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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

What do you think Brown Bears : )

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 : )

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

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.

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.