of 72 solo riders with 11 laps. Brian finished 34th/8 laps and Trent 42nd/7 laps.

It was 93 degrees in Fargo yesterday! Hopefully that is the last of the warm weather for the year. Time to start looking forward to winter. The Pugs will be getting some upgrades in a couple weeks. I'll post some pictures once they are complete. First I have a week of beet truck driving starting Saturday though. Great sleep deprivation training : ) Then it's all about the Arrowhead! I can't wait.

The Pugs new best friend? Have to wait and see : )

2007-09-17T11:51:00.000-05:00

Chequamegon 40

Fun times in Wisconsin this past weekend. Rick and I headed over to Hayward on Friday night and met up with Brian and his secret weapon for the Chequamegon 40 on Saturday. We went and registered and had a few plates of spaghetti to tide us over until the morning. Rick found us a great little cabin to stay in at the KOA. It was chilly until the heater warmed us up. The nighttime low was 25F. We were up bright and early to witness the cold temps at 4:30am. We headed over to the start line and got some sweet starting positions on the second row. Then it was back to the cabin to thaw out until the race started at 10:00am. We all decided to wear the long sleeve insulated TBB jerseys as the temps weren't supposed to get over 55F. They worked out great. Plenty warm at the start and on the fast downhills. We all had great races. Brian did the Brown Bears proud with a 235th placing and a time of 2 hours 38 minutes. He even beat Greg Lemond and Gary Fisher. Way to go Brian! I came in at 731st place overall with a time of 3 hours 4 minutes. A half hour better than the last time I did this race in 2004. Rick was towards the back of the pack making sure everyone else made it to the end : ) A very respectable 1673rd place for the Mangan with a time of 4 hours and 39 minutes. Great job Rick on your first Cheq 40! I bet he shaves at least 45 minutes off next year. Now on to the pictures.

Our accomodations for the night.

This was the most comfortable swing ever.

Brian's secret weapon for the race : )

Brian on the internet and Rick reading it.

Our cozy beds in the heated portion of the cabin.

"The Mangan"

The doublemint Brown Bears : )

One last picture off of the Chequamegon race site. It is the best picture to date of "The Mangan". Click here for a full screen shot of terror : ) There's evidence of Rick's bushwhacking skills as well. Outstanding Rick!

2007-08-31T19:40:00.000-05:00

Afton and the "bike fund"

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I'm just cutting back because I know that I'll have a bunch of winter/pugsley posts coming up soon : ) I can't wait for the snow to start flying. Speaking of which I better get registered for the Arrowhead. Registration is open so come one come all to the greatest race on Earth! Greatest that I've had the priveledge to participate in at least : )

Well I survived the 24 Hours of Afton. Only one crash, that wasn't too bad, and some numb thumbs. Try saying that 5 times really fast : ) The course this year was the best ever in my opinion. It just seemed to flow a lot better than previous editions. Still lots of climbing though. You're either climbing or flying down a rocky, rooty descent. Fun stuff. Anyway, I finished the race with 11 laps. I'm not sure exactly what place I got yet. Waiting for the results to get posted. I was in 11th place around the time of the finish, but I'm not sure if anyone went out for another lap or not. I don't think I was any lower than 15th if that's the case. Very happy with that result. Leaves a better feeling than 24-9 did that's for sure. The race went well for all Brown Bears. Trent surpassed his all time record for laps at Afton with 7, and Brian had 8 "just taking it easy" laps : ) Great job guys! A BIG thanks to our solo support crew of Tonia and Mario! Tonia is the best solo supporter around! It was nice to see Dick and Alane again too. There are some nice pictures that Alane took on the TBB blog. Thanks Alane! Here are a few more pictures from Trent and Tonia. As well as a couple I took. Enjoy.

Number 838 for the 8000 this year.

The VeloPlush saddle is the new must have Selle Italia : ) Very comfortable. Thanks again Rick! The new Anti-Monkey Butt powder sticker is a nice touch as well.

The best pit crew at Afton, "Sleepy Sally" and myself : ) I gotta get one of those winter jackets that Tonia has on.

Mario doing his best "Snoop Dogg" impression.

The number one 24 solo race tip - Sleep while eating : )

Brian was getting delerious in the middle of the night. He took off all his clothes to "cool down". Yeah right. He just wanted to show off those sweet thigh tan lines : )

Trent was enjoying the show! You never know what you'll get to see at the Team Brown Bear pit area.

They were both all smiles the next morning : )

As for the "Bike Fund" reference at the beginning of this post.... It has been replaced with something much much better : ) Look below!

2007-08-01T18:42:00.000-05:00

24/9 weekend

Last weekend was a lot of fun even though the race didn't go as well as I had wanted. Kind of makes me want to push it at Afton in a couple weeks : ) We'll see what happens. That is one brutal course. Talk some sense into me Brian and Trent.

Some highlights of the race were: Seeing fellow bloggers, laughing so hard on Friday night that I got a painful case of the hiccups, watching Paddy crash an expensive looking off-road version of a Segway into a fence, breaking my seat completely off the rails and finding out that compulsive over-packer Rick had indeed packed a spare, getting cramps in both the backs of my legs and stomach at the same time, listening to Dallas and Endurosnob puke their guts out, getting lapped by Eatough 4 times in seven laps, and many more that I can't think of right now.

That's what's most fun about these races. It's not just about riding your bike, but all the friends and memories that are made. Awww : )

Here are a few pictures from the weekend. Enjoy.

Lemans start. I took it easy on the run this year. Definitely felt better to start slow.

Even Rick couldn't resist running : )

Trent getting going on his first lap.

Some of the Brown Bears between laps. From left to right: Brian, myself and Rick.

Jen and I went to Madison after the race and stayed the night with Brian and Heather. We went and toured the capitol building and the Trek factory on Monday. Thanks for the tour and putting us up for the night Brian and Heather! It was fun!

My little mouse of a wife. She loves her cheese : )

We stopped in a little gift shop on State Street in Madison and found this cool little jar. I think it's a sign that I need a new bike for next year : )

2007-08-01T14:46:00.000-05:00

I'm here. Just been busy unpacking and at work. I'll get some pictures of the race up later today. Until then Brian pretty much summed up the weekend for me. Later.

2007-07-15T12:44:00.000-05:00

Maplelag Mayhem

Trent and I went out to Maplelag this morning only to be skunked by the formitable deer fly. About halfway through our first lap we were being eaten alive by deer flies and mosquitos. It wasn't too bad when we were on the ski trails, but in the singletrack, of which there is plenty, it was unbearable. Speaking of bears. It was like that old cartoon where the bear goes looking for honey and a swarm of bees attack and chase him through the woods until he jumps in a lake and uses a straw to breathe under water. Yeah, it was just like that except instead of bees it was deer flys. On our way out of the woods, on the ski trails, Trent said he could see a cloud of them behind me. Like they were drafting off me. It was crazy. So we went and found a nice gravel road just outside of Maplelag to put some miles on. That made up for the misery in the woods. Overall a good time was had by all. Here are a couple pictures.

Trent tried to get a picture of the chasing swarm, but all that showed up in the picture were a couple deer flies biting my right butt cheek.

Trent passing me on his cush ride.

There he goes, never to be seen again : )

My artsy shot of the ride.

2007-07-08T12:29:00.000-05:00

Rick and I went out to Turtle River yesterday for some Nine Mile training. Rick brought his 98 Gary Fisher Kaitai. A very sweet bicycle. I have dibs on it when you decide to retire it Rick : ) Anyway we did three laps in the 90+ heat with the heat index at 106F. Very sticky. Rick got the Kaitai dialed in and ready to rock at Nine Mile. Watch out Trent : ) Here's a picture tribute to the bikes and riders of old : ) Enjoy.

2007-07-05T12:25:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a good Fourth of July. I know I did. I ran the 10k race up in Grand Forks in the morning. At a blistering pace of 56:15 : ) 61st out of 88. Not too bad for zero running in months. I think the guy who won did it in 33 minutes. That'll give you some perspective as to how slow of a runner I am. Anyway, I just wanted to finish something this year. Mission accomplished. Had some good burgers and beans in the afternoon and watched the fireworks go off as a rain storm rolled into town. Crazy stuff. Here are a couple of fireworks pictures I tried to capture. I especially like the last one. Happy fifth of July!

2007-07-01T18:10:00.000-05:00

Fun ride with Trent up at Turtle River State Park yesterday. The new jerseys were snug, but I think that made us faster : ) Less than a month until Nine Mile. Here are a couple TBB pictures.

2007-06-25T15:24:00.000-05:00

Went out for a leisurely Sunday road ride yesterday. I figured I'd work on my heat tolerance so I headed out for Grand Forks at 1:00pm. It was hovering at or above 90 the entire time. I had a nice tail wind. Which was good and bad. Good that it helped push me along. Bad that I was going about as fast as the wind so I was in dead air most of the time. My shorts were all white with salt when I reached GF three and a half hours later. A 23mph average for the 78 mile ride. Not too shabby considering 25 minutes of that was dealing with traffic in Fargo. I went through four 24 oz bottles(two water with Elete and two with Enervit straight outta Canada), a 70 oz camelback of plain old water and two GU's. Training is coming along just right for 24 hours of Nine Mile in July. It would be nice to not DNF at a race this year : )

Team Brown Bear was sporting the new jerseys this weekend. Brian and Brooks at an Omnium in Wisconsin, Heather at a Olympic distance Tri and the Mangan girls at the Nature Valley Grand Prix. You can see pictures and stories on Brian and Brooks' blogs and here is a few of the Mangan cubs : )

Getting the legs ready for the big race!

Gots to stay hydrated : )

All smiles before the race.

Bigger smiles after the race and big medals to match. Great job girls!

While writing this post the mailman knocked and had a box full of Brown Bear jerseys! They look fantastic! I think I'll go for a ride in one now. Thanks Brooks. Later.

2007-06-15T13:49:00.001-05:00

Not much new here. Felt pretty good this week considering the long ride last weekend. If anyone hasn't read Charlie's race recap. You should. It is very entertaining! Time to start focusing/training for the next race. 24 Hours of Nine Mile at the end of July. Hopefully it isn't as hot and humid as last year. No tornado warnings would be a plus as well. A big GOOD LUCK goes out to the brave souls tackling the GDR starting today. Go Dave Nice! I thought Nathan was nuts for doing the RedAss on a fixie. Dave is trying to be the first to finish the GDR on one. Ouch! Should be fun to follow those guys on the net. That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

2007-06-13T13:36:00.000-05:00

Some RedAss300 pictures courtesy of Rick Mangan. There are also some great links to race reports and pictures on the Red Ass website.

Charlie's rocket Kelly CX bike!

Nathan's rigid fixie! I still can't imagine doing this event on that. Great job Nathan!

My trusty Poprad. I wish I was more trusty : )

The U.S. hopefulls (Nathan Bartan, myself and Charlie Farrow). Notice how Charlie correctly predicted where he'd finish.

Tinker Creek checkpoint volunteers. Super nice people. Apparently the water is responsible for that rockin' red Canadian mullet! I love it : )

The most impressive single speed malitia! Great job guys!

Nathan at Tinker Creek. Anyone want to guess what he's thinking. Great effort Nathan!

Hanging out in the shade at the La Riviere checkpoint.

Dallas sucking down one of many RockStar energy drinks. The weekend before this race he had a 24 hour trail running race and this coming weekend a 100 mile trail run! Three weeks of endurance madness! You are an inspiration Dallas! See ya at Nine Mile.

2007-06-11T16:18:00.000-05:00

Half a RedAss The Red Ass 300 was a blast. At least the first half of the course was. The race started at 6:00am sharp with a easy rollout through Winnipeg headed for gravel. Everyone stayed together at first then I found myself in the lead group of five flying down the dirt roads at 30+km/hr into the wind. I stayed with those guys for about 70km then I had to let them go. That was just too fast a pace for me. I slowed way down to recover and stopped to stretch out my screaming back. Lindsay's group came down the road shortly after that, and I jumped on the back of that train until just before the first town. I took a nice 20 minute break at a gas station and ate a big sandwich and a frappacinno. Refilled my water bottles and I was off again. Not to far out of town there was a stream crossing. On the cue sheets it said "dry river ford" : ) It didn't look too bad. I saw some tire tracks riding right through it. I decided to take off my shoes and socks and carry my bike. I didn't feel like riding all day in wet shoes and socks, or worse falling in. It was only knee deep, and it felt nice and cool on the legs. I then pushed on to the first checkpoint at Tinker Creek. There I found some very friendly volunteers and Dallas Sigurdur chilling out. I filled my bottles again and loaded up on some tasty bars they were handing out. Me and Dallas took off and just as we were leaving the single speed malitia came flying by. This was a group of 6 or 7 really fast single speeders. Including Nathan Barten from Grand Forks on his fixed gear bike and Tomek, from Winnipeg, who thought it would be fun to oversleep, start 15 minutes late and chase everyone down! Very cool! Anyway, Dallas and I were off to checkpoint #2 about 90kms away. It was great riding with him. This section was along the Pembina River and there were lots of fast downhills into the Pembina Gorge. I hit almost 70km/h on one of them! Unfortunately the fun downhills meant lots of climbing out of the river valley in the heat of the day. I was doing really well until I ran out of water about a hour from the checkpoint. Dallas was kind enough to give me a few drinks of his. Thanks Dallas. We made it to the checkpoint just before 6:00pm. We were on a 24hr pace! I needed to recover and rehydrate so we headed over to a restaurant and had a tasty cheeseburger with fries and gravy. Perfect endurance nutrition : ) I had a chocolate milk and a gatorade with lots of water too. After about an hour and a half rest, and some egging on from Dallas, I headed out for checkpoint #3. There was rain on the horizon, but I didn't think it looked that bad. I started a climb out of the valley and it started to sprinkle. Then about 3 or 4km down the road the sky opened up and the wind started to howl. I was going with the wind, so it wasn't too bad but I was soaked. Then I made a turn and the wind blasted me from the side with what felt like pellets of ice. It was cold and stung. There was lightning going off all around me. Too close for comfort at times. I started to think, "I'm riding in a thunderstorm on a steel bike this can't be good". So I pulled over, threw my bike in the ditch and dove in after it. The ditch sheltered me from the wind, but I was still getting dumped on. I waited for about 15 minutes until the storm let up. Then I hopped on the bike and flew back to checkpoint #2. I was cold, soaked and muddy. My bike was a mess and wasn't shifting very well. I had 140kms to go before my next drop bag which had a change of clothes and my jacket. I decided to call it a day and leave the rest of the course for next year. This was a great race eventhough I DNF'ed. I felt strong other than when I ran out of water. I had a great time, met a bunch of nice people and got to ride my bike through some beautiful country. I'll definitely be back next year. A huge thanks to Lindsay Gauld and the folks at Olympia Cycle and Ski for putting on this beast. You guys did a great job! Also a big thanks to all the volunteers who helped out. Thank you, thank you! And last, but not least, another BIG THANK YOU to Rick Mangan for chasing us around Manitoba and taking a bunch of great pictures. I nominate Rick for Director Sportif of the year! I'll post some of those pictures later after I go through them. Until then check out the play by play and some pictures at http://www.olympiacycle.com/redassprogress.htm. Later.

2007-05-21T10:54:00.000-05:00

Sunday Maplelag Ride

Trent and I went out to Maplelag again yesterday morning. Man was it chilly. It had to be 40 degrees or colder. There was steam coming off the lake it was so cold. Eventhough it was misty and cold, the trails were in perfect condition. They are nice and buffed from the race last weekend. We only got one lap in, but it was the fastest lap of the season so far. Must have been Trent's new Top Fuel. He was flying! That is one sweet bike. I want one bad. Full suspension and I think it's lighter than my hardtail. Anyway it was a good ride and here is a few pictures I snapped. Enjoy.

Should've went for a swim. The water looked very inviting : )

One less rock to worry about.

Trent's new machine. Is that keys in his pocket, or is he that happy about the new bike : )

Absolutely flying!

2007-05-16T16:45:00.000-05:00

Ray Way

After reading about Ray-Way quilts on Dave Nice's blog, I couldn't wait to get one and try my hand at sewing. First I had to find a sewing machine. Mr. Sears helped me out there. Thanks Dave! Then I had to learn how to use it. Thanks to my mother-in-law for that. It took me about 10 hours total to finish it. I just did a little here and a little there. Not sure the exact weight yet. Just a little over a pound if I go by what it says on the Ray-Way site. I think it will be pretty warm. They claim a 40 degree rating. I'll have to test it out and see how low it'll go. Should be good for a couple bike camping trips this summer. Here are a few pictures.

2007-05-13T21:17:00.000-05:00

Went up to Grand Forks today instead of going to Maplelag for the xc race. Andy Hampsten was in town for a dedication ceremony. The city is naming the bike trail system after him. He grew up in GF then went on to be a very successful pro cyclist. There was a group road ride at 9:00am. About 30-40 poeple showed up to ride with Mr. Hampsten. It was a great ride. Started off slow through town. Then a few faster guys started to crank it up. I'm definitely not used to going that fast. It was fun though. I'm glad I went. Here's a couple pictures. Enjoy.

Sears brought the TCR out of retirement for the day : )

Terry getting an autograph. He was grinning from ear to ear : )

Some of the Ski and Bike Shop crew. Best in the biz.

The End.

2007-05-10T22:54:00.000-05:00

What do you think Brown Bears : )

2007-05-03T18:15:00.000-05:00

24 Solo

I recently received my copy of the new movie from Gripped Films, 24 Solo. They are the guys who made Off Road To Athens which is also a great movie. Today I finally sat down and watched it. What an awesome show. It follows Chris Eatough through last season up until the 24 World Championships. I remember them filming at the 24 Hour Nationals last year in Wausau, WI. I thought they would show more of that footage considering the weather that rolled through there during the race. Most of the movie focuses on the World Championships in Georgia. The story that unfolds there is unbelievable. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so get yourself a copy of this film at www.24-solo.com, or if your in the area I'll borrow you mine. Well worth the money in my opinion. Two thumbs way up! I can't wait for Nine Mile : )

2007-04-30T14:11:00.000-05:00

Sunday Maplelag Ride

Trent "Lumberjack" Litchy and I went out to Maplelag Resort yesterday morning. What a great ride. The trails were in perfect shape. They are all marked and blown off for the UCI race on May 12th and 13th. The temps were close to the 80's with a slight breeze, sunny and there were no bugs. Just a beautiful morning. We did two laps of the expert course. Trent cleaned all of the lakeside drops for the first time ever. He was very excited about that. Way to go Trent! After cleaning all the drops he let his guard down on a small log bridge for just a split second. Next thing you know, over the bars trying to chop logs with his head. Luckily he was just fine. Nothing hurt except his helmet that totally saved his noggin. I ended up taking the Pugsley out there since I'm having my fork on the 8000 serviced right now. I ran about 20psi in the Endomorphs and had little trouble with the rocks and roots on the course. Although with that low of pressure it wanted to track in a straight line and took some effort to turn in the tight corners. I think it would be a great choice if the course is slick and muddy. Tons of traction for a small weight penalty. I did miss having a shock though. The rigid fork gave me a few blisters even with the bouncy tires. Overall we had an excellent time, and can't wait to get back out there. If you haven't been to Maplelag yet you are seriously missing out on the best singletrack in the area. There's a link to the right in the cycling links section. Check it out. In the mean time here are a few pictures and a video of "Lumberjack" Litchy mastering the lake side drops. Enjoy.

I thought I saw Papa Smurf chasing Smurfette through these flowers : )

Smurf pictures from www.bluebuddies.com

2007-04-23T12:18:00.000-05:00

I stopped in the Ski and Bike Shop on Saturday afternoon. Man were they busy. Way to go guys and gals. Chuck Linder was even there. Hi Chuck. Luckily Dave Sears found the time to install a pair of fenders and a second layer of bar tape on the Poprad. Fenders for commuting in the rain, and more bar tape for those long gravel grinders this summer. He did a really nice job on the tape. I'm trying out some of Salsa's Goma tape in a loud orange color. It seems more durable than regular gel tape. As for the fenders I took Kent Peterson's advice on getting the Planet Bike Cascadia fenders. They really cover the wheel. I should be streak free for sure. At least on the outside of my shorts : ) Thanks to PW for getting me those parts and Thanks again to Dave for going above and beyond, as usual. Here's a few pictures of the Poprad. Jen calls it the "Ernie Bike". Enjoy.

2007-04-10T13:54:00.000-05:00

Our family has doubled in size over the weekend. Say hello to Jax and Jersey. Jax is the striped boy and Jersey is the black and white girl.

2007-04-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

Climbing Songs My blogging and biking have been non-exsistent lately. Earlier this week we got over six inches of snow and it's turned cold again. I think I'll take this year off of the bike if this keeps up. Don't get me wrong. I like the snow and cold, but everything has it's place. I want summer to get here fast. Big game for the Sioux hockey team tonight at the Frozen Four. Brian will be there. Hopefully he can give a rink side perspective of their win tomorrow. Go Sioux! The Fat Cyclist and Dave Nice recently posted about their favorite climbing tunes. Here's a few of mine. Not that there is any climbing in the eastern part of North Dakota. Unless you count highway overpasses : ) I like to think of these as hard interval songs. Enjoy. - Defy You / The Offspring - No Breaks / The Offspring - Move Along / All American Rejects - Down With the Sickness / Disturbed - Can't Stop / Red Hot Chili Peppers - One / Metallica - The Road / Tenacious D - Danger Zone / Kenny Loggins (this one's for Greg aka-TopGun) - Jesus Built My Hotrod / Ministry Anyone else want to post theirs. Think of this as another game of tag. If your reading this. Your it.

2007-03-27T20:34:00.000-05:00

I went on a two hour bike ride today followed by a mile jog. I felt pretty good. Still a long way to go though. It felt good to get outside in the sun and get the blood pumping. So good that when I got back I decided to play bike mechanic and cut up my handlebars. On the Poprad whenever I stand to go faster I end up hitting my knees on the ends of the drops. I hardly ever use that hand position. So I cut off the bar tape, gel pads and 1.75 inches of aluminum. I made a valiant attempt to rewrap the bars afterwards, but I'll need to get one of the nice guys at the ski and bike shop to do a proper wrap job. As well as add a second layer of bar tape. Here are a few pictures of my hack job. No pun intended : )

Pre-hacked bars. I think that is blood from my knee on the bar end plug.

Bars minus tape and gel pads.

I went to the hardware store and got this sweet pipe cutter for the low price of $6.95

The cutter worked great. I cleaned up the rough edges with some emery cloth.

One of these drops is not like the other.

All done. I think they turned out pretty good. I'll have to test ride them tomorrow.

2007-03-22T13:32:00.000-05:00

Jogging "Oop... I almost forgot. I won't be able to make it, fellas. Veronica and I trying this new fad called, uh, jogging. I believe it's 'jogging' or 'yogging.' it might be a soft j. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild." - Ron Burgundy (Anchorman) I tried jogging today as well. It went pretty good. I'm back on the road to becoming physically fit : ) Later. I also see that my check for the Chequamegon 40 got cashed today. You know what that means. We're in!

2007-03-18T21:33:00.000-05:00

300

I went and saw the movie "300" this weekend. What a great show. One of the opening scenes is how I imagine an encounter with a wolf would be on the Arrowhead Trail. At least that's what I was thinking when I saw it. Watch out you blood thirsty canines at next year's Arrowhead 135 : ) I knew I could fit in something cycling related into this post. I highly recommend it to any movie fan. Great special effects. Great characters. And it even has a love story. Bonus : )

I've only been on a bike once since the Arrowhead race. Starting to feel out of shape. But I'm okay with that. Almost all of the snow has melted here. So I'm sure I'll get the urge to ride soon enough. I think I'll have to start training for a trip up to Winnipeg in June : ) That's all for now.

2007-03-12T11:29:00.000-05:00

I figure it's time for a new post. I have nothing new to talk about, but I don't want to end up in Brooks' blogs of shame. I've been obsessed with trying to figure out ways to improve the Pugsley for next year's Arrowhead 135. I've got some good ideas so far. While searching MTBR for inspiration I found this picture that I thought was very post worthy. Dave Gray from Surly posted it on one of the Pugsley threads. Very cool.

2007-02-26T16:24:00.000-06:00

TBB Jerseys

The jersey design for Team Brown Bear is finally posted. I can't wait to get my hands on them. They look really furocious. Check it out. Thanks Tonia, Brian and Brooks!

2007-02-25T20:35:00.000-06:00

Red Ass 300 The registration is open for the Red Ass 300 up in Manitoba. 300 miles in 36 hours on June 9th and 10th. Anyone thinking of going? I know I am. It's so close it would be stupid not to do it. How about it GF guys? Sound off.

2007-02-13T14:43:00.000-06:00

First Podium

My first podium ever! Thanks to the cold temps at the Arrowhead last week. I won the weekly stage in the WCRS. Complete with podium girls and a yellow jersey. Thanks Gary. You are a very talented photo shopper. Those poor girls froze their lips off : )

Also I wanted to answer Dave Byers question as to what I would change for next year, if anything.

I need to get my clothing dialed in a little better. What I wore this year definitely kept me warm, but maybe too warm. There is a fine line there somewhere that I need to find.

I want to come up with a better packing system other than a backpack. The pack held in too much heat and it just wore on my shoulder and back muscles after a few hours. Also, trying to mess with buckles and zippers in the cold is no fun. I want to find something simpler that I can get into with big mitts on if I have to. I just might buy an old sewing machine and mess with making my own bags or have my wonderful mother-in-law sew me up some : )

More water carrying capacity. Two liters just wasn't enough in that cold. Also, I really like the idea of a small thermos with hot coffee or soup inside. I think it would be worth the weight if it's that cold again next year.

Other than that I just need to try and lighten everything up even more. Maybe a Salsaesque drill job on the Large Marges. Along with an Evingson or Surly non-offset fork and front hub.

Any other ideas out there?

2007-02-09T23:03:00.000-06:00

Arrowhead 135

The rest of the story

After the first 14 miles section, which was totally flat. There was about a 20 mile stretch to the Gateway Store that had a few rolling hills. After about five miles I decided that I was too hot, and took off my down jacket. I was cold at first, but once I started moving again I felt just right. Definitely won't be wearing my down jacket unless I'm standing still and it's an emergency situation next year. The sweat on my windproof jacket froze solid. It melted and evaporated after a few miles though.

This is about the point that I started riding with Chris Finch. We had the same pace and it was good to have someone to push me a little bit. About 5 miles before we got to the Gateway store there was a plane flying over head. Dave Gray's Dad and Uncle said they were going to be out taking pictures in a plane at the pre-race meeting. They also said that if anyone mooned them they give em $50. I'll do pretty much anything for money, and this was no exception. They circled back a couple times, and finally got really close on the last pass. I loosened my tights and down they went. I'm still waiting for my $50 guys : ) Maybe Pierre will post that picture on the Arrowhead blog. After I got all my layers back where they belonged we pressed on to the Gateway Store. We pulled in and went inside to get some hot food. They had wild rice soup and sloppy joes. As well as anything you could ever want out in the middle of nowhere. We ate, drank, warmed up and dried out our clothes a little bit. After an hour or so we got back on our bikes and headed down the trail to MelGeorge's resort about 40 miles away. Pat, Jim and Matt Maxwell all passed the store. They figured they could make it to the resort with what they had.

The first 10 or so miles were fast. The trail was packed really well and frozen solid. Then it started to deteriorate the further we got. We stopped about every 20-30 minutes to eat and drink. The sun went down and the cold settled in once again. We stopped at one of the shelters along the trail for a break and checked the map. We figured we had about 15 miles to go. We later found out we were way off, and had 25 miles to go to the resort. We came up on Pat and Jim. They were on the side of the trail taking a break. We stopped and did the same, asking them how they were feeling and how their bikes were doing. They had another flat earlier. What bad luck. Chris and I kept going and left them behind. Then we came upon Matt Maxwell. He was walking and looked pretty beat. He said he had lost all energy and was walking a bit to rest. At this point I figured we had to be getting close. I picked up the pace a little and left Chris and Matt behind. The trail just kept going and going. I thought the lake where MelGeorge's is on would be around the next corner or the next or over that hill. Nope. Just more of the Arrowhead. I started to lose energy and started to get colder and colder. I imagine this is what Matt was feeling earlier. I started walking more and riding less. I came upon a couple riders on the side of the trail. One was in a bivy sack and the other was PJ Ramstack. I said hi and kept going. Then I passed Don Gabrielson. He told me that the guy in the bivy sack was in rough shape and really cold. He told me if I got to the cabin before him to send out the snowmobiles for him. So, I took off and tried to go as fast as I could. I just had no energy at this point and had to start walking. I heard a couple snowmobiles coming up the trail and waved them down. They were the rescue team for the race. I told them what Don had told me and asked how much further to the checkpoint. They said about 4.5 miles. That was a real downer since I had been thinking I was sooo close for over an hour already. They tore off to get the guy in the bivy sack, and I kept pushing my bike. I was getting really cold now and figured I better get my down coat on again. I couldn't get the buckles on my pack to work so I took off my gloves. That was a BIG mistake. I got my coat on, but my hands were so cold I couldn't bend my fingers to pull my gloves on. I pulled my hands inside my sleeves and started to run up and down the trail trying to get them to warm up. After a few minutes of this they were still cold, but PJ and Don were coming down the trail just then. I asked PJ if he could get me a chemical hand warmer pack out of my bag. He did and that did the trick. My hands finally were warm again. Thanks PJ! They went ahead and I kept walking. Eventually I made it to the lake. After you get to the lake you have to ride about a mile across it to MelGeorge's. That was the longest mile of the race. I finally made it to the resort at 11:00pm and went to the cabin to check in. Then I went to the restaurant and had a tasty burger. Matt and Jim were already there. They had gotten picked up by the snowmobiles and just left their bikes out on the trail. Pat stayed out there and made it to the checkpoint around 3:00am. We were pretty worried about him since was alone and hadn't stopped at the Gateway Store earlier. But, he made it and we were sooo glad to see him. It got down to -32 that night. Very cold. Brrrrr. Pat and I were still officially in the race. We went to bed, but decided to call it quits in the morning. My knees were swollen, and I really didn't want to lose any fingers or toes out there. I don't regret my decision one bit. Especially after seeing Pierre come in off the lake in the morning and hearing that he had some pretty serious frostbite on his feet. That's all for my race report. If anyone has any questions, fire away. Until then enjoy the great pictures that Rick took at the Gateway store and MelGeorge's Resort.

Charlie Farrow smiling as usual : ) Charlie ended up in sixth place overall. Even with five flats!

Don Gabrielson coming into the Gateway Store.

Frosty beard. I think this is Chris from Quality?

Don Gabrielson and PJ Ramstack.

Me getting out some money to buy that Red Ryder BB gun behind me : ) Looks like I missed a bib strap after mooning the Gray's : )

Doug posing for a picture.

Chris Finch, Josh Peterson and me enjoying that good wild rice soup. Mmmmmm!

Mr. Clif Bar himself, DJ Burns. Thanks to Clif Bar and DJ for all the goodies. I definitely used them.

Mike Bernhard, the winner of the Myrtle the Turtle award. Way to go Mike!

Chris and I heading out again towards MelGeorge's Resort.

DJ and Mike heading out too.

The steamy Bass cabin checkpoint at MelGeorge's Resort.

Some of the wonderful volunteers inside. You guys and gals are the BEST.

Joe Cahalan I think. He was the first to make it to MelGeorge's. That's quite the insulated camelbak hose.

Dave Pramann, last year's winner, trying to get the chills under control : )

I'm spent.

Chris Finch frozen in time. That picture makes me shiver.

Matt and his long lost bearded brother : ) Those burgers are the best.

Pat at 3:00am. Brrrr!

Pierre is somewhere inside all that ice and gear. Sounds like he had a long night.

Sarah Lowell not to far behind Pierre. "No pictures please" : ) Sarah would go on to become the first woman walker to finish the Arrowhead 135. Way to go!

Chris Finch all ready to go again in the morning. He ended up 8th place overall. Next stop Alaska. Great job Chris. Your one Bad Mother!

The North Dakota and Iowa contingent. From left to right: Jim, Pat, me, Rick (Director Sportif/Photographer) and Matt. It was fun guys.

What a great event. Everyone involved did a fantastic job. A big thanks to the race organizers, all the volunteers, the fine people at the Gateway Store and MelGeorge's Resort, the sponsors and anyone else I forgot. I can't wait for next year. They say the third time is a charm. Hope to see you all next year!

2007-02-08T15:39:00.000-06:00

Arrowhead 135

Race day (the first 14 mile section)

The day started off at 6:00am. The weather channel said the temperature was -28F. It would dip down to -30 before the start of the race. We got all the bikes loaded up and headed down to the start line. It was a staggered start, so you could start when you got there. I got my bike off the van and checked in with the race officials. The first few pedal strokes it felt like my rear hub wasn't engaging. Then it finally caught and I was on my way. I'll have to get some of that Morning Star Lube that Dave Byers was talking about for next year. I was bundled up in every piece of winter clothing I had with. Including my down jacket. I didn't think it would be possible to overheat in those temps, but I did. I took off one of my hats and the neoprene facemask I was wearing. The trail was pretty solid. In the marshy sections there were some good bumps. The first 14 mile section was uneventful for me, but Pat had a flat about five miles in. I couldn't imagine having to change a flat at -30F. That had to have been miserable. Our director sportif, Rick Mangan, was waiting at the end of the first section taking some pictures. I wish I would have taken some pictures out on the trail, but there was no way I was going to dig for my camera and stop in that cold. Here they are.

That's me. The only way I can tell is those big honkin yellow boots : ) Man did they work great. My feet stayed warm for most of the race. Only when I had to walk for most of the last five miles did they start to get cold. But they still weren't nearly as cold as they could've been.

Here's Chris Finch. He's one "Bad Mother F**ker". At least that's what the little bear on his handlebars said. Chris and I rode most of the trail to MelGeorge's Resort together after this point. Chris ended up finishing the entire 135 miles again this year. I think the bear says it all : )

Here's Doug, the MN Bicycle Commuter. His jacket matches his Pugsley. Very nice jacket and an even nicer guy. Great job Doug!

Josh Peterson giving the thumbs up.

Not sure who this is, but he was flying on those snowcats.

Pat and Jim rolling through after one of their three flats. Jim had a little frostbite on his nose the next day. My nose just lost a layer today. I think I had a little bit of the bite as well.

Pat White looking strong. He's got one tough face.

PJ Ramstack fueling the furnace. A BIG THANK YOU to PJ for stopping to help me out later in the race.

Jim Ishman's titanium Moots snowbike. Look at those rims! Drool. Unfortunately it was caught by this stop sign, and he had cut his race short : ) The lube in his 14 speed Rohloff rear hub freezing is what really stopped him.

John Storkamp actually running the course. He was the first walker/runner to reach MelGeorge's Resort at mile 74. He's an animal! I passed him earlier and he was selling hot lemonade : )

The Flying Frenchman Pierre. Sorry to hear that Pierre had some serious frostbite by the time he got to MelGeorge's. Get better Pierre.

Scott Wagner taking a drink. Those sun rays make it look warm. Don't let them fool you. The high only got up to -6F.

The rest of the race tomorrow. Too many pictures for one post.

2007-02-07T13:33:00.000-06:00

Arrowhead 135

Sunday

The day started bright and early at 3:00am. I drove up to Grand Forks to meet up with fellow Arrowheaders Pat White and Jim Grijalva, and our Director Sportif, Rick Mangan. We got all loaded up and headed off to International Falls, MN for the 9:00am gear check.

The Team Brown Bear Global Cooling Project sticker was already working : )

We headed into the hotel and found race organizers, Pierre and Cheryl Ostor. As well as the dreaded "gear nazi" Don Clark : ) Pat and Jim were pretty nervous about going through the gear check. I kept telling them that Don doesn't bite : ) He's just there to make sure we're all safe. We all passed the gear check with no problems. The rest of the morning was spent checking out all the cool bikes and gear that everyone had until the pre-race meeting. Lots of great ideas for next year.

After the meeting we checked into our room and started to get our bikes all packed up for the morning.

That's all for today. I'll recap the race tomorrow.

2007-02-06T21:42:00.000-06:00

Short Report I'm home and I still have all my apendages. Jim and Pat also made it home okay in case anyone is wondering. I'll post a detailed report tomorrow with pictures and videos. Until then here's the short story. Doug also has a great write up already if you need your blogging fix. Way to go Doug! Very cold race. -30F normal temperature and -45F wind chill on the weather channel when we left for the start. I made it to the checkpoint at mile 74 at 11:00pm. Pat White made it as well at 3:00am. Jim Grjalva almost made the check point, but came up 8 miles short when he was picked up by a snowmobile. Great job guys! More tomorrow when I'm rested.

2007-02-01T19:41:00.000-06:00

Last minute details

The Arrowhead is almost here. Just getting all the cold weather gear I own together and stocking up on chemical warmers. With lows forecast from -20 to -30. I will need all of it and then some. I decided to add a layer of insulation to the Lake winter boots I have. I went to the local Fleet Farm and bought a pair of size 15 felt boot liners. I got them big enough so that I could put them over the boots and cut holes in the bottom for the cleats. Then I put the Salomon XC boot covers over them. They turned out pretty nice. They clip in and out of the pedals just fine, but rub a little bit on the cranks. I need to take them out for a couple test rides before next week to make sure they will work alright. I took a couple pictures below. I also put on the new Team Brown Bear sticker I got from Brooks. Very nice. Thanks Brooks! I'll try and post again before I leave Sunday. Here are the pictures.

2007-01-27T21:52:00.000-06:00

10 day forecast for International Falls, MN

Check out this forecast for the next ten days up at the Icebox. Here's the link since blogger won't let me hyperlink it.

http://weather.msn.com/tenday.aspx?wealocations=wc:USMN0698

Looks like the start line will be a cold one again this year. -25! Ouch. I can't wait : )
Edit: The low is now listed at -42! This could get interesting : )

It could be worse. Here's a picture from one of the sponsors : )

2007-01-23T22:56:00.000-06:00

Pictures for Gary

There you go Gary. The last picture I took just for you : ) And here is a little winter biking hill repeat video for ya : ) Enjoy.

2007-01-14T19:11:00.000-06:00

Cold Pics

Here's a couple pictures from last nights ride.

All dressed up to do battle with the cold : )

Here's Rick lit up like a Christmas tree. Definitely safer than my setup.

A blurry one of my piddly lights.

A quick drink of a tasty beverage.

Starting to get a little colder out.

Warming up with a hot cup of coffee and a Campmor catalog : )

The bikes patiently waiting outside in the cold.

Thanks for the great ride Rick. Let's do it again soon. Good night.

Edit-after greg and brooks comments, I realized that I forgot the best picture from last night. How did they know about the pirate and ninja swords at the truck stop? : ) Here it is!

2007-01-14T13:25:00.000-06:00

-30 wind chill The budget biker and I went for a little ride up in GF last night. -30 wind chill was quite a slap in the face : ) Three hours and 45 minutes worth. Minus a 15 minute hot chocolate break at the truck stop. That is 3.5 hrs x 100pts=350 WCRS pts. I'll post some pictures later tonight. Stay tuned.

2007-01-11T16:30:00.000-06:00

WCRS Ride

Went out for a great Arrowhead training ride today. Two hours in the -20F wind chill. That will more than double my WCRS points so far. 180 pts to be exact. I took the pugsley for a tour of the icy and snowy bike trails of Fargo. I found an extra icy spot with my shoulder. Didn't see it until I was down on the ground. Good thing I had my helmet on. I smacked my head pretty good. Hard enough to crack the styrofoam core. It looks like winter is finally here to stay. Highs are supposed to be in the negative numbers this weekend. I'm really excited about that! Time to start chasing all you other WCRS riders : ) Here's a couple pictures.

This was the only spot where the wind wasn't blowing.

Frosty head.

Looks like I can put the 2300 and the trainer away : )

2007-01-10T21:07:00.000-06:00

Wedding Post

It's about time I make a post instead of just reading everyone else's. So here goes. The wedding went very smooth. No bridezilla moments or anything like that. I wasn't even nervous. The day really flew by. It's all a blur. Thankfully there were a lot of nice people taking pictures. We got a ton of great gifts that we're still finding room for. Thanks everyone for being so generous! Married life is pretty sweet. I don't have to sleep out on the deck anymore : ) Just kidding, I'll still be adding to the cold night count. I even got some titanium out of the deal : ) I couldn't have asked for a better wife. Awwww. Now here is a few pictures for all you sappy cyclists and non-cyclists out there : )

Evil kitty! Crazy eyes flash from Maxwell M. Pussycat.

2007-01-01T21:50:00.000-06:00

Red Ass 300

All you GF guys better mark your calendars for this one in June! Thanks Paddy! Who's in?

2006-12-21T20:36:00.000-06:00

Team Brown Bear Brian and Brooks are making their Team Brown Bear roster for next season. They decided that I would be worthy of riding for them. Thanks guys! I can't wait to see what the team jerseys look like. Hopefully they aren't too furry : ) Chris and Dave send some of that snow up this way!

2006-12-18T16:02:00.000-06:00

Arrowhead Recon

Rick and I headed up to International Falls on Sunday to check out the trails and do some riding. Well we ended up doing more driving around than riding. We started out at Melgeorges Resort on Elephant Lake. There was quite a bit of snow up there. I'd say a good 6-8 inches on the trails. There was a couple inches of packed snow under a layer of icy snow with 4-6 more inches of fluffy snow on top of all that. There weren't any snowmobile tracks and the trails haven't been groomed yet. So, that meant they were pretty much unrideable except going downhill. On any incline we'd just spin out on the icy layer of snow. We pushed up a really long hill and then rode down it. Short but fun. We only lasted about an hour before we packed up the bikes and had the "Lumberjack" breakfast special at the Melgeorge restaurant. The ham that came with it was an inch thick and filled us right up. Good stuff!

We decided to go check out some other areas of the trail to see if we could find a section where snowmobiles had packed it down. We only found one trail crosssing where there was a snowmobile track. That was at the Gateway Store crossing. We quickly unpacked the bikes again and headed up the road to the trailhead. We started down the trail, but again found it unrideable. We rode back out to the road and packed up the bikes for the ride home.

Kind of disappointing, but Rick got to see how much work it can be to push a loaded bike through snow up a hill : ) And that was priceless. We had plenty of time on the drive there and back to talk about what we could change on our bikes. Most of the conversation on the ride home was about what gear we could lose or lighten up to save weight. I think everyone would be a weight weenie if they had to push a 60 pound bike up a long hill in the snow : ) Here are a few pictures of the adventure. Enjoy.

Rick at the trailhead by Melgeorges Resort.

The Pugs all loaded and ready for the Arrowhead.

Rick powering through the snow.

Rick not feeling so well after powering through the snow : )

Rick taking the Pugs for a spin down a hill. Weeeeeee.

Cooling down after a long ride : )

A picture in the Melgeorge Restaurant in tribute to Mrs. Paddy : )

2006-12-14T22:29:00.000-06:00

Tagged Well I've been "tagged" by Paul. So now I must tell you six things that most people don't know about me. Here goes nothing. 1. I sleep walk sometimes. This really makes Jen nervous when I sleep out on our third floor balcony : ) 2. Like Kerkove, I don't drink alcohol. Sorry Mr. Nice and all you Guiness conisuers : ) 3. Brian gave me the cycling nickname "Vino". After Alexander Vinokourov. I guess I kind of look like him, and I like to try and make big breakaways on our group rides. Notice I said "try" : ) 4. I was a wrestler in high school. Not the WWF kind, but the "I don't wear tights. I wear the required uniform" kind. 5. My favorite movie is "Joe vs. The Volcano" with Tom Hanks. "Lone Wolf McQuade" is a close second though. 6. I'm getting married in two weeks to the bestest girl in all the land : ) Hi Jen That's all your getting out of me. Now I tag all the ND bloggers. Sound off Brian, Greg, Fox, Brooks, Lane, Dr. Dingle, Budget and Sears.

2006-12-11T18:17:00.000-06:00

Pugs Update

Well I dropped off the Pugs at The Ski and Bike Shop Saturday afternoon to get some parts put on. To my delight Sears had everything done by the close of business on Sunday. He did an awesome job. Top notch I tell ya. Just check out the pictures below. I was sooooooooooo excited to be able to have it back so that I can start scoring some points in the WCRS. I promise to start riding again this week Gary : )

This morning I was going to go and take some pictures of the Pugs to post, but my camera wouldn't turn on. I thought that I might have left it on and run down the battery, so I put it on the charger to see if that fixed the problem. It didn't. So, I took it too Best Buy, where I had bought it, to see what they could do for me. At first the service guy looked at it and checked it out with his gadgets. Then he said to just go and pick out a new one to replace this one. I thought that was pretty cool. So, I went to the camera department to get another one. I told the sales person what had happened and he said that he could give me a comparable camera that was about $200 dollars less than what I had paid for the original camera. I said no thanks, and told him that was a pretty sh**ty deal. He said that this new camera was better than my old one, and that they don't have one like my old one. I still told him that wasn't good enough. I had spent a lot of money on my other camera only 6 months ago, and now he was going to give me a cheaper camera. I don't think so. So, he went and talked to someone in back, and they said that I could pick out any camera that I wanted that was equal to what I had originally paid for the first camera. That seemed fair. I picked out this one, and was on my way. Long story, but I had to vent. Here are some pictures from the new camera of the new parts on the Pugs. Enjoy.

This is the Pugs before all the new goodies were installed. Also the last picture taken with my old camera.

New center-lock rotor.

The Paul Thumbie with Dura-Ace 9-speed bar end shifter. I really like this setup. Very nice!

This deraileur has seen more action than Squez : ) Still going strong.

Mmmm, gears. 9-speeds and a new XT hub.

New spokes and brass nipples for Marge.

Full length housing with a little Sears Rasta flare on the zip ties. It is very Festivus!

Thanks again Sears and SBS!

2006-12-07T15:02:00.000-06:00

Cold Night #3

Slept out again last night. Made it down to -8F. I added my down jacket over the lower portion of sleeping bag inside the bivy for some extra warmth. I also wore a Patagonia R2 fleece and my wind pants over a mid-weight base layer. This system is the warmest so far. I fell right asleep and didn't wake up at all from the cold. Very cozy. I feel very confident that I can bivy out overnight in almost any conditions now.

Also, I got most of the parts that I ordered for the Pugsley. Just waiting on the Paul Thumbies. Now I just need to have the new XT hub laced into the rear wheel, and the 9-speed shifter and deraileur installed. Then the Pugs will be ready for the WCRS. Watch out Dr. Cale : ) The good guys at SBS will be doing the dirty work for me. Hopefully I'll have it back in time for the trip up to the Arrowhead Trail on the 16th. Think snow! That's all for today. Here's some pictures to spice things up a bit.

Sleeping bag and pad inside of bivy sack.

Me inside of bivy sack.

A view from inside the bivy sack. That is my down jacket at the bottom of the bag.

All the goodies that will soon be consumed by the Pugsley.

The poor 8000 has lost something.

2006-12-03T14:45:00.000-06:00

Second Gear Test Did another sleeping gear test last night up in good old Grand Forks. A little colder last night than earlier this week. It got down to -3 degrees F with a 15 mph wind. I lasted until 4:30am when the cold started to creep into my bag with me. I used my Bibler Bipod Bivy this time. It definitely helped to keep the wind off of me and add a little bit of warmth. I slept very well. I really felt comfortable for the first time. I didn't have any of the claustrophobic panic attacks that send me clawing for the zippers in the middle of the night. I think that I will continue to try and get more comfortable by sleeping outside whenever the forecast calls for temps below 0 degrees F. We'll see how many nights I can get this winter : ) Cold Night Count: 2

2006-11-30T14:22:00.000-06:00

Gear Test Well after reading that Chris was going to test out his sleeping gear last night. I too decided to brave the cold. I plopped down my Thermarest Prolite 4 sleeping pad and Northface Tundra -20 sleeping bag on the deck and climbed in for a good nights sleep. I just wore minimal clothing. A long sleeve midweight polypro top, a pair of sweatpants (real quality technical wear), a pair of expedition weight Smartwool socks and a Patagonia beanie. The temperature only made it down to 4 degrees F, so I was plenty warm. I slept until 3:30am when I got up to go to the bathroom. After going inside I decided that I had enough for one night and layed down in my cozy bed. Overall a good way to start off the winter gear testing. Now I need to get out and test it in real world conditions. Rick and I are still planning on going up to the Arrowhead Trail the 3rd weekend in December. That should be a better test under "race conditions". If anyone else wants to come along that weekend I think we'll have room. How about it pw? That's all for today. Later.

2006-11-29T14:32:00.000-06:00

More snowbike stuff Has anyone seen this setup before? Looks like it would be a lot of fun. Talk about good traction. With a four inch Endomorph tire you get a good 4x4 patch of contact or better. With a track system I bet you get a foot or more in length and a couple inches in width of contact. The ski seems a little scary though. Hit an icy spot on the trail and I would think that would scoot right out from under you. $400 for the rear track kit and $140 for the ski kit. That's pretty cheap compared to what it costs for a Large Marge wheelset. I'm tempted to try the rear track kit out next winter unless Ktrak would like to sponsor me for the Arrowhead 135 this year : ) Today I ordered up a 9-speed XT hub and a 9-speed bar end shifter. Now I just need to get a Paul Components thumbie adapter and the Pugs will be ready for anything. Don't worry all you single speed fans out there. I'll still have the 20t freewheel on the front. I hope the SBS can fit me into their busy winter schedule : ) Here's a good article that I saw on the Alaska MTBR forum. At the end there is talk of making a carbon fiber snow rim. Very interesting stuff. I think I'll go for a ride now. I got some catching up to do in the Winter Challenge Ride Series. Later.

2006-11-23T10:56:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-20T12:04:00.000-06:00

Here is a mandatory gear list of what I have for the Arrowhead 135. Definitely could be improved, but a good start. I'll try and get a recommended gear list up soon as well. That is the list of equipment that you use to make up the rest of the 15 lb minimum.

Mandatory Gear List (15 lbs at ALL times) -20 Sleeping Bag – The North Face Tundra Polarguard Delta Regular Length 3 lbs 15 oz Insulated Sleeping Pad – Therm-a-Rest Prolite 4 Regular 1 lb 8 oz Bivy Sack or Tent (NO space blankets) – Bibler Bipod Bivy 1 lb 13 oz Firestarter (Matches or Lighter) – Coghlan’s Windproof/Waterproof Matches 0.25 oz Stove to heat water – MSR Whisperlite International Stove 14 oz 8 fl oz of Fuel at all times – MSR 11 oz Fuel Bottle filled with White Gas 2.7 oz bottle / 11 oz white gas Pot (min volume 1 pint) – Snow Peak Titanium Folding Cup (Holds 21.2 oz) 2.8 oz 2-qt insulated water container – 2 Nalgene Lexan 1 qt Water Bottles 6.4 oz each empty - 2 Outdoor Research Water Bottle Parkas 5 oz each Headlamp or Flashlight – Cateye HL-EL410 Compact Opticube 2.6 oz including batteries Flashing red light (both front and back) – 2 Knog Frog red LED lights 0.7 oz each including batteries Whistle on string around neck – Coghlan’s Survivo II 5-in-1 1 oz 1-day of food at ALL times (3000 calories) – 1 lb of butter 1 lb Total Weight = 12.07 lbs

2006-11-18T19:24:00.000-06:00

Lightening the load After reading Chris P's blog, and seeing what a weight watcher he is, I started to look at my gear to see where I could lose some weight. There's a backpack that he uses that I thought was a good place to start. Only 10 ounces, and cost just 25 bucks. Thanks Chris. I still have to do some testing to see how much I can carry in it. I'm striving to be the anti-Rick, and be a minimalist when packing for a long ride : ) I also have been searching the net for a lighter stove set-up. I remember Cellerat building one not too long ago out of a beer bottle. What kind of fuel did that use Dave? Anyone have experience with Esbit-style stoves? I found a couple of them on Backpackinglight.com. Very light weight and this one even makes good use out of a beer can as a pot. Might be worth trying. There is a bunch of good info on this site. It appeals to my weight weenie side. Any other good advice on stoves or fuel that you guys might have would be greatly appreciated. I also found a super light weight bivy sack that only weighs 6.5 oz! Might be a little too light weight for winter use though. I might have trouble getting up to the minimum 15lbs. of gear for Arrowhead this year : ) Speaking of Arrowhead. Rick and I have been talking about maybe pre-riding portions of the Arrowhead Trail in early December. Anyone else interested in something like that? That's all for now. Good luck to Team Brown Bear at the Wisconsin CX State Championships. As much as I hate it. I'll be wearing my TBB t-shirt in support tomorrow : )

2006-11-10T18:26:00.000-06:00

Arrowhead Ultra 2007 I'm already getting excited for the Arrowhead 135 in February. Last year's DNF is a real motivator to get training this winter. Looks like there is going to be quite a few more runners this year. Still 14 spots left for anyone that wants to do a great race to start off the 2007 season. I was doing some research on vapor barriers for winter riding. Looks like a bunch of the top guys in the Alaska races use them with great success. RBH designs looks to be the top choice, but might be kind of spendy. There are some great stories in the expeditions section of their website. Stephenson's Warmlite is another company that looks good, and their prices are cheaper. There's a good section on how vapor barriers work. Lots of nude camping going on with that company. Check out the PDF version of their catalog. Very funny stuff. I think I'm going to order some socks and see how they work once it cools down here. Looks like you guys futher east and south got some snow to play in. Lets see some pictures of bikes in the snow : ) That's all for today. Have a good weekend.

2006-11-06T20:28:00.000-06:00

Sunday Funday! Well the Sunday ride was a great success. "Success" meaning Rick didn't die on me : ) We started at 7:00am and a 100 miles later we got back at 7:00pm. A good 12 hour LSD ride with numerous breaks and a burger stop at the Tuel Shed in Warsaw, ND. Their burger and fries seriously rival the Hub Special. The fries are definitely better. Only two dogs got close to catching us. There were countless others that were tied up or fenced in that wanted to. We stopped outside of Oslo, MN for a rest and counted 8 gunshots in the 2 minutes we we're standing there. Thankfully we stayed out of Minnesota on opening weekend. One section of B-road between Warsaw and Minto was the highlight of the course. Some good muddy pictures below. Once the roads turned south there was a slight headwind and not a whole lot to look at until we got to the Kelly Slough. Overall a fun ride. There was talk of doing a similar route once a month all winter long. So those of you who hemmed and hawed will have numerous chances to join us next time : ) Now, on to the pictures.

Rick, in full EnduroSnob Epic gear, looking back to make sure he hasn't dropped me.

Someone has tried this route before : ) and failed : ( A Huffy just doesn't cut it.

I grabbed it so Rick could put it in his backpack : )

A quick sausage muffin break in Manvel. Finger lickin' good.

The killing fields across the bridge in Oslo, MN.

Quick break before Warsaw.

They sure like their camo up north. Mossy oak stalls in the Tuel Shed bathroom in Warsaw. Kind of scary, but they sure have good burgers.

Rick putting those wide tires to use on the B-road between Warsaw and Minto.

Me trying to keep the rubber side down.

Old Blue all gummed up. Nothing a few bottles of water couldn't clean up in Minto. Rick even had a repair stand in his backpack to make the job a snap : )

Looks like this gravel was brought from Kansas. Who's doing the Dirty Kanza next year?

Rick still having fun after 80 some miles.

Sun's going down. It's going to get cool again.

Last picture of the night. A frozen Kelly Slough. Hope you liked em. Later.

2006-11-03T23:06:00.000-06:00

Sunday Opener Well it was brought to my attention that the Minnesota deer season opens this weekend. Soooo, instead of dressing up in blaze orange and dodging stray bullets I have taken out the Minnesota side of Sunday's route. I actually found a great road that runs along the Red River of the North. Should be "scenic" by Eastern North Dakota standards. The reroute only shaved off a few miles, and now we get to enjoy a great burger at The Tuel Shed in the land of the Polish - Warsaw, ND. There are also numerous bailout points for those who aren't up to an all day ride. Rick and I are in for sure, Sears is on the fence (I think he'll cave in tomorrow), Greg is interested (I think he'll cave in as well) and I'm still waiting to hear if Pw's back is up to it. I think a 7:00am start would be good. The forecast is looking pretty favorable. Am I forgetting anything else? I'll check in tomorrow to finalize the ride roster and details with everyone that has expressed interest. Leave a comment or give me a call if you have any questions or suggestions. Thanks. See you Sunday, Sunday Sunday! Here is the final draft of the route.

2006-11-01T20:37:00.000-06:00

Course Update Here is a little shorter and cleaned up version of the mini EnduroSnob. I got it under a hundred miles : ) Who's in? Greg, Sears, Barton, Brian, Pat? Anyone?

Ride Roster

Rick Mangan

Dave Simmons

Dave Sears????

Greg Ames????

2006-10-31T23:11:00.000-06:00

Mini EnduroSnob Epic Well since the EnduroSnob Epic isn't going to happen this weekend, and Matt's Tobasco ride is too far away. Rick and I came up with the idea to do a mini version on Sunday November 5th. Sorry for the short notice. I'm a spur of the moment kind of guy. This will be a real informal ride. I know Sears and Barton expressed interest last weekend. Here is a quick gravel grinder course I came up with. Be patient it might take a few seconds to open up. We can shorten or lengthen it as you guys wish : ) Plenty of towns to stop and warm-up at. I was thinking of starting pretty early in the morning. Let me know what you think. Lets hear some suggestions and opinions. The forecast is calling for a high of around 35 with light winds out of the SE. Get your cold weather gear ready. Or we could just go to TR : )

2006-10-31T16:49:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween Picture Post

Mr. Ames smiling next to an upside down tree after a quick spin around Turtle River. It's getting chilly out there. It won't be long now until there's snow on the ground.

Budget Biker's winter bike. Looks like fun : )

A fat new 2.70 tire on the front.

A hub's eye view of that wide tire.

Just enough room. I guess you have to remove the brake arm in order to get this tire in there. Nice work SBS.

2006-10-26T20:25:00.000-05:00

Random links post I'm going to attempt to link to as many other sites as possible in one post. Well it's official I signed up for the Arrowhead 135 today. Now I just have to wait and see if they accept my entry. Only 50 allowed this year and those 50 are determined by your race resume. I hope I'm worthy. As of earlier this week only 23 had registered so hopefully I'm in by default : ) I found a bike apparel company named Evomo that I ordered a T-shirt from. Here is one that expresses how I feel about Dr. Dingle's recent post. Make sure you enlarge the picture to get the whole effect. Pretty nice stuff. Not as nice as the Team Brown Bear shirts that I can't wait to see. Speaking of Team Brown Bear. Brooks is on a roll in the WCA cyclocross series. Second in points. Very impressive. Brian could be right up there if he can just toughen up a little : ) Is Lane alive? In the on going Pugsley saga. I'm set on a 9-speed rear wheel. If it's good enough for Mike Curiak, it's good enough for me. Now I just need to install a couple valves in the fork and downtube for white gas : ) Does anyone have a hub suggestion? Sounds like DT Swiss is pretty good. That's all for now. Later.

2006-10-25T11:19:00.000-05:00

Pugs II Lots of interesting ideas out there for the Pugs. I still like the idea of a 9-speed wheel in back, and a reserve single speed wheel on the front in case something goes wrong with the shifting. Although pw's Nexus idea is a close second. I'll have to research that one some more. Cellerat brought up some good questions on gear. I liked how the pogies worked last year, but I'll be experimenting with some other gloves to see if I can drop a little weight. As for the Lake boots I used last year. They worked fine up to about -5 degees. I want to try out a light pair of winter boots with a pair of Power Grips pedals. I also like the thermos idea from Curiak's Moots rig. Freezing water was a big problem last year at the Arrowhead. I could put some soup in one of them. Mmmm. There might be some fabricating going on this winter. Keep the great suggestions coming. Is anyone else seriously considering doing the Arrowhead race this year? It is a lot of fun.

2006-10-19T22:26:00.000-05:00

Pugsley Upgrade I want to upgrade the Pugsley. I don't know if it is really an upgrade or not, but there are a couple of things I want to change. First I want to either rebuild or replace the rear wheel. I want to make it into a 9x1, sorry single speeders. That means I need a new rear hub or entire wheel. As well as a rear deraileur and shifter. If a new wheel is the way to go I want to try the new extruded Large Marge XC rim from Surly. Not sure on the hub yet. For the shifter I'm thinking of a Paul Components thumbie paired with a 9-speed shimano bar end shifter. For the rear deraileur I will use the 9-speed XTR off the 8000. I also thought about going with the White Industries Dos ENO freewheel, but it doesn't come in a big enough gear. I'd need at least a 22t. Any other ideas?

2006-10-18T12:31:00.000-05:00

Cavemen are people too I always thought there was something different about Fox. A manly beard, he likes to be in the woods, sophisticated, and he writes Haiku : )

2006-10-17T12:01:00.000-05:00

Work Bench I'm looking for any advice on building a home work bench. I want to get a shop together for this winter in my garage. I know a few of you have built your own and I was wondering if you just winged it, or had plans to go off of. As many of you know I'm not very handy when it comes to tools, but I think I can handle this little project. I know there are some nice pre-built benches out there too. I would like to try it myself though. I was thinking of something I can mount a truing stand and a vice to. Any thoughts or advice before I end up like Kerkove.

2006-10-16T13:17:00.000-05:00

Titanium Bits Since I've been "domesticated". I've had plenty of time to veg-out in front of the TV. Last week I was watching ESPN and Primal Quest Utah came on. They were profiling some of the teams, and one of them was "Jen's Men". To my surprise there was a Grand Forks native on the team. It was Jason Magness, one of the guys from the climbing wall at the mall across from the Ski and Bike Shop. They interviewed him, and I have to say he's sounds like an interesting guy. I guess he used to be a rocket scientist and worked for the FBI to name a couple of the things he used to do. Now he teaches Yoga in GF. Crazy. Anyway it was entertaining seeing Jen's Men run around Utah for 500 miles. They ended up getting 24th place out of 90 teams. Very impressive. I think it would be fun to try an adventure race some day. Anyone else ever attempted or want to attempt one of these? In other news Jen and I went out and looked for wedding bands. She found one she really likes, but I couldn't find one. Then I remembered seeing some sweet titanium chainrings and cogs on the singlespeed forum at MTBR. They are made by Boone Titanium Rings and guess what they make titanium wedding bands as well. After browsing their site I found a couple I like. I might even have to get a matching chainring for the Pugsley : )

2006-10-11T18:27:00.000-05:00

First Snow

First Snow of the year today. Looks like we might get an inch or more. It'll probably melt just as fast as we get it though. I'll try and take out Pugsley for it's first snow ride this year! Here are a few pictures.

2006-10-10T21:44:00.000-05:00

I switched over to the beta blogger. So, I had to redo all my links. I think it looks better now. I will still be adding some more as I remember them. I also created a copycat blog to go along with the Team Brown Bear blog that Brooks and Brian made. It is Team Polar Bear. Enjoy.

2006-09-28T23:35:00.000-05:00

I'm Baaaack Well I made it back from the metropolis of Memphis, TN. It was quite an experience. Courier training went great. I'm glad to be done with all of that. I didn't realize that Memphis was such a big city. Lots of crime. Eight murders, numerous robberies and assults in the two weeks I was down there. A couple of the other guys that were down there for training took me to Beale St. It's a famous street in downtown Memphis that has a ton of blues clubs and restaurants along it. Very cool atmosphere. We went to BB Kings blues club. Also checked out the Rendevous restaurant for some of their famous Memphis "dry ribs". Very tasty. Thanks for recomending it PW. While walking along the blocked off street, a guy passed us followed closely by a few of Memphis' finest. They grabbed him and started to take him back the other way. He started to resist them. I've seen enough episodes of COPS to know what was coming next. They threw his arms up behind his head and took him down face first into a metal railing outside one of the clubs. Then they all piled on him with knees in his back. All the while he's screaming "I didn't do nothing". This was about 10 feet from us. We just stood there in awe. Welcome to Memphis : ) I also got to see a NHL exhibition game at the FedEx Forum. Predators vs. Blue Jackets. Lots of fighting and scoring. Nashville won 8-1. Karl Goehring was on Nashville's roster, but didn't play. I also saw a guy with a Sioux jersey on. What a small world. One night we headed down to Tunica, Mississippi to lose some money at the mini-Vegas they have there. It really is like a mini-Vegas. Big casinos with all the lights and attractions. I ended up playing a cash poker game for about five hours. I was up a 100 bucks at one point, but then lost it all and ended up down a hundred. Just like on TV : ) All in all it was a good trip. Two weeks on FedEx's dime, I can't complain : ) Here's a few pictures of the trip. Enjoy.

The famous Beale St.

Bad boys, Bad boys, whach ya gonna do when they come for you? Brought to you by the men and women of law enforcement : )

A neon "Lucille"

On the way downtown this guy was going the wrong way down the street in his rickety looking wheelchair. The speed limit here was 40 mph! Unbelievable. I was surprised this picture turned out as well as it did since we were going so fast by him. Ride it like you stole it buddy.

At the hockey game. The FedEx Forum is similar to the Englestad Arena, but one level taller and not as luxurious.

The Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. There were probably 20+ casinos all lit up like this.

Mr. Kerkove posted about a new map site called Route Slip. I mapped a couple of routes in the North Dakota section. Llama Turtle Field Brian! Check it out, and add some more. Pretty cool stuff.

The EnduroSnob Epic has been cancelled. That is too bad. I had gotten time off and everything. Oh well I might put my time off to good use and go to Matt's Tobasco ride in Iowa instead.

Anyone want to go out to TR this weekend?

That's all for now.

2006-09-07T22:25:00.000-05:00

Turtle River, CX, Ultra Distance Events and Memphis I went out to Turtle River State Park on Monday. The new trails the Americorp crew made are perfect. They extended the horse trail section so that there is single track all the way along the hill on the east and south side of the trail. Very fun and fast. Especially going opposite of the "race loop". I managed to clip a tree with my left grip which sent me heading straight into a tree on the right side of the trail. I cushioned the blow with my arm and then rolled a couple times down the hill. I was a human pinball : ) Then the ski trial section just before heading into the gopher hills has been replace with some sweet single track as well. A few nice roots and rocks in this part. The old Americorp trail along the marshes was also widened and groomed better than ever. Helmets off to those guys and gals from Americorp who put in over six solid weeks of trail work. Thank you very much. Brian, make sure you bring the 9.9 in October. Paddy, you and Naomi should head over there on your way down to the CX races at the end of the month.

The new and improved section towards the end of the "race loop"

Tonight I went to the first cyclocross race of the season in Moorhead at Johnson Park. I've never done a CX race before, and it was an eye opener. 45 minutes of my lungs on fire. Ouch! I'm out of shape. It was painful but fun. A lot of nice guys and gals showed up. A big thunderstorm just missed us. Only a few sprinkles to make some of the grass sections slick. I will definitely be back for more.

EnduroSnob needs some brave souls to sign up for the EnduroSnob Epic in November. Only six signed up so far, and a third are from North Dakota. Lets try and get a 50% representation at least. If Mangan and I can do it then Sears and Brian certainly can. Come on guys. You can do it.

Also the Arrowhead 135 registration is open now until December 1st. Start getting your winter camping gear in order. This is a must do race. Any takers out there? Pw-how about it this year?

In non-biking news I'm heading to Memphis, Tennesse on Sunday. I'll be there for two weeks for FedEx training. Then everyone in Fargo better stay off the sidewalks cause I'll be behind the wheel of a big white truck : ) It should be fun. Anyone been there before? I'm gonna try and catch a Nashville Predators pre-season NHL game. Other than that I'll see if I can't rent a bike and get in better shape while I'm down there.

That's all for now. I'll try and keep up with blogging while I'm in Memphis. Hopefully I'll get a bunch of pictures of Graceland to share with everyone : )

2006-09-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

Paddy Wagon Hey Mr. Hummeny. I didn't know you were sponsored by KONA! Check out Paddy's new ride for 2007 : )