Minnesota state cyclocross championshps

Well our cyclocross season came to a close yesterday at the Minnesota state CX championships. This was the only race this year that just the juniors had their own race. All the fast guys from this season were in attendance. Zach got a decent start and began moving up. On the last lap he had caught up to Jake Richards ( two time winner of the Chequamegon Short and Fat)
The two battled it out right up to the sand pit that was about 50 yards from the finish. Zach took the inside line and jumped off and started running right away while Jake tried to ride it.
That was all it took for Zach to get the jump on him and sprinted away to take third in the 15-18 junior race. You couldn't have asked for a more exciting finish and I couldn't have been more proud!
As another race season comes to a close I would like to thank Vassago Cycles for all of their suport.

Time to catch up

Well I've definitely been slacking off in the blogging department lately, so it's time to get caught up.
When you last heard from us we were about to head back to Duluth for race #10 of the MNSCS. This race was the hardest and most challenging race of the season. I had great start, I got the hole shot in my wave and led all the way up the first climb and was the first into the single track.
Things continued to go well until midway through the 2nd lap when I came off a 2 foot drop a little sideways and burped my front tire. I tried, but was unable to get it aired up. Latter I discovered that I had torn my rim strip. My first DNF.
Zach was also having a good race until another racer yelled passing on your left and then came around on his right instead and ran him into a tree. Zach came back to finish third in his class for the day. We found out when we got home that he had fractured his wrist!

Next up for us was the Chequamegon fat tire fest. The largest mountain bike race in the U.S. we entered the Short and Fat race which is a 16 mile point to point race with 850 racers and a mass start! Zach earned a preferred start position ( the front 50 ) from his finish last year. The start of the race is the most dangerous thing I have ever done on a bike. When the gun goes off you have a lot of people tring to fit into a small space.
I caught Zach early in the race and we played cat and mouse the rest of the way. His wrist was hurting him and that's the only reason I could keep up with him. We ended up finishing 70th and 71st, he took me at the finish. I bested my time from last year by 2 minutes.
Here I am about 100 yards from the finish.

Next up was the 11th and final round of the MNSCS race series. Going into the race I was only 4 points out of 3rd place for the season. It was a great race season with the top four in my age class battling every race. All of us had beaten the other three at least once during the season. I end up 4th overall for the season after completing 9 of the 11 races. Zach skipped the race to let his wrist heal. Because of all of Zach's injuries this season he was only able to do 6 of the 11 races. He ended up 3rd overall in the points for the season. Well done!

We skipped the first cyclocross race of the season to let the wrist heal some more. So our first race was our home town race and it had been raining for three days. It was going to be very muddy, perfect cross weather!

I set up my Fisticuff with fat tires and disk brakes and had a blast. It handled the mud like a champ.

Zach decided to race the Optimus Ti because we hadn't fully converted his Fisticuff from road duty. As you can see it was pretty wet. Zach had a good race and finished 2nd in 15-18.


Yesterday Zach did the Wirth Classic Cup race and there was a huge turnout, 114 racers in Zach's race.

Zach is still having trouble with his wrist so we set up his Fisticuff with flat bars which doesn't bother him as much. He had a good day at Wirth, 2nd place in 15-18.

MNSCS #8 / WORS #8 : TREK BORDER BATTLE !

The annual MNSCS - WORS border battle is our biggest race of both series combining the racers from both series at one event. Having a good showing at this event is one of Zach and my main goals for the mountain bike season. We were both looking forward to this race as it is located only ten miles from our home and consider it our home course.
We both had excellent races, Zach finished 37th overall out of more than 200 racers which earned him 2nd place in his age class.
I finished four minutes back from Zach and placed 3rd in my age class.

Overall, it was a great race and was fun to have so many other racers in attendance.
I do still need to work on my podium pose though.

MNSCS #7 Buck Hill Birch Bump

Last Sunday was my 50th birthday and what better way to spend it than to race my bike. What a great day it was, my wife and daughter came out to cheer us on.
Zach was lined up at the front of his wave and got a good start. I wasn't so lucky in my wave as I got caught behind a couple of guys who got tangled up.
Zach had a tough race but finished a strong 3rd.

My race went very well, I had some very good racing and finished a close 3rd.
I could not have asked for much nicer birthday, Thank you, Anita, Stephanie, and Zach!

Also thanks to Dana for the great pictures.

RAGBRAI 37: A Fisticuff adventure

Well Zach and I set off on a 7 day bike ride known as RAGBRAI. This year we decided to ride our Vassago Fisticuffs set up as single speed road bikes. The bikes were great, we didn't miss our gears at all. The weather for the week was much cooler than normal, which made for nice riding and great sleeping.
Here Zach and I are getting ready to start out on day 1.
This is Zach with our friends Tammy and Doug, somewhere along the rout on day 5.
We had a great time and can't wait to do it again next year!

MNSCS #5 Memorial Classic

This Sunday found us at Redwing Mn. For round 5 of the MNSCS race series. It was another very nice day for racing on a very difficult course. Zach and I got to start in the same wave for the first time this year. I got good start and didn't see zach again until about half way through the first lap where he passed me on the first of two long climbs. We both had a good day, I finished fourth in my age class an Zach finished 2nd in his.

MNSCS #4 Bluff Riders Charge

Last Sunday my wife Anita and I headed to Mt. Kato for round 4 of the MNSCS race series. Zach couldn't make it as he was off to wrestling camp for the week. The weather was near perfect again for racing. Because of my consistent finishes in my last three races I was called up to start in the front row of my wave.
The course started with a 100 yard dash to the base of the ski hill and then slalomed up to the top, my kind of start!
There was a very tight and steep section that got a lot of people into trouble, I was lucky enough to keep the rubber side down on every lap. My Vassago Optimus TI certainly helped there!
I ended up finishing 3rd in my age class. The guy who finished 1st was so fast he couldn't even stop for awards.
Thanks again to Dana Schoppe for some great race photos

MNSCS #3 Mout Du Lac

Last Saturday we headed up to Duluth for MNSCS round three. We were not planning on doing this race. After Zach did not finish his first race and then missing the second race due to a dirt bike crash, we decided to add this race at the the last minute. We arrived Saturday afternoon and pre-rode the course. It's a good thing we did, because we changed our gearing so we could make the big climb at the start. We camped out Saturday night and met some very cool people. Sunday was a beautiful day, sunny and cool. The race course was very challenging, It started at the base of a ski hill and went straight up to the top, what a killer! At the top, we entered a very tight, twisty, rooty, single track that was non-stop for five miles. It dumped us out near the bottom of the climb ,so that we could do it again.

Zach started in a wave ahead of me and had a very good race after spending two weeks off the bike. If you look close at the picture above you can see he still can't wrap his pinky finger on his right hand around the grip yet. It didn't seem to slow him down much though.

Zach finished first in his age class and 17th overall.


I, also had a good day of racing as single track is my kind of course.

I finished second in my age class. It was nice to be back on the podium again.

These great pictures were taken by Dana Schoppe

MNSCS #2 Afton Avalanche

Sunday's race was another large field,179 in my race.
This is a view from up the ski hill of the start of my race.
I got a poor start and got stuck in a huge bottle neck at the beginning of the single track, while the leaders rode away. After I got though that mess, I started making my way through traffic. Afton is probably the the hardest race of the MNSCS series, and it definitely has the most DNF's.
I ended up 4th in my age class again. It was a good race for me.

Zach, on the other hand, got to watch from the sidelines. Saturday nigh,t I had to take him to the ER to get 5 stitches in his leg and get his hand X- rayed to find out he had a broken finger. He was riding his friend's dirt bike and one of his other friends t-boned him with a four wheeler. He should be good to go in a few weeks.
Our team mate Ben Shocky was also at Afton mixing it up with the rest of the expert racers.

MNSCS #1 Erics Spring Cup

Sunday was a beautiful day for our first race of the season. And it seemed that everyone thought so too, 517 people showed up for the day's races! There were only 189 in our race.
We up graded to Cat. 2 for this season, so the competition will be stiffer for sure.
Zach went off in the wave before me and got a good start.
He held that position through the second lap until he hit a berm too hard and pushed his tubeless tire off the rim and let out all the air. He couldn't get it refilled and had to DNF.
My race went well, I got a decent start and worked my way through alot of traffic for three laps to finish 4th in my age class.

After the race, we ran into our team mate Ben Shockey, and met his wife and son , in-laws and friend Collin. It was fun to meet a great group of people.

Looking forward to the next race in two weeks.

There is one thing better than a Fisticuff

That's two Fisticuffs! Yep,I got mine put together this week. I headed out this morning to join up with local roadie group ride. I was a little apprehensive about joining up with these guys with my single speed and having them on their high $ carbon fiber road bikes. I've never ridden that far on a single speed on the road before( 60 miles) but I've ridden with these guys many times before, so I knew what the pace would be like. After about 10 miles, I was sitting in, no problem. We hit quite few bigger hills and I was able to hang with the front group, no problem! Towards the end of the ride, I had several guys comment how surprised that they were that I was able to hang on a single speed.
I had so much fun on the Fisticuff that it's going to be my main road bike for the summer.

The Fisticuff is ready for action!

We finished putting the Fisticuff together last night and took a couple of pictures this morning.
After the photo session It was time to test this bad boy out.
Zach made a few runs at our cyclocross practice barrier before we headed out for some real riding. We hit the road first on our way to our local trails.. The first thing he noticed was how smooth and stable it felt on the road. When we came to short steep climb, he was out of the saddle sprinting and was very impressed by how solid it felt under full power. Then, it was on to the trails where Zach said from the start the Fisticuff made him feel right at home.

For now, we have it set it up as a single speed and will be switching it over to road tires for most of the summer to train for mountain bike racing. This fall will be switching it over to gears for the upcoming cross season. We don't have much time in on it yet but from Zach's initial impressions, this is going to be one really fun bike.

Brown brings the Snickers brown

The much anticipated Vassago Fisticuff was delivered today by the man in brown. We got it in the stand tonight and installed a couple of parts but didnt have much time for anything else. We have a couple of new parts showing up later this week and we should be able to finish up the build then. So stay tuned we will post more pictures later this week and hopefully some of them will be action shots.

MCF awards banquet

Last night Zach and I attended The Minnesota Cycling Federation's annual awards banquet. It was a big night for Zach, he was named the Minnesota Junior Cyclocross Rider of the year!
Way to go Zach.

What do you do on Sunday night when it's 0 outside?

Well......... you go for a bike ride of course.
Sunday night the cabin fever took over and Zach and I headed out for a moon light ride. The local trails were hard packed and easy to ride. We were only out for about an hour and half, but it sure was fun.