I just got back from Traverse City where I did my 14th Iceman. 2:32. 10 minutes slower than my previous slowest time, 38 minutes off my best time, but the course was a few miles longer and I was only 3 minutes slower than I predicted. My bike worked flawlessly and I chose my clothes and food perfectly. I had a good time with friends. I will chalk this up as a good race.
Denny and Barb broke the derailleur on their tandem and had to walk the last few miles. I met them at Sue's car after the race to give them their dry clothes. They looked like they were on the verge of hypothermia, but still positive and smiling. It is a crazy race, cold and sloppy, yet I can't wait until next year.
Maybe I don't try hard enough. I saw a grown man have a total meltdown because his chain broke. He swore, threw his helmet at his bike, and paced around as if this were a tragedy too great for words. Just a broken chain. A minor issue that that should set him back maybe 2 minutes. He was my age and in my group. He wasn't going to place. Ever. I always consider the possibility that I am looking at things wrong. I would have shrugged off a broken chain with little more than a sigh but maybe I need more passion. Maybe, but I'm pretty sure that guy was just a dickhead.
Denny said our mutual friend Steve was doing the race. I haven't seen Steve since we rented a house together after college. This is the only picture I have of him; we were visiting Mike who was going to school in Toronto. Steve is on my far right, Denny on my left. Denny told me Steve's daughter was racing the Iceman too. I briefly though this was impossible, Steve was only 21, but then I realized that was 25 years ago. He was a football star in high school. He made girls swoon. It took him just over 3 hours to do the Iceman. Life is okay.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Single Speed World Championship


Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Want it Wednesday: Garmin Edge 800

The Garmin Edge 800 does everything a good bicycle computer does (measures heart rate, cadence, speed, etc.) but it is also a GPS that does all sorts of amazing stuff, like lays a map of your ride over images from Google Earth. I am technologically inept so I don’t care about all that. I must have this Garmin because it records ride information so you can then race against stored data. Last weekend I was racing against a virtual Kevin. One arrow represented me and the arrow a mile or so down the trail represented Kevin, like a video game. The course is highlighted on the screen which accurately tells you where to turn. This was helpful on a course like the Iceman where you go from one trail to another for 27 miles. Kevin virtually kicked my ass. He will realize this when I return his Garmin. I have a few days to come up with an excuse. Lately I have been blaming my wheel circumference but Kevin is the other guy in Michigan still using a 26er. If I was thinking, I would have secretly strapped the Garmin to the bars of my vintage 2-stroke Yamaha and did the entire course in under an hour just to give him something to struggle with.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Autumn




Tuesday, October 2, 2012
California Part V, or VI, or VII, or Something
I am getting old. I know this to be true because my youngest daughter just moved up to a 26 inch wheeled bike. Allie picked it out for the most part. Pink is her favorite color and we looked at pink bikes but she said she didn't want a bike that looked like it was right out of a box (her words, not mine). Allie wanted a white bike so we could customize it with pink cable housings, grips, and water bottle cages. Words can't adequately express how proud I am.
Shortly after we assembled the bike I went to California for work, again. San Francisco is beautiful and the weather is perfect and the food is amazing and everyone is fit and rides carbon-fiber Cervelos with full SRAM Red but I have been to California enough times that I shrug these things off with luke-warm indifference.
San Francisco still made me self-conscious over my lack of fashion sense, and I had just relayed that thought to a friend back home when I saw three men in assless leather chaps. Suddenly I didn't care I wasn't on the cutting edge of West Coast style. I like California. I'm concerned it could be devastated by an earthquake. I'm much more concerned that Iceman is five weeks away and I am not ready.
This was my first business trip where I didn't rent a bike to take advantage of riding opportunities; the logistics seemed a bit much. I did a few uninspired rides on a stationary bike in the Hyatt's workout area. I'm afraid my change in attitude is just another atrocity of getting old.
Shortly after we assembled the bike I went to California for work, again. San Francisco is beautiful and the weather is perfect and the food is amazing and everyone is fit and rides carbon-fiber Cervelos with full SRAM Red but I have been to California enough times that I shrug these things off with luke-warm indifference.
San Francisco still made me self-conscious over my lack of fashion sense, and I had just relayed that thought to a friend back home when I saw three men in assless leather chaps. Suddenly I didn't care I wasn't on the cutting edge of West Coast style. I like California. I'm concerned it could be devastated by an earthquake. I'm much more concerned that Iceman is five weeks away and I am not ready.
This was my first business trip where I didn't rent a bike to take advantage of riding opportunities; the logistics seemed a bit much. I did a few uninspired rides on a stationary bike in the Hyatt's workout area. I'm afraid my change in attitude is just another atrocity of getting old.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Road Trip
I mentioned before how Allie likes baking and adores Buddy the Cake Boss. After my trip to Nashville with Em, I told Allie that we, just her and I, would take a vacation this summer, anywhere she wanted. Anywhere. She decided she wanted to take a cup cake decorating class at Carlo’s Bake Shop in Hoboken NJ.
Me: “Hum, that is a clever idea Allie-Bear. You realize this is a 1200 mile trip?”
Allie: “Yes.”
Me: “That is over 20 hours of driving ya know.”
Allie: “You said anywhere.”
Me: “They call New Jersey the Garden State but in reality it is a cesspool of …”
Allie: “Dad!”
Tuesday night after work we drove straight through to New Jersey and right to her class.
When I made the reservations for the class, I had asked if there was any chance Allie might meet Buddy. They said it was possible but unlikely. Buddy showed up just as we were leaving. Allie was ecstatic
Wednesday night after Allie’s class we drove straight through to Michigan.
I dropped Allie off at home then went right to a meeting this morning.
I haven’t really slept in 60 hours. New Jersey was a pretty long drive for a cup cake decorating class. Allie and I talked a lot along the way. Best vacation ever.
Me: “Hum, that is a clever idea Allie-Bear. You realize this is a 1200 mile trip?”
Allie: “Yes.”
Me: “That is over 20 hours of driving ya know.”
Allie: “You said anywhere.”
Me: “They call New Jersey the Garden State but in reality it is a cesspool of …”
Allie: “Dad!”
Tuesday night after work we drove straight through to New Jersey and right to her class.
When I made the reservations for the class, I had asked if there was any chance Allie might meet Buddy. They said it was possible but unlikely. Buddy showed up just as we were leaving. Allie was ecstatic
Wednesday night after Allie’s class we drove straight through to Michigan.
I dropped Allie off at home then went right to a meeting this morning.
I haven’t really slept in 60 hours. New Jersey was a pretty long drive for a cup cake decorating class. Allie and I talked a lot along the way. Best vacation ever.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Brighton Cross Country Race
Last year I stopped doing any real training. I had poor race results and whined as if somehow it wasn't my fault. Then I rode even less over the winter, raced at Mud, Sweet, and Beers in the spring and got clobbered. I decided I was through with racing.
Last weekend some friends needed me to complete a relay team for them. I warned them I wasn't in race shape. I suppose they thought I meant that in an "aw shucks", humble kind of way. No, I was serious. After the relay I thought to myself I am never ever racing again no matter what. Period. I mean it this time.
Monday I took Allie to one of her friends in Brighton. I brought my bike to ride Murray Lake while I was there. I use to live by the trail and rode it often before I moved to the ghetto, er, I mean Canton. I ran into someone on the trail who explained he was pre-riding the course for a race that was coming up. I had no idea they were racing at Brighton. I did the trail in just over 35 minutes. This was a good lap time for me.
I got second place in Sport Single Speed at the Brighton cross country race yesterday. It was a small field but still, this is a huge result for me. Later this month is the Maybury Time Trial. I am looking foward to this race. I can't seem to stop racing. I suppose as far as addictions go, racing isn't a horrible one to have.
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