Spring break fun in Arkansas

Last weekend Zach and I loaded up the van and left the snowy coldness of Wisconsin for some riding in Arkansas.

We had great weather and the riding was very scenic and technical.

The terrain was different than what we are used to at home, but it was welcome change.
Most of the time we ride single speeds. But for this trip I fitted both of our Vassago's with gears, and it was a good thing we did. As you can see from this picture, we had to do a little climbing to get to that spot.

We got in three days of riding. It felt really good to blow off some winter dust on some really cool trails.

Cyclocross awards time

Zach received this nice etched glass award from the Minnesota Cycling Federation. He got 2nd place in the Cyclocross Rider of the Year competition. It was a very respectable finish to the season considering he only participated in 7 of the 12 race series. Good job Zach!

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!