Weekend Riding

I have had the itch to get in some longer road rides lately. The shorter, slow fat bike rides just haven't been doing it for me. Last week Me, Curt, and Jose set out on a 30 mile route through Afton. The ride started out great but turned super windy and super cold on the way back. There were times on flat sections of road that I had to stand to pedal. When I got back to the car my hands were so cold. So cold. Oh well, I guess that makes me stronger down the road.

I wanted to get in another ride this weekend and check out the Red Bull Crashed Ice course in downtown St. Paul. The weather was pretty good and there was only a slight wind. I snapped a couple pictures but didn't get close enough to get anything good. I was hoping to find a case of Red Bull laying around, but had no luck.

Start

That's a steep curve

I went back up and down the bluffs of my normal route and then headed home to hang out with some friends.

Sunday was the Carver Cold Catfish Cup. I wasn't really feeling racing Sunday morning, but since I had pre-registered I figured I would show. When I got there they said there was an intermediate 2 lap class and an advanced 3 lap class. With my shitty showing at the Elk River race on the 6th and general lack of motivation I signed up for intermediate. They had a nice prologue that went down to the beach, across the lake, and then up a sharp climb before entering the single track. half way through the first lap I was feeling pretty good and passing people here and there. As I entered the single track on my 2nd lap I started thinking that I may have the lead for the intermediate class and that I was sandbagging... I decided that if I kept passing people I would see what place I was in at the end of the lap and if I was in the top 3 I would continue on for a 3rd lap. As I came out of the woods I found that I was in 2nd and decided to continue on. We all started at the same time so it wasn't a big deal. On the third lap I passed 3 people and finished the race strong. I came in 14th out of 54 starters. 14th place felt a lot better to me than a 2nd place intermediate finish.

The trails were excellent for my riding style. There was a nice wide, hard packed track and little ice. I usually get caught in loose snow going around corners or washing out in loose stuff. None of this was an issue for me and it showed. It was also my first race since drilling out my rims which saved me about a pound in rotating weight. It was nice to hammer the pedals and feel some speed, rather than a sluggish acceleration.

With the rain/sleet/snow mix I was wet and wanted to get back home so I didn't stick around afterwards to hang out and have a beer and maybe win something.

This was a great event. Thanks to Reed and all the volunteers for the hard work they put in. The course marshals made sure everyone was headed in the right direction and no confusion.

Consolation 86

For the first time in 4 years I will not be participating in the Ragnarok 105.

I was lucky enough to get my card in early in 2010 and got on the roster right away. In 2011 I was 18th on the wait list and got an email a week before the race that enough people had dropped out and that I was now in. In 2012 I was on the starting list right away. This year I am not even on the reserve list. I was pretty bummed for a day or so, but then Josh suggested that we do our own thing, and I wondered why that hadn't occurred to me before. I haphazardly put together a route starting outside Prescott, WI but after thinking about it for a night decided that there needs to at least some gravel. So this morning I started thinking about where we could get some good climbs in that would not tread on the Rag course. At first I was thinking about starting in Hastings and working our way towards Cannon Falls, over to Welch, and then back to Hastings. The roads didn't connect up the way that I would have preferred and I didn't think there was enough climbing either.
So then I remembered that there were some hills that I wanted to ride in the Wabasha/Nelson area and that a Lake City start could minimize the drive time.
So I put together a course that I am pretty happy with. It starts out at Patton Park in Lake City and heads out towards the gravel. This is the section of the Rag course that you come into Lake City on. With a 8 o'clock start I am confident that we will not cross paths with any other racers. The course snakes up and down the valley until we hit Wabasha around mile 35 where there is a gas station/Subway if need be. We will then proceed across the bridge and into Nelson, WI for the biggest climbs of the day (There is also a gas station here {mile 40}). That will loop around and bring us past the same gas station (mile 60) and across the bridge and back into MN. From there there is a grocery store that we will go past just before we hit 3 more big climbs. After this its an almost straight shot back to Lake City. There is one .5 mile spot that may be in this year Ragnarok, but I don't think that we'll cause too much trouble. Back in Lake City you'll ride along Lake Peppin and back to Patton Park.
Total mileage is 85.6 with about 4,600ft of climbing. There will be about a 50/50 gravel/pavement mix so bike choice is up to you.

I'd like to do this as a quasi race. We'll have a sign in sheet at the beginning and end where you can record your time.

Please feel free to pass this along to others who may wish to ride.

The link below will allow you to download the course right to your Garmin and I will have written directions available as well.

Garmin Connect - Consolation 86

Mo Money Mo Problems

Please listen to the entire video before you continue reading...

Now that I'm not a lowly contractor, but a legit employee my current murder of bikes has somehow become inadequate. I am not sure how this happened over night, but it did.

The Pugsley just looks old as shit. At the Hillside race there were about 60 fat bike there and I didn't see one of the original Pugs. A lot of Mukluks. I also didn't see anyone with the original Large Marge rims. This tells me that I need to get with the times and stop riding the dinosaur bike. I started by drilling out the Large Marge rims. This is a long process that I hope to finish this weekend.

I felt like this guy

The Monocog is the only MTB that I have right now. It's steel and has low level components on it that make it heavier than it has to be. It's nice having a bike that is indestructible, but now that I have some cash and want to start racing again, I think I need something a little lighter.

I love my Bianchi San Jose Pro and it is not going anywhere for a while, even if it does have a flat front tire right now.

With all these issues the main one that needs to be addressed is not having a geared MTB. I have one in mind, I'm just waiting for the right time to pull the trigger. Probably in May or June.

This is a good look right?

I also have a Disney trip with the kids that is going to hurt the bike funds. Doesn't matter that we have already been there. We have to go again. I guess they could say you have several bikes, why do you need another? So it's to Disney we go.