SISU Cycles Race Team

READY FOR THE SPRING CLASSICS!!!!!!

2011-03-08T08:22:00.000-08:00

Paris-Nice is finally here. Watching the week long epic in March has got me itching for the the spring classics to come. In my book, the classics and France's famed tour run a close 1,2. The order depends on what time of year I'm asked. In the spring, all I want to do is get out and start the cycling season but, up here, old man winter usually still has a stranglehold on things. The excitement of a new season is looming and this year's off season doping allegations are now being enforced. By the time the Tour starts, its July and the early season buzz has usually worn off. But then again, its the Tour. So, which is number one? I've come to the conclusion that ultimately it doesn't matter.

Now, its time to start counting the days until Milan-San Remo, then Flanders, Basque, Sarthe and Paris-Roubaix. For now, I'll have to settle on loading up a classics course on my Tacx trainer and hopefully loose ten pounds from sweating profusely while riding indoors.

NEWS FLASH!

2011-01-10T06:17:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

I am happy to announce that I have reached yet another goal of mine for the 2010 cycling season, even though I'm announcing it in 2011. My final goal was to get picked up by a bigger team, preferably a development team to strengthen and coach me to the ultimate goal of the professional level. Although I haven't signed any contracts yet, I have been invited to race for the GEARGRINDER Pro Development Team based out of Milwaukee.

When Matt and I met early in the spring of 2010 we discussed all of my goals for the season, and though there were many of them, they were all just far enough out of reach to keep me working and close enough that I knew that with the right amount of work and dedication I could reach them.

This new team has produced riders such as Chad Hartley, James Stemper, and Rob White all now serving on the Kenda p/b GEARGRINDER pro team. As I've discussed before, it is my ultimate goal to become a professional and just like these guys listed above, I'd love if this new team could act as a direct stepping stone to the pro team.

Not to leave where I've come from behind, I will continue to race the FF-1 on which I rode on last year. Matt and I just finished the details of the paint scheme this past week and when the pictures come out, you will have to stay posted because it is going to be one of the sickest looking custom bikes in the U.S. I will also have a spare bike from GEARGRINDER that I'll be renting for the season just in case of an accident.

So the cat is out of the box, so to speak. I'm sad to leave the SISUCycles team but happy because I am one step closer to my dream. Matt has been a great help in the short amount of time that I've known him and I know that my relationship with him and the team will not end here. As I said months ago "you can't beat the local experience of a custom build and fit dialed for YOUR body to perform at it's peak. For a truly custom experience, you can't go wrong with SISU." That's the truth.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me all season. To Matt and Angie, the team, my parents, Sarah and her family, and the entire cycling community in Marquette I'd like to thank you all for everything you've done this year. I look forward to keeping you all up to date with news on the new team and remember to keep your eyes peeled for the new paint job!

Cyclocross So Far

2010-10-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

Once my road season came to a close with Cherry Roubaix, there seemed to be an empty spot in my life. No more races to look forward to, no extensive planning to do every week or so to do just so I can go away and race my bike. School started and time became something I felt like I had to ask for, though we all know you can't create time. Matt planted a seed long ago of racing cyclocross, and although I was glad to have my season wound down, I missed racing. After deciding to race 'cross for Matt I was determined to have fun first and if results came with it then it's a bonus. That seed that Matt planted grew and I finally am finding a groove out on the CX bike.

I had a rough start to the season, my first race being a Wednesday night race in Houghton in between studying and sleeping. I fueled myself up with coffee that afternoon and pumped out a solid second place. I'd say that got me excited and thinking, "hey, maybe I can do this and be successful too." Not to mention I did this on my single-speed commuter bike (Specialized Tricross)which is nothing extravagant. I knew when I came home for races I would have a beautiful Titanium Sisu ride that was decked out for cyclocross specifically and would hopefully be the ticket to even more success.

My first experience in a REAL DEAL 'cross race was at Al Quaal. This used to be one of my favorite places to ride bikes when I was younger and was my favorite cross country course in High School when I ran. Those combined had me pretty excited to go back and put the two skills in a blender and see what kind of crazy concoction came out. The course was brutal, including everything that a good cross course should. There was sand, mud, singletrack, more sand, fast decents, pavement, crazy taped off sections you have to weave through, and of course the barriers. I had crappy pedals on my bike that were hard to get out of and eventually the pedals and the barriers caused one heck of a crash that has already been posted and highlighted in the video from Al Quaal. It is definitely in the books as one of my most impressive crashes for the season. Not proud, but it made for a good laugh.

My 'cross season hasn't been the smoothest. I like to joke that it's not a good day unless I go home bleeding. Up until today that was the case. I won't go on describing every crash I've had, but I now have just as many scars from the 'cross bike as I did from the road bike this year, actually I think it's more after this weekend. Anyways, as I said, it's been a rough ride.

Today was my breakthrough though. The Tylers were present to dish out their dose of punishment and for the first time in my UPCROSS history I was able to hang with the main group for more than just one lap. I maintained contact for about 3-4 laps before finally succumbing to my own frustrations after almost biffing, but making a good weight readjustment and somehow saving myself from my usual demise on an unsuspectingly easy corner. After I calmed myself down from this scare, I found a rhythm using my criterium skills on the pavement golf cart paths and pounding out the gravel and dirt paths. With six laps to go I was in a groove, everything was flying by, I was focused and I felt great, finally. This only fueled that groove even more because I was so happy to finally feel good on the 'cross bike. Even though I knew it was too late I pushed hard and passed those that I could and used it as practice and encouragement to do better next time.

I have to admit that I'm getting a bit tired as road season is definitely over and as 'cross season winds down I'm looking forward to a little time off before the snow starts flying and the skis need waxing and good use. After UPCROSS championships I will be taking 3-4 weeks off from any heavy training and will begin to start my winter lifting regimen slowly before getting on the skis and the indoor trainer. I'll hopefully have even better news by the end of the season, but until then I've got an exam to study for and a bed to sleep in. Stay posted!

Peak to Peak Report

2010-10-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is me savoring the pre-race routines (and, coincidentally, tightening a shoe-more to come on that). Peak to Peak, a premium fall race held at Crystal Mountain Resort, was a surprise treat. After three weeks of well, very, trying times, Anna and I packed up for a weekend getaway to Manistee. She was kind enough to encourage me to do the race, sensing that if I didn't blow off some steam, I was bound to punch through drywall or something equally foolish.

With a 12:35 start, we slept late, had a gallon of nail floater coffee, the first of our own eggs scrambled, and some leftover sandwich. We pulled into the lot an hour and a half early (!) to pick up the packet. Farmers were setting up for market while other set up a petting zoo, pumpkin carving exhibit, and more wholesome things! Really, what an amazing venue for families! The resort also ran the lifts for free, so spectators lined the brutal climb up the back of these hills.

Most of the course was fast, swooping curves through the forest with occasional windy, windy double-track. Group tactics were a factor as gaps opened and closed while riders pulled through to keep the pace high. Then, near the end of the 11.5 mile lap, a few hills appear from nowhere, a painful finish to each lap. First, you hit some smaller gradual undulations, then a steep, sandy step up, then some more bench-cut singletrack before a dropped to the base of the ski hill behind the above picture. The first steep, sandy step and this ski hill beast really decide the race.

With so much time, I had a seven mile warmer on 115. I was going to debut my skinsuit, but was clad with arm and knee warmers for the ride. The wind whipped oak leaves everywhere, and my mind was clearing in the cold air. I didn't know what my body would do after six days off the bike, but the atmosphere of the day had me feeling really positive.

The start was a confusing mess, with the Expert 40-49s all over the start line in front of the young experts and my 25 deep 30-39 class. Whatever the case, it was quickly sorted out on the uphill start. I let ten or so guys sprint away and settled in, working hard, but not too painful. I wasn't feeling smooth on the sweeping corners, but as gaps opened up, I knew I needed to bridge. At a couple points, I called to guys to let me take a pull. A few stayed and some dropped as I caught and passed groups and felt better by the minute.

My legs were definitely shocked by the finish climbs on lap one. I knew before the race that hills, and the missing torque right now, were going to be a weakness. It hurt, but I just tried to spin smooth circles and keep breathing. I knew this hill was going to break me, or maybe it was mental weakness.

Lap two was quiet and there seemed to be much less traffic in front of me. The really fast single-speeders were gone and it was just a few expert guys, and most of the pro men's field, in front of me. It was quiet as riders leaned and swooped and battled the wind. Finally, at the end of lap two, I caught the group I would end with. There was a Fisher 29er Elite rider, surprisingly, and Rochester Bike Shop endurance ace Adam Naish. After we realized we were in the same class and out front, we agreed to work together on the third lap, as we knew the final hills would decide, not the singletrack or double track, combined with the group tactics.

Disaster struck on the laser-fast singletrack after the ski hill climb. My drive-side foot unclipped and I somehow tore the buckle strap base with my big ring. The large flap of shoe began to catch the crank on every turn and I had to turn my right heel out to avoid the annoyance.

Still, the hills were much smoother on the second lap and I got a great bottle feed from Anna at the start/finish. I began to think about winning the race. It was unlikely that I would be able to outclimb Naish, who has a season of NUE 100 milers under his belt. He and I could trade pulls to on the third lap, but at some point, I hoped to put him under pressure enough to get away. I tried, but twinging quads limited me severely. Nope, he was smooth enough to stay with me and I flat didn't have the guns.

We stayed together and were joined by a Hagerty rider just before passing a Bissell one. Then came the steep up. My shoe was catching and I got only a few feet up before both hamstrings seized. Hitting the ground quickly and moving, I was passed by all three in the groups; however, the ski hill was yet to come. As black spots formed, I got by the Bissell rider, but the other two rode away, leaving me third.

It was my third third-place of the season and one of the highlights of my year.

Iceman is next. I'm going back to the White Brother's carbon for it. It's been a great season for riding the Hogsback (all over the place).

UPCROSS 2010 - OLD TOWN NEGAUNEE

2010-10-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

UPCROSS - Pics from River Park

2010-10-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

I have to thank Justin Bruursema (a professional photographer from Grand Rapids) for all the help and advice on shooting the race. He also took shots and some are included above and below. More to come in the near future. Also, please note that my comments are meant to be fun so, as Van Wilder says, "don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out alive."

This mystery man is the balla himself, Chris Lynch. I think he was trying to see how far he could throw his bike.
Kyle gets my vote for best tan.
Jesse is sporting the sleeveless. . . .and I'm still pissed that he forgot the helmet cam mount. . .arg!

Arron won the race in pretty convincing style.
Sweet 80's polo. . .but last week's Robinson jersey took the cake!
The dynamic duo.
Chris rockin the locks.
Chris actually fell on this corner. He is probably thinking "oh #$%@ I better get my inside foot unclipped like RIGHT NOW!!!"
Looks like Joey caught the red eye early this morning.

Andrea is sporting the tie-die with Nicole on her tail.

Nicole's perfect technique over the barrier
Photo taken by Justin Bruursema. His shots are insane. I've gotta get that 24mm wide angle lense he is using.

Big dave.

MJ is out of retirement and racing UPCROSS!
God, I wish I was 6'4"

Doesn't he look mean?

Kyle and Mike B were back and forth all day.
That thing is torture for CX.

Push, push, push, all day long. . . push, push, push while I sing that song. (Adam Sandler)

An anxious fan:)

Photo taken by Justin Bruursema

Holly man. . .does Matt look fast!!!
Tom and Boonen took their weekly cross lap after the race.
Love the socks!!
Tony, looking as agile as a gazelle.

UPCROSS -Pics from Old Town Negaunee

2010-10-05T17:46:00.000-07:00

Video: UPCROSS - Al Quaal

2010-09-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks Michelle for taking the video!!!!

Pics from the Al Quaal UPCROSS

2010-09-29T15:47:00.000-07:00

Eric Marcotte was in town and easily dominated the field from the first lap.

Pics from the Cherry Roubaix CAT 1-2 Crit

2010-09-29T15:39:00.001-07:00

Pics from the Cherry Roubaix CAT3 Crit

2010-09-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

Cherry Roubaix

2010-08-31T14:42:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, I recently upgraded to category 2. I made an attempt to race at the Glencoe Grand Prix and after breaking my frame on the Thursday leading up to the race in a fall in a training ride (quite the embarrassing story) I must admit that my stress, anxiety, and nerves were through the roof for that first race. I didn't last long even though I felt fine other than my sky high heart rate. Nerves, hate you.

I swore they wouldn't get the best of me again, not this year but I lied. But before the mayhem, there was some fun. Friday night was a fun evening of racing downtown TC with the inaugural year of their downtown sprints! It was 3-up 200m drag races down one of the main streets. Each rider started on a 2 foot tall platform with a 3-4 foot long ramp to the pavement. You were held by a trusty volunteer and after a countdown a buzzer rang and you were off! I got edged out in something like the top 7 which was satisfactory. Seeing how I've lost 15 pounds this summer (which is unreal) my sprint power has visibly gone down by nearly 200 watts. I was edged out by a monster as you can see from the photos in Matt's previous entry.

Saturday night was the 3rd annual running of the crit on a new course. My nerves were in check and I felt like I had done most everything right except the two most important things for me on crit days. My warm-up was mediocre and my nutrition over the previous two days was slightly less than satisfactory. I've had a hard time keeping up with my body on the road. With that, the roads were rough and I kept getting gapped in the corners and had to make that up on every straight stretch. You can only ask your body to do that so many times before you POP and that's exactly what happened about half way through the race. I dropped off the back soon to be joined by Topher Chase for a few laps together. We were regularly announced as Chris and Chris, the two Yoopers working together. It was funny and good for both of our teams to keep getting their name out there even though we weren't in the greatest of positions.

Well, that was a disappointment and I was there to have one good day and Sunday had to be it. After only 6.5 hours of sleep and an 8:30am start to what was to be an 82 mile road race over the hilliest course in the state of MI I set out to put my head in the right direction for next year. I sat in for the first lap just to get the feel for how this pro 1,2 field was going to respond to this course.

The first lap was easier than I expected and during the next two laps I decided to attempt to get in breaks, chase them down and even take some pulls on the front. It paid off mentally but with 1.5 laps to go my legs said "no more" and absolutely exploded on the KOM hill. Myself and two others pedaled the rest of the lap and up the final hill to the start/finish where I found myself wanting to quit. I gave my mom the "cut it" sign by waving my hand by my neck, as if to say "I'm done." However, as she smiled at me and told me "just finish it, Chris." I thought about what Matt texted me in the AM "more guts than brains, don't think about it... Just do it." Minus the copyright infringement he had it right and I wasn't going to give up, I was gonna just do it. At the start of that sixth and final lap I also thought of one of my high school Track & Field teammates, Dillon Menard who just passed away last week from natural causes. I knew he would never give up. It took guts, Sisu, and I finished.

I've never felt more pain, never felt so good, and never felt so bad. The sense of accomplishment I had was amazing. I had hung with pros for 4.5 laps, dishing out attacks, attempting breaks, and pulling them around. For that I was proud. I know what I've gotten myself into now, and I'm more mentally prepared for next year.

My winter training will consist of a lot of cross country skiing as well as a solid weight training regimen. I'm looking forward to a solid few months of preparation with some possible coaching and going out and killing it next year.

My dream is to be on a pro team and that is my goal for next year is to get noticed over the season and get picked up by a US pro team by the end. It's been a great road season this year and I hope I have even half of the exciting news I had for you all this year during next year's season. For now keep posted for any possible cyclocross updates as well as updates on winter training and keep your eyes peeled for my new frame's paint job, hopefully to come within 2-3 months.

Thanks to everyone that's helped me this summer and cheered. From Matt, my family, Sarah, the community, all of those that I stayed with during my trips around the midwest and all of our team sponsors. I owe a lot off my success to you. Without your support I wouldn't be where I'm at and for that I'm forever thankful.

Cherry Roubaix Friday Night Sprints

2010-08-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

Good day of racing. Jesse made it to the semifinals and Chris made it to the quarters. Here are some pics from the races.

Chris cruising to a first round win.

Jesse edging out a win in the quarters.

Guy with really big legs beats Chris.

SUPAWEEK, YO!

2010-07-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

You know what they say, "... a day late and a dollar short." I guess this makes me seven days late and seven dollars short... Here is the final report from superweek. Just a week late.

I've dropped back to reality, my temporary full time job of cyclist is over for the season. It's great to get away for two whole weeks of the summer and only worry about riding my bike and what I'm going to eat. If only that could be my entire life, I hope that day is in my future.

For those of you that don't know, I've officially reached "BALLER" status since the start of my adventures at SupwerWeek.(click on my picture if you don't understand) I've had a lot of success over the past two weeks, just missing the overall podium by 3 points.

The last two days I was accompanied by my mom on the trip. She's a great supporter and knows when I just need her to get out of the way and let me do my thing. On the second to last day I had my two great teammates JBell and StreetPlaya by my side.

I had one goal on this second to last day, get in a break and make it stick. Let's cut to the chase, it didn't happen. I was in sixth place overall and a break may have secured a podium finish for me. Not only did I not get in a break after a failed first attempt, I was tailgunnin' it all day. Jesse was on the front driving the pace, this course suited him well and he was just smashing it. Little did he know, I was on the back suffering a bit. It came down to a group sprint and though I didn't win it, I came in for a fourth place. I wasn't positioned well and it was a tricky snaking finish stretch. Somehow I managed to get around though and finish well.

Bill got pulled after being lapped with just a few laps to go and Jesse flatted and continued to ride the last two laps with the technical difficulty, whether it was unnoticed or to secure a finish I'm not sure. The results of the day launched me into fourth place overall, just seven points from third and fourteen points from second. I needed to finish 6th the final day to even think about a podium.

So the final day was slightly ceremonial and filled with a lot of fun and drama brought to you by the Blue, White, and Orange squad, the team I've often said I'm not a large fan of without dropping their name again. We started the race with a COMPLETELY neutral first lap, with the first few top GC contenders receiving champagne glasses on the back stretch and toasting across the line before the fun began. Some hooligan from the aforementioned team thought he'd be cool during this lap and sprint away from us, even though the pace car had a flashing yellow light for "neutral." Idiot. Oh well, we all yelled at him, put him in his place and basked in our glory for one lap and then let things begin.

Since there was a close battle for the podium, I had my guys marked and any attack they put in I matched it, knowing I'd have the kick at the finish to do well in the sprint. I chased down my marked man three or more times during breakaway attempts. Each time he realized what I had done, let up and we drifted back. He obviously learned his lesson and sat in the rest of the day, I wasn't letting just him get away.

A breakaway did manage to get away and I found myself on the front doing some work. I still wanted a victory and I wasn't gonna let anyone just walk away with it. ISCorp tried to block, and I mean BLOCK, on the front but I yelled and gave them some words of encouragement to make them pull through so others could do the work. It worked and I didn't see them on the front anymore the rest of the day. That made me happy, just a little.

The last two laps had to be the fastest laps in a Cat 3 race that I've ever experienced. EVER. It was really cool, and I really enjoyed the chance to test my handling skills and my ability to move around the group at those speeds. I impressed myself and after a 10th place finish to round things out at Superweek for, sadly, a fourth place overall I am proud to announce that I have applied for my Cat 2 upgrade and will hopefully be racing the Glencoe Grand Prix and Cherry Roubaix as well as possibly the Gateway Cup in Missouri at the start of September to get a feel for what things will be like with the big boys.

I'm very excited, and anxious, with a side of nerves for the upgrade. I'm confident that I will do well, but I am mentally ready for a slight bit of a rude awakening. I know it will be tough and I'm going to do my best. Having my team, my girlfriend and my family behind me as well as a few friends is a great help. I'm anxious to let you all know if I get my upgrade and can't wait to test my abilities!

On the podium, finally!

2010-07-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

As things begin to wind down here at the ICC SuperWeek tour, things are just beginning to wind up for me. I've reserved myself a bit for these last few days and my points are starting to add up quickly in the overall standings.

This week started with the race in my last update, Whitnall Park, which was a very tiring day and start to the long week of racing. Tuesday was a road race again in Milwaukee, The Bucyrus Cycling Classic. It was a lap course, each lap containing two good power climbs high winds and good technical corners. I managed to get in a breakaway that packed some major horsepower, but sadly it didn't succeed. Three of the four of us in the breakaway were all in the top 10 overall and I'm sure the peloton sensed some urgency with us all out front. A few people escaped again and the sprint was for fifth or sixth place. I ended up eight in the sprint and settled into 8th place overall.

Wednesday was another road race, this time it was a bit longer compared to all previous days, we set out for 70 miles on a 4.5 mile course setting out for 16 laps. It was a super hot day and it was to be my longest road race ever and I was a bit nervous. I'm happy to say I felt extremely good despite having to pee for the last 2/3 of the race. Even though we were neutralized a few times I was a bit too shy to do my duty on the lakefront in Milwaukee. All minor dificulties aside, the race came down to a group sprint despite many breakaway attempts throughout the day. Bill tried to position me up the right side but as things closed up quick on that side I swung over to the left side and less than 300m from the finish a hole opened up and I took full advantage going from about 13-15th wheel to a podium finish in third place!

Thursday it was time to get back into crit racing mode. I felt like crap that morning. I had slept just fine, gotten a full 8 hours of sleep and even though I had done that I woke up feeling so tired I could've stayed at home and napped all day. Tony and I watched the tour to its finish that morning and seeing Schleck win must've motivated me a slight bit as I felt great as soon as we arrived in Racine for our race. Not to mention the fact that I had two teammates by my side for the day. Jesse and Bill were there and helped as much as possible to keep my in the top of the overall.

I didn't get much of a warm-up which made me slightly nervous at the line but once we got rolling on our 42 laps on the .8 mile course I started to feel great. Jesse and Bill were taking turns on the front trying to help catch a break that started very early in the day. All organization was out the window and 3 guys were up the road with between 10 and 15 laps to go. I made desperate attempts to close down the gap myself on the front and got it as close as 10 seconds but as I pulled off no one else could pull through as fast. With about 5-8 laps to go I decided to fall back and leave it to the rest of people at the front. With less than five laps I learned that Jesse had dropped and I hadn't seen Bill for a few laps. He came up to tell me the news about Jesse and he looked quite tired. I still felt rather fresh but I wanted to save it for the sprint. I couldn't close the gap to the break by myself and got into position for the last two laps. A move came on the second to last corner on the outside which I covered and got position on the inside of the last corner with two guys in front of me. I passed one and came in just behind the other for sixth place as there were 3 in the main break and one other rider went on the second to last lap.

My form really seems to be coming around, my power numbers have not been that impressive yet, however I know I am quite fatigued and expect things to swing back up for crit "nationals" in two weeks. With only two days left I am still very hungry for a victory, keep posted as I will be taking more risks to get in a winning break or make a winning move within the last few laps.

Whitnall Park Superweek update

2010-07-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

So today was my second road race of the Superweek series. My goal for the day was to get in any breakaways and try to get out away from the group. I'd really like to secure a spot on the overall podium but I will most likely have to win at least two days to get the points. So that was my goal, if there's a break, you gotta be in it.

Things started off a little backwards from what I wanted to. My friend and I were staged right outside the start/finish straight, waiting for the course to be opened for a warm-up lap. As we were waiting a group of cat 3 riders, from a particular team I don't truly care for, rode through the start/finish while the course was CLOSED to all riders except those in the race in progress. The officials scolded them with a slap on the wrist and no more. After the last rider rode through the finish, the course was opened and Tony, my friend, and I headed out for a quick lap around the course. No one was at the start/finish but us and a couple others that headed out for the same warm-up lap. Now we didn't take a slow lap or a fast one either, but we definitely weren't sitting still. We all cruised up the last hill expecting to see the whole field at the line and ready to start. You can probably guess where this is going and I'm sure you're right. There was no one there but on official in a car. He called out "what are you guys doing? The cat 3's already started!" And you can only imagine the anger that arose. The few of us first thought it was a joke but there was no neutral support car, no official lead car and no riders. We soon realized that it was not a joke and the race had started, without us.

So there were a total of six of us that missed the finish and there was only one way we were going to make up, what we found out later, a minute time gap. After one lap, we lost one rider, after another lap we lost yet another rider. At this time we had the gap down to around 30 seconds. Going into our third chase lap we could finally see the group, but do you understand how much work it is for only four riders to overcome the sheer power and speed of the peloton? We simply smashed it for 4 laps, averaging somwhere around 28 mph and I know when I was pulling on the front I was pushing over 400W of pure anger. After four laps of chasing, roughly 20-25 minutes of pure teamwork, we made it to the group.

I can't even express how tired I was when I got to the group, we had all done just about a 20 minute time trial. I played recovery all day. Nothing special happened for the rest of the day and I positioned myself very well for the finish. I was poised to AT LEAST get in the top 10 and when I stood up to sprint it out after the uphill before the somewhat flat finish there was nothing there. My legs screamed, NO MORE and I sat back down and hammered as hard as I could in the saddle until the last 50m where I got up again and did what I could which wasn't much.

I came in for 14th and it was a well deserved check in my mind at the end of the day. I impressed myself and I know I could now survive in a break with at least 8 miles to go at the end of a race. I'm very excited to get the power data on the computer to analyze how well I truly did in the time before catching the group and then after catching them.

Another road race tomorrow, hopefully a better start and a better result to report tomorrow.

Superweek update

2010-07-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure where to start, it's been a long week already and I've got a full week to go... hence the name SUPERWEEK. I've had some success and some hardships already, so here goes the story.

I had some trouble finding a place to stay. Luckily the guy I stayed with last year, a ZIPP sales rep, found me somewhere pretty close to last minute in Chicago for the first few nights. I struck out in Milwaukee for week two so I am now staying with my friend in Madison, Tony Phillips. The people that housed me in Chicago were great, they had a nice house, let me watch the Tour at will and even fed me. I couldn't have asked for much more.

On the racing front, things started out on a decent note. Day one was a criterium in Richton Park, IL through not what I would call a "ghetto" or a "project" but lets just say I was the minority on this particular occasion. I did this same race last year and it is a tough course. I played it safe since it was early in the series and finished 14th, just in the money for 20 bucks. The next day was the Willow Springs Road Race. We raced through a forest preserve on pretty decent roads. There was a climb and an uphill finish which provided some excitement every lap. We raced for only 30 miles compared to the previous days 35 mile, 80 minute crit. I got in a couple breakaways but had no success. There was a 2 man breakaway with only 2 laps to go. No one thought it would stick and when organization fizzled it managed to do so. The finish was uphill and I sat 5th wheel up the hill for the finish line and as soon as it leveled out slightly, the line was in sight I flew out to the left and up that side. I held my sprint just high enough to out sprint all but one member in the field for 2nd in the field and 5th overall. The next day, was a pretty fun criterium in Lake Geneva, west of Kenosha. There was a good climb, a good hill and a perfect fast finish. I sat in all day, it was extremely hot and I just wanted to make it to the finish. I did just that and we caught every breakaway attempt. It was super windy and I should probably not have ridden my 808s but they paid off in the sprint. I was poised for a 2nd or 3rd but a minor tangle with a rider from ISCorp slowed me down for another 5th place. The next day was a rest and travel day from Chicago to Madison.

I arrived in Madison and Tony and I unpacked the truck and we set out for an easy hour ride while our dinner baked in the oven. When we got back it was Stouffer's lasagna on the menu, we caught up for a while then headed off to bed. We woke up early for our drive to the race in Milwaukee.

The race was in Brookfield, a lovely suburb of Milwaukee. Tony's rear brake broke before the race, causing it to rub constantly. He decided to race despite the technical difficulty and we both set out in the heat again. I made it one lap further than Tony did. He finally had pushed high enough watts for too long and popped off the back. I had found myself in a breakaway and after taking a pull I found myself in a high need of recovery. I got forced to the front of the break and popped soon after. I fell back to the group and tried to hang on to the back. I dangled off the back there for about a lap like a dingleberry just waiting to be wiped off the back. It happened pretty soon, I tried to recover on the back of the group then I popped. I took one easy lap and it was over. I dropped out of a race for the first time in over 2 years. It hurt me mentally but I swore to myself I would come back stronger the next day.

That next day was a super tough crit with a very steep climb after the start/finish line then an even bigger downhill and two technical corners at very high speeds. It was a left hand turn course, which is my style and I knew I could do well in a sprint finish if positioned well. A break got out sadly and organization fizzled with just four or five laps to go. The hill was killer EVERY lap but I got a good system for a high cadence all the way up in the big ring. By the top I was almost grimacing every time through.

I stayed up near the front, safe and sound all day. We flew around the corners and when it came time for the last lap, things were pretty tense in the group. I positioned myself in the top 15 for the finish, there was a big crash on the outside of the last corner and luckily I was on the inside. The group was pretty strung out so I had some ground to cover, it was a drag race finish. I put out some good power numbers, not my best but close at almost 1400W instantaneous and just over 1300 for 5 sec. I came in for 11th place, not as far up as I had hoped but even though I was on the inside I lost a bit of momentum from others taking the turn tighter and me having to grab the brakes.

So far I'm quite pleased with my results. This week I have 3 road races in a row, Monday through Wednesday followed by a crit on Thursday where Jesse will be joining me. I will take Friday off from racing and then race Saturday and Sunday to finish out the series. I am currently sitting in 9th overall and I'm hoping this stretch over the week will help me climb a bit higher. Sorry for so much to update on, I'll hopefully keep this better posted.

WORS Firecracker Race Report

2010-07-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

Michelle and I drove down to Eau Claire, or as she likes to say, "You-Claire", "Oo-Claire" or "Eee-Claire". She refuses to pronounce it correctly to deny me the satisfaction of having taught her the correct pronunciation. I still correct her every time she mispronounces it and then I smile. I guess its a fun little game.

Arriving at about 1 pm, we headed directly to the race venue for a quick pre-ride. Michelle opted to sunbathe while I rode the course. I had raced this course a couple of times before, so I knew what was in store: a ton of fast, smooth, twisty, fun singletrack, very little climbing, and a couple of pretty serious rock gardens. Following the pre-ride, we immediately indulged in Panara Bread, picked up some needed cycling supplies, and checked into the hotel.

We rode our bikes 5 miles to the Northwood Brewery for dinner. The service was appalling, but the beer was delicious. We should ride to dinner more often.

In the morning I put together a couple of yummy bagels with cream cheese and mung bean sprouts, but my stomach was still calling for more, so I had a couple of blueberry muffins, some raisin bran, an orange and a bunch of coffee. I tried to find a bleed kit for my Avid brakes, which were seriously rubbing in the rear, but had no luck on a Sunday morning. I figured the extra work necessary to overcome the brake drag would help grow hair on my chest, so I gave up on fixing them.

After watching Lance lose Le Tour, we went out for more shopping. I succumbed to some clever marketing and ate a Cuban pork sandwich 1.5 hours before the race. As I ordered it, I said, "I could regret this decision". And I did. I burped constantly as I warmed up and seriously considered purging, but I knew that wouldn't make me feel all that great either. No matter, the race must go on.

I got my customary last row start (when will I learn to get to the start line early?) and was near the back of the pack going into the first corner. See me at about :26 in this video.

I made up some spots before the first section of singletrack, but had little to no hope of moving up much. I rode a pretty steady pace throughout the race picking up a spot here and there and getting into a group for a while, which really beats riding alone. I was happy to not surrender any positions in the last two laps, which is where I usually fall apart. I made it through Mr. Hyde (the nasty rock garden) 3 of 4 times. I dropped my chain in dramatic fashion the first time through, but killed it the other times. Its actually pretty fun...watch my arms act as suspension in this video:

So in summary, I got my ass kicked as usual, Michelle I had a wonderful trip and we're looking forward to the next trip, which will include a Brewers' game.

To Troy Meives, Jim Chapman (both fellow Sisu Cycles owners) and the rest of the volunteers who put on this race, NICE JOB. The course was fantastic! I'm already looking forward to it next year.

2010 ICC SuperWeek Schedule

2010-07-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

I will be racing for a total of 11 days over the course of exactly two weeks. The first two days are near Chicago while the rest of the series is based around Milwaukee this year. I'm sad that one of my favorite road races of this series has been removed from their schedule but I know there are plenty others in there that will be challenging and still suit me. I wanted to make my schedule for SuperWeek this year public so here it is!

Mon. July 12th - Richton Park Criterium
Tues. July 13th - Willow Springs Road Race
Wed. July 14th - Lake Geneva Criterium
Thurs. July 15th - Rest Day
Fri. July 16th - Brookfield Criterium
Sat. July 17th - Schlitz Park Criterium
Sun. July 18th - Rest Day
Mon. July 19th - Whitnall Park Road Race
Tues. July 20th - Bucyrus Road Race
Wed. July 21st - Lakefront Road Race
Thurs. July 22nd - Racine Criterium
Fri. July 23rd - Rest Day
Sat. July 24th - Humboldt Park Criterium
Sun. July 25th - Whitefish Bay Criterium

As always, stay posted for updates along the way.

Carpenter wins State Championship on his SISU FF1

2010-06-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

Tom Carpenter riding for Culver's Racing, won the Road CAT4 State Championship last weekend on a SISU FF1. Congrats Tom! Thanks goes to Chris Schmidt (XMATIC) for the photos.

Lumberjack 100-Wellston, Michigan

2010-06-29T11:44:00.000-07:00

Racers often look at me strangely when I say the Lumberjack 100 is my favorite cycling event. Granted, I haven’t raced outside of the state of Michigan and I am relatively new to it all. Still, though the Big M course is, according to ninth place finisher Garth Prosser, a trail that a beginner could ride, at what other Michigan races can I line up with heavies like Eatough, reigning champ Jeff Schalk, and local heroes like Tanguy, Simonson, Musto, and Graham?

Anna and I finished loading up the diesel wagon and drove across town to pick up Cyclefit and Lonesomemountain.com rider Jeff Zimmerman. Jeff is more experienced with 100 milers than I am, having suffered through the mudfest the NUE season has been thus far, but this was his first LJ. We talked a lot about nutrition on the ride, as this, not the mileage, has been the real crux for me. How does one avoid “feeling bad” for a lap or part of a lap? This has been my question for a year since having a horrific second lap at the ’09 event. We were determined to have a good breakfast with pre-made (Chef Jeff) French Toast, eggs, and good coffee..

Pre-race business taken care of, we suited up and tried to warm up on the two mile paved stretch that would be the roll out. My goal was to be into the singletrack in the top twenty so that I could avoid first-lap traffic. I locked out the new Reba and the race was on; the pace on the pavement was faster than I remembered, probably due to a course change. In previous years, the start dumped riders onto singletrack, then smacked you in the face with a nasty, sandy hill. This year, we were headed straight onto singletrack and people wanted…to get there…first!

Despite my efforts, once in the singletrack I was still riding in traffic and every time I hit my brakes I grew impatient. At first I told myself the old “it’s a long race, relax,” but that lasted about five minutes before I stood on a few hills and made some aggressive passing moves to clear some space. I settled in with Joe Slonecki from the Farm Team (who I keep hassling for New Holland samples) and we pushed a comfortable pace until he simply rode away from me two-thirds of the way into the lap. Unlike most riders I saw, I stopped at the aid station for a bottle of Heed, hoping it would pay off later in the race. On the first lap, 33 miles, I had three bottles of Heed, five Endurolytes, and a bar. Back at the transition area, I slammed down a yogurt, some pedialyte, some water and tore off for lap 2 after Jeff rolled into our pit about a minute behind.

The Hogsback was absolutely flying on this bumpy course and the Crossmarks bit nicely on the laser fast cornering. Already, though, I could feel my saddle starting to chew into the skin under my sit bones, and I knew that I was in for some pain. I forgot to butter up at the next pit! I would pay for that for the next week every time I tried to sit down. Later in the race, I had to stand just to relieve the pain. Put this on the list of things to change next year. Saddle? Butter? Endurance pad? Check.

I left the pit already concerned that lap one took too much out of me, but I pushed on, trying to take care of salt and nutrition. About ten miles in, I started losing power, going backwards fast. I tried to stay positive as rider after rider passed, just hoping to make it to the aid station. The spirit of the aid workers definitely was a lift as they filled my bottle, pointed to food, and chatted about the race. Several were admiring my bike, asking about this Sisu thing (the word “beautiful” was implemented). I told the Matt Palomaki/Sisu Cycles story, abbreviated, between bites of PBJ and banana. Slightly revived but with better attitude, I rolled on, taking a mouthful of Heed every few minutes to keep a trickle of calories coming. I hit the dirt road section hard, ate some more, and then hit the last five miles feeling better than I had all lap. I walked some of the last hills, knowing I need to save my cramping-yes, cramping in the second lap-right hamstring some of the damage. I rolled into the pit with a slower second lap of 2:42. The second lap pit was faster than my first, armed as I now was with the knowledge that the aid station was not terribly far away. I didn’t feel great, but had a good feeling that I was recovering a bit for the third lap.

People debate about the mental strain of a 33 mile lap versus a 100 mile loop. I can’t really speak on that, given that LJ is my only 100 miler, but I will testify that ticking off each major hill for the last time of the race is, in itself, a major lift! Early in the third lap, a young guy rolled by. I looked/smelled/sounded so bad that he was concerned! I turned down his offer of a gel, didn’t need it, but thanks, and hope to see you later. Five miles into the last lap, I started to feel good, really good, and I started pulling people in, including gel guy. Guys who looked so strong 10, 20, 40 miles ago were completely shattered. Attitudes change this far in, and for the first time in hours, I felt like, well, the hunter rather than hunted, but how to keep that feeling going?

I rolled into the aid station and went again for PBJ, bananas, heed, and the real prize, two cups of cold Coca-Cola. Hurting, but amped-up and with 18 miles to go, I was determined to finish strong. I also had thoughts similar to single-speeder Wayne Cook (Frasier Bikes) who wailed, laughing “Why do I do this?” At this point, there was a lot of lapped traffic on the course; I loved the determination on the faces I saw. It was really inspiring to see these riders pouring their guts out, going way beyond their limits, writing their own LJ stories, and the emotion pushed me even deeper into my reserves.

When I hit the dirt roads late in the third lap, I felt someone on my wheel and hoped that he would come through for a pull. It was a masters rider, and he apologized that he couldn’t do work. Told him I would do the best I could. I ate another bar and put my head down, all thoughts of saving anything put to rest. It was all out until the finish. I pulled him for a few more minutes in the singletrack until I started to ride away. It was another emotional lift when he thanked me and urged me to ride strong; he probably helped me more than I him.

After the brutal hills and blistering bench-cuts of the last six miles, I got stuck behind a single-speeder who was just behind another geared rider. I stood and sprinted past the single, but had waited too long to gain another spot. I rolled through the finish chute 29th in a time of 8:05:54. I was disappointed to have lost spots (my goal was top 20) from my finish last year, but I still cut 50 minutes from last year’s time. Anna was there at the finish to help me get myself together. Jeff had some struggles on his second lap, but had a strong finish of 8:31. He’s now sitting top ten in the series standings and is planning to challenge Schalk for the title with a strong second half.

My splits:
1- 2:30:11 2:30:11
2- 2:42:31 5:12:413
3- 2:53:14 8:05:54

Thanks again to Matt Palomaki of Sisu Cycles for getting me some suspension and for building a really hot 29er! Thanks to Mike and Kay for the excellent lodging and Anna and Jeff for the great weekend. Great job Rick Plite and crew. It’s still my favorite race!
Sunday Anna, Jeff, and I did a thirty mile recovery ride on M-22 with a burger stop at the Blue Slipper in Onekamah. It was an utterly perfect blue sky day with minimal wind; even though the silver-dollar sized lesions on my butt were killing me, I had good company and world-class Great Lakes coast cycling.

P.S. Sorry about the lack of pictures--dead battery. Full results here: LJ results

More guts than brains

2010-06-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

That's what was on my mind during this entire weekend during my most important mid-season race. This year's Superior Bike Fest saw the worst weather it's seen in most years of its existence. Every day brought a different weather challenge or surprise. It made planning and getting ready for races tough and racing even more tough.

Friday night at the Twilight Criterium I experience my very first crit on wet roads. I was pretty nervous going into the race and was almost late for the start because my computer time is 5-10 minutes off from other clocks. I had just barely finished my warm-up and took one or two quick laps of the new course, got my timing chip and lined up at the start/finish line. The whistle blew and we were off.

The roads were gross, water and sand being thrown up in your face isn't exactly a pleasant way to race but that's part of what our team is all about. GUTS! I launched a breakaway only a few laps into the race to mix things up, with no hopes of staying away but as a gap emerged I got some hope. Another person attempted a bridge and after sitting on his wheel to recover for a lap I got back on the front and let us drift back to the pack. After that my legs were slightly tired, it was a good shock to the system and I felt ready and relaxed, extremely focused on my goal: another sprint victory. I sat in while Jesse sat on the front chasing down every breakaway that went off the front. He crushed everyone's dreams that tried to get off the front, he said he felt "superhuman" throughout the race. After all his hard work I positioned myself for a sprint to start on Front Street and someone attacked just before I had planned and I jumped with them. I came around the final corner in 4th or 5th and worked my way all the way to a solid second place. It was so close, as you can see in the photo above. This was a great start to my ultimate goal for the weekend: a podium finish in the omnium.

Saturday was a totally different story about domination. The road race was dominated by a nine man squad from Hagerty after breaks were launched as we went through Gwinn. The break contained a person from every team but SISU. I was sitting in and recovering from trying to chase the initial break and was doing the same thing just before the gap was bridged by every other team not represented. The break crushed some of my aspirations for a well executed uphill sprint finish. Weather left me tired, disoriented, and discouraged. Hagerty managed to block the group for over 30 miles to allow the break to finish six minutes ahead of us. I had perfect positioning though coming into the finish to sprint from 200m out until somone went at 300m to go. Since I didn't get in the break I really wanted the field win, but the person that took it was flying when they went by me and there was no hope. My legs blew up, cramping with only about 50m to go as a good chunk of the field cruised by. I had nothing left. I knew I had given that day my whole effort, I wasn't overly pleased with my result but in retrospect I know Jesse and I both did a ton of work on the front in hopes of getting closer to the break. I was a tired boy after the long day in the saddle.

Saturday night was fun, I got to hang out with the team: Palo, Justin Koski, Josh McCreedy, Jesse Bell. We went to L'Attitude for dinner and ended up staying and talking about racing and life. I had a lot of fun. It was great to meet Justin and Josh for the first time, you both need road bikes though! After we decided to bounce from L'Attitude, Jesse had raved about the Wild Rover's Chicken Pot Pie, so Jesse, Josh and myself all headed up to the Rover for a second dinner just before they stopped serving. All three of us smashed our own large pot pie which usually takes two people to eat. It was awesome, we hung out and shared more racing and life stories including my own story of how I got into cycling.

For the second night in a row I stayed up late cleaning my bike from the nasty conditions over the weekend. My powertap had also quit sending data but after a battery replacement at midnight it was back to normal for the race in the morning.

Both Jesse and I woke up SUPER early for our race that we thought was at 9am, come to find out it was at 11:25. So after I woke up at 6:30 and double checked the times I went back to sleep for a good 1.5-2 hours. The first time I woke up I felt sick and exhausted but after the second time I felt refreshed and ready for the day. Sunday was a circuit race around Presque Isle in Marquette. This is about a 2 mile lap done in reverse from the direction of normal traffic flow, going up a good steep power climb followed by a long fast downhill to a sharp right hand 90 degree turn that's narrower than the one lane road around the rest of the island.

Jesse was a beast another day in a row for me again. He controlled the race for us, chasing breaks and setting the past for about 70% of the entire race. I simply sat in waiting for the last lap with the fast downhill before the finishing straights. I was about 6th wheel in the sharp corner which was followed by a flat then another right hand corner, another straight and another corner then the finishing straight which was pretty short. I made up one position before the final corner and just edged out 5th place with a stretching finish bike reach for a fourth place.

I owe much of my success to my teammate Jesse, without you this weekend would have a completely different story. You saved my butt on more than just a couple occasions. My strength is not the individual pursuit and to have a teammate as strong as you is very valuable in races such as this weekend where everyone is out to beat the home teams. Jesse asked me after every race if there was anything I wish he would've done differently and he had done everything I asked of him and we got very close to the results we wanted for the weekend. I couldn't have asked of any more from just him.

I had a great weekend, a second and a fourth gave me some good cash prizes and some valuable upgrade points. I ended up fourth in the omnium for the weekend, just out of a podium spot which was one of my goals but after the events of Saturday it was almost impossible without a guaranteed win on Sunday and others that were strong doing really bad. I'm very happy with my form, my sprint power numbers are continuing to climb. It's exciting to look at the computer and see a new, higher number and be able to say "yup, today was a good day!" I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses and I'm still analyzing power data to see what I could have done differently.

It's now time for a hard week of training and preparation for heading off to SuperWeek in IL/WI where I will be doing 11 race days over the course of two weeks. Stay posted as there will be possible training updates between now and then as well as continuous updates throughout the SuperWeek tour.

Thanks again to my team, Matt, all of our sponsors, and all of you who came out to support me over the course of the weekend. All you've done for me means the world to me and I'm enjoying this year of cycling more than any others in the past!

Torn and tattered

2010-06-21T13:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend was full of fun and surprises. The fun started in Thiensville, a groovy suburb of Milwaukee that was host to on of the best four corner crits I've ever done.

The course was a perfect rectangle. The corners were challenging and the heat was impeccable. It had to be upwards of 90 degrees and humid as a Finlander's sauna. I had fun, didn't really feel very "ramped up" for this crit due to my training plan not fitting perfectly but the race provided a good way to get in the racing groove again in preparation for Saturday's race in Grafton. I pulled out a solid 25th place in Thiensville, nothing special but I was happy to finish given the heat and due to some rather sketchy riders.

Saturday was Grafton, a six corner course with 2 gradual rises and a 250 meter finish stretch. This was my course. Sadly a break-away got off the front and even though I did do some work on the front, we were not able to pull it back. I couldn't do it alone. I sat in the rest of the race, trying to put the cards back in my favor slightly. In the midst of all the action I wrapped myself into a pretty gnarly wipe-out. Someone's powertap computer fell of just ahead of me, unannounced to me and with a one in a million chance I hit it with my weight over the bars and flew over the handlebars in a bloody heap. I was wearing my brand new kit, let's just say it's only use now is for cross season, if that. This happened with about 12 laps to go so I hurried over to neutral support and got the bike checked out. Only the brake levers were scratched up a bit and had. The bike looked good, my adrenaline was pumping and I wanted back in. I took my free lap, got a big push to get back in with the group as they approached the wheel pit and jumped right back into the action.

I felt super strong at this point, as I said, my adrenaline was pumping it was my kind of course and I simply just wanted to go. I decided it better for me to sit in and wait for the final laps. The break kept getting further away and it became hopeless to catch them and so it was every man for himself to duke out the field sprint. The final lap came and on the third straight the guy sitting in around sixth wheel just face planted creating a domino effect crash, piling up 10-15 riders. Luckily I was just behind some of the last guys tangled up in it, swung way wide of it all and got in on 5th or 6th wheel. I sat in until the finish stretch where everyone in front of me simply sat on their butt and hard pedaled. I swung out, looked at them as I went by and captured yet another field sprint, good enough for 5th place overall. Solid day.

I woke up Sunday in rough shape, my body was sore and I was tired because I was up late taking care of my road rash. My aunt was planning on coming down for the race as she lives in Green Bay and the race was in Appleton. I couldn't bring myself to call her and say I wasn't racing so I got out on the bike before making a final decision to make sure my power wasn't lacking and that I could turn the pedals in a good circle. I felt pretty decent once I got on the bike and decided it was go time, packed up the truck, ate some breakfast and headed North for Appleton.

It was great to have my aunt there, she said "hi" right at the start before the gun went off which was great because I had almost lost hope of seeing her by the time the race was about to start. She brought her camera and is who I owe credit to for the pictures in this entry.

I went out with no expectations since I was still a hurtin' unit and I knew I had more important things this next weekend, SBF. I didn't take any risks, went out and won my first prime lap ever for 20 bucks cash, and brought in a 19th place finish. I was pleased with the result given the condition of my body. I got in bad position for the last 3 laps and didn't feel like taking any risks as I had been banged up enough for one weekend, let alone the whole summer.

I'm pretty pleased with my fitness level, I didn't feel too fatigued at all after the weekend. My body is taking the crash pretty well. I've got road rash on my right shoulder, elbow, hip and lower leg as well as my left knee. My hip is bruised as well as that was the first thing to hit. Sadly I destroyed my brand new skinsuit after just 2 days of racing, blowing out the right shoulder and hip.

All in all it was a great weekend, The Tour of America's Dairyland is a great series even in only its second year of existence. If you haven't heard of it, get familiar because it is, I'm sure, about to become the best series of racing in the midwest. Last year the pro fields were only reaching about 90 riders where this year they have been over 100 and pushed 150 in Grafton. If the pros are going, you should too!

New Website LAUNCHED! www.sisucycles.com

2010-06-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Well, its been a while since I've gotten a chance to update the website...http://www.sisucycles.com/ After many failed attempts to redesign I decided to outsource the job to Anne Anderson at 360 Imagery in Green Bay. Turns out to be one of the better decisions I've made in a while. I have to give all the credit to Anne as she is truely great at what she does.

The framework is complete, however, I do need to finish some verbage and add pics to some of the pages. This will be a work in progress as I continue to take professional photos of each model.

Please check out the new site and let me know what you think. I'll appreciate your feedback:-)

Pleasantly Surprised!

2010-06-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

I went into this weekend with absolutely no expectations. This weekend's race in Mt. Pleasant isn't very high on my priority list, and with Superior Bike Fest and Tour of America's Dairyland coming up I didn't have any goals but to hang in there and test myself in the second half of each race. Saturday was a crit, a 60 minute torture fest in the blazing heat and Sunday was a road race in slightly cooler weather.

As I said it was slightly warm on Saturday and it's been pretty cool weather up north lately and we've been cursed with quite a bit of rain. This made for some chilly June riding and made for a pretty big shock to the system when I set out for the race. I managed to hang with the group throughout the race, take a few pulls, one big one and a couple small ones. I felt pretty crappy throughout the day and as I had no expectations I felt no need to hound down the lone breakaway from Priority Health that ended up winning the race. The rest of the group came in for a group sprint and I got caught behind a crash in the last corner leaving me in chase mode down the final stretch and putting me in at 18th place. I was happy to finish in the hot weather, especially given the length of the crit.

I woke up Sunday feeling pretty good, not too sore, just slightly fatigued. I walked down to get some ice for water before having breakfast and remember thinking to myself of how I lost this race last year and how I could win it this year. My training plan, though, was to take it easy for the first half and then test myself during the second half. I did just that, and without spoiling the result it all worked out well!

The whistle blew and we were off, we were in for a flat 46 journey. Less than 300m into the race, a guy from the Wolverine squad blasted off the front at over 30mph and the group began to chase as he TT'd away from us! We were off to a FAST start, after catching the single rider we all laid the hammer down and averaged 30+ mph for the first 10 miles, kept that average over 27 mph at the halfway point and after the race we had dropped to an avg. of 26ish. It was a fast day. Alexi Vermulen made many attempts to get off the front as it is one of his only chances of winning a race. In the second half of the race I made it my goal to cover his every move, getting in any break he launched or working to catch a break he was attempting to make.

I felt extremely strong while doing any work at the front and also when I got in the two biggest breaks that occurred over the course of the day. Sad thing was that once the breaks were established, no one wanted to do any work and they quickly fizzled out. The group was chasing hard all day. It felt good to get that experience and do some solid work, but coming into the last 10k I was getting pretty tired. Between seven and five kilometers to go I decided to get off the front and lay low for a bit. Alexi kept attacking as it was his only hope to get off the front in a break and win solo. The group still covered his every move and it came down to a sprint finish out of the last corner with 1km to go!

I was in great position coming out of the corner, we made it through without any crashes which was a relief and it was a straight shot to the finish. It was slightly downhill for the first 400m, flat over a set of railroad tracks then uphill for about 100-200m and perfectly flat for the last 200m. The tracks were really rough and I bunnyhopped over them smoothly but by now I was slightly boxed in. Luckily a gap opened up on the hill on the right side. I saw the opportunity, drafted off everyone up the hill and just as it flattened out I flew around the group seeing nothing but 200-300m of open road, the start/finish banner hanging over the road like a sandwich hung in front of a fat kids face. I was all alone and I was on my horse. I shifted up one last time, laying the hammer down, checking under my arms while in the drops in hopes that no one from the group behind me would come blazing by. I couldn't see anyone and finally I saw the pink line, the finish, I had done it! I crossed the line 2 or more bike lengths ahead of the group. I threw my hands in the air after the finish, pumped my fists and couldn't stop screaming, "YES, YES, YES!!!"

I had done it, not Jesse Bell, who I was mistaken for as I crossed the line. Apparently my 5'9" inch body frame decided to enlarge as I crossed the line and I was first announced as "Jesse Bell from SISU Cycles, number 321, wait, that was Chris Lynch from SISU Cycles all the way from Marquette, MI!" It was a comical mistake.

I was SO stoked to have my FIRST victory as a Cat 3. I gained even more confidence from this result. It was so much fun to go out without any expectations, have fun, test my body, do some work, and then come out and win it. After all that, it was so much more rewarding and I will cherish this victory for quite some time.

Here is the final pic, about 100 ft. from the finish leading them all in.

I'd like to thank Matt for the amazing bike he put together for me. It's really proving itself in the sprint which is an area it hasn't been fully proven before. The bike is AWESOME and I can't even count the number of compliments I got on it this weekend. I'd also like to thank Rudy Project for my sweet shades and Border Grill as our sponsor and my employer for being supportive and understanding of my busy race schedule and as always, thanks to Sarah who is always there cheering me on and as my trusty support crew.

8 Hours at Cannonsburg

2010-06-14T11:27:00.000-07:00

I had intended to do some mellow, long rides over the weekend, but ended up joining Zimmerman and Sweeney for an elite four person team. This style of endurance event was new to me, as was the course, but these guys have the right attitude and I wasn't worried.

Jeff took the first 5.25 lap and blazed off in the humidity. I suited up, did a couple of laps in the parking lot, grabbed some water, went to do a final warmup in the lot...and missed Jeff coming through the exchange. According to Dave, Jeff's face was priceless as he exclaimed, "I'm cooked" and headed out for another fast lap. A rather inauspicious start to my team endurance career, but they didn't razz me too badly. Knowing these guys, that will come later.

I was lucky enough to join two tents full of racers: teachers, bike shop owners, engineers, and Internet Ebay magnates. Due to the heat, I drank about four gallons of Heed, and spent a lot of the day blinking the stinging sweat out of my eyes. Do a lap, wait 50 minutes, lap, and repeat. The first five minutes of every lap was misery and then the rest was fast, swooping singletrack bliss. The tent scene was great; everyone has a nickname and no one got by without some form of harassment and/or encouragement.

We ended up winning the elite category and won back our race entry plus...ten dollars! There was only one other elite team and the race was pretty much decided in the first few laps. Overall, it was a great, ultra laid-back atmosphere. Brent Walk's crew has it together and puts on a good event with the best prizes I've seen-cool bags, umbrellas, and other durable, practical goods.

I did just under three hours of hard riding and followed it up with a 11 mile recovery ride yesterday. Now it's a new cassette to go with the chain and XTR Shadow. Thanks Lonesomemountain.com! Bring on Lumberjack! I'm ready to suffer.

Hanson Hills XC

2010-06-09T03:15:00.000-07:00

After checking the weather 100 times on Saturday, I decided to go to Grayling, regardless of weather, for the Hanson Hills CPS race. Fun Promotions had a great course laid out on what is one of my favorite lower Michigan trails. If you’re ever camping at Higgins Lake or travelling I-75, be sure to stop by for a couple laps; it’s only ten minutes from the expressway. The trail has plenty of climbing to start, but once you are in the hills, it is fast, flowing, and fun. Lean into the curves, stay off the brakes, and be sure to drop a couple bucks in the pipe for the trail!

Thanks to the Mohican 100 (three Michigan guys in the top five!)and the rainy conditions, the fields were a bit smaller than expected. I did a six mile warm-up with a few leg openers, and then lined up with 17 Expert 30-39 riders for the usual pre-race banter, teasing the race director about his sexy, knee-length “poncho,” and anything else to take the mind off the suffering to come. In past races, I’ve lined up anywhere, but on this day, I grabbed a front row spot, aiming for a top place going into the beginning hilly singletrack.

Dave Sweeney grabbed the hole shot and I did my best to hold his wheel. I’m not sure if it was the 26 miles on Saturday or the remnants of a cold, but I was struggling on the first lap. My mind went back to a ride ten years ago in the Hogbacks (Genessee County) when my buddy Erik and I gave Dave a tour. He was the first racer I knew, and the “tour” ended up being us hammering our brains out to keep up with Sweeney on his single speed. The memory was timely as that’s what the group of us ended up doing during this race.

Chasing the escaping leader, a group of us formed: Frascarosi, Thomas, Portenga, and myself. We tested each other on the first lap, but no one was strong enough to bridge the gap or break the others. I knew Thomas was strong; he blew by me at Yankee and handily won our age group, but the others were mystery men. We climbed the steep last hill of the 10.5 mile lap, blasted down the bumpy downhill (my downfall) to start the second lap. Anna gave me a cold bottle, I crushed a gel, and decided to try to bridge to Dave on the tough first hill section. The others hung tough and the only reward for my efforts was a couple glimpses of RBS yellow. I thought if I asked Dave to slow down, he might, but he only chuckled and steadily pulled away. After pulling the group for the entire second lap, they unceremoniously tried to drop me on the final hill. With a fresh bottle (thanks, Anna, best pit crew ever!) I grabbed the last wheel and did my best to recover for lap three.

Lap three was Thomas leading the charge up the hill, Frascarosi, yours truly, and Portenga, who either faded or crashed early in lap three and definitely crashed later in the lap. I expected Thomas to surge, but it was the Italian (?) on the Salsa that made the decisive move with five miles left in the race. Thomas and I were both fading and Portenga seemed to be slowly gaining after, I found out later, a crash that twisted his bars around. I caught two sticks in my derailleur that threw my shifting off, but took no time to stop. On the final kicker hill, I stood and returned the favor from lap two, dropping Thomas, but Portenga was right there. Quads locking, I sprinted a small two-track and dove for the final singletrack section in the money.

It was not to be. I slammed into my big ring for the chattery downhill finish, but lost my line and steered into the rough for just long enough to allow Portenga to cruise by, beating me to the line by a second. My bobble at the finish and loss of third place is disappointing; however, it was great fun testing and being tested by the good group of guys that formed for three laps.

Next up is the Lumberjack 100, June 19. I’m working with Matt to get a shock for the Hogsback so I can relax a bit more and just focus on turning the pedals for 100 miles of prime Michigan trail. This is my first LJ on my steel 29er, first with the Sisu kit, and with just a few more training rides to go, it's taking over my consciousness.

Riding in AZ

2010-05-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a short trip to Tucson, AZ where I had a business conference. Fortunately, there was enough extra time for me to get a ride in each day (as long as I was up by 5:00 am). After the terrible experience I had flying my bike to CX Nationals last year, I decided I'd just rent a bike this time. The rental was a Trek Madone 5.2. It was a nice bike, but definitely not a SISU. It felt pretty strange to be on another brand of bike while wearing my SISU kit, and it took a little getting used to the Shimano shifting, but I managed.

The scenery was delightful and it was pretty cool to watch the sun poke its face up and over the Catalinas as I rode north on Oracle.

I decided to do the Mt. Lemmon Time Trial on Sunday, hosted by the Saguaro Velo Club. I hadn't had a chance to get on Lemmon before then, so I had no prior knowledge of the route, except that it went uphill. Without a rental car, I had to arrange for a van to pick me up at the hotel at 4:45 am and drop me at the race start 45 minutes away. Upon arrival, I registered and then rode the 30 minutes to the domicile of the Brothers Chase. After the bib-pinning ritual, Topher and I spun back to the start.

Topher started about 10 minutes ahead of me. I knew that it would be very hard for me to catch him on the way up the 12.5 mile course, but I stayed positive, hoping he'd have a few flats along the way or something.

At about 5 minutes into the race, I got passed by the guy :30 behind me. That was frustrating, but not as frustrating as when I looked at the results and found out the guy was a cat 5! Oh well, I guess I'm not a climber. I just held my power slightly below threshold and kept going. I felt pretty good, but not 100%. In the end, my average power was about 2% below threshold, which is about what I would expect given the altitude. I finished in 58:15, a little better than my arbitrary 1:00:00 goal.

Here's the man, the myth, the legend getting ready to go:

And here's me struggling to keep moving (the picture is deceiving, I'm going uphill here):

Topher beat me by about 7 minutes (nice job dude!). After the race we continued up for a couple miles and then descended for about half an hour to the base of the mountain and another half hour to his house. Topher was like my personal taxi driver. He shuttled me all over Tucson to get my bike, return my bike, feed me etc. It was really kind of him, and no matter how hard you all hate on him, I still think he's a good guy. Thanks Topher!

I ended up not finishing DFL, which is a victory in my book. I was 12th of 13 cat 3 racers and 60th of 170 overall.

'Twas a good trip.

Classic finish at a classic race...

2010-05-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

On my schedule this weekend was the West Branch Classic presented by Michelob Ultra, in West Branch, MI as the name implies. This year, race organizers added a criterium to the weekend's events in addition to the road race that had been a tradition for years. The road race was over the same 22-mile lap course as years past and the criterium was downtown near their school.

The road course was more challenging than I seem to remember from last year. For the most part it is through rolling farm roads with some good power climbs, a really long downhill and the Mur de Huy finish at the top of a 11-12% grade hill. Needless to say, after 3 laps (66 miles) the third time up the hill for the finish was a challenge. I had done some work to catch breaks, launch breaks, and to hopefully weaken/string out the field. I was pretty toasted when it came time for the final climb. I gave it my all, got passed by a few people, but finished 19th out of 42 starters. Not bad after a long day, I still wasn't happy.

I had a rough weekend last weekend, finishing 16th out of about 25 at LaRue-Denzer-LaRue and 12th at the Wheels on Willy criterium the next day. It was a great weekend of hard workouts, I was slightly demoralized and I knew I had to turn things around this weekend. I was hungry for a good sprint.

Today was the brand new criterium at the West Branch Classic. The course was pretty flat, had 6 corners, potholes and rough pavement but Priority Health was sure to make things interesting right from the get-go. Two of their riders broke away just 3 laps into the race. One of them stayed away for the entire race while the other drifted back to the pack and sat in and continued to fade with about 5 laps to go. At that point we had the gap down to 10/15 seconds and we were working hard, we got it down to just seven seconds but with only two or 3 laps to go organization crumbled and the gap enlarged. I however didn't know how many laps were left.

I heard the announcer say something so I asked the guy next to me how many laps were left, he said "one, this is the last..." I guess you could say I got a little adrenaline rush, I had fallen back in the group around 25th wheel or so and I had ground to make up if I wanted some good results. That little rush put me into 10th/15th on the second to last straight. I shot the inside of the last corner, knowing that the right side of the road would be the clear part out of the wind. My move in the corner got me into 8th place and I sprinted my heart out behind two guys for about 50 meters allowing me to spin up real nice. I flew around them on the right shoulder about 250 meters from the finish, it was a long straight. It looked like a long ways to go still and I was afraid I had gone to early with the head/cross-wind. I felt good and just kept pedaling while my confidence built to the finish. I crossed the line, sat up, looked back and just caught the rest of the field crossing the line. I had won the field sprint! I was extremely happy, I had broken my dry spell and gotten a podium finish.

As usual, results took forever to get posted. Today's results were posted with me in second because of the one-person break and after the omnium points were scored, it was time for awards. One of my fraternity brothers took 5th today, followed by a couple guys from the Wolverine squad, then myself in 2nd, and Lex Vermeulen in 1st. I was very pleased with my results and much to my surprise I got called right back to the podium for 3rd overall for the weekend. All in all I walked away with a 100 dollar check, a 6-pack of beer, a Michelob Ultra hat, and most important was that I have my confidence back.

Time for a week off from racing, some solid training days and then some of my most important days of the summer, Tour of America's Dairyland and Superior Bike Fest.

Floyd Landis. . . An American Hero?

2010-05-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well, the dust has settled after Floyd has admitted to using PEDs for most of his career and accused others of doing the same. I find myself sick to my stomach not because of the continued allegations made toward my most beloved sport of cycling, but because of the thought that there are people like Floyd Landis out there in the world taking advantage of good people who are trying to help those in need.

The page to the above is from the OUCH Team site and http://www.floydlandis.com/. I took a screen shot because I would bet dollars to donuts that it won't be up for long. They call Floyd Landis an American Hero and go on to say that many consider his 2006 TDF stage 17 victory to be the greatest athletic comeback of all time. Well, I would say that not many people would consider it any longer.

If you haven't already, please listen to the video (above) setup by Floyd to help raise money to fund his legal case. There are a few seconds of nothing at the beginning. Warning: If you have a weak stomach you may not want to listen to this. . . it caused me to vomit a little (like when you think you are going to burp but then surprise, and a little food comes up) when I saw it.

Here is a guy who cheated the sport to win the most coveted race in the world, denied he cheated, set up a fund to support his legal actions to fight the UCI, accepted between 1 and 2 million dollars of honest people's money, continued the legal fight for years, and then after everything played out . . . he says "oh and by the way, I doped and took PEDs for most of my career."

I can see doping and taking PEDs. Ok, so he felt like he couldn't do it on his own so he called the doping doc and sold his soul to the cycling devil. If he stopped there, served his two years, then attempted a comeback (like everyone else) it would be as shameful as all the cyclists who served a ban. But taking people's hard earned cash is going to far. Who does that? He must have no conscious . . . AT ALL!! What was he thinking to himself the day money started rolling in to help him fight his case? I can't even imagine someone being able to accept the money and then set up the "Floyd Fairness Fund"!!!!!!

He clearly has issues.

Victory at Brighton!!!!

2010-05-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend was my first ever stage race and what a blast! I won the XC event on Sunday and got 2nd place missing Adam Sulkowski by 28 seconds over 3 hours of racing!

The weekend was a battle from the get-go! The time trial was Saturday morning - Stage 1 and it was pretty short and technical! I had a good loop but ended up 40 seconds back from Adam after two chain slips and running three hills as a result of not knowing the trail, slippery gravel and just nerves! I found that it is tough to settle in on a 30 minute sprint and relax to focus on technique!

In the afternoon there was a 5 lap short track race! Most of the guys in the front for sport were on cross bikes! The course was all grass and a short pavement section. I crossed the finish line 3rd and picked up 10 seconds on Adam -- NOT TOO SHABBY!

Sunday morning came and I was feeling great! I knew that we had a 23 mile ride ahead and that all I had to do was gap Adam by 30 seconds and first place was mine! Well, Adam knew that too and he raced that strategy!

I went out hard and settled in having a solid first two laps! The third loop took it's toll and I fell off my pace a bit. I finished strong and beat Adam to the finish line winning my class that day but Adam grabbed the stage victory!

I had a blast! I have gone from 7th in my age group in Sport 30-34 in the first race of the year to 4th at Yankee, 2nd at Custer and a win here with a three minute gap in the XC race to the 3rd place guy behind Adam and I!

I am making a ton of progress and am looking forward to jumping up to expert class soon!

Next weekend I may be racing at Bloomer Park! We will see what happens! Looking forward to the bike fest!

2010 Race Calendar

2010-05-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

Barry-Roubaix Killer Gravel Road Race
* * Josh 57th Overall, 15th Age (35 mile)
* * Justin 17th Sport 30-34
Ronde Van Skandia April
* * Jesse 7th Place
Yankee Springs Time Trial
* * Josh 3rd Place Expert 30-39
* *Justin 7th Place Sport 30-34
Pontiac Lake
* * Justin 4th Place Sport 30-34
Circuit of Sauk
* * Jesse DNF
WORS Off-Road Series
* * Iola - Jesse 53rd Overall, 15th age group
LaCrosse Criterium
* * Chris - 5th Cat 3
Ft. Custer
* * Justin 3rd Place Sport 30-34
LaRue-Denzer-LaRue
* * Chris - 16th Cat 3
* * Jesse - DFL Cat 3
Wheels on Willy Crit
* * Chris - 12th Cat 3
* * Jesse - 31st Cat 3
Brighton Stage Race
* * Justin 1st Place 23 mile XC Sport 30-34
* * Justin 2nd overall in 3-stage race Sport 30-34
Bloomer Park XC May 29
Hanson Hills MMBA CPS June 6
Ruby Campground MTB June 13
Tour of America's Dairyland June 17-27
Lumberjack 100-June 19
* * Josh 29th Overall
Keweenaw Chain Drive June 19th
* *Jesse 11th Overall
Superior Bike Fest June 25-27
* *Chris 2nd in criterium, 19th in road race, 4th in circuit, 4th omnium (Cat 3)
Stony Creek Endurance July 3
Pontiac Lake MTB XC
Superweek July 9-25
* * Willow Springs - Chris 14th Cat 3
* * Lake Geneva - Chris 5th Cat 3
Stony Creek XC TT July 25th
Ore to Shore August 14th
Ft. Custer MTB TT August 22
Cherry Roubaix August 28 & 29
Stony Creek MTB XC August 29
Keweenaw Fat Tire Festival, September 5th
Iceman-November 6
UPCROSS Series September-November
USAC Cyclocross Nationals, December 9-12

Fixing a Fox RL lock-out pod

2010-05-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

This is a great read if you are having problems with your lock-out sticking, jamming or malfunctioning.... No need to call Fox - Just read this blog!

So I figured I would just share this bit of information with the web world out there. It sounds like Fox has got a ton of calls on this pod locking up and they do not sell a new unit -- You have to buy a whole new fork!

Don't do it! It is unnecessary! Also, do not attempt to pull, itslef on the handlebars apart -- the issue is most likely in the mechanism mounted to the fork itself at the other end of the cable. The black plastic housing that attaches to the fork comes off with 3 easy allen head screws - 1.5 mm I believe...

Anyway, there is a spring and a couple of spring-loaded washers in there so be careful when you pull it and make sure that you mentally note the orientation of the beveled piece in there because if you put it back together the wrong way it will not work and you could snap the cable so be careful!

What happens - since that housing is not sealed - as you can imagine is it builds dirt, rust, etc. When you get it off, pull the spring, clean it, and dry-lube everything before re-assembling.

What I do now, after a ride and after I wash my bike I use compressed air to blow out the housing and I have been pulling it and lubricating it monthly as well to prevent the same problem in the future!

Good luck and go Sisu!!

The time my nerves didn't get the best of me...

2010-05-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

So this weekend marked the beginning of my 2010 racing season, nearly a whole month earlier than I started last year. I'll admit, I've had a much more solid training plan early on in the season this year when compared to last year, however I've was plagued with illness less than a month ago. The cold/flu-ish symptoms were similar to the only kind of sickness that I really ever develop which ended up lasting a week and lingered for yet another week after. A lot of this came from what I believe was a nutritional problem which has been fixed since the sickness. With that on top of the end of the year, I was extremely busy with school. Somehow I managed to sneak in rides after class, before meetings and what-not.

The race was a criterium in La Crosse, WI, a seven and a half hour drive from Houghton, where I was since I hadn't moved back home to Negaunee yet after school finished. I drove to Green Bay on Saturday (a four hour drive) and stayed FO-FREE with my aunt that lives there and left that morning for La Crosse which was almost another four hour drive. There's no good east/west route across southern WI so it was two lane highways almost all of the way. My nerves were on me already, I wanted to be early and being caught behind slow cars in farm country I saw time slipping away. Luckily we got to La Cross only about 20 minutes after I had wanted to. We were a whole hour and a half early, thankfully. I quickly registered, cleaned up the bike, got dressed, quickly ate some bread with Nutella (a pre-race ritual I have), and started my warm-up. I forgot my GU at the truck and had to go fetch that only 15 min. before the start. After doing the whole list of things above, not much time was left so I did what I could and lined up for the start of my first race. I was a nervous wreck.

There were a few hazards on the course, a tight first corner, bumpy and windy backstretch, bumpy third corner and an extremely sketchy final corner. There was a sunken man-hole, about two inches below the road surface, cracked and broken pavement on the inside of the corner and a patch job leading into the corner that was anything but smooth that created a very technical entry into the corner. If a picture could have done any justice I would have taken one. There were two teams that were constantly lauching flyers, one break-away after the other while their team always jumped on the front to be sure to block. The group would always get their brains in order and attack to catch up but it created a lot of up and downs in speed, always sitting back then accellerating, then back to sitting back. I played things smart since I was alone and did my best to stay within the top ten at all times. There were a few times I found myself at the back, trying to catch my breath but would find my way back to the front.

Going into the final lap, we were attempting to catch a break. In the middle of that lap we caught it and the guy that lead that chase simply kept going, creating a small gap and it looked like he might get the victory. The group accelerated quickly and I found myself falling back slightly at the beginning of the backstretch. I stomped on the gas, moving to the front, and shooting the inside of the second to last corner. That move put me into about 6th or 7th and I shot the inside of the last corner and sprinted up the left side of the road. Four people had broken off the front, just about a second ahead of me and I found myself in fifth, leading the entire group out for the sprint. Somehow I managed to hold my spot, letting no one past me just flying up the edge of the road. I could see the shadows and hear the shifting gears behind me, expecting someone to come flying by me. My legs were strong and I held off everyone for a solid fifth place finish.

I must say, I am very pleased with the outcome. I was extremely pleased with the new bike which was one of the reasons I was most nervous. I had faith in it, and my legs but it's still new and it was my first race of the season. It railed the corners and kept my brain from rattling out of my skull on the rough roads. I'm extremely pleased with the results of the weekend and with the bike, happy to shake out the nerves for the season and get off to a great start. Now I'm back to the grindstone, hopefully getting in some hill intervals in preparation for the next race which will be the first one with some teammates. Very excited for that weekend in Madison, May 15,16.

I'd like to thank Matt from SISU Cycles for getting my bike ready before the first race and my girlfriend Sarah for being my support crew for the weekend.

STAMPEDE is a great name...

2010-05-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

Well, the first real race is officially completed. I was a little confused during the race but learned a lot. They started us in waves one minute apart by age so I was in the third wave.

I was the first out of the sprint field start to the single track and setting the pace for my wave for the first two miles or so. The race was going very well until we started catching the guys from the wave in front of us! The two guys on my wheel started calling passes for me so I quickly got schooled in calling passes and being aggressive...

I let them go after a long flat section that I pushed really hard on. I stayed with them for three miles or so until we all went to pass a guy and they got by but I didn't! My handle bars hit his and that was it! Down we went, my shift pod was caked and not functioning. I fixed that on the fly but never caught those guys again. I saw them once on a hilly section on the second lap!

My lap 2 time was almost exactly the same as the first! I learned the trail! 2nd in my age and not sure what I was overall! Not bad for the first go!

I am looking forward to Brighton next week! The one guy that beat me was a guy named Jesse who won the Yankee race and he was running with "Custer Cycle" and we raced at Fort Custer! Probably knew the trail pretty well!

Bike was bad ass! I wrenched a lot the week of tuning and perfecting my new parts! I have new Stans No Tubes, rotors, new XTR cassette and a newly tuned lock-out pod on my Fox RL...

SIDE NOTE - If you have an issue with a remote lock out DO NOT take the pod apart! YOu will have a project on your hands! There are springs and parts and tiny things EVERYWHERE and the problem is more likely in the mechanism mounted to the top of the fork!

Anyway, Brighton stage race in two weeks! Talk soon!

Motivation through da feet

2010-05-03T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I laid my road bike down at 30 mph on a sandy corner. Other than a suspected torn rotator cuff, my biggest concern was what the accident would do to me mentally. My brain has been doing some funny things since that crash. No matter how many times I tell myself that I'm not afraid to fall, that I tell myself to push it going into that corner, the brain still tells my hands to grab those brake levers. Some people may interpret this to mean that my frontal lobe has finally fully developed, but I'm not going to believe that nonsense. I needed a confidence boost and was really hoping to get it as I lined up for my first Cat 3 road race -- The Circuit of Sauk, a 3 lap 45 mile race.

The field was small and the wind was howling. As we hit the first monster of a hill, I was immediately redlined and knew I wouldn't be able ride that hill 3 times that fast. We dropped two or three guys by the top and the attacks started immediately. They were pretty half-hearted, but sufficient to sap my legs of 100% of their fuel. I was dropped at an acceleration up the next rise, about 12 minutes into the race. I battled the wind alone for a few miles staying about 30 seconds behind the field. I was eventually joined by a few other guys and we worked together to stay within sight of the main group, but never suffered the illusion that we would catch them. The wind was just too much and I was done. Myself and another guy did most of the work while two others just held on. They both abandoned after the first lap. I would have abandoned too, but I felt bad leaving the other guy alone, so we continued on for a second lap. Before long, I was unable to pull through at all. Sitting in was hard enough and I eventually lost his wheel near the end of the second lap. With a WORS race the next day and the prospect of riding another lap alone, I quit after just 30 miles. Nice confidence boost!

My shoulder wasn't bothering me much on the road bike, but I was afraid of how it would react to mountain bike racing on my rigid Hogsback. Michelle and I went out for a quick pre-ride of the Iola course and to reacquaint myself with the mountain bike. It had only been out of the barn two times this year. I was pleased with the noticeable lack of pain, but absolutely sickened with how little nerve I had in the turns. The second half of the course is tight, twisty singletrack, so that didn't bode well for the race.

The Elite WORS field was HUGE! My starting position at the back of the pack assured me a slower start as the racers strung out up the first hill (I like that), but also meant I had to stop a couple of times when guys in front of me had minor mishaps (I greatly dislike that). There's a video of the start on Youtube here. I was 40 seconds back from the leaders, and the 76th racer through the ski jump bowl at about 3 minutes into the race. Anyway, I rode hard, had very consistent lap times, got held back in the singletrack by other riders, but not by my shoulder or my brain. Once the race was on, my competitiveness overcame the tentativeness and I cruised the singletrack. I finished in the bottom half, and that's where I expect to fit in this time of year.

So, the road race thumped me and motivated me to train harder. The WORS race gave me confidence in both my legs and my technical skill. Although I'm not a big fan of DNFing, I think this was good start to the season and I'm looking forward to a lot more racing.

Trial run at Fort Custer...

2010-04-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well the 650B is officially pimped out, rollin' smooth and ready to rock for this weekend! Fort Custer is a really cool venue. There is pretty much everything from long flat speed sections with fast technical turns, to obstacles, ditch sections and steep rock ledges. It is going to be an interesting race on Sunday!

I am looking forward to my first "REAL" race with the sport guys. I have been talking strategy and trying to understand a few things. I am a little worried about getting behind a slow guy in a technical section and loosing the leaders and / or having to really work to catch back up!

Either way, my expectations are - obvious if you know me at all - to WIN THE RACE! I have no idea what or who I will be up against. I do know this, Fort Custer had more riders than any of the other 5 MMBA events down here last year so I am sure there will be some contenders. Hopefully I will be out front all day... Who knows though!

I will update everyone Monday! I am looking forward to a Friday ride with Josh McCreedy out on the Poto trail in Pinckney! Happy trails and tight chains!

Koski

2008 Specialized Tarmac vs. SISU Cycles FF-1

2010-04-26T20:17:00.001-07:00

VS.

So here it is, the long awaited review. I know Matt is probably stirring in his bed right now, unable to sleep because he wants to know how his bike sizes up with the competition. Well, Matt, rest assured because the FF-1 is blowing my socks off!

In 2008 I bought the Specialized Tarmac Expert pictured above, using part of my graduation money and a lot of hard work throughout that summer. I got it brand new, without the ZIPP wheel pictured, and won my first race just two days after getting it. Needless to say this bike has some memories, good and bad. I raced it for two seasons during my emergence into cycling. Like I said, it owned my first victory, my first superweek, first three hour day, along with countless other things. Nothing like reminiscing about something so important to your life. This bike got me through a lot.

Sadly though, after being sized for my new FF-1 I was surprised to find out that the bike was too large for me. As Matt said, "You're stretched out on this thing like a top level pro!". After a few adjustments to shorten the bike to a more comfortable, generally better riding position, I knew what he meant. Honestly the bike was huge for me. However, I've grown used to that stretched out position so we didn't want to take things too far. Matt sized me up for a 53.5 cm frame, 2.5 cm smaller than my Tarmac. What is a seemingly small number ended up making a world of difference.

I used to think my Tarmac was the stiffest thing on earth. Specialized was all I ever knew about bikes. I got my first mountain bike: a Specialized, first road bike: a specialized, and then this bike: yet another specialized. For some reason I thought they just "fit" me very well. I liked the brand and it seemed like they put a lot of effort into research with pros and just within their company. To be blunt, this bike was a noodle. The ZIPP 808 you see pictured above rubbed on the chain stays, not because of its own flex but because of the frame's. Literally, every time I pedaled, the bottom bracket swayed at least 5 mm side to side if not a whole cm. That was drastic and made me see how much power was being robbed from my legs. Like I said, Specialized was all I knew, it was what I was comfortable with. Little did I know that a SISU FF-1 would be in my future.

As I stated in my last entry, this bike is stiff! I've ridden four days on it so far, a total of 8.5 hours in the saddle on this beautiful machine. On that note, the paint job/decals are what really set this bike apart from any other. Everything else is available to any other consumer on the market, however the one-off paint job and wheel decals are so sick! If you ever get to see this bike up close and in person you will understand. It's so cool to see it all together and have my name on it. Every time I look down during a hard effort, I see "GUTS" along with my last name back by the integrated seat post. Nothing is cooler than having your name on your race machine, cheesily it makes me feel like a pro. That's motivation for the future.

In all honesty, every bit of this bike is custom. The sizing process was very personal and assessed all my riding habits including but not limited to all the measurements of body angles, bike part heights and lengths, what type of rider I considered myself to be (a surprisingly hard question to answer), as well as identifying any of my strengths. All this taken together built this awesome bike. A bike that is dialed in for me and only me, with the parts I wanted and my name on it. DOPE right? It gets better...

The bike rides like a dream. It soaks up so much road noise, the kind that only U.P. roads can offer no matter where you go. From the side roads in Marquette County to the cobbles of downtown Houghton, this bike is smooth. On top of that great comfort factor comes stiffness that I'm not sure can be beat. Wheel rub? GONE. Bottom bracket flex? Minimal at most, not even visible while riding anymore. Now for the riding disciplines: Flats - aerodynamic integrated seat post, aero zipp wheels, FAST, transfers all the power to the ground and just flies; Cornering - very light under the body, easy to point and shoot corners, it's as if the bike does the work for you throughout the corner; Climbing - very stiff and stable, comfortable seated or standing and seems to suit my climbing style very well; Sprinting - though I haven't gotten the chance to do much this bike is fast, power is transferred right to the wheels and off you go. I sprinted away from a car yesterday at a STOP sign without even thinking about it.

Needless to say, I'm blown away by everything. Yes, things have changed in the bike industry, people now have a desire for stiff frames but you can't beat the local experience of a custom build and fit dialed for YOUR body to perform at it's peak. For a truly custom experience, you can't go wrong with SISU. Below is the another image for you all, a closer if you will, of the saying that will get me through everything this season as well as next for sure. GUTS, if you ain't got 'em get a SISU and you'll know what it's all about.

Rollin' with TT's...

2010-04-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well the MTB season is officially underway. I am currently riding in the sport category and have only done two time trials thus far on the trails. I ran in the Barry-Roubaix with my cross bike four days after getting it. That was interesting!

The first TT at Yankee Springs was cool. I am learning how races differ from training's and strategies for different distances vary, etc. I am still getting to know my bike a bit. Just got new wheels last week for my 650B and I am MUCH faster! Got to ride with Matt last week too and am currently putting together a pretty awesome training program for May.

Thanks to Sisu, Matt, Jesse Bell, Tyler Jenema and Jared Koski for continued support, advice and everything else. I look forward to a great season!

Koski

Lance, you were wrong, it's all about the bike!

2010-04-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

When I first got into cycling I read Lance Armstrong's book, It's not About the Bike, and learned a lot about life and what he meant by that title. At that same time I fell in love with biking, especially road biking. However I am here to tell you today that I have discovered a flaw in this claim by Mr. Armstrong, it's all about the bike!

You see, Lance Armstrong did not have access to SISU Cycles at the time of this claim, nor was it the dominating force of cycling that it is now. As we all know SISU Cycles has been a rising power in the bicycle industry since its start in the U.P. in August of 2006. If only Lance would've known about the expanding superpower of bicycles was happening right here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He stuck with his deal with Trek as any pro would for his comeback last year at the height of SISU's rise to power. Bad move Lance, you could have had some SISU in your life and won the tour last year. Such a shame... But third was good enough, right?

Unlike Mr. Lance Armstrong, I saw the hope in such a company and I wanted victory. After SISU offered to sponsor me for the 2010 and 2011 seasons I knew this was the right decision for me. Not only a great team, but a great bike. After an evening test ride with owner and team director, Matt Palomaki, I was sold. This bike, the SISU Cycles FF-1 (Flying Finn 1), was the bike for me.

What I found in the frame is a super stiff, very supple ride. The bike responded to every bit of input I gave it. I didn't get the chance to rail a corner, but that is first on my list once I take my new bike out for it's inaugural ride. I was so impressed that I started work right away that evening to pay for this new bike while also planning one of the sweetest custom builds in SISU Cycles history.

I met with Matt at 9am Thursday morning to work on my ZIPP decals for my 808 wheels what would add the aerodynamic edge to my new ride. That was my task while he built the bike up with SRAM Red components throughout as well as a ZIPP SLC2 handlebar, WCS stem, Selle Italia SLR saddle and white bar tape to top it all off! After a full day of building, peeling old decals off and replacing them with custom graphics from Signs Unlimited we ended up with a truly custom machine.

The initial test ride of the new bike immediately after the build felt very good. All the feelings I had on the very first test ride of Matt's bike were there. The difference was that it was mine, it had my name on it, my parts and I was ready to ride! The frame soaked up all the vibration that only roads like Greengarden road can provide and as stated before, was stiff as a board. I took it easy at first and built up to a moderate sprint followed by a short climbing test. I couldn't be any more pleased with the feel of the bike. I'm sure I'll have adjustments to make after my first real ride on Friday, but I'm very excited to have the bike and begin dialing it in.

So back to the fact that Lance was wrong; it is ALL about the bike. As you can see from the picture above, this thing just looks fast and ready for success. Friday will be the true testament to this but I feel that this bike will bring me to a whole new level of racing simply because of its design and the fact that I got to make just about every decision about the bike along the way.

It's been a while now since the day over Spring Break when I first was offered this sponsorship and we started work on this project but I couldn't be happier now. This bike is off the chain! Soon to come will be the comparison between my 2008 Specialized Tarmac Expert vs. my new SISU Cycles FF-1.

Ronde Van Skandia

2010-04-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

I raced the Ronde last weekend. I'd write a race report, but there is absolutely no way I could improve on Chris Schmidt's composition. See it at www.redjacketcycling.com.

Yankee Springs Time Trial

2010-04-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

I came into Yankee hoping for a top ten finish and ended up just making the podium (Expert 30-39) by 4.2 seconds. Results: http://www.raceservices.com/10/yankee/041810_ee.txt This was my fourth year racing Yankee, my fourth year racing-if the 4-7 races I do a year qualifies as a racing year-and the first year I actually prerode the course. Here are other things I should know by now:

1. Bottles disappear. Last year I lost a bottle and barely avoided bonking. This year, I carried two of the Hammer gel bottles with mix, in my jersey. I picked up said disappearing bottle on lap two and barely avoided a miserable, depleted finish. Maybe a pack is in my future...hmmm.
2. Tire pressure matters. This was my first race on the rigid 29er and it was by far my best result yet. Subtract extreme bounce, a lame, low-speed spinout, and a bottle stop...and I still would have been third, who am I kidding? Anyway, I knew I wanted to run low pressure as I pin-balled around the roots and rocks on my first preride lap and then stuck to everything with five PSI less. I liked 28-9 on the preride, but lost my gauge and rode the TT with way too much air!
3. Eat too much breakfast. Banana, yoghurt, coffee, cereal, milk two hours before with a lot of water. I like a heavy egg, meat, and bread breakfast, too, like Iceman last year. This might be its own number on the list, but warming up helps a bit, some say. Enough of this. What matters?
4. Sisu steel makes me faster.

Pontiac Time Trial this Sunday. I haven't ridden the trail yet this year, but hope to get there this week. My legs were sore on a recovery ride tonight, but I'm feeling pretty rested in general.

Brown County State Park

2010-04-12T13:44:00.000-07:00

Ah...spring break! I've been reading and hearing about Brown County Hills Region, Indiana, for years now (http://www.browncountymountainbiking.com/). There's a lot of hype about the thirty or so miles of singletrack, all hand or machine built to IMBA standards by the Hoosier Mountain Biking Association. It's a great story: mountain bikers approach DNR, do their homework by attending IMBA/Subaru trail schools, win over skeptics, win a $150,000 grant, and build some absolutely gorgeous singletrack. As an MMBA member and trail worker, I was curious to look at the trails from a building standpoint. But at the start of the MTB season, I also wanted to get some good trail miles in to sharpen my skills on the new bike.

For the last couple of years, they've been putting on the Brown County Breakdown, a group ride/event with distances up to 100 miles. I ran into some riders at Lumberjack last year who raved about the BCB, named for a Bluegrass song, (Brown County is home to the Bean Blossom BluegrassFestival, the oldest in the country) but maybe this Oct0ber. After riding here, it would be a shame to miss it.(http://www.browncountymountainbiking.com/breakdown/index.html)

So when I decided this year to make my annual Outdoor Club spring break trip a summer trip, I began fantasizing about either a Mohican/Loudonville, OH trip or, finally, a chance to sample the forested, clay hills of Southern Indiana. As opposed to fifteen, albeit great, teenagers, this was a solo trip-me, my hot rod mini-van, and this beautiful steel bike by the name of Hogsback, a Sisu it is.

Day 1: I rolled out Easter Sunday (sorry family, I had to do it) and did the long stretch through SW Michigan, to Fort Wayne, to a lucky find, a Trader Joe's stop in an Indy suburb. Properly fueled up, and starting to wonder if all the flatland would ever yield decent terrain for biking, I headed south toward Columbus, In. and started to see hills, big, beautiful ridges covered with mature Eastern forest. A scant fifteen miles from the highway, six hours home to trail, I pulled through the 9' covered bridge into the park. My non-electric campsite? $10.25. Nearly hyper-ventilating with excitement, I threw on the kit, grabbed the excellent map, and put in an exploratory ride, 10 miles of singletrack and six on the ultra-steep paved park roads. A road rider would have just as much fun as a moutain biker here.

After the ride, I drove the fifteen miles into Bloomington, a gem of a college town, for a locally-grown burger and refreshment. Could life get better? Well, maybe sleeping in a van could be improved upon...but with stars like that?

Day 2: As my friend Ray said while winter camping and dirtbagging around the UP one year, "I want a 'real breakfast.' Let's go the the Sweetwater Cafe!" I wanted a real breakfast and headed to the Muddy Boot in the artist colony, Nashville, Indiana. It's touristy, but has a tiny arthouse cinema, a brewery, restaurants-all the amenities. After powering down a huge plate of local sage sausage, potatoes, eggs, and a gallon of coffee, it was back to the bike. Tough life.

Tough miles more like it. In Michigan terms, the closest thing I can compare it to is the South Marquette Trail System. It's flowy, technical, rocky, fast, gnarly, and all fun. There are vistas that look on miles of forest and the trails take you from the Chestnut Oak ridgetops to the Maple/Beech to the creekside ecosystems deep in the valley. The hills run in the 300-400 foot range, not North Carolina, but bigger than my haunts back home in Holly.

These men and women can build some trail! The streams and drains are armored-big, burly rocks that won't be going anywhere, but ride nicely. One new trail, the Schooner Trace, had such nasty rock entrances, I was scared away on my rigid 29er. Maybe I'll be confident enough next time to hit that and some of the doubles that abound on the Lime Kiln Trail. One note: avoid these trails after multi-day rains or in the spring freeze-thaw; the clay must be a mess as there is signage everywhere.

After 26 miles of singletrack, I had ridden all the trail in the park, but only in one direction. I was hammered, quads pulsing, and took a hot shower in the campground. A bit bored with myself, I headed into Bloomington again to Bloomingfoods, a great co-op, and took my Reed's Extra Ginger beer and vittles on the road for a scenic drive. After two hours of scenic hills and farmland, and a discovery of just another 150 or so miles of trail, and a hailstorm of quarter-sized hail, I headed back to camp for a hot Oak fire and the national championship game on Butler radio! Great game but I'm genetically required to root for the underdog.

Day 3: I woke unsure if I had more riding in me, but after strong java and a hearty breakfast in the 70 degree morning, I found enough juice to ride the road to the North Entrance so that I could hit the North Tower and Aynes Loops (both clockwise this time) and finish with the Hesitation Point connector. The fatigue melted away and my heart was singing for the raw beauty of Brown County State Park and its heavenly singletrack.

This area has the potential to develop into a destination, if it's not already. I love the fact that I can ride my bike to five different trail systems from home, but sometimes it's nice to get away from everything to see yet another miraculous place in this fine country of ours.

Killer Gravel

2010-04-01T04:55:00.000-07:00

In the course of the last year, I was able to forget how painful the pace and the climbing of Barry-Roubaix really are. Within fifteen minutes of the start, trying to hang with some of the fast groups separating from the field, it all came back.

I woke up Saturday morning to bitter winds and a temperature somewhere in the mid 30s: it was going to be a cold couple of hours in the saddle. I slammed some yoghurt, banana, water, coffee, a bar or two, and warmed up my van to change into the kit.

My Hogsback was ready to go, and after a quick tire pressure check (35 psi in the Bulldogs), I got in some warming laps around the Gun Lake campground, although it was too cold to break the sweat satisfactorily. I knew the start would be cold, but I'm always willing to suffer a bit to avoid stripping layers later. Leg warmers, regular shorts, long-sleeve tech t-shirt, long-sleeve fleeced jersey, mid-weight gloves, cap,-no booties, no ear band, no shell-my setup felt perfect.

The (not so) neutral roll-out and start/finish area was just a half-mile from the campsite, so my buddy Jeff and I cruised over with a few minutes to spare. All classes, all racers, were rolling out together, over 700 riders! Rick Plite, race promoter, asked people from lower classes not to pass during the 3-4 mile roll-out, but clearly a lot of riders just started pushing to the front during the massive roll-out. I was foolish and conservative and should have moved up, but the accordioning pack had me a bit nervous and I figured things would stretch out before the sandy two-track.

As you can see, that didn't exactly work out. Observe the five-wide riders and the riders diving off the road in the background. People on twitchy 'cross bikes were going down left and right in the sand pits while I did my best to be patient. My Hogsback felt so stable in the sand and I just...wanted...to go... fast! The roll-out was cool, but didn't stretch out the pack as intended. I know Rick has been actively getting feedback from racers and he'll have a solution next year. I did see another Sisu rider, Justin, on this section, so that was a lift.

After leaving the sandy two-track, the race opens up on laser-fast dirt roads, with over 2200 feet of climbing on the 35 mile course. I caught on with a fast group and we settled into a nice groove for about forty minutes, 20 of us, mostly on 'cross bikes, with a few groups going forward or backward. On the last massive hill before the pavement ending, I attacked. Apparently that hill shattered the group as some caught me, and others I never saw again. I caught some fast riders and cruised in 15 of 51 in my 30-39 Expert group, 57 of 441 overall in the 35 mile race.

This race will only grow and I recommend it highly. It's hard to beat the beautiful countryside, the campground and Gun Lake, and the super-fast tactical racing. It's not often I'm in a group hitting 25 or 30 mph on gravel roads! Thanks, Kiss-Cross and all the volunteers, for such a great event.

Welcome to Bonkville!

2010-03-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

'Twas a sunny afternoon in Houghton County when all the cyclists got an itch to do what they do best. After a long day on campus I set out for my daily fix. No I'm not talking about drugs here, I'm talking about my bike ride! The sun had gotten to my head and I knew today was the perfect day for my first long day in the saddle.

I had set out for an adventure much like today's just over two weeks ago. It was a pretty nice sunny day, but definitely not as warm. I headed North toward Lake Linden and then to Calumet, back down 203 (the road by McClain State Park) and back into Houghton. By the time I got to Lake Linden and started up the hill toward Calumet it was all over. I cracked within the first 200 meters of climbing and if you don't know, it's all uphill to Calumet. Long story short, it was probably the longest 40 miles I had ever logged. It was pathetic and I felt totally out of shape.

Today I went in the opposite direction, South. I headed for a little po-dunk town called Pelkie, just about 5 miles west of Baraga. I chose the back roads that I have become familiar with lately as a route which would take me almost directly South to my goal. I set out for what would be 2-2.5 hours in the saddle and was greeted rather rudely by a stubborn SSE headwind. I bucked that wind for an hour and 15 minutes and god was it rough. There were times I couldn't hold 15 mph on downhill false-flats. Needless to say it felt pathetic, but when 1:15 rolled around I took a short break to gulp down about 4tbsp of peanut-butter and some water. I turned around, I did an out and back, and was very pleasantly surprised by the same headwind that had been kicking my ass the whole way out, was now acting like a jet back pushing me from behind. I was holding 30mph on a false-flat, uphill and hovering around 200 Watts. I was ecstatic! The first four or five miles were effortless, then I hit a wall... roughly 20 miles from home I was slamming water, gatorade, and in the course of those last 20 miles I ate two GU's and my output was dropping the whole way home. Almost. Lets just say I had a strong finish. There's a nice downhill right from Dodgeville to Sharon Ave. right by Family Video. I flew into town at just under 45 mph almost got thrown off my bike by a blind bump that I often forget about and came to a screeching halt at the 4-way stop. My house is a couple blocks from there so I took it pretty easy, hitting 35 on the city street coasting home. I was pleased with my overall strength through the ride and thankful to be in the comfort of my own home again!

It was a pretty horrifying ride in my mind, I had thoughts of going hypoglycemic and I've done that before and I didn't want to do it again. That's scary stuff... Not so scary stuff is finding out that your new SISU FF-1 just got dropped off at the painter's today! I think that's what kept me going all afternoon!

Time to go eat some dinner, this is the point where I wish Houghton had some good old Border Grill! I Guess I'll just have to suffer as a poor college student with whatever is in the fridge.

Killer Gravel Road Race

2010-03-22T16:55:00.000-07:00

My 2010 race season starts this Saturday in Middleville, Michigan at the second annual Barry-Roubaix (http://www.barry-roubaix.com/). My main memories from last year, other than proposing to Anna on the North Country Trail after the race,

are of getting dropped on the hills, and downhills for that matter, due to my underwhelming fitness and competence turning over the gears on my 1x9 Empella Bonfire. This year I'll have my fresh Hogsback and the tires I stripped off my cheapo winter purchase: the Bulldogs are a bit more bite and a bit less roll than I want for this race, but I'm rolling what I have. Check it out:

Kisscross puts on great events, this one and the Lumberjack 100 in Manistee being two of the favorites on my schedule. But it's the oaks and hills of Yankee Springs State Recreation, not just great promoting, that makes Barry-Roubaix, and the Yankee Springs Time Trial (an MMBA CPS and Chapter Benefit Race) really special races. Throw in quiet campgrounds, camp fires and Grand Rapids' breweries and eateries, and you have quintessential Michigan moutain bike racing. Here's another angle:

Race reports will follow. And just for good measure, here's Smoke, the race dog, taking in the cycling action last year:

Chris Lynch Inks 2-Year Deal with SISU Cycles

2010-03-19T13:48:00.000-07:00

Negaunee , MI

Chris Lynch, most recently riding for Kitchi-Mi-Kana Cycling Club, has joined the SISU Cycles Race Team for 2010, bringing the SISU roster up to 5 riders.

Team manager Matt Palomaki said Lynch adds some sprint speed to the team, which already is known for its technical descending and unusual strategic moves. SISU has been looking for a smaller rider to fill the massive draft created by 6'4" teammate Jesse Bell.

“Chris is a proven performer and will be a great asset for SISU,” Palomaki said. “He definitely brings another dimension for the team to utilize. In the final kilometers of races, he will be a key rider, whether setting up another team member or utilizing his own fast sprint.”

Having been courted by several top domestic pro teams, Lynch opted to ride for SISU, mainly so that he stay close to home and continue to ride Cat 3. We caught up with Lynch enjoying a Chicken Grande burrito at Border Grill in Negaunee, “You know, I couldn’t be happier. I’m eating my favorite burrito at my favorite restaurant in my favorite town and getting some solid base miles right here in the UP. I’m really looking forward to riding for SISU. The only thing better than my new teammates is my new bike.”

Lynch, a native of Negaunee, Michigan, joins the Michigan-based team where he started his amateur career in 2007. At that time, teammate Bill Street was still in diapers.

New Hogsback in Town

2010-02-18T18:12:00.000-08:00

The dream began two years ago when I ran into Jesse Bell at the Iceman finish area. I knew him as an ice climber, so was a bit surprised to see that he had just blown my doors off in our 30-34 age group, placing second. As I wheeled my blown-out but loved bike to my van, I saw him again, getting ready to head back North. But wait, what was that gorgeous blue thing on his car? I stopped him to ask. Michigan made? Marquette? Sisu means what? Hmmm.

I had been admiring sexy custom bikes for years while living in mountain towns full of boutique rides. I'm a Dirt Rag fiend and love following the Handmade Bicicycle show reports; of course, I've always drooled over the Bell's team frames at the races. There's just something so right about riding a bike built by a guy whose sooty hand you can shake (did I just say that?), a guy you'd just love to hand a barley pop. After a look at Jesse's classy rig, I knew a Sisu was in my future. I checked out sisucycles.com (great photos, by the way), started checking out this blog to see what the team was up to, and eventually started the process that led to the hot rod pictured.

Thinking about the races I like to do, I knew a hardtail would be enough. Barry-Roubaix, Yankee, Custer, Lumberjack, Iceman: all 29er courses, in my mind, but whether the White Bros. rigid will work for the NUE races I hope to add this year, is the question. I hope I can hammer epic rides on the carbon, as digging into forks, even adjusting forks, is not my idea of a good time.

NUE. Lumberjack is all I've done in the way of endurance racing, and it's really the highlight of my year. You wake up knowing you will spend all day on your bike, flying through the woods with hundreds of men and women who love it just as much as you. I've also been lucky to have my wife and dog as a killer pit crew. My eye is on Mohican and the Wilderness in Pennsylvania, but summers tend to get full of family, gardening, and other adventures. We shall see.

I was proud to sport the Sisu kit at Iceman this year and felt really good, my best race ever. Thanks to Jesse for the wheels and to Matt for getting them to me. I'm looking forward to meeting more of the Sisu crew this year and wish everyone many great rides.

2009 Cyclocross Nationals -- Bend, OR

2009-12-14T12:33:00.000-08:00

I flew into Bend, Oregon with cycling rival and team Chocolay Ace Hardware all-rounder, Dave Grant, for a cardiovascularly challenging week of cross country skiing and cyclocrossing. After 3 days of ski camp, I took a recovery day before the cyclocross nationals race. The weather was frigid all week; the below-zero snow temps made for extremely slow, challenging skiing. With daytime temps in the 20's and low 30's, we anticipated a very slippery cyclocross course.

On Friday afternoon I suited up for a pre-ride of the course. In warm weather, it would have been a fast track with many flat sections and limited climbing. However, the weather was ideal for creating ice and after 2 days of racing everything was packed down into a slick, rock-hard surface. Even the grassy sections that were not covered in snow were extremely treacherous. Bone crushing crashes through these off-camber ice rinks were clearly foreshadowed.

There were only two true dismounts on the course: a double set of barriers and a set of stairs with about 30 steps. Several tight turns, a few of them 180 degrees, would slow down the pace and require powerful accelerations to stay with a group. It seemed that such accelerations would not be possible due to the unusually low coefficient of static friction between rubber and ice. Felling lucky to have kept the bike upright for three laps, I terminated my pre-ride and rode for a short time on asphalt.

Dave and Tony Lackey (who joined us on day 2) raced at 9:30 am on Saturday. The conditions were almost exactly the same as what I had experienced during my pre-ride. The Ace boys got terrible call-ups behind more than 100 other Masters 40-44 racers. They both kept the rubber down as they avoided the start line pileup that broke at least one collarbone. I watched in awe as crash after crash after crash brought racers to the ground. The course was a veritable ice rink. Dave and Tony stayed mostly on their bikes and essentially held their starting positions. They finished about as well as you'd expect from a couple of Ace chumps, 110th and 136th place. The winner of their race completed 6 laps, Dave and Tony were pulled before they completed 5. Deprecation aside, they did well to escape the race without any major injuries (bruised ego excluded).

My race, Masters 30-34, was scheduled for 3:30 pm. By then the temps were in the low 40's and the sun had worked its magic on the ice rink, turning it into a wet, sloppy mess. I was called-up about 50th position behind all the Category 1 and 2 and many Category 3 racers. All of the 4's were behind me. The gun sounded and the fun began. I came to a complete stop at the first turn as the group slowed in front of me. At the next straight stretch, I accelerated as hard as I could and got off the beaten path to pass about 15 guys. From there I just dug in and tried to hold my position.

Photo by Lucian Jones

The course was very much unlike what I had ridden the previous day. My Michelin Mud tires hooked up perfectly and only rarely did I lose traction. The pace picked up as the riders stretched out over the course and traffic became less of an issue. Instead, braking was my biggest challenge. I did poor job of setting up my brakes after disassembling and reassembling the bike for the trip to Oregon. The slow-mo pre-ride didn't reveal the issue, so it wasn't until I was racing that I realized that I'd have to drag a toe Flinstones-style to make it through some fast downhill corners.

Photo by Lucian Jones

I occasionally heard people yelling out positions and could tell I was somewhere around 30th place. Finishing in the top 30 seemed like a reasonable goal, so I tried to pick off a few guys here and there and avoided getting passed. I was yo-yoing with a guy until the end of the last lap when he spun out in front of me while going up a mud hill. I was pretty sure that move guaranteed me a top 30, but wasn't sure until I saw the results that evening. 25th. Nice. I was muddy.

Photo by Tony Lackey

Photo by Lucian Jones

This marks the end of my 2009 cycling season. Its been quite an adventure and I'm looking forward to a minimum 30 day bike hiatus. Time to ski! Thanks to Matt Palomaki/SISU Cycles for all the support and to the team for a successful road season. Special thanks also to Lucian and Sarah Jones for providing an amazing room and board hook-up in Bend(and phenomenal photos, and a vehicle to drive, and anything else we could have needed). You guys were truly amazing! Thanks also to Henry for the exceptional cheering and motivation.

Henry, a cheering monster
Photo by Lucian Jones

Check back in January/February to hear about how badly DG gets whooped in the Noque. Also, if for some reason you want to see pictures of Dave and Tony, or a shot of me with Miss Alaska teen, check out the photo album for the trip here. All of the good shots were taken by Lucian -- Dave, Tony and I took the rest.

Jingle Cross Day 1- Under the Lights

2009-12-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

Friday night was my first ever cross race at night under lights and it was awesome! I was pretty pumped and for some reason found myself with a jitter or two before the start. The venue had giant spot lights brought in that did a great job of lighting the course as bright as day where it was shinning. A few spots were hard to see which made for some interesting racing to go along with the slip and slide mud covering the course. As usual Mt. Krumpet was a brutally long and steep run up to keep things interesting.

Telling your body its going to race at 7:30 at night in the dark through the mud and cold is not too easy. It helped to see the carnage from the previous races with countless derailleurs being ripped off and bikes hiding under layers of mud to get the blood flowing and adrenaline pumping. I can't explain it but I absolutely love and live for racing in nasty slick mud! The number of starters was in the upper 40's and looked to be some respectable competition. I decided to try something different and started a little easier to see if I could hang with a bigger group through the whole race. This proved to work a little better and I was sitting in with a group all th

e way to the bottom of Mt. Krumpet. Dialing tire pressure was a problem again with sections of hard fast pavement and slow slick mud. After a bike change things were going a lot faster again and I was able to catch back on and pass a couple dudes. All said and done I finished 25th and in the money!

If you ever get the chance come do the Jingle Cross Rock weekend of racing! It's always held at a great venue with steller courses that change daily. A really well run weekend with fun to be had by all as a racer or spectator.

Iceman 2009

2009-11-17T12:09:00.000-08:00

The funny thing about this picture is I didn't know they were behind me. I was in the front row on the line just focusing on the start.... apparently they were too haha. The gun sounded and I was off and surprised how slow the group was going for a start. Maybe I've been doing to many cross races with the pros because I felt it just wasn't fast enough to make my head spin and legs scream so I took the whole shot pretty much from the start. My pull was probably for a good mile or so until I decided to let someone else pull a little and sit in and recover. Jesse Bell took over with the pace making and I followed 3rd wheel until right before the first section of dirt. Two guys attacked on both sides and turned up the pace a notch for about 20 more yards. This is where my great start was wasted as the two guys who attacked bumped each other and caused my buddy Matt to crash right in front of me! Needless to say I was not too happy and left running down the middle of the trail trying to get my chain back on going from 1st to 100th place after 5 minutes of racing.

The rest of my race was spent trying to make up the lost places. This is where the shoulda coulda woulda took over in my head as I drilled it for the next 20 miles. Somewhere around Williamsburg road I knew I was getting close to the front of the race and could see little groups not far up the trail. I tried with everything I had to bridge the last couple gaps to the groups but found the match book running out of matches. The fuel tank levels were dropping fast and the chase ended with 6 miles to go and turned into salvage mode. My goal of 1:45 was falling by the wayside and as the miles ticked by slower and slower so did the goal. 1st twice or 11th in my age group was the final result. Overall I'm still pretty happy because I knew I felt as good as I have racing in a long time and I was able to almost get back to the front. I may have over done it in the chase by myself and payed the price in the last 6 miles but it was worth the efforts and I would do it exactly the same again. Congrats to Brian Matter the local Midwest hero for the 3rd place finish and almost the repeat on the 3peat.... Triple Crown!

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and enjoying the company of new and old friends. The annual party downtown was crazy as usual including the party bus. Breakfast the next morning was the now tradition of The Omelet Shop, and amazing as always. Iceman is always one of my favorite race weekends of the season and I can't wait until next year.

Bill Street

SISU Cycles Bikes Top Podium at UP State Cyclocross Championship

2009-11-15T19:22:00.001-08:00

Photo courtesy of Dennis Loy

This was another big weekend for SISU Cycles. Tyler Jenema and Jesse Bell battled one another for the whole race. Coming into the last lap it looked like it would come down to a 2 up sprint to the finish. Unfortunately, Jesse dropped his chain at the last dismount, just 200 yards from the finish, allowing Tyler cruise in for an uncontested win.

Tyler's win earned him top honors in the seven race series, narrowly edging Jeff Juntti, who finished 2nd overall. Jesse's second place finish kept him in 3rd place in the series.

SISU Bikes Sweep Keweenaw Cup A Race

2009-10-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

The UPCross cyclocross series traveled to Copper Harbor, Michigan this past weekend for a double-header of races hosted by the Red Jacket Cycling Club. Two racers saddled up on SISU bikes for the A races and the results were as good as they could be: 1st and 2nd place both days. Congratulations to Tyler Jenema of team Priority Health for his back to back wins, and to Jesse Bell of the SISU Cycles Race Team for a pair of 2nd place finishes.

Tyler opted for his full-rigid, carbon-framed 67.5-er, a one-of-a kind bike built up with a 27.5" front wheel and 26" rear wheel. Jesse was riding his brand new "The Ex", a titanium cross-specific frame pictured in a previous post.

With two races remaining on the season Tyler and Jesse are #1 and #2 in the UPCross point series. Go SISU!

Baycross 2009

2009-10-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

Paul Belknap, nice job putting on the race. Aaron Swanson, nice meeting you--thanks for dishing out the pain those first few laps. Wes, thanks for the help and encouragement early on. Michelle, thanks for shooting the video and offering moral support.

The new cx bike

2009-10-16T05:01:00.001-07:00

will make her first appearance in Ashland.

UPCROSS #2 & #3

2009-10-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

#2 Al Quaal

6 SISU Riders took to the starting line in Ishpeming including Gauthier, Bell, Carpenter, Hill, Lerlie, and Palomaki.

In the A race, Tyler Jenema, who put on a clinic at the first race, looked strong as he led through the first laps. He led a small group of Juntti and Gauthier to a early small lead. This was until Jeff Juntti, determined to give Jenema and the rest of the group a race for their money, eventually overtaking a solo lead. Jesse Bell and visiting Paul Belknap, riding a more conservative pace, gradually motored up to a fading riders. Paul eventually passed Jenema to overtake 2nd place. Bell and Gauthier formed a chase group for the last few laps helping each other pull closer and closer to the leaders, to no avail. Juntti rolled in solo for 1st, Belknap 2nd, Jenema 3rd, Gauthier 4th, and Bell 5th. As the action formed in the front of the race Palomaki stayed consistent and road a solid race finishing 8th. Danny's bike didn't quite hold up, he broke a hood early and could never recover finishing 17th and Lerlie enjoyed the day on the bike finishing 20th.

Full Results.

Race notes courtesy of UPCROSS.net. Photo courtesy of XMATIC.

#3 Fit Strip

The snow that had, earlier in the week, threatened to blanket the Fit Strip with white for Race #3 on the UPCROSS calendar stayed to the west, instead covering the Keweenaw - perhaps foreshadowing the weather of the upcoming Keweenaw Cup.

The A race was tight from start to finish. The course was set up fast encouraging a group break away and midway through the 50-minute (8-lap) race, an octet established a healthy lead: Tyler Gauthier (Sisu Cycles), David Grant (Chocolay Ace), Tyler Jenema (Priority Health), Ron Williams, Dan Dehlin, Evan Simula, Jesse Bell (Sisu Cycles) and Joey Graci (Quiznos). As the race wore on and fatigue set in, the size of the lead pack slowly deteriorated. Another factor in the race was a log placed conveniently by race designer Dave Grant across the trail making the riders choose one of two options, bunny hop or dismount. Some hopped and some dismounted but most all had problems. Whether it was the dismount that caused a gap between riders, the bunny hop that caused mechanical, or the extra inch it would jump up as toes repeatably caught the edge it definitely was a factor. In the end, an elite group rode the final quarter mile of pavement neck and neck in what was to be a 4-up sprint. SISU rider Tyler Gauthier took his first UPCROSS win just ahead of an ecstatic David Grant, who also marked his best UPCROSS finish ever. Tyler Jenema, able to take over the lead in the UPCROSS standings, finished third, just a tenth of a second behind Grant. Ron Williams missed his chance at a podium finish by a second. Despite the mechanical Bell finished in a respectable 7th. Danny found himself spinning the whole race as he ran the single speed and chose the wrong gearing, finished 18th.

Full Results.

Race notes courtesy of UPCROSS.net. Photo courtesy of Andy Gregg/MQTphoto.com.

Check out the new feature from the boys at superiortiming.com. They got it going on!

West End Wednesday Night Ride

2009-10-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Another great ride with the Wednesday Night Range Mountain Bike crew. Although a small group last night we had a great time. This tends to be the best time of year to hit the single track and take in the views!

Chequamegon Fat Tire 40

2009-09-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

Do you want the long story or the short story?

Short story:

I raced hard and placed 58th out of 1759 finishers.

Long story:

Friday after work, I traveled down to Hayward, WI with Dave Grant, hereafter referred to as "DG". After picking up our race packets we stopped in to KFC for the obligatory greasedown. We were greeted at the drive-thru by Susan who was eager satisfy our every culinary desire. Although she forgot DG's coleslaw, we continue to recommend the Hayward KFC.

Lodging was dicey in Hayward, so we settled into a quaint motel room in Spooner. The motel's proprietor was perplexed when we asked what the main attraction was in Spooner. She mentioned that some people come to fish, and others shoot bears.

We retired to our respective beds after last minute bike tune-ups, number plate placements, secret energy drink prep and Ambien only to rise again at 4 am. There was a hint of rain in the air as we drove 30 minutes to the start of the race where we left our bikes in the middle of the street to secure our start position. We were 7 rows back when we arrived at 5 am and heard that to get a front row placement you had to arrive at 4 am.

We caught a couple more hours of sleep back at the hotel and returned to the race start for 8:30. 1800 is a lot of people, and a lot of bikes, as you can here.

You may be able to spot me at about 25 seconds into the video. Consider that my start position is considered very good and that I had to get up at 4 am to secure it!

Anywho, the rain cleared out and made way for blue skies. The temps were high and rising, a drastic change from the 30's and rain racers experienced last year. The rollout was pretty well controlled and not too fast. There was a lot of accelerating and braking, but that's the norm. I saw one dude lock 'em up and fishtail on the pavement. Not good. I pulled a little chicanery myself and bunny hopped up onto the median putting the hammer down and passing at least 100 people in the process. It felt like the right thing to do, but in retrospect, I wouldn't do it again.

The lead group immediately got a gap on the rest of us and was probably a quarter of a mile up the road by the time they reached the dirt. I wasn't going to blow myself up chasing them alone, so I just sat on a tandem and cruised. I tried to keep the pace steady throughout the race, avoided going anaerobic, stayed seated on almost all the climbs and just hung on. Normally I blow up and end up riding most of these races by myself after getting shelled from a group. Not this time. About 1/2 way through the race I put in an effort to pull my group up to a group ahead of us. This group included ladies winner Jenna Rinehart (who beat the tar out of me in the Ore to Shore). I figured if I stayed with her group I'd do alright, so that's what I did. I ended up dropping all but two of our 20+ group on the Firetower Hill climb. From there I rode as hard as I could trying to maintain my position.

Another smaller group came together and we rode it out to the last section of Birkie Trail. I don't remember much of what happened the last few miles, except that as I crested a little hill someone shouted, "it's all downhill from here". I put it in my big gear and ripped it to the finish. I was very pleased with 58th place in my first Chequamegon and hope I earned a preferred start for the next time. The course is very fast and enjoyable to ride, and I think suits my strengths (not climbing).

DG finished 2 minutes behind me and beat his time from last year by 15 minutes! We partook in a beer and kraut-covered brat at the finish line, then jumped in the truck, still covered in dust, to make the 4 hour drive home.

In 10 hours of driving between Marquette and Spooner we didn't see a single deer. This does not bode well for the hunters this season.

UPCROSS Race #1

2009-09-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Four SISU Cycles racers made an appearance at the season's cyclocross opener. Danny, Jesse, Matt and Tyler all entered the "Eh" race, which drew 20 competitors. The weather was atypically hot, with temps approaching 80. The sandy course combined with hot, dry conditions resulted in some dirty bodies by race's end.

The pace of the first lap was smokin' as everyone vied for the prime... a growler of KBC brew. Team Priority Health rockstar Tyler Jenema set the tempo for the first lap, but was temporarily distracted by some curvaceous spectators and piled up in a narrow, sandy section. He brought Jesse down with him and they were passed by a few contenders, including Chocolay Ace phenom Jeff Juntti.

Jesse fell back to 8th place after dropping his chain three times, while Tyler Gauthier fought to stay in the top 4 for the first half of the race, only to rip off his derailleur hanger, ending his day on the bike. Meanwhile, Jenema broke a chain and DA flatted, forcing both of them into chase mode. Tyler Jenema quickly made his way back to the front; DA got rolling in 8th position behind Jesse, but was unable to match Jesse's enormous ego, I mean power. The two of them yo-yo'd a bit, and picked off a few riders who went out a bit too hard. Danny and Matt beat the crap out of themselves for 60 minutes and finished respectably.

It was great to see Ishpeming native Ron Williams show up at the race! Hope to see you again Ron!

"Eh" race results below, and at www.UPCROSS.net.

1	Tyler Jenema
2	Jeff Juntti
3	Bryan Cook
4	Jesse Bell
5	Derek Anderson
6	Blu Tenbrink
7	Evan Simula
8	Andy Gregg
9	Steve Kuhl
10	Tom Mahaney
11	Joey Graci
12	Matt Palomaki
13	Ron Williams
14	Danny Hill
15	Mike Daggett
16	Toney Lackey
DNF	Tyler Gautier
DNF	Tim Shandonay
DNF	Eric McCoy
DNF	Wanhala

Check out all of Chris's race photos here.

Tour Da Woods Report

2009-09-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

Not much to say other than...........SISU SWEEPS THE PODIUM! It was a great race and we had a lot of fun racing together. Tom no doubt ably had the best legs and showed that by pulling away at about 7-8 miles to go. Jesse and I kept pace until Uncle Bills Revenge (2 miles to go) when Jesse slowly pulled away. It was some scene for the spectators to see a wave of blue at every check point. Several times through out the race we heard the chant, SISU SWEEP! Tom at one point was sitting 3rd wheel and noted that it made for nice SISU promo with a wave of blue flying through the single track. Great time. Tom 1st, Jesse 2nd, Tyler 3rd.

Part 3

2009-09-14T07:17:00.000-07:00

Part 2

2009-09-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

2009-09-14T06:49:00.000-07:00

A few pics from this weekends race the Tour Da Woods

The Great Dear Chase

2009-08-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

The Dear Chase was on Saturday, August 15th. Tom, Glen and I showed in hopes to show off our single track skills, well that is the skills of Tom and Glen, not so much mine. It started out as a hot humid day and ended with good results race results. Here it is in a nutshell.

A good bunch of racers showed up including Jeff Adamcik, Anikin Nikolai, Aaron Swanson, Paul Belknap, among others. The roll out was a bit different this year with a little more road and up hills to split the field before the dirt track. Tom and I were on geared bikes and Glen was on a single speed. The plan was for me to set the pace as high as possible to the single track and let Tom set tempo through the single track. It worked and split the field to 4 of us. Note: Glen stuck with us to just about the single track which was super impressive being on a SS. We entered the single track with myself, Tom, Aaron, and Nikolai. Although Tom feels he was a bit off on the single track he set an awesome tempo keeping the each of us pounding the pedals. The tempo paced us and we had over a minute on the next guy going into lap two. Then the racing games started. Tom continued tempo in the single track and no one really wanted to keep that going on the two track. It cost us our split and with about 5 miles let Paul caught us on his SS. He knew he could not beat us on his SS letting us set tempo so he got on front and put in a hard effort. That effort struck an attack from Anikin splitting the 5 of us just ever so slightly. With about a mile left Tom and I worked as hard as we could to catch the attack but missed it by 15 or so seconds. Tom placed 4th and I place right behind him 5th. Tom was awesome in the single track and I would of done anything to give him a win that day, he deserved it. So it was a bit disappointing for us considering our team did a lot of the work and didn't get podium but a good race at that. Glen had a good day on the SS holding the lead for a bit but the strong effort in the beginning called the end to him down the finish. He placed 19th overall and 6th in SS.

Pictures by Straight A Photography (Amber Gauthier)

O2S - Tyler's Race Report

2009-08-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

The day was setting up to be perfect. The temp was cool, the rain hardened the trail, the body felt great, and I was on the right bike (SISU full suspension).

I had a preferred start and lined up in the middle left side. As the O2S typically does it started at a red line pace as everyone jockey for position. My plan was to sit in the top 30 going into Lucy Hill as I knew Lucy Hill like the back of my hand. It worked as planned and I positioned myself perfectly and picked off 1 rider at a time on the ascent. Although the acid was pumping I felt good at the top and put the hammer down to establish myself with the top group. The pace was surprisingly slower for the next 3 or so miles which left a good time to recover. That is until the power line of North Lake popped into the picture. It really put gaps between most riders and established little groups here and there. I danced on the pedals through each up and down and found myself with a good group of guys going into Misery Hill. Misery Hill kicked every rider off the bike and I ran as much as the legs allowed me to without cramping. It was enough to stay with the group of 8 and this move would pay off as this group worked very well together and lengthen the gap to any rider trying to catch us from behind.

As I expected, the attacks were launched on 510 and I told myself to answer any attack no matter what it took, and I did. The constant attacks by the other riders took any thought out of my mind of attacking which was OK because I let the other guys wear themselves out. We rolled into the dirt together and small attacks by the good downhillers were attempted but were matched by me and the other followers. Knowing that they (the downhillers) really couldn't get away on the down hill I let him set the tempo into the Noque trail. The group stayed tight through the Noque Trail and we entered the last aid station. My support team supplied me with my last water bottle and yelled out our position, which happened to be 11th-18th place. I now knew I was with some tough riders and this was going to be a battle for the last 5 miles.

In attempt to prepare myself for a battle I knew fueling on the two track road was my best option. That best option turned into disaster and the near perfect day was not so perfect anymore. I lost concentration for about 3 second, thinking about refueling, before I knew it my front wheel was rubbing the rider in front of me. This caused me to jam the wheel left and it sent me flying over the bars followed by a knobby tire imprint from the rider behind me. I cause myself to crash and took someone else down with me. Surprisingly we were back on our feet quickly and I attempted to remount only to find out that my crash caused the rear derailleur to break into two. I don't know if it was my initial fall or the rider hitting me from behind that caused it but the feeling was indescribable. "Anything but this, a flat? a dropped chain? a soar body part? any thing but a broken component." It's about the only thing that could have stopped me from finishing. In one last competitive effort I started to run towards the last check point thinking that I might be lucky enough to swap for a bike. I quickly realized I was a lot farther from the aid station than I thought. I watched rider after rider pass me by and my realization of finishing disappeared with each passing rider. After about a 10 minute run I surrendered. I made a tough phone call to my wife with a spectators cell phone to come back and pick me up. Never having to surrender to a race before it was one of the toughest decisions I've made in along time.

Although the near perfect day ended not so perfect it was a great learning experience. I was able to compete with some of the better riders in the Midwest and learned a ton about racing and myself.

That day would not have been possible without all the support I received. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all that helped me.

My wife and my parents for their moral and loving support, they're the best fans a racer can have. My family for encouragement mile after mile. Jared Koski for my first bottle exchange. Tim Palomaki for his chiropractic and my second bottle exchange. My SISU Cycles team. Matt Palomaki for an awesome SISU bike. Finally but not least Dan Dehlin for all his nutritional advice and for hooking me on Hammer Nutrition.

24 Hour Virginity- LOST

2009-07-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

Can you think of anything better to do than ride a bike for 24 hours? Only about about a million, right! Well I know two Sisu boys who lost their 24 hour endurance virginity this past weekend, for one, Tom Carpenter, it was a great experience, I think ? and Tyler had a memorable experience as well, but one he soon would like to forget! Tom Carp kicked butt having the fastest night lap and one of the fastest averages overall and Tyler having severe gastric distress and still turning in one of the fastest laps of the day, including one lap to the Wausau Hospital E.R. for a 2 liter intravenous pit stop. Mechanicals were in store for Glen, broken chain in B.F.E., with no tools, time for heel-toe express! A good Samaritan at Red Bud Road donated Glen a bike, wrong pedals, a single speed, no light (its pitch F'n dark) and five miles through a rock garden to go to transition! As you can see Team Sisu had some serious obstacles to overcome! We went from First to Worst in a hurry!
A definition of SISU is "intestinal fortitude" (a.k.a. GUTS) and that is exactly what I saw from this team. Tom turning in stellar night laps and Glen riding a borrowed bike, we slowly clawed our way back up the leader board. With 2 hours and 23 minutes to go and Team Sisu in third place, being 12 minutes out of 1st and 11:45 out of second , our strategy was set, Glen had to ride his fastest lap of the day and Tom (riding with only one lap's rest) had to ride the fastest lap of THE race. "Sisu" should be emblazoned on Tom's chest because he pulled us 7 minutes closer in one lap after racing all out for 24 HOURS! We only obtained a third place podium spot but it was definitely not a lack of SISU!
Team Sisu had a HUGE amount of support from the "WSG Girls"(who by the way took first in the 12 Hour race) and all of our SIGNIFICANT" others! Its nice to hear a cheer from Patty P.(a girl who never sleeps) for Team Sisu at 5:30 a.m. when your tongue is hanging out and you've got severe tunnel vision from sleep deprivation. Kudos to the "Houghton Boys" for placing 4th!

WORS #6-Sunburst Showdown Race Report

2009-07-22T12:32:00.001-07:00

Photo by Brittany Nigh

After an embarrassing performance at my first Elite WORS race, I felt a bit defeated and wasn't sure I belonged in Cat 1. I arrived in Kewaskum expecting to improve on the first race and hoping I'd finish the day feeling like I put in a good effort that was competitive at this level.

I was a little more aggressive at the start of this race and moved up a few spots before entering the singletrack climb up the ski hill. On the first lap I narrowly averted disaster on a fast downhill when my shoes inexplicably unclipped from my pedals simultaneously. I learned quickly that you have very little control over the bike when your only points of contact are two hands and your taint.

I tried to hold back a little bit on the first few laps to avoid bonking. The first three laps were within 3 seconds of each other, so I knew my pacing was good. The last two laps slowed down just a touch, but I held on to get 26th place out of 47 finishers, 11 minutes behind the winner, Brian Matter. Full results are posted here.

I rode hard, didn't bonk, felt good and improved my results as measured both by overall placing and % time back from the winner. The improvement is encouraging, but I am still shooting for a top 20. It is within reach, but I need to get myself in better position in the starting chute and ride quite a bit faster.

12 Hours of Potluck

2009-07-21T06:12:00.000-07:00

In attempt to add a little variety to a years worth of point to point racing and prep for next weekends 24 hour of 9 mile I decided to do the 12 Hour of Potluck. I entered the 12 hour solo freak division in hopes to push my fitness beyond comfort knowing that if I could withstand 12 hours on my own I would put myself in the best position to help my team next weekend at 9 mile.

My overall goal was to stay on the bike as long as possible and if breaks were needed to make them quick. Little did I know I would end up in an epic battle with Dave Grant, Ace Hardware Team, that pushed both of us to insanity. Both of our goals quickly changed. His, to keep the pressure on and not let the small gap he had on me dwindle into the night. Mine, attack every lap to catch him until my body blew up.

The day started dark, drizzly, and cold. The race promptly started and the 12 hour clock starting ticking. For the first 3-4 hours I kept a high zone 2 low zone 3 pace trying to establish every lap I could early on while I felt good. The plan panned out as it left me feeling really good at the half way point. As hours 7-9 approached I realized Dave's gap was growing slowly and I had to come up with a plan. The plan was to attack 1 lap and rest for 2. It started to work as at about hour 9 I had taken his lead of over 20 min down to 15 min. Knowing the night was coming to an end I attacked again at hour 9 1/2 and hour 10 resulting in cutting the gap from 15 min to 11 on the 1st lap and from 11 min to 7 min on the 2nd lap. The 2nd attack ended at hour 10/12 and totally did me in. At that point I attempted to attack again and my body would not and could not respond. I had nothing left in the tank and used every ounce of energy just to finish the 12 hours. In the end Dave held off the attacks and increased his lead back to 15 min. We both completed 22 laps (a new Potluck record) but Dave did in a bit faster. Congrats Dave.

It was a great day of racing and I truly enjoyed my experience. The day left me with 12 hours of non stop riding, 22 laps, 129 miles, countless feet of climbing, too many cliff bars to count, gallons of Gatorade, 2 Culver's Chicken Sandwiches, and 10,000 less calories.

During a 12 hour race you have no time for rest. This picture truly represents fast food. Thank you to my sponsor, Culver's, for the well needed nutrition. (Check out my right hand, chicken sandwich).

A huge thank you to my parents who were there to support me. Without them it would have not been possible to stay on the bike as long as I did. Thank you for your love and support.

Leadville 100 Training

2009-07-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

DG is doing the Leadville 100 this summer. Yesterday I tagged along on one of his training rides with Msrs. Asmus, Daggett and Lackey. Nicole and Jack dropped us off in L'anse and we rode dirt roads back to Marquette. 'Twas a lovely day.

WORS #5-Eau Claire Race Report

2009-07-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

I had a big slice of humble pie at yesterday's race, which was my first WORS race with the big boys. I went in thinking a top 20 was feasible. Nope. Top 40? Nope. Top 50? Nope. I arrived at the race a little late, didn't get a warmup and was staged in the very last row of a big field. The rollout wasn't all that fast (the dust was suffocating); I just maintained my spot at the tail end. There was a big bottleneck as we entered the first singletrack and we actually came to a stop as people tried to fight for position.

About 10 minutes into the race I crashed when a signpost appeared in the middle of the trail (I think some flagging accidentally got moved). Shortly after the crash I realized I lost my lone bottle of Heed. I had a half bottle of water and a few GUs, but knew that would be insufficient to finish the 2+ hour race. I was pissed. The course is fast, flows real well and is fairly flat. The trail builders in Eau Claire know what they're doing. The second lap went well as I just hung on to a couple of 40+ guys who were cruising. At mile 20 I bonked and quickly lost contact with my pacers. I stopped and picked up a water bottle someone else lost because I was out of fluids. Shortly thereafter, something grabbed my shoe and pulled me off the bike. Crash #2. I limped through the rest of lap 3 feeling really, really bad. I got passed by 7 guys in that single lap and thought I was literally in last place.

I was still hurting very badly as I started the final lap...my back was screaming at me to stop, my guts were tied in knots from all the bouncing, my legs were cramping and refusing to turn over the pedals. As I entered the singletrack I told myself I'd just ride the trail like I was there to have fun. I'd play a trick on my body and make it think I wasn't racing. As I leaned hard into a right hand turn a 4 inch maple tree presented itself on the inside of the corner. My handlebar and shoulder made contact simultaneously and I went down hard. I had to realign the handlebar with the wheel, remount and continue. The fun didn't last long.

I finished in 2:27, 22 minutes back of the winner. 53nd place overall (of 63), 42nd among Cat 1 riders and 16th in my age group. I've got lots of room for improvement. This is the first WORS race I haven't medaled in...I think I'm finally in the right category.

SBF Report

2009-06-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - Twilight Criterium
The criterium is a .7 mile loop around downtown Marquette. 35 racers lined up for the criterium and SISU Cycles went in with a plan to put 4 up front and 2 mid pack to hold back any response to attacks. As in most races, the plan didn't work quite as we wanted but we did place 3 (Tom, Tyler, Jesse) in the front and 3 (Glen, Danny, Tim) in the chase group. SISU dominated the front of the race for most of laps with Jesse doing a lot of the work because no other team was willing to do work. In the last lap Tom responded to an attack leaving Jesse and Tyler chasing. Tom rolled off the attack leaving the strong legs of Behan with the victory. Jesse, 7th; Tom, 8th; Tyler, 11th; Tim, 18th; Glen, 20th; Danny, 22nd. Full Results.

Day 2 - Michigan State Championship Road Race
The State Championship was resolved on a 55 mile course on mostly flat terrain with 2 slight climbs. For the most part the race was quite uneventful. Several solo attempts were tried early but failed into a South wind. The only real attack happened in the rear of the race when Tyler had a flat rear wheel 14 miles into the race on 553. With great help of the Palomaki support vehicle, 13 miles of 30 mph solo tempo later he caught the group which was still together. The peleton made the turn together onto 480 just in time to enter a steady rain. Danny then through a strong attack giving the rest of SISU a break while others chased. Danny was caught a few minutes later and a counter attack was fired by Tyler trying to keep the other teams and guys working giving SISU every bit of rest for the sprint. Not lasting more than 2 minutes the attack was caught. The peleton reached granite point neighbor hood and the mini attacks started and the tempo increased along with the rain. The rain was making every body a bit jumpy because nobody wanted to sprint with the group around the final corner. Approaching the the 1000 meter mark we had Jesse front middle and Tyler, Tim, Tom, Danny, and Glen front right (not a good place to be). We tried to organize lead outs but the only lead out that was attempted was Tyler leading out for Tim but it failed when the last corner presented just to much danger with the slick roads. Jess had the best line and put together an awesome sprint for not having a lead out. Jesse, 4th; Tom, 11th; Tim, 15th; Glen, 18th; Tyler, 19th; Danny, 31st (Danny dropped his chain in the sprint). Full Results.

Day 3 - Presque Isle Circuit or Mountain Chase
SISU Cycles represented both SBF events on Sunday and sent two (Tyler & Tim) racers to the circuit and 4 (Tom, Glen, Danny, & Jesse) racers to the knobby race.

The circuit had a new course this year. It was completed at Presque Isle on a 2 mile loop with a kicker of a hill on the back side. It was scheduled for 4 laps. Tim and Tyler had practiced on the course earlier in the week and knew what could be accomplished on the hill. With that knowledge they planned on a lead out and an attack on laps 2,3, or 4 which ever presented itself. Each time around the course tired the group out a bit more and you could tell each rider was hurting from the 2 prior races. The hill had split the group slightly each time favoring the climbers but each time was brought back together on the gradual down hill. With no established break away Tim knew that lap 4 had to be controlled by SISU. Tim roared his way to the front on the final lap and pushed the pace to 24 miles an hour into an West wind off the lake knowing no one could pass at that pace. Right before the base of the hill Tyler yelled to Tim to put the hammer down. With the lead out executed perfectly it launched Tyler up the hill at a pace that only a select few matched. At the top of the climb only one rider beat Tyler up the hill, it was Behan and he put on a super attack and put a 5 second gap between the group. Tyler answered with a hard tempo and then an attack by Lynch was made leaving one choice, follow. With a great block by ACE's Wes P. it allowed Lynch and Tyler to chase Behan. It came down to a sprint with Behan overcoming the chase and Tyler just edging out Lynch at the end. Tyler, 2nd; Tim, 18th. Full Resutls.

Mountain Chase - ?

Training or Stupidity

2009-06-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

It was early in the week and I shot and idea over to Tim that we should ride home from Hancock after the Keweenaw Chain Drive on Sunday. Deep down I wanted him to say, "Hell NO." On the other hand I didn't think I would mind if he said yes. He replied with, "We could do that." That yes would make the both of us pay on Monday.

Tim started Saturday with a ride of his own while I was red lining for 2 hours at the Chain Drive. Olivia dropped Tim off about 50 miles out of Houghton and he finished with riding around Houghton/Hancock for awhile making it to Dollar Bay with 70 miles on his legs. Although taken at an easy pace the wind made it an up hill adventure and add 80 degree heat, needless to say he was spent. I didn't do as many miles on Saturday but I did deplete every bit of energy I had for the weekend in the 32 mile leg buster of a race they call the Chain Drive.

Sunday came to soon, (especially when you go to bed at 3 a.m., TIM!) The back and legs were trying to let me know this was not such a good idea. But we were up at 8 a.m. throwing down every carb we could find in the house. Tim mixed several different kind of cereals trying to find that magic mix. Come to find out, our magic mix was my mother-in-laws chocolate chip cookies, yum those tasted good at mile 10,20,30,40,50....... you catch my drift. The goal was to reach L'Anse so that we could stop at the Hill Top and reload with a heart stopping Cinnamon roll. We both had a half and our stomachs definitely let us know we had our fair share. After a few random comments from passer buyers, "Are you guys training for the Iditarod?" Tim's response, "What?" We continued on.

3 flats, 1 stopped car to help us out, several honks, fresh mineral water from a pump, every kind of dead animal including a snake, a constant 1% grade, hard core biker tans, and 93 miles later we made it home.

All in all the ride went good and our legs held up considerably well for having hard efforts the day before. Monday was a slightly different story as our legs were not afraid to tell us how mad they were.

Subaru Cup Race Report

2009-06-22T13:11:00.001-07:00

I had an awesome Father's Day weekend!

Michelle and I brought all the kids to Mt. Morris, Wisconsin for the 2009 Subaru Cup. The two-day stage race consists of an XC race, Super D (downhill type race) and short track (mountain bike criterium). The XC race was 4 laps on an all singletrack 4 mile loop. WORS was projecting a winning time of 1:40, but the stifling heat caused us to ride a little faster so we could get out of the heat sooner. I came in 3rd place (1st in age group) at 1:29, about 2:30 behind the winner.

We headed directly to Dairy Queen for air conditioning and ice cream. We spent the rest of the evening in the swimming pool. The kids all had a blast violating every single rule posted on the wall.

We had a lovely breakfast Sunday morning and I received all the Father's Day hugs I could have asked for. While the family stayed back at the hotel swimming and packing up the van (and preparing an adorable Father's Day card), I cruised to an easy victory in the Super D. We had to wait an ungodly amount of time for the short track race to start. Fortunately, we were able to stake out a spot under a tent where we could comfortably watch the Elite Men, Elite Women and the Junior X racers participate in their short track events. The downside to this spectation was that we got to see just how much this race was going to hurt. I was fatigued from the heat and the previous day's race and knew I had a long ride home. It would have taken very little convincing to get me to skip the race and get in the car. Instead, Michelle and the kids encouraged me to lay down and get a massage from the whole family to help me relax and loosen up. By the time they were done with me, I was ready to go.

As it turned out, I had the legs to win the short track race. I got the holeshot and stayed on the front for the entire race, which was only about 13 minutes long. Two guys hung with me for a while, but they both dropped off eventually. The kids ran back and forth between two points on the course and cheered me on twice per lap. It was so motivating and gratifying to hear them yelling my name. There was no way I was going to let them down.

The Subaru Cup is a great event and a ton of fun. Unfortunately, a lot of the guys who race the XC race don't stick around for day two, so the competition gets a little thinned down.

Special thanks to Michelle, Lex, Lily, Breck and Ellarie for making it such a fantastical weekend. I can't wait til out next road trip.

Keweenaw Chain Drive

2009-06-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

SISU Cycles had a great day at the Keweenaw Chain Drive Festival this past weekend. The conditions were near perfect with a good down pour the night before. SISU had 4 riders in the field including Tyler Gauthier, Tom Carpenter, Glenn Lerlie, and Danny Hill. Beyond the SISU MB team the field was filled with studs including Mike Anderson from Bell's Brewery, a few of the ACE guys, several Red Jackets, and many other respectable riders. Tyler and Tom went in with high aspiration's and were looking for top 10 finishes. Glen and Danny were both looking for respectable finishes in preparation for the Bike Fest.

As most know the Chain Drive starts with a roll out through down town and over the Portage Canal Bridge. From there the field makes a 180 degree turn and stomps on the gas for position into the two track. Tyler and Tom positioned themselves well from the start and were both in the top 5 reaching the only pavement on the coarse, Canal Road. Canal Road leads to a leg breaking 15% grade hill. The first up the hill gets the best position in the single track. As expected, Mike Anderson was the first up the hill and into the single track with a small gap to the second up the hill, Tyler. Tom was a close third and lead the rest of the bunch into the single track. The hill had established who was a true player for the day. Tyler lost Mike Anderson's wheel almost instantly into the single track but held a 15 second gap on the rest of the field. It didn't last long as they pulled Tyler back in about 1.5 into the two track. We had established a group of 6 riders that would stick together for the majority of the race. At this point there were a few whispers from the riders that we all knew Mike Anderson was up front and that most likely we would all be battling for second. The chase group maintained a good beat and we all yo-yo ed from each other through miles and miles of single track. At about the 18 mile mark the course crosses a road and enters some more gnarly single track for about 2 miles and then crosses back over the road for a return to the finish line. Tyler lead the group across the road into the single track. He noticed the pace he was pushing was causing a small gap between each rider and that is when he made his first attack. It was slightly successful causing the group to space out a bit more. One rider, McFadden responded to the attack and offered to lead for a bit. Tyler agreed and followed his wheel. McFadden put on a harsh pace, McFadden and Tyler began to establish a considerable gap between the rest of the field. Back across the road McFadden and Tyler made another small push and that's when Tyler experienced his first of two crashes on the day. A tree jumped out in the middle of the trail causing a minor but time beating crash. McFadden's wheel was lost in result of the crash and he pushed harder to make sure Tyler didn't catch back up. The crash resulted in a regrouping of the rest of the field including Tom. Jeff Adamcik took the lead and not 5 minutes later Jeff slid across a damp wooden bridge and jammed his handle bars into a gap causing the whole field to come to a complete stop, Jeff moved as fast as he could and aloud the rest to move on. The four chasers moved through more single track together until we popped out into two track. This part of the course provides riders with a long grinding two track hill, a point where an attack could happen. In order to not become a victim of an attack, Tyler made the first move up the hill and only one rider, Cook, responded leaving the two riders to chase down the two up front. The tempo continued and the race lead into another rise going into the last 3 miles of the race. Right before the rise another tree seemed to find it's way into the middle of the trail and Tyler's handle bar met the tree with great force throwing both the rider and bike aside. Not to Tyler's surprise he lost the wheel of Cook. To Tyler's surprise he had not been caught by the next group. Back on he went to make the final push up a muddy long hill. Between the hill being long and a chain that would not stay on Tyler ran up a quarter of it drawing every bit of energy he had left. Sooner than later the next rider caught Tyler and passed him dropping him another spot. With about 1 mile left another SISU rider appeared in a distance and sure enough it was Tom making a strong push for the finish. The site of Tyler gave Tom that little extra and he caught his wheel with .5 miles left. Tyler gave encouragement to Tom to push on. (OK, how it really went was Tyler: "Tom, I've bonked." Tom: "Good, move over." It was priceless.) Tom hung on all day and it paid off, he finished with a super power push and almost caught the next guy. In the end the 32 mile course proved it's dominance and drained every bit of energy a rider could have. Tom finished with a very respectable podium finish in 5th place and Tyler finished 17 sec behind in 6th place. Glen and Danny both had strong races and finished well in there respective categories. Full results can be found here. (A correction in the final results. Tyler raced in the open category placing 6th. It is not as shown, racing in the age and placing 1st.)

2009-06-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

If you haven't done a WORS race, you're missing out. Come join the fun!

Le Tour de Mount Pleasant Race Report

2009-06-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

The last minute decision to head to Mount Pleasant for the 1st edition of Le Tour de Mount Pleasant had Michelle and me up at 6:00 am on Saturday frantically packing gear and food. Despite the tacit objections by Michelle, the bike got to enjoy the temperate interior climate of the backseat of the car.

We stopped only when it was really necessary. Like when we stopped in Mackinac City to buy a frog kite. Despite the forecast for rain, the sun was shining and the temps were up around 70. It was a great day for a drive, but it would have been an even better day for a bike ride. The rest of my team was chewing up West End singletrack all day, but my competitive spirit forced me to the streets of Mount Pleasant instead.

The Cat 4 crit was at 5:15pm and I arrived with plenty of time to register and warm up. I ran into fellow yoopers Chris Lynch and Tyler Jenema. Fortunately, none of us were seriously injured.

The crit course was dead flat, a six corner "L" shaped course. I rode the first couple laps about midpack but was very sketched out by some of the riding taking place thereabouts. On the 2nd or 3rd lap a bunch of people went down in a corner. I was inside of them, so was unaffected by the crash. From there on out I tried to stay in the top 8 or so. It was fun jockeying for position and taking different lines through the corners. My legs felt good and I rarely was out of the saddle. I was able to power out of the corners and respond to most attacks staying seated. It actually felt pretty easy (especially compared to the Duluth or SBF crit, which have meaningful hills). I got out of position on the last couple laps and was a little further back than I would have liked coming into the final staightaway to the finish line. As I accelerated to the finish, I got tangled up with another rider who went down. I sprinted it out for 5th place and immediately went back to make sure he was ok. Thankfully he was up and walking and not badly injured.

Take a closer look at this pic and the guy over my left shoulder. Bummer.

I refueled with avocados and beef and drove to the campground where a nice wood fire provided the means to prepare a few s'mores. We slipped into the tent and the slothful, cantankerous, foul-mouthed, dog-kicking, beer-guzzling, vomiting in the trashcan folks in the campsite across the way faded into obscurity as visions of exploding R-Sys wheels danced in my head. They were still partying hard when I awoke to relieve myself at 2 am. I was happy to aim the speakers of my portable music player at their campsite as I prepared breakfast at 6 am. :)

I'm getting sick of typing, so I'll make this quick. The road race was short and flat (insert inappropriate comparison here). 33 miles. We had a pretty big field for the narrow roads we rode. Attacks were flying constantly. I did a lot of chasing from the front early on and eventually thought better of it. I got stuck midpack with nowwhere to go for the middle part of the race. The guys at the front let a kid go at the end and he won by a few seconds. I felt like crap up the finishing stretch. I lassoed Chris Lynch's saddle and he pulled us to the finish line for 12th and 13th.

We hung around and watched the Pro/1/2 race finish. It was exciting to see. Tyler and his team, Priority Health, had a nice showing getting a guy in the break and coming away with a 3rd place finish.

The ride home was as lovely as the ride down. We stopped along M-28 to put the bike on the roof so she could get some fresh air as the sun dropped below the horizon.

New thought for a product : Pellet gun holder for road bikes!

2009-06-12T06:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/060909_kvue_austin_cyclist_shot-tg.664ff61c.html?npc

HED Ardennes Wheel Review

2009-06-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

I have now been on a few rides with the new HED Ardennes wheelset. My first impression was "WOW they are thick," since the rim width is 23mm and much wider than of a standard rim. After going on a few longer rides and sprints, the stiffness and aerodynamics proved to be truly impressive. The overall ride quality much more tolerable and faster than any wheels I've used in the past including the top of the line wheels from Shimano, Mavic, Zipp, and Bontrager. After just a few rides I can say that HED has made me a believer in their engineering, and I will recommend them to all riders that don't want to be held back by the wheels they are currently using!

WORS #3--Trek Big Ring Classic Race Report

2009-06-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

I sent out a e-mail inviting all my bike racing friends to join me for a daytrip to Wausau for WORS #3--the Trek Big Ring Classic. Maybe it was the reply-to-all that DG sent saying, "I would insist he has a Foley catheter placed prior to the trip, unless you want to read urinal graffiti all the way", but nobody took me up on the offer of a free ride. As remarkable as this may sound to Dave, I only stopped one time to answer nature's call.

Anyway, Jesse Bell's biggest fan was excited to fill the passenger seat and play the role of bottle girl. Thanks mom!

Despite the heavy downpours Saturday night, the course was in great shape with very little mud. I got out to an early solo lead and started picking my way around slower racers from earlier start groups. By the end of the first of 3 laps I felt I had the thing pretty well wrapped up. Riding alone is tricky...nobody to pace you, nobody to push you. Its easy to lose focus and motivation and find yourself slowing down. The trail had some very technical rock sections where your tire ends up squeezing between two adjacent rocks. I always worry about slashing a sidewall and actually burped air out of both tires on the second lap. At one point I stopped to check pressure thinking I had a leak, but hopped back in the saddle when I determined it was ok.

Near the midpoint of the last 8.4 mile lap Greg Cullen FLEW by me. He started 2 minutes back in the 35+ group. I was mightily impressed and didn't even consider trying to grab his wheel--probably a mistake in hindsight. Shortly thereafter I was caught by Scott Golomski, a 19-24 year old that started with me. He attacked as he caught me and got a little separation. I just didn't have the legs to stay with him and he ended up :08 ahead of me.

I finished 3rd overall and 1st in my 30-34 age group. #2 was 6:17 back. MIA were Joe Riesberg and Tom Carpenter, two guys who would have make things a lot more interesting. Next up is the WORS Subaru Cup in 2 weeks. That's a tough course with plenty of climbing. Can't wait!

COMP Results

More critical thinking from the Bike Snob

2009-06-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

This helps keep things in perspective.

http://www.bicycling.com/article/0,6610,s1-3-12-19172-1,00.html

DZ

2009-06-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

Some may have missed seeing Dave Z's mustache at the Duluth Classic Time Trial, but it was in form for Stage 2. It was great protection for the crash, and provided the extra power needed for the sprint!

WORS Crystal Lake Classic Race Report

2009-06-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

Tom and Jesse raced in the Crystal Lake Classic in Rhinelander, WI this weekend, along with a whole slew of friends and acquaintances from the Ishpeming/Marquette area. Included in this list of who's who in local cycling lore are Dags, The Junttis, Treener, Margaret, Tami, Lori, Swampy, Kelly, dloy, and Amy. I'm sure I missed a few; my apologies to you. The UP was well represented by this group which had several top 5 finishes. Many of our friends from the Red Jackets also came out to race hard (most notably, Mark Klein took top honors in the 25-29 Comp group). Nice job YOOPERS!

The first mile or so of the 11 mile course (which Comp riders did 2 times) is gravel road and doubletrack that winds through a boyscout camp and then climbs a bit before descending into singletrack. From there on out its nearly all bumpy singletrack. The SISU boys went hard out of the gate and stayed near the front through the fast gravel section. Tom was the second man into the singletrack and Jesse was 5th.

Their age group started last this week, so they had to contend with about 150 racers already on the course in front of them. With so much singletrack, this meant lots of time waiting behind slower riders while looking for an opportunity to pass. Tom was able to hang on to second place through the traffic and jumped to first when the leader flatted. Jesse struggled with lap traffic and the pain that results from riding the bumpy stuff on a fully rigid steed. While Tom and Jesse agreed that suspension would have been preferred, the lack therof didn't keep Tom off the podium. He raced to a 1st place age group finish and 3rd overall. The only racers to beat him on the day started ahead of him and didn't have as much traffic to contend with. Once again, he was amazingly strong! Jesse came in 3rd in the age group and 16th overall.

Full results from the WORS Crystal Lake Classic can be found here.

I love the bike snob

2009-05-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

From bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com:

...my favorite periodical in the whole world by far continues to be Geico Direct Magazine. However, as a cyclist and loyal reader, I have to say I was quite disappointed by the cover of their latest issue:

Really, there isn't much more that could be wrong with this picture. Firstly, who rides a bike on the beach? Not only that, but there are two people on the bike, and neither of them are wearing shoes. The whole thing looks really painful. Why wouldn't they just take a nice romantic walk instead? This is the equivalent of the next Performance catalog featuring a photo of a couple tearing through a park in a Honda Accord. Both doors would be open, the guy would be driving barefoot with his seatbelt unbuckled, and the girl would be sitting on the roof. They might even be plowing through a picnic.

Duluth Classic Stage Race Day 3 & 4

2009-05-28T06:33:00.000-07:00

Day 3 – 2nd SISU Podium – 3rd place
Stage 3 was an amateur version of a mountain top finish. The race was scheduled for 49 miles with 9 climbs, 5 of them being significant. The finish line was at the top of a 1 k 10% climb. It started as a controlled rollout at the bottom of the big climb and the official made sure everyone was together before releasing the go. Our team goal was to place 3-4 guys over the top of the climb the 3rd time through so that we could control the peleton there on after. The first lap was pretty uneventful as everyone got use to the course and the pace was about 25 mph. I think everyone knew that the peleton was going to split on the first climb and that’s exactly what happened. Even though the first climb was at a slower pace the climb broke the group in half. SISU had 4 in the group on the first climb, Tyler, Jesse, Tom, & Tim. That wouldn’t last long as just at the bottom of the descent Tom got a gash in his tire which just about ended his day. The pace picked up a bit with every lap as the lead group knew we were dropping people and didn’t want to give them the opportunity to bridge the gap. We approached the 3rd climb with about 30 people in the lead group and KOM points on the line. We reached the base of the climb and no one made a real effort to gap but the pace had been increased from the prior climb. Jesse & Tyler positioned themselves in the middle of the group to make sure that if an attack happened we wouldn't be left out. About half way up the hill Tyler decided to go for the KOM points. The tempo picked up and 1 man followed. Just as the grade kicks up to 10% Tyler stood to make an attack. He held to lead until 50 meters left and was passed at the line and took 2nd place points for the first KOM. The group was brought back together on the descent and we all realized that the group was now down to about 20 riders. Our goal was almost met as we had Tyler and Jesse still in the lead group with Tim just missing a wheel and dropping of the back ever so slightly. The pace was pounded again in attempt to keep the dropped riders off the back. The 4th climb approached and Jesse and Tyler played this one smart sitting in the middle of the pack and just answering anything that was presented to save energy for the 5th and final climb. It was a huge boost of confidence for both Jesse and Tyler to have each other in the climb to push up to the top. That climb reduced the group to 10 riders and the final laps pace stayed high. We approached the final climb and Jesse sat in the middle and Tyler sat in the back trying to bank every bit of energy to put forth for the finish. The climb started modestly as you could tell everyone was nervous to make the first move. About ¼ way up the climb the pedals were being pounded an at ½ way point 2 riders really pushed the pace. Jesse responded and Tyler took his wheel. The two attackers were making a gap slowly and both SISU riders went for the answer. At that point Jesse pulled back and encouraged Tyler to attack. Tyler attacked in efforts to bring in the front two but was unsuccessful but was successful at gapping the rest of the field for a 3rd place finish. Jesse finished out a strong climb and kept 5th position.

My apologies, but I do not have a story for the rest of the riders. I know that Tim, Danny, and Glen were all split up and worked with other riders the rest of the way. Tom’s day ended when his chain broke. The judge informed him that he could fix it and would have to finish to race the next day. He let the filed purposely lap him and was allowed to take an estimated time for his final lap. Results: Tyler, 3rd in 2:03.47; Jesse, 5th in 2:03.47; Tim, 27th in 2:10.10; Danny, 38th in 2:12.30, Glen, 48th in 2:24.26; Tom, 56th in 2:51.19.

Day 4 – 3rd SISU Podium – 3rd Place
The final day of competition was a .7 mile criterium course. It consisted of a fast down hill with a right hand turn leading into a straight stretch that bended back to a climb which was about 150m long at 8% with the finish about 200m from the climb. The race was scheduled for 35 minutes which turned out to be approximately 20 laps. All SISU riders represented the field at some point in the race. For the most part Tim, Tom, Jesse, & Tyler kept themselves in position to control the field. Tom and Tyler were able to take two merchandise sprints in the middle of the race. About 10 laps in Tom once again had mechanical problems and rejoined the race 2 laps later. Like most criteriums the field went back in forth with the leaders but unfortunately let a 2 man attack get away so it came down to the last 3 laps for the rest of the field to battle for 3rd place. The pace picked up and our main goal was to protect Jesse’s 10 second lead for the 5th spot in the GC. With 1 lap left Tom was in position to protect that for Jesse and sacrificed himself all the way to the hill to make sure Jesse had a good finish. Because of Tom’s sacrifice it set up Jesse, Tyler, and Tim to make a jump at another podium. The hill approached and Tyler and Tim attacked, Tim got cut off and Tyler was able to gap the field enough for a 3rd place finish. Most importantly Jesse attacked with Tyler and was able to come in right behind for a 4th place finish. Results: Tyler, 3rd place; Jesse, 4th place, Tim, 8th place; Tom, 19th place; Danny, 28th place; Glen, 39th place.

Overall
SISU Cycles had a remarkable weekend and were more than happy with the progress we have made in little time. We were able to take home a top 5 GC, 3 podium finishes, and a team full of hard workers.

For full results from the Duluth Classic Stage Race, look HERE.

Duluth Classic Photos

2009-05-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

A few images from this weekend. Several are from viewthroughmylens.net, the rest are courtesy of Michelle Thierry and Olivia Palomaki.

This is a look down the start/finish hill of the Lakewood Road Race.

Tim getting ready to rock the TT

Duluth Classic Stage Race Day 1 & 2

2009-05-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

SISU Cycles was represented by 6 racers at this year’s Duluth Classic Stage Race in Category 4/5. The Duluth Classic offers amateur cyclist the opportunity to replicate a pro stage race with 4 days of competition including an Individual Time Trial, a flat Road Race, a mountain top finish Road Race, and a Criterium.

Day 1
To set the stage for the whole weekend the Duluth Classic started with an individual Time Trial. This discipline was completed on a 16.2 course. Each rider was sent out in 30 second intervals and Jesse started the day for our team followed by Tom, Danny, Tyler, Tim, and then Glen. Nobody was lucky of enough to be on a TT bike but some of us were sporting TT clip on bars. By the end of the day we all found out the significance of a TT bike. Despite our instant disadvantage to other riders SISU performed well and set ourselves up for a positive weekend. Jesse put down the best effort of the evening handing in a time of 40:22 for a 17th place finish. The rest as follows: Tom, 40:49 in 24th; Tyler, 41:29 in 31st; Tim, 41:53 in 36th; Danny, 42:44 in 42nd; Glen, 44:05 in 51st.

Day 2 - 1st SISU Podium - 2nd place
Stage 2 was set up for the sprinters. This was a 36 mile course with flat road and 2 small climbs. The race started with 65 racers which made for a very tight peleton and white knuckle racing. The pace was easy as the peleton climbed the first hill and as it flattened out the pace began to rise. Our goal was to place a few riders in the front to cover any attacks and to set a few back to either hold the peleton off or bring back any lost teammates. Through the next few miles several attacks were attempted but failed as the peleton was just too jumpy and didn’t let anything get away. In hindsight, as you will see later in the story, it may have been better to let a few people go to split the peleton up a bit. Throughout the first half of the race SISU jockeyed a few team members (Jesse, Tyler, Tim, and Tom) up front just to let the peleton know we were players in the race. The group was still in tact at about the 15 mile marker when “Crash Fives” lived up to there name. The first lap was coming to an end and Tyler dropped back to gather the team members. Tyler, Tim, Glen, Jesse, and Danny all came together in the middle of the peleton as Tom hammered the pedals up front. Just as we all came together an attack was happening at the front and I noticed it was Tom that was doing the attacking and I turned to our team to let them know. Not two seconds later bike parts started to scatter on the road followed by bodies. We all did our best to avoid the wreck and Danny was fortunate to find an alternate route through the ditch but Jesse, Tyler, Glen, and Tim were not so lucky. Tyler, Glen, and Tim managed to make a SISU pie and Jesse hit some other riders on the outside. After the each rider assessed the damage to our bodies the next focus was the bikes. Jesse broke some spokes, Tyler twisted some handlebars and the other two managed only minor mechanical problems. Jesse was the first back on the road losing about 30-45 seconds. Glen and Tim were the next to get back on the bikes but had lost significant time to the leaders. Tyler had to retreat to the support vehicle to straighten his handlebars had had lost another minute to Glen and Tim. Tom was on the front of the peleton during this whole fiasco and didn’t know that the crash happened and kept plugging away at the lead. The remainder of the race Jesse worked with the GC leader and other riders to bring in the lead pack but they were unsuccessful and finished 23” behind. Danny was careful not to do too much work with his group knowing Tom was up front and helped protect that lead. Tyler worked with a SPBRC rider to bring in the 3rd chasing group and were successful at doing so with about 10 miles to go. The group managed to set a good pace but was way too far behind to even think of bringing in the leaders. So we set our own goals and tried to set Tim up for a bunch win. Glen had some hard pulls and set up Tyler to do a lead out for Tim with about 1000 meters left. Tyler pulled off a bit too early at about 500 m but fortunately the lead out didn’t cost him the sprint and he took the bunch win. As all this was happening in the back of the race the real drama worked out in the lead group. Tom did a lot of work for the lead group and realized his chances of winning the race were very favorable. He controlled the group to the finish line sprint and managed to take home a 2nd giving SISU Cycles there first podium finish of the year and weekend. The results are as follows. Tom, 1:27.13 in 2nd; Jesse, 1:27.36 in 22nd; Danny, 1.27.36 in 25th; Tim, 1:32 in 35th, Tyler, 1:32 in 39th, Glen, 1:33.34 in 47th.

Day 3 and Day 4
See Above

Most amazing video I've seen

2009-05-20T10:47:00.000-07:00

I came across this video and thought everyone should see it. I've seen a ton of trials videos but nothing like this. Maybe I should build a trials bike. ... hmmmm?

Blog Interview with Jamie Smith

2009-05-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Recently Jamie Smith contacted me to do a blog interview for his blog at http://www.ridersready.blogspot.com/. In addition to maintaining his blog, Jamie is the author of Roadie; The Misunderstood World of a Bike Racer, he is a CAT 2 racer, and has announced countless races inlcuding the 96 Olympics, and the 08 Amgen Tour of California. I'm inlcuding the interview on our blog to give some more insite into SISU CYCLES and how things came to be. Some things you may have already known and somethings maybe you didn't know. Enjoy!

1. Did your family think you were nuts for leaving a job with Nissan to start a bike company?
Yes, everyone including me. My career at Nissan was moving along quite nicely. The company was great to work for and I really enjoyed my job. The pay was great and the job was very challenging. I even lived in Japan for 3 months (while I was engaged to Angela, now my wife) to be trained on emissions controls. Then about 2 months before my last day I received a promotion ahead of schedule. My last day at Nissan, I was shaking I had so much anxiety. I said to myself about a million times . . ."What the @#$% am I doing???"

2. What makes your bikes special aside from being born in the U.P.?
If you have been up to Marquette then you know there is something special about the area. When customers come up to take delivery of a bike we usually go out on the trails that I use to help design and test my frames. The south trails in Marquette are some of the best in the country. The biking guys up here that developed the trail system really deserve all the credit. I just feel fortunate to have such a great place to use for r&d. The other part of what goes into my bikes is SISU. This is a Finnish word that doesn't have an exact translation to English but can be summed up by combining English words such as determination, spirit, resolve, courage, persistence, guts, tenacity, mettle, stubbornness, steadfastness, and perseverance. Growing up, my best friend's grandmother referred to sisu as "more guts than brains" ....in a good way of course. At times having sisu in your blood can get you into trouble but when applying it to a positive outlet like framebuilding you can get some of the most beautiful bikes that are easy on the eyes. My whole life I have been applying the principles of sisu to different situations in my life. . .as a youngster I started racing BMX at age 10. I trained my but off . . . .I remember my parents driving me 30 minutes 5 times a week to train on the closest BMX track. The training/practice paid off and I became a state champ at age 12. Then in my junior year of high school I took X-country skiing more seriously and applied the principles of sisu to my training. It paid off as I skied to a MI High School State Championship. At Michigan State I studied my but off to graduate 3rd in my class. Which, I felt was a huge accomplishment due to the fact that 90% of my time and energy when into Formula SAE. My senior year at State our Formula Team finished 3rd at the World Championships and we won the Road and Track Competition. Then at Nissan I again used sisu as a model for my career. Now, I figure what better way to acknowledge my Finnish heritage than to place it on the downtube of every frame I make. Each and every frame that I craft has heart, sweat, blood (sometimes), tears (usually), and SISU ingrained into the cuts, bends, braze and welds . . .that is what makes my frames special.

3. What has been the single coolest moment/event/reaction since you've been making frames?
The moments that stand out in my mind are when I unwrap a prototype frame from the paint shop and complete the build. Hours, days, weeks and sometimes years go into developing new frames. Sometimes, an idea is spawned and I immediately bring it to production, but usually new ideas mean new designs, new tooling, test, design, test, design, test, etc. So, when I deliver the first new design to a customer and he or she sees it for the first time, their reaction is always burned into my memory. I love riding with customers when they are on the bike for the first time when they come to grips with the performance (which I pride myself on) of the bike. It is a true feeling of accomplishment....there is nothing like it.

4. Why name them after Marquette county roads?
The local roads in Marquette offer a lot to the bike culture here. You are either road biking on the roads or the trails are located off of some of the roads. It is a special feeling when you are rocking out a ride with a SISU 550 on the trails that the bike was named after. Recently I have expanded the names of my frames to include other landmarks near Marquette such as Hogsback, Huron, etc.

4a. When will the 553 be coming out? I used to live on that road. Well, on the air base, anyway. You need to make a 'cross bike and name it "the Crossroads".
The 553 is in the works. Its a 26" MTB full suspension with Reynolds 953 Stainless tubing. Yes the "Xroads" is definitely in the running for a cross frame. I'm diligently working to release a few cross frames this summer before the season starts.

5. What's your top speed coming down the hill by Marquette Mountain?

I don't descend very well on a road bike. Right now I am 145lbs ringing wet. Going up the hill is much more enjoyable for me; although, I wanted to test the torsional rigidity of 2010 FF1 (Flying Finn) carbon road frame and the Marquette Mountain hill is the best place to do it when there is a strong swirling wind. I think I hit around 50mph by sprinting all out off the top and then going into a tuck. Turns out the bike is crazy stiff . . . 30% stiffer torsionally than last years FF1 and 25% stiffer in the bottom bracket.

6. Is there a name for that hill?
The ski hill. This is where I do most of my hill workouts. I either do repeats on the road or up the service road on my mountain bike. Either is pretty tough. . .I would say the road is tougher in the spring because you can't bike on the shoulder due to the sand. This year a some dude in a truck ran me off the road, into the sand and almost hit me. I learned something really quick. . . for some reason 23c tires don't track well through 3" deep sand.

7. I know what sisu means. Tell me how it ended up on the downtube of your frames.
See above.

8. Give me your best Pasty recipe. What's it got in it?

I'm not much of a cook. I have 2 favorite pasty places in town. Lawrys and Jean Kays. If your in Marquette and want a pasty go to one of these places. WARNING: Eat pasties after the race and not before.