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

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!

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.

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.

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.

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 : )

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 : )

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!

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!

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 : )

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.

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.