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.