SISU SECRET WEAPON

After getting some early miles in on the roads around Marquette County, I was having the same "old" problems, sore back and aching neck-some things seem not to change all that much, or so I thought! Turns out, we have a secret weapon on our team! Dr. Tim Palomaki at Palomaki Family Chiropractic has thrown his hat into sponsorship of Sisu Cycles. Tim set me up with an initial baseline appointment Monday morning. The night before, after riding the Gwinn loop with Carp, I'm sitting in the sauna with my buddy Don, and he starts telling me how he's been "fixed". Naturally, I ask what he means and he tells me Tim has "straightened" him out! He tells me how Tim has made him feel so much better. He's been FIXED! No kidding, I have an appointment with him in the morning I say. So, Monday I wake up to the same "old" story- stiff, sore, achy back and neck-normal. So, I go into Tim's office, expecting great things, and it turns out, I'm FIXED now too! And now, the day after, after another ride and a stretch, I'm STILL fixed! It's been a long time since I've felt so good. If this is the shape of things to come, then look out 'cause this old man has just gotten a couple of decades knocked off his bones! I won't promise great race results from me but I will promise great big smiles 'cause I feel so good. Again, great big thanks go out to Tim for "fixing" me and look out for Team Sisu, 'cause we have a sectret weapon!!!!!!!!

Cross Training in the Southwest

We arrived in Phoenix to 80 degree weather, with more of the same to follow! How nice it feels to be in shorts, although the pasty white legs are quite the sight! This will be a week of cross training, seven mile run Friday followed by 1 1/2 hours on the Phat cruiser bike, in-line skate and laps in the pool yesterday, and we'll be heading to McDowell Mt. shortly for a 15 mile run on the Pemberton Trail.
Yesterday we took in the Tempe Arts Festival, my wife said I need a little culture. After an hour in the hot sun I found the opportune spot to feign a touch of heatstroke, "Hooter's Library". We went in to cool off, after one look around I was looking for Tolstoy's "War and Peace", I always wanted to read that book! After sipping and supping and much neck craning (Dr. Tim will have his worked cut out for him when I get home!) it was back outside for more culture.
Been playing telephone tag with Topher, one of the "BrothersChase", trying to get in a ride with those guys this week. Topher is doing a three day stage race this weekend, so hopefully I'll hook-up with him early this week while he's still a little bit tired.
That's all from the sunny Southwest.

IT IS INDEED A GOOD DAY!

It is indeed a good day! I awoke today at 11a.m.(no I didn't sleep in, I work midnights) to a beautiful sunny sky and very little wind. I mounted the two-wheeler and commenced to do the Greenwood Reservoir Loop, 40 miles of the most beautiful scenery the westend has to offer, not to mention 8 miles of pave that would rival the roughest stretches of the "Hell of the North"! Along the route I saw a mature bald eagle standing on the ice of the Reservoir and numerous deer returning to their summer habitat, the U.P. is truly someplace special!
Matt is right, March Madness is upon us, it even makes me a basketball fan albeit only for 2 short weeks a year. As I sit with a P.B., B., & J sandwich(middle B not a typo, it's a banana) in my one hand and a glass of Ovaltine in the other and a cup of Raspberry Zinger herbal tea cooling, I'm watching Dayton beating up on WVU. I'm also waiting for 9:40 p.m. when MSU hits the hardwood.
Tonite I'm going to trade in that P.B., B. & J. for a P.B.R and celebrate my sister-in-law going from Miss Bergh to DR. Bergh, today is indeed a good day!

IS TODAY THE BEST DAY OF THE YEAR?

This is the question. I will put forth the case that the start of the NCAA Tourney is the best day of the year. I will note that I am not considering religious holidays such as the birth of Christ or the Crucifixion . . . for Christians these are on two different levels of importance and therefore cannot be considered in the argument. For those cyclists who don’t get into all the March hoopla, you will think this is absolute blasphemy. But, for those cyclists who enjoy the madness, you may understand where I am coming from.

First let me state that I live, die and bleed cycling. I do however, enjoy playing and watching basketball. I'm not dissing biking, and I will admit that the best month of the year is July (TDF), but the best day of the year has to be today. Before I was a teenager, I would say that Christmas definitely took the cake. Then again, I remember my dad taking me to the Boys Basketball High School Regionals at Hedgecock. On the way in the car I filled out brackets 102, 103 and 104. On the way home I filled out brackets 105, 106 and 107.

But, now that I am an adult, what are the other options. . . Superbowl Sunday, MLB opening day, Daytona, Indy 500, Wimbledon finals, and for us cycling fanatics Paris-Roubaix or the TDF stage of Alpe d'huez, Ventoux and Champs-Elysees. All these days provide certain unique qualities; however, none offer the office camaraderie, the amount of research people put in to their brackets, the excitement of all the games happening at once!!!! People call in sick or take vacation at work so they can watch the madness (I may have been guilty of this). Upset after upset we stay glued to the television to see if our team can make it through the first weekend . . . . . and all this starts with the first day of games. Picture four disgusted guys that watch NCAAB 5 days of the week in preparation for the tourney only to get beat by the newbie making picks based on mascot names. . . TOTAL MADNESS!!!!!. . . ITS MARCH MADNESS!!!!!!!

SISU FACTORY RIDE

Well, here are the first pics of the much anticipated SISU Factory Team ride for the 2009 season. Thanks to the "signtists" (Stumpy and Joe) at Signs Unlimited the decals are sick fast and will no doubt give us the edge when it comes down to a sprint finish. We figure they should be good for 3 to 4 mph on the top end.

Changes to the 2009 FF1 frame include 950g weight, 1.125/1.5" head tube, integrated seatpost, 25% increase in bottom bracket stiffness and 30% increase in torsional stiffness.

Building the BASE

The weather was perfect for an early spring base ride yesterday. So nice that we just kept going and going and ended up reaching the 4 hour mark which ended up being 55 miles. I (Tyler G.)trained with Stumpy from Team Ace and Tyler Jenema from Priority Health, a Cat 1/2 team. It's nice to get out there with the guys and chat, it really sums up the reason of why we ride. So nice that it gets me super ecstatic to ride with all the guys from Team Sisu. For the most part we trained at a Zone 1/2 pace and through in a small pace line at the end to get the legs pumping. All in all, just a great ride.

I know another Team Sisu rider took advantage of the weather, Tim Palomaki got some miles on the legs while spending time in the Twin Cities. He called during the ride and was amazed how nice the weather was. Matt also got some great training in taking advandtage of the ski trails and did a 3 hour+ ski. That was followed by a ski we did on Saturday that was 2:30 hours. Makes for great base training.

It's nice to hear the guys are putting on the miles. ALL OUT!

Today I spent a few hours at Signs Unlimited removing decals off of Tyler's, and Glenn's bikes so they can be outfitted with the new SISU TEAM decals. Stumpy warned me about removing the reflective decals. . . I didn't believe him until I experienced the "grey matter" that is left behind after you pull off the top layer. I guess thats life . . . and now we are one step closer to having the team bikes ready to roll. Now all we need is some 40-50 deg weather and rain.

Reminiscing

2 years worth of Team SISU gear - $727

3 custom SISUs with top of the line components - $24,000

The taste of banana after suffering 3 flats in the Ore 2 Shore - PRICELESS!!!!!

First Road Ride

Though it was not pleasant, I was able to complete my first road ride of the 2009 season yesterday. I thought since the UP was providing us with a steaming hot 42 degree day I would take advantage and ride the CX bike. It was a short 50 minute ride but it sure felt good to feel rubber on the raod instead of on a metal cylinder. As Danny said, it gets just a bit boring. Maybe it’s boring because I don’t watch Rachael Ray, by the sounds of Danny’s enthusaiasm maybe it’s something I should try.
With a bit of luck I thought maybe I could get two consecutive days on the bike but winter re-emerged and the ground is blanketed with the dreaded white stuff again. Why do we live here? Oh yeah, so we can race for dat team der dey call Team Sisu! eh.

Metric Century Training Ride

Glen and I got out for our first metric century traing ride yesterday, the Gwinn Loop. The weather was perfect, bright sun, fairly dry pavement and the natural phenomenon of wind in your face in both directions was not present, I heard that starts in April. It was great to get out on the roads, the trainer in the basement gets mighty old!
Since joining the Sisu Cycles Team I've changed my training strategy. I was watching Rachael Ray on the Food Network while spinning on the trainer and when I finished I was off to the store for ingredients for the night's meal, what's up with EVOO! Now, in order to fit into those race cut jerseys I've switched to Andrew Zimmern and "Bizzare Foods", its hard to find June Bugs, cricket legs, and raccoon lips at Jim's IGA. See you on the road.....

SISU Cycles at Great Bear Chase

There were a few SISU Cycles jerseys flying through the Swedetown trails in Calumet this weekend for the Great Bear Chase ski marathon and half marathon. Friends of Team SISU Duane Palomaki and Jared Koski (pictured below) raced in the 26km freestyle race. Both racers finished in the top 15 overall and brought home 1st place awards for their age division.


Team member Jesse Bell competed in the 51km freestyle race, finishing in 2:23. Bell was deeply disappointed about finishing 15/100ths of a second behind Chocolay Ace arch-nemesis Dave Grant. Grant defeated Bell in three ski marathons this year, but the margin of victory has been steadily declining. With the start of cycling season just around the corner, a reversal of fortune is expected. Despite Grant’s reputation as a wheel-sucker, he has generally been unable to pull around Bell to beat him in a sprint, owing to his exceptionally long torso which creates an enormous frontal projection area.

Progress

The team is moving along well with alot of progress in the last week. We have pickued up some very important sponsors and we can't thank them enough. The progress in the last week has allowed us to finish placing sponsors on the jerseys, formally organize the team, and plan the future of Team Sisu Cycles. I think I speak for all when I say, we can't wait for old man winter to subside so that we can put the rubber to the road and make our team and sponsors proud. Please tune in all year to see how Team Sisu Cycles is doing! Once again thank you so much to those that have suppored the team.

• A. Lindberg & Sons
• Bell Financial Services
• Lower Harbor Family Dental
• Palomaki Family Chiropractic
• Signs Unlimited
• Sisu Cycles
• Quick Stop Bike Shop
• St. Onge Insurance Agency

NAHBS Update

Matt just got back from NAHBS (North American Handmade Bicycle Show) where he picked up his first shipment of the 2009 carbon FF-1 road frame. Its sick. This year's model includes an integrated seat post and has been built even stiffer than last year's model. It looks like Tim and Matt will be riding the '09 FF-1 this year. Jesse will be on last year's SISU Cycles FF-1. Tyler and Glen will be riding FF-2's and the rest of the team is still in the process of customizing their rides.


Look here for the image gallery from the NAHBS.